South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a multicultural country, one of the few countries in the world with 11 official languages spoken by many ethnic groups. It is a country that has suffered for more than 40 years from racial segregation, which was instituted in 1948 by the country’s ethnic white government and remained in force until 1991. Called apartheid, it was a racially segregated policy that was officially condemned by the United Nations in 1973, when it declared apartheid a crime against humanity. Today, many years later, blacks, whites, mestizos and Asians live together, although segregationist mentalities can still be felt. Some 20 years ago, a Paraguayan Salesian, Fr Alberto Higinio Villalba, now provincial economer and rector of the Salesian house in Johannesburg, arrived in this country as a missionary. We asked him to tell us a little about the realisation of his missionary dream.
I was born in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, a small country in South America, surrounded by Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. I come from a family of six children, three boys and three girls. I am the second son. My whole family is in Paraguay; my parents are still alive, although with some health problems related to their age. The desire to become a missionary came long ago, as a young man, together with the Salesian Youth Movement, when I went to do apostolate in villages and suburban stations, helping children with catechesis and in oratory activities. Then, when I was a Salesian pre-novice, I met a Spanish priest, Fr Martín Rodríguez, who shared with me his experience as a missionary in the Chaco Paraguayo: at that moment the desire to become a missionary was strengthened. But it was thanks to the Rector Major Fr Vecchi that I decided to leave: his missionary appeal to all the provinces appealed to me and, talking with my Provincial, Fr Cristóbal López, today Cardinal and Archbishop of Rabat, I decided to take part in the 2000 missionary expedition.
Of course, it was not easy. From the beginning I encountered several cultural shocks that I had to overcome with patience and commitment. Before arriving in Africa, I was sent to Ireland to learn English: everything was very new to me, very challenging. Once I landed in South Africa, there was no longer one new language I did not understand, but many more! In fact, South Africa has eleven official languages and English is only one of them. On the other hand, the Salesians’ welcome was very warm and kind.
I always say that to become a missionary you don’t need to leave your country, culture, family, and everything else. To be a missionary means to bring Jesus to people wherever we are; and we can do this in our families, in our communities, where we work. However, becoming missionaries “ad gentes” means responding to the generosity of God who shared his Son with us through the missionaries who evangelised our continents, and to the generosity of Don Bosco who sent his missionaries to share the Salesian charism with us. If there have been so many people who have left their countries and cultures to share Christ and Don Bosco with us, then we too can respond to that love and kindness to share the same gifts with others.
Speaking of Southern Africa, the Southern African Vice-Province includes three countries: South Africa, where the Salesians arrived in 1896, the kingdom of Eswatini (arrived 75 years ago) and the kingdom of Lesotho. Many changes have taken place over the years: we have moved from technical centres to schools, parishes and now projects. Currently we have seven communities, most of them with some parishes and training centres or oratories attached to the communities. Having been in Africa for more than 20 years now, I would say that the best experience of my Salesian life was in Eswatini, working for Manzini Youth Care. When I was asked to take care of the project, the MYC was in a very difficult financial situation and the organisation had several months’ salary arrears. However, the people working on the projects had never complained and every day they came with the same enthusiasm and energy to do their best to contribute to the lives of the young people MYC was working for. This is where you can really see the commitment of our lay collaborators and it is a pleasure to work with them. We want to do a lot, but from a vocational point of view, we are diminishing and we need the help of Salesians who willingly offer to help us spread the Good News and Salesian spirituality here in Southern Africa. Many Salesians and many provinces continue to show generosity, making their human resources available, sending missionaries to our countries of origin. Therefore, we are invited to share the same generosity and hope that it will turn into a spiral of growth. For the sons of Don Bosco, it is a duty to let people know who our father Don Bosco is, and the rich spirituality of the Salesian charism.
Marco Fulgaro
Salesians in Azerbaijan, sowers of hope
The story of a young man expressing gratitude for the work of the only Salesian community in Azerbaijan, a reference point for many young people in the capital.
