(ANS - Rome) - "The 28th General Chapter, a bit like Vatican Council I, will be remembered as an interrupted Chapter. Not by the Italian troops who entered Rome, but by an invisible and aggressive virus that has spread so quickly around the world that it has blocked everything." With this pointed similitude, Fr Rossano Sala, SDB, Director of the magazine Note di Pastorale Giovanile, who participated in the last two Synods of Bishops, opens his re-reading of the message that Pope Francis sent to the Salesians on the occasion of the Congregation's 28th General Chapter. His "meditative" analysis deeply delves into the papal text, "the word of a father that comes from the heart and asks everyone to start from Don Bosco, inviting us to achieve what he has repeatedly called the 'Valdocco Option'."
We invite you to read this commentary carefully.
(ANS - Rome) - The meeting of the General Council of the Salesian Congregation begins today, Monday 27 April, at 12, Italian time. This is a meeting that presents important innovations: it is, in fact, the first meeting of the General Council elected by the 28th General Chapter - which compared to the previous Council has been renewed by as many as 10 members; and it happens online for the first time - given that several of its members are not physically present in Rome due to the restrictions on movement imposed by the global health situation.
(ANS - Rome) - We will soon return to our educational mission in our schools and in our Vocational Training Centers (CFP). Thank God! But nothing will be like before. The learning environment, classes and workshops will never be the same again. It will be necessary to keep social distances, to live with protective masks, to transform timetables, schedules, spaces, with lots of disinfectant gel, because the new normal will be very different.
(ANS - Rome) - There are many issues the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, and the whole Salesian Congregation, will have to pay attention to, following the conclusion of the 28th General Chapter. In recent months, the focus has been almost entirely devoted to the coronavirus pandemic, but the work of the Congregation has not stopped. A new six-year term begins for the Rector Major, full of opportunities, but also challenges. The Successor of Don Bosco spoke to the weekly Alfa y Omega in a long interview we report on in the third and final part.
(ANS – Rome) – Childhood and youth Born at Agrigento on 14 October 1885 of Vitale and Rosa Montana, he showed a great wealth of human gifts and talents since childhood.
As a twelve-year-old he entered the 'San Basilio' Salesian college in Randazzo (Catania), Don Bosco's first work in Sicily, ready to accept the call to religious and apostolic life among the Salesians; a vocation strongly opposed by his father and grandfather, with its trials and long and painful struggles, but crowned with joyful success.
(ANS - Roma) - Herewith the official Press Release whereby the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, announces that Pope Francis, in relation to the request presented by the Group of Catholic Jurists, authorizes the opening of the Cause of Beatification of Mons. Giuseppe Cognata, S.D.B., Bishop of Bova and Founder of the Salesian Oblate Sisters of the Sacred Heart.
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.