Naples, Italy – June 2024 - The Youth Festival of the Salesian Youth Movement in the Salesian Province of Southern Italy (IME) came back in style on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 June under the motto "Everyone in your dream". The event was attended by about 400 young people from Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, Calabria, Albania and Kosovo. During the two days, the participants met, listened to and talked with personalities who have always chosen to aim high, dedicating or relaunching their lives at the service of legality, society and the common good. There were plenty of entertainment activities, including dancing and singing, musical performances, Eucharistic Adoration and the "goodnight" from the FMA Provincial Sister Ivana Milesi. The feast ended with the Eucharistic Celebration, presided over by the Superior of the IME Province, Fr Gianpaolo Roma, in the church of St Francis of Assisi. He invited everyone to "Follow the people who give us living water, fresh water, which gives strength and vigour to our journey." At the end of the Celebration, the mandate and the missionary cross were delivered to everyone heading out for the summer experiences among the poor, following the Rise Up weekends journey undertaken this year.

Messina, Italy – June 2024 – The second session of the 32nd Provincial Chapter of the Salesians in Sicily (ISI) was held at the San Tommaso Theological Institute from 31 May to 2 June. The 43 Chapter members – 36 Salesian voters and 7 guests, including 6 lay people – led by the Moderator Fr Vincenzo Timpano, were called, among other things, to an important task: the election of the Delegate, in the person of Fr Arnaldo Riggi, who will accompany the Provincial to GC29, and his substitute, Fr Gianni Russo. During the sessions, the first held from 27 to 29 December 2023, Chapter members dealt with the three core areas of GC29, a reflection that was extended to all the Salesians of the Province during the so-called "Intersession", thus arriving at the drafting of three documents that were the subject of further discussion and voting during the second session, until the drafting of the final versions that will be passed on as a contribution to GC29. After work related to  GC29, the Delegate for Youth Ministry, Fr Alberto Anzalone, presented the draft of the new SEPP  (Provincial Salesian Eductive and Pastoral Plan), a document that serves specifically to guide the educative and pastoral project. Chapter members also offered specific contributions on this document with a view to its final draft.

Rome, Italy – June 2024 – The Italian national Salesian Symphony Orchestra (OSS) made its debut on Sunday 2 June, the Feast of Corpus Christi and Italian Republic Day, with a concert at the parish Basilica of Saint John Bosco in Rome. Comprising 32 elements, led by Maestro Giuseppe Lo Presti - also a collaborator of the Secretariat for the Salesian Family - the orchestra played a varied programme of 10 pieces, two of which were dedicated to Don Bosco: one work by Maestro Marco Frisina and the other composed by Lo Presti himself, the latter piece accompanied by a choir of four voices. Introduced by words of thanks from the parish priest, Fr Roberto Colameo, at the end of the performance the Director of the OSS greeted the audience and reminded them of the aim of this initiative, “To be with Don Bosco through orchestral music and together with him to form and grow, musically and in Salesian spirituality.”

(ANS – Rome) – The Mary Seat of Wisdom Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) Vice-Province Team Visit took place on Saturday, 1 June and Sunday 2 June. The Rector Major, his Vicar, the Sector Councillors and the Delegate for the Salesian Family met with the Superior of the Vice-Province and its Council, the Rector and the Council of the University, Rectors of the communities and some other Salesians, in a climate of serene discussion and serious exploration.

Rome, Italy – May 2024 – The 39th Formators Course organised by the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome ended last Friday, with over 50 participants from five continents, including male religious, sisters, priests and consecrated lay people. The course has been appreciated for years and represents an important element in the formative map of the Salesian Congregation and the Church. From 19 February to 31 May, at the UPS, under the guidance of professors from various sectors, the future formators acquired theoretical and practical knowledge. The exchange of the different experiences by members enriched everyone, offering an important opportunity to broaden horizons and open up to the diversity of the Church in the world. For many participants, the course represented a kind of spiritual renewal, as they themselves witnessed at the end of the course. In addition to on-site activities, participants had the opportunity to take formation trips, such as to Assisi or Genzano in Rome, and to visit various monasteries to encounter the multifaceted beauty of the Church. Among the participants there was also a representation of Salesians from Chile, Syria, Congo, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Italy and Poland. As all the Salesians stressed in unison, this course is to be recommended to everyone, especially to those who wish to take care of permanent formation, to become stronger in their vocation: "After all, we are all and at all times formators, and true formation begins first of all from themselves" they said.

Text: Paweł Figura, SDB, Andrea Lovisone, SDB
Photo: Carlos Eduardo Mendez, SDB

(ANS – Chieri) – Partial refurbishment work has been completed on the Don Bosco visitors centre, the exhibition space located in one of the wings of the first floor of the San Filippo di Chieri Complex, which since 2011 has been dedicated to presenting the figure of Don Bosco to citizens, tourists and pilgrims who come to the city from all over the world.