The Team Visit is an animation tool of the Congregation useful for evaluating the progress made in the different Salesian presences halfway through the six-year period, and which allows participants to work on different core areas. These include fidelity and vocational fruitfulness (from the care of the personal life of each Salesian, to the meaning of fraternal life, to the renewal and relaunching of Salesian pastoral action); the spirit and mission shared between Salesians and lay people and the journey towards a new model of animation and governance.
Fr Juan Carlos Pérez Godoy, Regional Councillor for the Mediterranean and in charge of presenting the situation to the meeting, expressed a positive opinion on what was shared by the participants. "A serene and beautiful atmosphere of familiarity, conviviality and joy has been created, typical of our Family Spirit" he explained, then focusing on other aspects of the shared sessions.
"The group work was very rich and focused on the issues that concern us as a Region to live our vocation faithfully and attractively, trying to respond to the challenges we face in the perspective of our mission, which we share with the laity, and from the perspective of our model of Salesian consecrated life, which we want to renew and live in fidelity to the Spirit and to Don Bosco" he added.
He then said, "I was also very happy with the liturgy, which was very well prepared and which helped to create an atmosphere of prayer for experiencing this Visit together, in a spirit of authentic discernment, listening to the Holy Spirit." In this regard, the Regional Councillor highlighted in particular, among the various appointments of the daily liturgy, the moment of Eucharistic adoration; and also highlighted the moments of conviviality and, in particular, the visit to the Greek Abbey of St Nile, which ended with the fraternal dinner at the Salesian house at Frascati Villa Sora, offered by the Salesian community with the collaboration of the Salesian Cooperators.
For his part, at the end of the event the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, assessed some of the aspects highlighted in his report. "After the final address, I would like to highlight above all the significant progress we are making as a Mediterranean Region. We are constantly presented with new challenges, which invite us to walk together, to take care of our people, of our brothers and sisters to really take care of our young people, with the importance of evangelisation. And it is here that we want to continue to commit ourselves, to gamble on always being present in the midst of those who need us most and, as far as possible, to be faithful and prophetic" he said.