Azerbaijan (officially the Republic of Azerbaijan), is a country located in the Transcaucasus region, bordering the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia and Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. It is home to a population of around 10 million who speak the Azerbaijani language, which belongs to the Turkic language family. The country’s main wealth is oil and gas. It became independent in 1918 and was the first secular democratic state with a Muslim majority. Its independence lasted only two years, however, as it was incorporated into the newly formed Soviet Union in 1920. With the fall of the Soviet Empire, it regained independence in 1991. During this period, the Nagorno Karabakh region, inhabited mainly by Armenians, declared its independence under the name of the Artsakh Republic, an event that led to several wars. It reappeared in the international news after the recent attack by Azerbaijan on 19 September 2023, which led to the suppression of the aforementioned republic and the exodus of almost all Armenian inhabitants from this region to Armenia.
The presence of Christians in this region is mentioned as far back as the first centuries after Christ. In the 4th century, the Caucasian king Urnayr officially declared Christianity the state religion and it remained so until the 8th century when, following a war, Islam imposed itself. Today, the majority religion is Shia-dominated Islam, and Christians of all denominations account for 2.6% of the population. The presence of Catholics in the country dates back to 1882 when a parish was founded; in 1915, a church was built in the capital Baku, demolished by the Soviet communists in 1931, dissolving the community and arresting the parish priest, who died a year later in a forced labour camp.
Following the fall of Communism, the Catholic community of Baku was reconstituted in 1997, and after a visit to Azerbaijan by Pope Saint John Paul II in 2002, land was obtained for the construction of a new church, consecrated to the Immaculate Conception and inaugurated on 29 April 2007.
The Salesian presence in Azerbaijan was opened in the Jubilee year 2000, in the capital Baku, the largest city in the country, with a population of more than 2 million.
The rector of the Salesian house in Baku, Fr Martin Bonkálo, tells us that the Salesian mission is embodied in different and ever new contexts, as a response to the challenges and needs of youth. The echoes of Don Bosco can also be heard in Azerbaijan, in Central Asia, a country with a Muslim majority, which experienced the Soviet regime in the last century. Seven Salesians live and work in this house, including five priests and two brothers belonging to the Slovak Province (SLK), who take care of St Mary’s parish and the Maryam Education Centre. This is a work for the integral development of young people: evangelisation, catechesis, education and social aid. Throughout the country, Catholics are a small flock professing their faith with courage and hope. The work of the Salesians is therefore based on witnessing to God’s love in various forms. Relationships with the people are open, clear and friendly: this favours the flourishing of educational action.
Young people are like any other young people in the world, with their fears and talents. Their greatest challenge is to receive a good education to earn a living. Young people seek an educational environment and people who are capable on a professional and human level, who know how to communicate the path to follow in order to seek the meaning of life. The Salesians are committed to looking to the future, to enrich their presence in the country, to make it more international, and to remain faithful to the charism transmitted by Don Bosco, with joy and enthusiasm.
Shamil, a former pupil of the Salesian centre in Baku, recounts: “I came into contact with the Maryam centre in 2012 and that encounter proved to be fundamental for the rest of my life. At that time, I had done my military service and was finishing my education at a computer college. I needed to grow professionally, but at the same time I badly needed friends in the real world! I arrived in Baku from the province and met a friend of mine on the street who told me about the Maryam Centre. So we went together to visit it and from there a beautiful chapter in my life began. From the first day, I found myself in a different world, not easy to explain, I say in my heart that it is an island. It became for me an island of humanity, in the modern world often interested in using people, and not really caring about them.
