NEWS^/en/sections/news
Madrid, Spain - December 2024 - From 30 November to 1 December, the Salesian hostel in Mataelpino, Madrid, hosted the second meeting of the Salesian Missionary Volunteering course of Spain's Saint James the Greater Province (SSM) in collaboration with Misiones Salesianas Mission Office and the Jóvenes y Desarollo NGO. This second meeting was aimed exclusively at volunteers who are preparing to leave in summer 2025 (VMS25). A total of 42 people participated in the formation event, mostly from the Salesian works in the SSM Province. The event took place in two different settings: on the one hand, on Saturday morning, at the Misiones Salesianas Museum, where Paloma Montero, head of the transformation area, together with her team, prepared a formation proposal based on the museum's exhibition, "Slave Children. The back door. ” José Alberto Medina, from the Misiones Salesianas transformation area, recounted his experience arriving in Spain and invited those present, such as Salesian Missionary Volunteers (SMVs), to "humbly put themselves in the shoes of others". In the second part of the morning, Thimbo Samb, a young Senegalese actor who arrived in Spain by boat a few years ago, staged his dramatic experience. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, in Mataelpino, the volunteer formation team developed the different formation modules planned for this first meeting: "The volunteer: anthropological and moral dimension", "The volunteer: vocation and mission" and "Field experience: towards transformative volunteering". Accompanying the process were 3 volunteers from the previous course who shared their experience in Nigeria and Venezuela.
Caracas, Venezuela – November 2024 - The first meeting of parish priests, rectors of shrines and heads of Salesian evangelisation centres for the period 2024-2025 took place in an atmosphere of fraternity and collaboration. Held on 28 November, at the Provincial House, the event served to strengthen teamwork and update the knowledge of the participants on some key issues for parish ministry. During the meeting, the participants had the opportunity to share experiences, challenges and best practices in the implementation of the Parish Pastoral Project. Experts in different areas, such as canon law and administration, offered presentations and workshops to enrich the formation of participants. The topics addressed concerned Parish Government: book of government, register of sacraments, and archives, by Fr Daniel Ignacio Almeida, Chancellor of the Diocese of Petare; Marriage Law: acts of marriage, declarations of nullity and functioning of the ecclesiastical court, by Fr Fabián Padilla; Parish Administration: administrative functioning of parishes after the provincial reshaping. This first meeting served to lay the foundations for improving the activities that will allow Salesian parish priests to update themselves and work in a coordinated way in the evangelisation of their communities. The next meeting is scheduled for June 2025, where the progress made will be evaluated and new issues of interest for parish ministry will be addressed.
New Rochelle, United States – December 2024 – On Sunday 24 November, the Youth Ministry Office in the Saint Philip Province in the Eastern United States (SUE) hosted the regional meeting of the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM), called "DEC North" (Day Everybody Connects). The event attracted over 50 students from the high schools from the Salesian centres: Don Bosco Prep, Mary Help of Christians Academy and Salesian High School, together with 11 young adults from the team coordinating the event. The day began with the Mass, followed by a series of engaging activities and sessions that lasted until the evening, when a concluding adoration vigil and penitential liturgy took place. Salesian Brother Rafael Vargas and the coordinating team facilitated competitive games, promoting fellowship among the participants. The young people also engaged in reflections and discussions in small groups, creating an atmosphere of communion and growth, and many students also participated in a solidarity collection, donating clothes for the "Midnight Run" event organized by the Don Bosco Prep center.
Rome, Italy – November 2024 - Continuous legislative changes and the desire to achieve the objectives that the Church and the Salesian Congregation indicate as best practices for the good life impose the need to meet and be formed. This is what the Economers, the Coordinators of Administrative Management (CGA in Italian) and the Rectors of the houses in Central Circumscription, Italy (ICC) did in Rome at the Provincial House on 27 and 28 November. The programmme, busy and well organised by the Provincial Economer, Fr Francesco Valente, and his collaborators, saw several consultants take turns as speakers to present some legislative innovations and proposals in terms of sustainable electricity supply. The theme that held the session for part of the morning and for the entire afternoon was the one relating to photovoltaic systems, whose implementation meets two fundamental requirements: financial savings and a response to the 8th action guidelines of GC28. Presented by the ‘Fratello Sole’ Consortium, of which the Province is a member, are the CERS, responsible and solidarity-based energy communities: a way to share the energy produced by specially united photovoltaic cells, set up in order to reinvest what is saved in goods and/or services available to the community. Another issue addressed was tax reform. On 28 November, the Rectors were added to address two other very important issues: the final budget of the Province for the year 2023 and the new Code of Ethics. The morning then saw the presentation, by lawyer Anna Rita Zedda, of the innovations introduced by Legislative Decree 81/2008 that led to the modification of the already existing Code of Ethics adopted by the Salesian Works throughout Italy.