(ANS - Rome) - The Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) will celebrate its 150th anniversary on 18 April. It was established in Turin on 18 April 1869 through the work of Saint Giovanni Bosco, the year after the consecration of the Church of Mary Help of Christians (June 9, 1868), as thanks for the benefits that people recognized to the Virgin and as a tool for the defense and growth of the faith of the Christian people.
(Turin, April 12, 2019) - The Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA) will celebrate its 150th anniversary on 18 April. It was established in Turin on 18 April 1869 through the work of Saint Giovanni Bosco, the year after the consecration of the Church of Mary Help of Christians (June 9, 1868), as thanks for the benefits that people recognized to the Virgin and as a tool for the defense and growth of the faith of the Christian people.
The inspiration that moved Don Bosco was to offer a proposal for a simple Christian life that would sustain the ordinary life of the faithful, anchoring them firmly to the "two columns" of the Eucharist and of Mary, Immaculate and Help of Christians.
In the message sent on the occasion of this happy anniversary the President of the Primary ADMA of Turin-Valdocco, Renato Valera, said: “The coincidence with the liturgical date of Holy Thursday invites us to live this anniversary with a Eucharistic spirit. As we give thanks for these 150 years of life of the Association of Mary Help of Christians, let us commit, faithful to the charism of our holy founder Don Bosco, to letting ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit for a renewed evangelizing and educational impulse."
"It is about living and bringing faith in Jesus Christ and love to Mary to many friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, acquaintances," continues Mr. Valera. "The essential part of this evangelizing impulse consists in renewing the Association with a privileged attention to the family and to the new generations, favoring and taking care of personal friendship, openness to all and the spirit of service, making the deeply evangelical attitudes of Mary our own: her availability to God, her faithfulness in the hour of trial and of the cross, her spirit of joy and thanksgiving for the marvels that the Lord works."
More specifically, the 800 groups of ADMA aggregated around the world are invited to plan, for Holy Thursday or at another time, a time of Eucharistic adoration in which to renew, with Mary, faith in Jesus Christ and the commitment to be joyful witnesses of the new life of the Gospel.
For more information, please visit: https://www.admadonbosco.org/
Rome, Italy - April 2019 - On Monday 8 April, 12 Salesians gathered at the Salesian Headquarters in Rome, Salesians participating in a 4-month course for formators at the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS). After the afternoon of sharing with Fr Ivo Coelho, Generating Councilor for Formation, and his team, and after a visit to the historic places of Don Bosco in the Sacro Cuore, a moment of fraternity took place with the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, and the community of the Salesian HQ.
(ANS – Rome) – “We know how much Don Bosco loved maps of the world. He would pore over them and refer to them, especially at a time when his horizons had gone well beyond Piedmont, and what was coming together as 'Italy' in the second half of the 19th century, to the wider world of souls to be saved, young, old, indifferent, and especially souls as yet unenlightened by faith in Jesus”.
(ANS – Rome) - With four new members from Paraguay, Argentina and the Philippines joining the Don Bosco Green Alliance on 3 April 2019, this global Salesian platform now has over 100 members! This is significant, because the alliance was launched in April 2018 and in the span of just one year it has 103 registered members from 35 different countries. Membership to the alliance is open to all Salesian institutions and organizations worldwide. Don Bosco Green Alliance is working to create an environment that is safe and caring for all life on the planet, while building up a new generation of environmentally committed citizens and leaders.
(ANS - Rome) - The Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis "Christus vivit" was presented today in the John Paul II Hall of the Holy See Press Office. The Exhortation, which the Holy Father signed last March 25 on the occasion of his visit to Loreto, is the fruit of the Synod of Bishops of October on the theme "Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment". In fact, as per the synodal path, the pontifical document is in the form of a "Letter to the young". Fr Rossano Sala, who was Special Secretary of the Synod, spoke of the Apostolic Exhortation "Christus vivit".
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.