Without me even realising it, the programme at the youth centre had started and I was part of a team. Someone was playing volleyball, someone table tennis, a group of boys were strumming guitars…. Later, we sat in the refectory and everyone was given a chance to share a word to express their opinion on the day gone by, their impressions or new ideas. I was a rather shy guy, yet I happily started talking about the day’s events and general topics without any difficulty or restraint. Among the many courses at the centre, I decided to start with the Photoshop graphics course and the English language course. When I then had to leave my job for health reasons, I also lost a roof over my head. The solution was to work at the centre as a guard, with certain duties and responsibilities. I was on probation for a month and I am happy that I did not let anyone down and that I found a new home. When Fr Stefan started developing the Cisco Academy computer network project at the centre in 2014, my career path as a network engineer began. During the same period, I was able to learn three domestic trades: welding, electricity and plumbing. In 2016, I became an official Cisco instructor and have now been working as a network engineer for six years. This job has allowed me and my family to get back on our feet after years of very precarious living. In addition to my job, I teach courses on computer networks, became an animator and help organise summer camps for children. I can only be grateful to Don Bosco for everything he has given me in life”.
There are so many stories of young people like Shamil, who have managed to turn their lives around thanks to the work of the Salesians in Baku, and we hope that this work can prosper and continue to be fruitful.
Marco Fulgaro
The Giving of the Salesian Missionary Cross
On 24 September the Rector Major presided at the giving of the missionary cross to the members of the 154th Missionary expedition of the Salesian Congregation. This is the 154th group since Don Bosco presided at the first missionary send-off in Valdocco on 11 November1875.
The missionary send-off in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco is the way in which the Salesian Congregation renews its missionary commitment before Mary Help of Christians. The heart of this touching celebration is the missionary who receives the missionary cross from the successor of Don Bosco, the Rector Major. In fact, this distinctive Salesian missionary cross is given by the Rector Major only to those who offer the radical and complete gift of self which, by its very nature, implies total availability without any time limits (ad vitam).
Receiving the Cross expresses many emotions and spiritual challenges. The life of the missionary is focused on the person of Christ and of Christ crucified. It implies that the missionary first receives and then passes on the great teaching of the Cross: the infinite love of the Father who gives the best of himself, his Son; love to the end that is obedient and generous in giving oneself to the will of the Father for the salvation of humanity. For every Salesian missionary “Our highest knowledge […] is to know Jesus Christ, and our greatest delight is to reveal to all people the unfathomable riches of his mystery.” (SDB Constitutions art. 34).
The Good Shepherd in the Salesian missionary cross reveals Salesian Christology: pastoral charity is the nucleus of the Salesian spirit, the attitude that “wins hearts by gentleness and self-giving” (SDB Constitutions art. 10-11).
Da Mihi Animas cetera Tolle (give me souls, take away the rest): This is the motto that characterised the Sons of Don Bosco from the beginning. In a missionary context this brief Salesian prayer acquires particular significance: leave everything, even one’s land and culture, and the things that give security, in order to devote oneself without limit to those to whom one is sent, to be an instrument of salvation for them.
The Holy Spirit who comes down on the Good Shepherd in the river Jordan, descends now on Christ present in the pastoral dynamism of the Church. Without the Holy Spirit, and without the light, discernment, strength and holiness that come from the Spirit, all missionary activity is no more than a series of activities, sometimes empty, carried out in distant places.
Finally, the text written at the back of the cross: “Euntes ergo docete omnes nationes baptizantes eos in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti” (Mt 28:19) (Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit): the heart of the missionary mandate given by the Risen Lord. The text gives a mandate to teach all people so that they may become followers and disciples of Jesus (the Greek text emphasizes mathêteúsate, “make disciples”, which is more than just docete, “teach”). Evangelisation, the fullness of grace, comes through words and deeds, with the greatest of all the sacramental graces which is baptism that plunges the person into the mystery of communion with God.
In 1875 Don Bosco sent 10 Italian Salesians to Argentina. Today, missionaries come from all populated continents and are sent to all populated continents. Every Salesian, every Province shares responsibility for the missionary activity of the whole Congregation. Thanks to Salesian missionaries, Don Bosco’s charism is now present in 134 countries. The reflections of some members of the 154 missionary expedition reveal how much Salesian missionaries have touched people’s lives, and in turn, generate new Salesian missionary vocations.
