The Salesian community in Vaulx-en-Velin is located in a neighbourhood where up to three years ago there was not even a church. The previous chapel had been destroyed and during the construction of the new building there were no services of worship.
This is where two families and a permanent deacon bravely tried to start a group of altar servers. After one year there were thirty of them and that number grew to forty at the celebration that accompanied their monthly meeting. While the children are engaged in their own activities, about a dozen mothers gather to pray together, while the fathers organize sports activities for teenagers.
This tiny seed is already bearing some fruit. Eleven young people are preparing for baptism, two families have rediscovered the faith, some Iraqi immigrants are being integrated into the activities ... And all this in Vaulx-en-Velin, the city where the urban riots started in 1995!
The parents are grateful to the group because "this is a space where young people can meet in freedom and joy, and an environment where they can live their faith". This is in a situation where 45% of their friends in the public schools – since there are no private schools in Vaulx-en-Velin - are Muslims, and this affects their spiritual development even unintentionally.
The Salesian community stays active, organizing pilgrimages to the Marian shrine of Fourvière as well as processions, liturgical services, the daily "good morning" thought. They conclude every activity with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Many of the older youth ask of their own accord to be allowed to animate the younger ones. In the words of the young Salesian Emmanuel Petit: "There are all spiritual ingredients of the Valdocco Oratory ... but meeting twenty-first century needs with parents involved alongside Salesians and youth leaders."
"All this happened almost without planning or organization. At the beginning of every Mass, faithful to Don Bosco, we pray together with Mary. We firmly believe that this weekly Ave Maria is the origin of all this," he concludes.
