Cagliero 11 01 2010 ing


Cagliero 11 01 2010 ing

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Titolo notiziario
Nome società
NEWSLETTER FOR Salesian Missionary animation
This year let us journey with the Gypsies!
D ear missionaries, Salesian confreres,
Friends of the Salesian missions:
At the beginning of 2010 I read
several times the commentary and have seen
as many times the video on the Strenna of
the Rector Major "Let us bring the Gospel to
the young!" Sometimes I wonder how many
Salesians really feel the vital urgency to bring
the Gospel to young people?
Is the motto, the cry, the prayer of Don
Bosco 'Da mihi animas, cetera tolle!' really at
the centre of our lives?
I want to offer some thoughts in this regard.
Every year we have the opportunity to let
ourselves be re-motivated by the witness of
some of Salesian missionaries, which is pre-
sented to us by the DOMISAL (Salesian Mis-
sion Day).
This year, 2010, we are celebrating the 23rd
Salesian Mission Day with the theme "The
Salesians of Don Bosco walking with the
Gypsies".
In November 2009 I participated in Košice
(Slovakia) - along with 120 SDB, FMA, lay
collaborators (several Rom) of the 10 Prov-
inces in Europe – in the European Meeting
on missionary work for the Gypsies. It was
an event held in the context of Project
Europe in order to share, for the first time,
real missionary experiences in the heart of
Europe.
I hope that the materials prepared for the
Meeting in Košice as well as those pre-
pared for the 2010 Salesian Mission Day
reach all communities in the world Sale-
sian.
It is through the cooperation of many peo-
ple that you have at your disposition a DVD
(with 5 documentaries: The origin of the
Gypsies, Jesus the Bulgarian, Mirka - Slova-
kia, Jonas - Hungary, Lunik IX - Slovakia), a
teaching aid, a prayer card for your brevi-
ary, and an A3 poster. These are all avail-
able in 5 languages in www.sdb.org.
For any information regarding the Salesian
Mission Day (What does this mean and
why? When? How? Who? By what
means?) just write to the email address of
Blessed Ceferino Jiménez Malla
Gypsy-Kalò, catechist and martyr
the Missions Department:
cagliero11@gmail.com.
With best wishes that this
“Salesian” month bear abundant
fruits of evangelisation!
Fr. Václav Klement, SDB
Councillor for the Missions
MISSIONARIES SOUGHT FOR PROJECT EUROPE
Province - Country
Required languages
AUS - Austria
German
BEN – Belgium - Holland Flemmish, Dutch
Features of the setting
and qualities required by missionaries
Youth Centres, Oratories, Parishes, works for migrants, Salesian
Youth Movement
Works in Amsterdam for migrants. International communties
CEP – Bulgaria
FRB – Belgium South
Búlgarian,
Gypsie languages
French
Missionaries among the Gypsies, Catholic diaspora in an
Orthodox country, request to internationalise the communities,
Czech confreres
Parish, School, Youth Centre (Briselas)
GBR – Great Britain
IRL – Ireland
English
English
Work for migrants, Parishes, Schools, Retreat Centres; european
and african confreres
Parish, Youth Centre

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I, a Gypsie Salesian
M y name is Salvador Polocino, I am 27 years old. I come from Vasto (Italy) and I have been a Salesian these
last six years. I’m here because I am a Gypsy from the Abbruzzi region and until now, I am the first in Italy
who has chosen to follow Jesus walking on the footsteps of Don Bosco. My father is a Gypsy and my mother caggi.
In their life, by the the Lord’s help, they have decided to build their life on love. My sister and I have a good share in
this project of love .
I was baptized a few months after my birth, but then the Church and I have taken a
certain distance, which lasted around 15 years. During my first year in high school, I
met a Salesian. I did not know who the Salesians actually were, but they were surely
different from other priests. Every single day he spoke about Jesus whilst reading from
the Gospel. But he was still a priest and those days I was not interested in priests,
churches and prayers. In my free time, for some years I used to roam in the streets
with a ‘lively’ gang of friends (both Gypsies and cagge). I followed the myths of honour
which are the product of violence, of brute force and of mistrustful shrewdness to-
wards others. The main motto was: ‘Cheat your neighbour, before he cheats you!’.
After these years wandering in the streets with all the hardship it begets, I went to the
oratory, (when I was already 15 years old).
At the oratory, I met a Salesian whom I knew from high school and a young Salesian brother with whom I became a
friend. What struck me most is that they were really interested about my life. Regardless of any racial prejudice,
they wished to know who I am and why it was so hard for me to live in a transparent way.
At the oratory, the prejudices against Gypsies were not very different from the general opinion in the streets. When
an object disappeared (stealing!) I was the first to be questioned! In spite of this, the oratory offered a stable atmos-
phere where one could improve his life, walk along a journey of re-integration and sum up the best of the various
cultures.
In a couple of years I caught up with the catechism, in a very unique way, since I received my first holy communion
when I was 17 years old. For one year, once a week, I had meetings with the Rector, where I had the opportunity to
share my experience about the Gypsy culture. He helped me to interpret this culture from the Gospel point of view.
I learnt to discern what is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord and what I had to let go.
I received the sacrament of Confirmation when I was 18 years old. Because of my past experiences, the Rector who
was also the parish priest, decided that it would be better if I prepare myself following the adult catechesis course
which was based on the continual reading of John’s Gospel. (This experience helped me to review my life in the light
of the Gospel. Later, during my last year of studies in accounting and as I was pondering on my future, the Salesians
invited me to join the vocations’ group of the Province. When my parents came to know about the fact that I was
really searching if God’ will for me was to become a Salesian, they were very happy and serene. So, I started the pre
-novitiate on 11th September 2001 and now, I am a perpetually professed Salesian. I am preparing myself seriously
to become a priest.
Salesian Missionary Intention
The Salesian Family in Europe
That the Salesian Family in Europe during 2010, may contribute through
the means of social communication in overcoming prejudices against Gyp-
sies and other marginalised groups in society
The campaign of the Salesian Mission Day 2010 The Salesians walking with the
Gypsies wants to contribute through the means of social communication
(Salesian Bulletin, websites, news of our works, etc.) in overcoming the preju-
dices towards this most numerous ethnic minority present in the European con-
tinent for centuries. At the same time we also want to make known to the
Church and society the truly missionary commitment of our confreres with and
for the Gypsies in the various countries of Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Germany,
Italy, Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary).
Send your suggestions and contributions to: cagliero11@gmail.com