Cl. Jorge DA LUÍSA JOÃO, Salesian from in Bengo, Angola is 31 years old. “The seed of my missionary vocation developed when we watched missionary videos in the Salesian community at Benguela, where I became an external aspirant. Then during my prenovitiate, novitiate and post novitiate this developed with the accompaniment of my spiritual guide. Now that the Rector Major has accepted my missionary application and sends me to Capo Verde. my dream is to give my whole life in the mission land where I will be sent and be buried there, just like the missionaries who gave everything for Angola and whose bodies rest on Angolan soil.”
Cl. Soosai ARPUTHARAJ from Michaelpalayam, Tamilnadu. “My missionary vocation began when I was a in the beginning of my initial formation, but I was afraid to tell anyone of my missionary desire. But during the meeting for young Salesians of our Province they spoke to us of missionary experience. This made me ask myself: “Why can’t I become a missionary ad gentes in the Salesian congregation?” I am grateful to my Vice-Provincial who guided me to finally make this decision to offer myself to the Rector Major to go wherever he will send me. Thus, I accepted willingly the proposal of the General Councillor for Missions to send me to Romania. I know this is God’s call to me to give my life to the youngsters of Romania.
Cl. Joshua TARERE, 30 years old from, hails from Vunadidir, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea. He is the first salesian missionary from Oceania. “When I was a child I knew only the diocesan priest in my parish. As a secondary student I was not in a Salesian school. But thanks to Salesians from Don Bosco Rapolo who came to my parish for Sunday mass, I was inspired by their missionary work. They came to my country to serve the young people. This experience of service and availability to others helped me identify myself with their missionary vocation.” “During my novitiate my Novice Master, Fr. Philip Lazatin, encouraged me to discern and clarify my missionary interest. In the Post Novitiate, I continued my discernment with my Rector, Fr. Ramon Garcia, as well as with my spiritual guide, to discover if my desire to be a Salesian missionary is truly a call from God. After a long period of discernment, I finally decided to apply to the Rector Major and make myself available anywhere he will send me to. This I did freely without any pressure from anyone.” “I am told that I am the first Salesian from Oceania to be a missionary. But to me this is not important. What is important is my availability to respond with generosity to God’s personal call to me. As a missionary to South Sudan, I have a mixed feeling of fear and courage. The media present all negative images of violence, and displaced people in South Sudan. But I am also inspired to be courageous because I know fully well that the Lord who has sent me for His mission will surely take care of me. My fears have not overtaken my great desire to serve, to love and to be one with the new culture and people I am sent to.”
Cl. Francois MINO NOMENJANAHARY from Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar is 25 years old. He is destined for the Vice-Province of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, offers us his testimony today. “I have to admit that I have never heard of Papua New Guinea before, until Fr. Alfred Maravilla, proposed that I go there. I accepted willingly to be sent because I have offered my availability to respond to God’s call to me to be a missionary. I also had to explain to my parents and family where my missionary destination is. Thanks be to God, they came to accept it. Surely, Like everyone else, I have my fears. I am happy to meet missionaries in Papua New Guinea in this course. I am happy to know that the first Papua New Guinean Catholic priest, Louis Vangeke, was formed in the seminary in Madagascar. This makes me feel also connected to my mission land.
Fr. Michał CEBULSKI from Katowice, Poland is 29 years old. He was ordained a few months ago, in June. “As a young Salesian he spent a year of practical training in Ireland. “Since I was a child I heard stories about missionaries which developed in me the desire to be like them. I am happy that I am sent to Lithuania, the country that shares a border with Poland. Although my country shares the border with Lithuania and we have similarities regarding food and culture, the Lithuanian language will not be easy for me. My new Provincial told me that I will have to learn Italian for some months. But once I will be in Lithuania, approaching the people and understanding their culture will be my priority. I hope that the Lithuanian people will discover God’s love through my service. I want to help young people to live with true joy, which Don Bosco told us, is caused by a pure heart.”
