Salesian Missionaries in the World: A Global Commitment
(Rome - October 20, 2017) - There are many people around the world who, inspired by Don Bosco, spend their lives far from their homeland to devote themselves to the mission of evangelization and the human development of other peoples. On the occasion of World Mission Day, celebrated Sunday, October 22, we want to remember some examples.
In the first continent Salesian missionaries reached, the primary goal remains to be among the poor young people to provide educational, human and spiritual support. "I was fortunate enough to know Fr Luigi Melesi, back from the first expedition 'Operation Mato Grosso' in 1967. He would talk about his experience with joy, and my heart would beat with excitement in hearing about it. So I decided to leave as a missionary ... I dreamed of spending my life for the poor," says Fr Ernesto Sirani, today a pastor of 15,000 souls in the Peruvian Andes.
Love for the recipients of one's mission is what is also perceived in an orphanage of Inharrime, Mozambique, where Sister Lucia Teixeira, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA), has lived and worked for 42 years. "Our little girls have no mothers or fathers, but they have found a family: they are happy to have us and we are happy to have them, because Salesian life makes sense only because they exist," she says.
Simon Mühlbauer, a 19-year-old German, decided to take part in the "Don Bosco Volunteers" program. Now he invites his German friends to volunteering as missionaries and wants to promote an inverse program where young people from developing countries are sent to Germany as guests of the Salesian communities. Of his experience, he says: "In my service, more than teaching I learned, and learning is something that concerns everyone."
Usually when thinking of missions, the countries of the South of the world come to mind. But there is also a great need for missionary support in Europe. José Liano, a Guatemalan Salesian, is now a missionary in Gjilan, Kosovo. When he decided to leave, some confreres said, "why go away, leave, if we have a lot of work to do here?" "True, there is a lot to do," he replied. "But if the first Salesians had not gone beyond, how would we have known God, Don Bosco and our vocation?"
As Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians, and Successor of Don Bosco, has repeatedly stated, "we cannot forget our origins and our charismatic identity," that of a Congregation that is missionary by nature.
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https://www.infoans.org/en/item/4188-salesian-missionaries-in-the-world-a-global-commitment#sigProIdeacaad307b
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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RMG - Preparation, objectives, challenges and perspectives of GC29: in dialogue with the Moderator, Fr Alphonse Owoudou(ANS - RMG) - Just a few days before the beginning of the 29th General Chapter (GC29) of the Salesian Congregation, Fr Alphonse Owoudou, Councillor for the Africa-Madagascar Region and Moderator of GC29, recounts in detail, through an articulate interview, the work preceding and underlying this responsibility, indicating the spirit that will animate it and the attitudes and conditions to make it truly a Cenacle in which the Holy Spirit can act, for the benefit of the Congregation, the Salesian mission and the youth of the world.
EDITORIAL
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RMG – Don Bosco: “The Fascinating Saint”(ANS - Rome) - Don Bosco is perhaps the most amazing and fascinating saint, history has ever produced. The humble work which he began for the welfare of his poor and abandoned boys in Italy has produced astonishing results, and today there are nearly 14000 Salesians working in 138 countries, and there are more than 200,000 members belonging to the 32 groups of the worldwide Salesian Family sharing the charism of Don Bosco and reaching out to the needy young people.
EVENTS
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Spain – 33rd Edition of the Edebé Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature: Here Are the Winners(ANS – Madrid) – The 33rd edition of the Edebé Prize for Children's and Young Adult Literature has been awarded to Beatriz Giménez de Ory (Madrid, 1972) for her novel Tres niños tristes y medio unicornio (Three Sad Children and Half a Unicorn) and David Lozano (Zaragoza, 1974) for his novel La cacería (The Hunt).
SPECIAL REPORTS
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United States – CATHOLIC WORLD DAY OF THE SICK: Salesian Missions highlights medical programs for people in need around the globe(ANS – New Rochelle) – Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins Catholic organizations around the globe in honoring the Catholic World Day of the Sick. Every year on Feb. 11, the Pope marks the day with a special message calling for spiritual and physical closeness to all those who are ill. Saint John Paul II instituted the day “to encourage the people of God, Catholic health institutions and civil society to be increasingly attentive to the sick and to those who care for them.”
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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GOOD, FAITHFUL, AND COURAGEOUS SERVANTSTHE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Stefano Martoglio, SDB
During this Jubilee year, in this difficult world, we are invited to rise up, set out again, and, in newness of life, make our journey as human beings and believers.