Starting at 10 a.m., numerous members of the Salesian educational communities from the Greater Buenos Aires area, together with many Salesians arrived at the church moved by the motto of the event: ‘Your dreams as a Father have crossed borders’. At 11 a.m. a video greeting by Fr Stefano Martoglio SDB, Vicar of the Rector Major, currently in charge of the worldwide Congregation, and the documentary ‘Estamos todos: El sueño salesiano llega a América’, produced by the Argentine Salesian Bulletin, were screened.

Then began the Eucharistic celebration, presided by the Superior of the Salesian Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá Province of Argentina South (ARS), Fr Darío Perera, and concelebrated by several Salesian priests.

During the homily, the Superior invited those present to give thanks for, rethink and relaunch the mission. ‘Acknowledge and thank God for the gift of the missionary vocation, which today allows the sons of Don Bosco and his family to reach out to the poor and abandoned young people of 136 countries,’ he said. And ‘rethink’: ‘With serenity, humility and honesty: as we begin the celebrations for these 150 years, I would like to ask for forgiveness, because not all 150 years have been good. For there have been years when we have not defended, we have not given ourselves, we have not dared, we have not been able, we have not built, we have not achieved.... Some of us have caused damage, corrupted and caused pain. Many times our hearts and actions were not motivated by the love that is given as gift,’ he said.

This is why he asked those present to look at these 150 years of Salesian missions from the perspective of relaunching: ‘For us, “relaunching” means getting in tune with our history to recover the audacity of the first arrivals, their very parresia, their ability to go to the peripheries, their coherence with the Gospel. That is why we are here today not only to commemorate the 150 years that have passed, but also to commit ourselves to the 150 years that lie ahead.'

After Communion, a gesture was made in which young people from the different groups of the Salesian Youth Movement at the celebration offered paper boats with the names of Salesian houses in Argentina and America at the feet of the statue of Mary Help of Christians.

Finally, Fr Alejandro León SDB, parish priest of the San Juan Evangelista Church in the La Boca neighbourhood, and members of the Association of Salesian History Enthusiasts (ACSSA), presented a chronological account of the arrival of Salesian missionaries and their settlement in different parts of Argentina and particularly in Patagonia.

The entire celebration was streamed live and can be viewed on the web.

After the Mass, a cultural event was held in the courtyard of the Don Bosco school in Congreso, with a folkloric dance by the young people from the Nuestra Señora de Caacupé centre, the Salesian house in Isidro Casanova.

This is how Salesians in Argentina and around the world began celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Salesian Missionary Expedition, which will continue throughout 2025.

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