Quito, Ecuador – October 2016 – On October 1st, in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil there was the opening of the course of formation for lay people  “Alberto Marvelli”. The opening session, with about 130 participants, was guided by Fr. Robert García, in Quito, and by Fr. Wladimir Acosta, in Guayaquil, with the introductions to the theme of module 1 “Don Bosco Today”. Pablo Farfan, the National Coordinator of Virtual Education of UPS, in a video-conference, delivered his motivating message. In this way there was the official opening of the School of Formation of Lay People “Alberto Marvelli”.

Rome, Italy - October 20th, 2016 – On October 20th, at the Institute of Dogmatic Theology of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, in the presence of a large audience, there was the presentation of the figure of Fr. Luis Bolla, SDB, entitled “Possibilities and Future of the Missions”. Fr. Antonio Escudero chaired the encounter and introduced the speakers who reflected on the emblematic figure of this missionary and of those who directly knew his missionary work among the Achuar. Worth mentioning is the report of José Aranlot, who for two years knew his missionary work. During this day of study, the figure of Fr. Bolla was presented also by Fr. Juan Bottasso, Antonio Colajanni, Ann Meiser, Maurizio Gnerre and Fr. Aldo Giraudo.

Santiago, Chile - October 2016 - The Eleventh Provincial Day of Social Communications was attended by the communication delegates of all the Salesian works in Chile. The new Provincial Communications Team was introduced. The challenges to be faced in the Southern Cone were studied and there were workshops on the web and social networks, conducted by Daniela González. In addition, several other issues were addressed, including the change of the press communication model; the entry of the Salesian Bulletin into the digital world, the recent reprinting and distribution system; Google Apps Educational; and the corporate image project.