(ANS - Ciampino) - The school diary is not a simple technical instrument for taking notes: it is the faithful companion of every student throughout a journey of 10 months and often becomes the confidante of secret thoughts. For the school year 2016-2017 various Salesian groups have come together to produce a "missionary" diary, which aims to inspire in pupils a concern for their peers in the southern hemisphere.
Venice, Italy - April 2016 - On 10 April more than 12,000 people took part in the traditional Solidarity Walk "Up and Down the Bridges", through the streets and squares of Venice, on behalf of the Salesian mission in Damascus, Syria, which is at the centre of the humanitarian project for the year 2016. This great day of celebration and solidarity was started by the Salesian Fr Dino Berti and organized by the Salesian TGS Eurogroup in collaboration with the Municipality of Venice and is promoted by the Salesian Province of San Marco in North Eastern Italy.
Santeramo in Colle, Italy - April 2016 - The final day of the sports festival of the Salesian oratories in the Puglia region took place on 3 April, the Feast of Divine Mercy. The event was attended by over 500 young people from various Salesian centres in the region, and by many sports leaders and many families.
(ANS - Rome) –Yesterday 6 April there was a touching celebration which culminated in the enthronement of a distinguished relic of Don Bosco. It marked the opening of the first ever seminar for the promotion of the causes of beatification and canonization. It is being given by the Postulator General, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, and is being held at the Generalate of the Congregation in Rome.
(ANS - Rome) - In Italy there are over a million children living in absolute poverty and over three-and-a-half million are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, with no opportunity to build a happy future. The Salesians in Italy believe that education is the tool to illuminate the future of all these little ones and that it is the prerequisite to get out of situations of marginalization and poverty that can still be found in many cities.
(ANS - Bari) - The story of Ibrahim, a sixteen-year-old Egyptian, is the story of so many other young people like him: poverty at home, a lack of decent prospects, the sacrifices of a whole family, and then the journey of hope in a rubber dinghy across the Mediterranean that has claimed so many lives. Some do not make it, like his older brother who was lost at sea in April 2011. Others, like Ibrahim, receives a second chance in life. He was accepted in the "16 August" Salesian educational centre for young people in Bari and now he looks to the future.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Italy – GC29, Fr. Attard: “Listening to Young People Around the World, Don Bosco’s Method Is Still Relevant”(ANS – Turin) – "Avvenire" is a prominent Italian daily official newspaper of the Catholic Church in Italy which has featured an article on our New Rector Major Fr. Fabio Attard. We present you an extract from the article:
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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France – Education and Poverty: When “ATD-Quart Monde” and the Don Bosco Network Share Their Reflections(ANS – Paris) – In France, three million children live in families whose income falls below the poverty line. For this reason, the topic of “Education and Poverty” deeply resonates with the Don Bosco Salesian Family. On Tuesday, April 1, the Don Bosco Foundation in France brought together two committed voices—Marie-Aleth Grard, president of “ATD-Quart Monde,” (ATD Altogether in Dignity – Fourth World) and Fr. Jean-Marie Petitclerc, SDB, Vice Provincial of the Salesian Province “St. Francis de Sales” of France and Southern Belgium—for a discussion on this crucial theme.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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United States – World Health Day: Salesian Missions highlights health programs for people living in poverty(ANS – New Rochelle) - Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins humanitarian and other international organizations in honoring World Health Day on April 7. In 1948, the World Health Organization (WHO) held the First World Health Assembly and designated the day to mark the founding of WHO. The first World Health Day was held in 1950. Every year it serves as an opportunity to draw worldwide attention to a particular theme of importance related to global health.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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With Don Bosco - AlwaysTHE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Stefano Martoglio
To celebrate a General Chapter in one place or in some other place is not an indifferent matter. Certainly, being at Valdocco, in the "cradle of the charism", we have the opportunity to rediscover the beginnings of our history and rediscover the originality that constitutes the heart of our identity as consecrated persons and apostles to the young.
