Isiolo, Kenya – February 2024 - Sunday 25 February 2024 was a joyful day for the parish community of the Don Bosco Catholic Mission Korr, the Salesian mission in Korr, Kenya, which welcomed the General Councillor for the Missions, Fr Alfred Maravilla. He was accompanied by Fr Eric Mairura, of the Missions Sector, Fr George Tharaniyil, Superior of the Salesian Province of East Africa (AFE), and Fr Jose Padinjareparampil, Head of the Commission for Missionary Animation in the Province. Fr Maravilla spent much of the day with the people of the parish, celebrating Sunday Mass for the faithful and visiting the recently renovated and reopened parish dispensary. Then he went to Ngrunit, a mission station of the parish, about 50 kilometres away, and in the afternoon he met the young people of the parish. Don Bosco Catholic Mission Korr is located about 600 kilometres north of Nairobi and is located within the vast Kaisut desert, in the diocese of Marsabit, where the population is mostly made up of shepherds. Anyone who visits the parish can feel the love and warmth of the people, a testimony to the dedication and hard work of the Salesian pioneers and other Salesians who have worked in this mission. The current Director and Pastor of the mission is Fr Eric Owuor Onyango.
(ANS – Kigali) – The Team Visit to the Africa Madagascar region concluded on Friday, February 23, 2024, in the presence of Msgr. Arnaldo Sánchez Catalán, the Apostolic Nuncio to Rwanda.
(ANS – Rome) – The Salesian Congregation’s Sector for Youth Ministry and the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) are promoting a higher-level formation course for Salesian leaders in Europe.
(ANS – Rome) – The seventh video of the series "It is time for Chapter 28" has been made available online today, Friday, 23 February 2024, in which Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians, illustrates the seventh Action Guideline delivered after the 28th General Chapter: "IT IS TIME FOR GREATER GENEROSITY IN THE CONGREGATION. A universal and missionary Congregation."
(ANS – Kigali) – The third day of the Team Visit to the Salesian Region of Africa-Madagascar was marked by two highly significant moments: in the morning, the reflection on Youth Ministry offered by the General Councillor, Fr Miguel Angel García Morcuende; in the afternoon, the touching visit to the 1994 Genocide Memorial.
Kristu Jyoti Publications, Bengaluru (India) has published an English translation of Pier Luigi Cameroni's book on Salesian Brother St Artemides Zatti. A good gift to the English speaking Salesian world, and not only!
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Chile – Former Salesian student in the fight against Alzheimer's disease(ANS - Santiago) - Dr Nibaldo Inestrosa, graduate of the Salesian Institute in Valdivia and national prize of Natural Sciences winner, is a pioneer and expert in the study of Alzheimer's disease in the country. In this interview, he offers an insight into the current challenges, but not before reflecting on his formative experience at the Salesian Institute in Valdivia and how this influenced his interest in biology and science.
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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Italy – On-Line Course on Integral Ecology 2025: An Initiative of the Alliance for the Care of Our Common Home (Pontifical Universities & Atheneums of Rome)(ANS – Rome) – 2025 marks the tenth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical letter on the Care for Our Common Home, in which he invited all people of good to “a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet” (Laudato Si’, 14). However, as Pope Francis recognizes in Laudate Deum, the apostolic exhortation published on 4th October 2023, “our responses have not been adequate” and “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.” (Laudate Deum, 2).
SPECIAL REPORTS
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RMG - St. Francis de Sales Communicator: All for Love(ANS – Rome) - The figure of St. Francis de Sales, chosen by Don Bosco as an example of a communicator, teaches that communication is a matter of the heart. In his expression, "Everything in the Church is love: everything lives in love, for love, and of love," we understand his revolution in the way of communicating, and how communication becomes fruitful when it allows communion and the exchange of one's experiences in a path of accompaniment and collaboration in God's project.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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WHAT A GIFT TIME IS!THE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR,
Fr Stefano Martoglio, SDBThe beginning of the new year is illuminated in our liturgy by the ancient formula with which the Israelite priests blessed the people: "May the Lord bless you, and keep you. May the Lord show His face to you, and have mercy on you. May the Lord turn His countenance to you, and give you peace."