NEWS
(ANS – Cotonou) – The Social Communication Provincial Delegates for the Africa-Madagascar Region had just concluded its 5 day meeting and marked the start of renewed cycle of collaboration, connection, and sharing of information. Encouragement from the ATE Provincial, Fr Miguel Angel Nguema, has been a great help for the majority of SC Delegates who have recently been appointed and were attrending this biennial meeting for the first time.
(ANS – Port-au-Prince) – The story is almost the same with the poor. Haiti is the country that “cannot recover”: an assertion that sounds as a persecution for this country, the poorest of the continent. After the earthquake that struck the country six years ago, Haiti “remains stuck in conditions of poverty and has not managed to overcome its political instability, and even less the economic one”. Fr. Jean Paul Mesidor, Superior of the Salesians of Haiti, knows that the problem of poverty is not due to lack of material things, but rather to lack of formation, education and to lack of the prospect of a better future for the youth.
(ANS – Gisenyi) – Gisenyi is a city located in the eastern part of Rwanda, very close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, contiguous to the Congolese city of Goma, where there is a Salesian presence. Gisenyi is renowned as a tourist attraction and during the genocide in Rwanda it hosted for some time the provisional government of the country. It is from this city that we receive the testimony of Iwona Błędowska, a Polish Volunteer of VIS, the “Don Bosco International Volunteer Service” writes from this city.
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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Argentina – UNISAL Participates in the International Forum “Territories of the Future: South Atlantic and Antarctica”(ANS – Río Grande) – From February 19 to 21, the cities of Río Grande, Tolhuin, and Ushuaia hosted the International Forum “Territories of the Future: South Atlantic and Antarctica”, organized by the University Network for the Care of the Common Home (RUC) and the Municipality of Río Grande, with support from the National University of Tierra del Fuego (UNTDF). The event brought together universities from Argentina, Latin America, and the Caribbean to discuss sustainability and conservation in these regions, with the Salesian University of Argentina (UNISAL) playing an important role.
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.