(ANS – Rome) – Mission ‘Ad Gentes’ is an often-quoted term. But what does it really mean? It is more than just missionary volunteering, missionary experiences or fundraising for missionary activities. The word “mission” from the Latin “mission”, means “the act of sending”. While “Ad Gentes” indicates a movement “towards the people” particularly those who do not know Jesus Christ or having once known Him, have now abandoned their Christian faith.  Thus, mission ad gentes is “the task of preaching the Gospel and planting the Church among peoples or groups who do not yet believe in Christ” (Ad Gentes 6).

(ANS - Luanda) - "Upon my return to Paraguay, after almost three months of visiting Salesian communities in Angola, I appreciated the invitation I received from the Angolan Salesian Bulletin to write my impressions. I found an incredible Easter story: from sorrow to hope, from a past of war to a life of peace, from seeds planted to growing fruits full of hope." So begins the testimony of Archbishop Edmundo Valenzuela, SDB, Archbishop Emeritus of Asunción, Paraguay, about the growth of the Salesian presence in Angola, the country where he served as a missionary in his early years as a Salesian.

(ANS – Stony Point) – Don Bosco had two very important women in his life: his earthly mother, Mamma Margaret, the heart of the Preventive System, and his heavenly mother, Mary Help of Christians, the heart of his work with the young, the poor, and the founding of the Congregation. A few years after his priestly ordination and the fragile beginning of his work with poor boys that would become the Oratory, our beloved founder had a follow-up to his dream at nine.