Quito, Ecuador - November 2024 - On 25 November, the annual meeting of the Extended Team was held at the Salesian Centre for Ongoing Formation in America (CSFPA), in Quito, Ecuador. This is a forum to accompany, evaluate and plan the work carried out by the CSFPA during the year, and approve the agenda of activities for the following year, with respect to formation courses. The topics discussed during the meeting were a proposal to support the formation of the Salesians in their quinquennium in the Interamerica Region; accompaniment of Salesian teachers in the formation houses; accompaniment of the formators in the initial stages; accompaniment of teams for ‘Formation to Salesianity of the laity, in the Provinces. In addition, the theme of the 50th anniversary of the CSFPA, which will be celebrated in 2025, 50 years of service to the Salesian Provinces of Latin America, was examined. The Extended Team is composed of the Provincial of Ecuador, two Regional Councillors, Interamerica and South Cone America, the two Regional Formation Coordinators of America, South Cone and Interamerica, the General Councillor for Formation and the General Councillors of the different Sectors of the Salesian Congregation.

Morocco - November 2024 - The second mission visit took place in the context of the new Special Circumscription of North Africa (CNA), from 25 to 27 November,  concerning the possibilities offered by the Italian government's ‘Mattei Plan’. The first took place in Tunisia in October, and this second took place in Morocco, attended by Fr Luca Barone from Salesian Headquarters in Rome, accompanied by Fr Pietro Bianchi. Welcomed at Rabat airport by the Vicar of the Circumscription, Fr Piotr Wolny, they were able, during their stay, to get to know the work that the six Salesians in the community, of six different nationalities, carry out passionately on Moroccan soil. The Don Bosco of Kenitra school is comprises a nursery school with 210 children, a primary school with 641 children and 241 in the college, and the Vocational Training Centre with 90 young people with civil, industrial and automation electrical vocational training. The pastoral work of the Parish and Youth Centre offers a complete panorama of Salesian educational activity. The meeting with the Italian Ambassador Dr Armando Barucco and his collaborators allowed a fruitful exchange of knowledge and proposed steps for collaboration. Particularly significant were two meetings held with the Salesian Cardinal of Rabat, Cristóbal López Romero, and with the 12 directors of Catholic schools in Morocco united in the ECAM Association, of which the rector of the Salesian house, Fr Alexandre Damians, is the archiepiscopal delegate. The esteem and affection with which the Salesians are surrounded is a splendid testimony to Salesian work in the Islamic context.

Hanoi, Vietnam – November 2024 – The first formation meeting of Rectors and those in charge of non-canonical communities in the Northern Delegation of Vietnam took place on 28 November. The event took place at the Parish of Van Phuc, in the Archdiocese of Hanoi, and represented an important moment in preparation for the establishment of the North Vietnamese Vice-Province, as indicated by the Rector Major after the Extraordinary Visitation made on his behalf by the Councillor for the Missions, Fr Alfred Maravilla. During the meeting there were numerous interventions, including one by Fr Anthony Nguyen, a Salesian from Australia, who dealt with the theme: "The Rector as guardian and animator of the Salesian consecrated identity". In the afternoon, Fr Thomas Vu Kim Long spoke and gave instructions on the way forward for the Delegation. The meeting marked the intention of the entire Delegation to put into practice the directives and recommendations of the Rector Major, with great hope for the growth of the Salesian charism in the northern part of Vietnam.