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Los Angeles, United States – November 2024 - On November 12, 2024, the Salesians of Don Bosco USA Western Province, in partnership with CCS Fundraising, sponsored a virtual Development Workshop providing fundraising training to the entire province as part of the professional development of province leaders. Provincial Fr. Mel Trinidad, SDB, and Fr. Peter Duoc Le, SDB, Development Coordinator, with Julie LaNasa, Collaborative Consulting, pinpointed this training as essential to implementing the Province Development Plan. CCS Fundraising, a strategic fundraising consulting firm, has an excellent track record of helping dioceses and Catholic organizations raise money and build fundraising teams. Jessica Christie, CCS Senior Vice President, led an insightful Development Strategy workshop focused on improving fundraising efforts for the Salesian mission. This workshop educated participants on recognizing good donor prospects and helped them craft an effective “elevator pitch” to explain the Salesian mission within their local works. It marked a crucial step towards building a community and culture around generosity and informed giving.
Buenos Aires, Argentina - November 2024 - The Salesian Family shared with great joy the diaconate ordination of Salesians, Mauricio Calgaro and Gastón Flores. The ordination took place in the Salesian Jesús Buen Pastor house in Isidro Casanova, Buenos Aires, and was presided over by Bishop Alejandro Musolino, SDB, Auxiliary Bishop of Córdoba, and accompanied by the Provincial of Argentina North, Fr Horacio Barbieri, priests, friends and young Salesians.
Madrid, Spain - November 2024 - The eighth meeting of those in charge of Salesian schools in Mary Help of Christians Province (SMX) took place in Madrid on 20 and 21 November,, to explore key themes during the days attended by more than a hundred participants from the different Salesian schools in Catalonia, Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Region of Murcia, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Extremadura and the Canary Islands. Fr Miguel Canino, Provincial Coordinator of Schools, accompanied by Fr Óscar Bartolomé, National Coordinator, and Fr Fernando Miranda, SMX Provincial, presented the motivation for the meeting and shared the significance of the work in which the Salesian network is represented, made up of 59 schools, with more than 50,000 students, 3,000 teachers and 600 administrative and service staff. Among the various working moments on the first day, reflection on the profile of educators, their formation, their Christian and Salesian identity, as well as pastoral proposals, stood out. In the afternoon, a specific challenge was discussed: gender ideology. The organisers relied on the perspective offered by Fr Miguel Ángel García Morcuende, General Councillor for Youth Ministry, with an online discussion focusing on th issues that closely affect the centres or related topics that are already being addressed in the classrooms. The second day focused on the continuity of the Salesian identity of the school. The meeting ended with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Provincial Fr Fernando Miranda.
Palermo, Italy - November 2024 - A Symposium of studies on ‘Catechesis and Youth today’ was held at the Aula Magna of LUMSA in Palermo, in collaboration with the Centre for Religious Pedagogy of the Salesian Province of Sicily (ISI) and in collaboration with the Pastoral Office of the Archdiocese of Palermo. Involvement of members of the Department of Formation Sciences and educators, catechists and formators made it possible to open a combined reflection on the Church's commitment to the renewal of Christian initiation. The various addresses that followed, from the initial greeting by Archbishop Corrado Lorefice, Metropolitan Archbishop of Palermo, by academic authorities and the various speakers, brought out the crucial importance of the evangelisation of young people, especially in contexts of high social deprivation. The aspects that bound the various areas of focus together highlighted the need to listen to young people of all age groups. At the end of the Symposium, some essential coordinates were outlined for qualified educational intervention in the various areas of the Church’s activity. The focus on Salesian pedagogy aroused much interest among the participants, especially in the concluding discussion.