(ANS - Rome) - In the last two weeks of May and the first of June, delegates, consecrated persons and lay people from all the Provinces of the world participated in three formative sessions organized by the Youth Ministry Sector. This initiative was conceived in response to the need of the Provinces to form and share the pastoral and moral keys for the affective-sexual education of young people, thinking of educational criteria. The participation was very numerous and representative of the various realities: a total of about 580 people across three days.
(ANS – Rome) – “We believe that it is the Holy Spirit who formed within Don Bosco the heart of a father and teacher, capable of total self-giving to poor young people, and that Mary is our Mother and Intercessor. Like Don Bosco, we believe that Mary has guided and protected this Family for its growth in all continents. She inspires us to care for the well-being of the young generation so that they can have a better future”. Thus begins the Councilor for the East Asia - Oceania Region, Fr Joseph Thinh Phouc, in the letter he sent to the Salesians and the Salesian Family of his Region on the occasion of the Solemnity of Pentecost and the Feast Day of Mary Help of Christians, celebrated this year one after the other, on 23 and 24 May. Below is the text of his letter, in which he glances at the current state of the Region.
(ANS - Rome) – In this month of May, the Marian month, the General Councilor for Social Communication of the Salesian Congregation, Fr Gildasio Mendes, proposes to look to Mary as an ever-present model for every communicator. Below is his reflection.
(ANS - Turin) – From 21 to 23 May, the world leaders of the 32 groups of the Salesian Family met online with the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, present in Valdocco, in what is called the “World Consulta of the Salesian Family”. The digital meeting mode allowed everyone to meet for two-hour sessions a day around the Father and Center of Unity of the Salesian Family, the Rector Major, in a space animated and guided by the Central Delegate of the Rector Major for the Salesian Family, Fr Joan Lluis Playá.
(ANS - Rome) - The annual meeting of the Secretariat of Southern Pastoral Care (SepSur) - School Sector was held on 7 and 8 May 2021. It involved the leaders of the School and Youth Ministry of the Provinces of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) and of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB). The gathering, in digital mode, explored the richness of the shared mission between religious and laity, and was coordinated by Sr Ivone Goulart and Fr Claudio Cartes, respectively FMA and SDB Referents for the Salesian School of America (ESA).
(ANS - Rome) - On Friday 21 May, at the Salesian Central Office, in the Sacro Cuore house in Rome, the meeting of the Salesians attending the course for formators at the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) took place with the Formation Department team. It was a moment of fraternity and a return to the sources of the charism.
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.