Parallels 15 and 20 is a new book by Fr Gildasio Mendes SDB, General Councillor for Social Communication. “It is my attempt to open one or more doors for dialogue with these people, through a more technical perspective on Don Bosco’s way of educating, as he designed his educational pedagogy” the author writes. This book does not offer a theological or religious interpretation: it is a text that seeks to define some variables based on Don Bosco’s phenomenological experience.

At the end of the celebrations of the Bicentennial of Don Bosco's "Dream at nine years of age", this book aims to explore this dream in the light of a second dream, which the by then young priest had in 1844. Evidently, for a child, a dream, even if revealed by God, is not easy to assimilate and understand quickly.

What developed into the New Rochelle Province of the Salesians of Don Bosco, an international congregation of priests and brothers present now in more than 130 countries, began when three Salesian missionaries arrived in New York City in November 1898. Canonically established in January 1902, the Province at first included all the works in the United States. In 1926 another Province was established on the West Coast; the New Rochelle Province included the eastern half of the U.S. In the 1950s permanent works were founded in Canada, as well. In 2024 the province includes five works spread across Canada and ten in the U.S., stretching from Boston to Tampa to New Orleans to Chicago. This book narrates the story of the province’s beginnings, from 1898 to 1921, during the terms of two Rectors Major, Father Michael Rua and Father Paul Albera.