(ANS – Vienna) – The will to live of the people in Syria is stronger than war. This was underscored by the Syrian Salesian confrère Fr. Dani Gaurie, on Wednesday, November 30th, at the “Salesianum” in Vienna, while, in cooperation with those in charge of the initiative “Don Bosco for Refugees”, he presented the current situation in Syria. Salesians are active in the country just as they were before: 4 of them animate the Youth Centre in Damascus and 3 run the Oratory in West Aleppo. All activities are possible only in these government-controlled areas.

(ANS - Abuja) - Fr Jorge Crisafulli is a Salesian from Argentina who has been a missionary in Africa for 20 years. In this story, full of simplicity, he relates a beautiful message of missionary service: it all happened in a market in Nigeria, in the street, a few blocks from where the Salesians have their community in Abuja, the capital. Nigeria is the giant of Africa, rich in natural and human resources, with 180 million inhabitants. It is also a producer of oil. Unfortunately Nigeria has been very poorly   governed in recent decades.

(ANS – Berkeley) – Father Arthur Lenti is known throughout the Salesian world, especially because of the success and kind reception accorded to his multi-volume biographical survey entitled, Don Bosco: History and Spirit, now translated into several languages. Born, like Don Bosco, in the region of Piedmont (Italy), in 1939 Fr. Arthur migrated to the United States, where he joined the Salesian Society. He returned to Rome and took up Salesian Studies, earnestly and diligently, with emphasis on Don Bosco’s history and spirituality, in the context of the nineteenth century Church and society. It was thus that an Institute of Salesian Studies was established at “Don Bosco Hall” with affiliation to the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology.