N. 103 - July 2017
Newsletter for Salesian Missionary Animation
A Publication of the Missions Sector for the Salesian Communities and Friends of the Salesian Mission
T he 148th Missionary Expedition that the Rector Major will send off from
Valdocco on 24 September 2017 has more colour and form that any ear-
lier ones. 21 Salesians from around the world are ready for their march-
ing orders. Three of them are Salesian Brothers and eighteen are priests and
clerics. Sixteen of these missionaries are still formation, and their average age
is 26.6 years. The youngest is twenty-two! And one of the priests is 61 years!
Beautiful ! Don Bosco smiles and takes pleasure in seeing the growth and cour-
age of his children. Three of the destinations are of particular interest: two
trainees will leave for Japan, the land of Don Cimatti; two other trainees, for
Yakutyia - Siberia, in eastern Russia, among the coldest areas in the world; and two
others - a priest and a perpetually professed coadjutor - will be members of the first Salesian presence in Ma-
laysia, which will become the 134th country with a Salesian presence.
Everyone is ready to go anywhere and forever!
This is the Society of St. Francis de Sales Don Bosco
dreamed of and founded! A Missionary Society!
Fr. Guillermo Basañes SDB, Councillor for the Missions
With Don Bosco … on vacation!
In many countries in the northern hemisphere, young people
are in vacation in July and August. This creates also a great
opportunity for missionary volunteering. The Congregation
has a very rich and varied experience in this area. Many
young people spend a few weeks, even a month, in various
forms of apostolate, animation, volunteering or summer
experiences in different parts of the world. From Slovakia
some young people go to Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Siberia; from
the Czech Republic to Bulgaria; from Slovenia to Angola; from
Malta and Austria to India; from Italy to Egypt, from Spain to
Morocco, from the United States to Mexico.
It is internally, within their own countries, above all, where
the most varied activities take place, such as summer camps: In Italy there are the "summer boys", in Australia,
"Cagliero camps", in Brazil "Boscolandia". Some other initiatives are more missionary, such as the "mission weeks"
or the GAM (Missionary Action Groups) in San Paulo; the JMS (Salesian Missionary Youth) in Uruguay; the GRUMS
(Missionary Groups) in Colombia; in the Democratic Republic of Congo the active members of "Missionary Groups"
go to rural areas on holidays; in Angola more than a hundred university students go “to experience mission" in the
forgotten areas of the country. We could go on indefinitely over the entire Congregation: India, Vietnam, Nigeria,
Ghana, Madagascar, Australia, Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela ... all with similar experiences.
And what do they do? The types of activity vary depending on the context. There are the typical activities of daily
oratories, remedial learning, activities of cultural formation of young people; Bible-study groups, human rights
education, health education, emotional and sexual education, pastoral animation of groups; workshops of
handicrafts, theatre, dance, music, sports, tournaments. They may make family visits, where they pray together,
reading a passage from the Bible and blessing the home.
The good that comes to the missions is great, but what is even greater is what takes place in the hearts of the
young “missionaries”, giving rise to an explosion of happiness, which will positively influence their lives for ever. I
once received an SMS from a girl who was returning from one of these missionary vacations. She was from a
wealthy family, one of a group of 30 university students in Angola. They had been to a difficult place, hot, very
poor, infested with mosquitoes, malaria, no toilets, sleeping on mats on the ground, ... Her message read: "Thank
you very much, Father, for making me discover where true happiness is."
Happy holidays in the missions!
P. Martín Lasarte, sdb