Br. Kerwin P. VALEROSO, a 35-year-old Salesian Brother from Pura, Tarlac, Philippines is going to the new Circumscription of North Africa (CNA). “Once I saw the pictures of the first three missionary expeditions of Salesians. Thinking about the places where they reached, the works they built, the hearts they have touched, and the souls they have saved, I felt that this was my vocation. I am grateful to my formators, mentors, and friends who co-journeyed with me to purify and strengthen my missionary vocation.” “I am grateful to my family, confreres and friends who made me feel their support, prayers, and well wishes as I embark to respond to my missionary vocation. I do not hide that I have mixed feeling of joy and fear in going to North Africa whose language, culture, or people I do not know yet. I have no knowledge of Islam either. However, my main task now is to learn well this year the French language. I have to say that our confreres in Paris, France have made me really felt welcomed. I am also grateful to my Province of origin (FIN) that despite the multitude of work in the apostolate, has generously encouraged me to offer myself for the missionary works of our Congregation.”
Cl. Dominic NGUYEN QUOC OAT, 30 years old, is from Dong Nai, Vietnam. “I had been interested about the mission since I was in Secondary School. I even shared with my high school classmates about my dream of becoming a missionary. As a young Salesian I had discerned because I believe that God is inviting me to be a missionary for Him and for his people, hence I applied make a lifelong missionary commitment wherever the Rector Major will send me.” “God has offered me an opportunity to be a missionary in Great Britain. I’m happy to accept my missionary destination although, I have some concerns because I am an Asian who is being sent to Europe. I need to educate myself more about the language and culture of my mission country. But I believe that God who called me to be a Salesian missionary will continue to bless me with his Grace to carry out the mission he has entrusted to me.”
Fr. Andre DELIMARTA, is one of the first two Indonesian Salesians. At 55 years old, he had been Novice Master, Rector, Parish Priest in his Vice Province (INA). He is a member of last year’s 153rd missionary expedition destined for Malaysia, but he will receive the missionary cross only this September 24. “I grew up with Salesians. The loving-kindness, hard work, commitment and the spirit of sacrifice of Salesian missionaries like Fr Alfonso Nacher, Fr Jose Carbonell, Deacon Baltasar Pires and Fr Jose Kusy have had a great impact on me. It was they who taught me Don Bosco, introduced me to the Congregation and made me fall in love with their missionary zeal”. “When I was in initial formation I wanted to be a missionary but my formators prohibited me because they said Don Bosco has to take root in Indonesia. In fact, as the first Indonesian Salesian I had insisted on making Don Bosco’s charism take root in Indonesia as our priority. But when the insistent appeal for missionaries was relayed to our Vice Province, my missionary vocation was reignited. My love for Don Bosco and for the Congregation made me decide to offer myself as a missionary. If the Congregation needs missionaries, then I want to say: “Here I am! I’ll go!””
Here are all 24 members of the 154th Salesian Missionary Expedition:
– Shivraj BHURIYA, from India (Mumbai Province – INB) to Slovenia (SLO); – Thomas NGUYEN QUANG QUI, from Vietnam (VIE) to Great Britain (GBR); – Dominic NGUYEN QUOC OAT, from Vietnam (VIE) to Great Britain (GBR); – Jean Bernard Junior Gerald GUIELLE FOUETRO, from the Republic of Congo (Africa Congo Province – ACC) to Germany (GER); – Br Blaise MULUMBA NTAMBWE, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Province of Central Africa – AFC) to Germany (GER); – Fr Michael CEBULSKI, from Poland (Province of Cracow – PLS) to Lithuania (Special Circumscription of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta – ICP); – Br Kerwin VALEROSO, from the Philippines (Province of the Northern Philippines – FIN) to the North Africa Constituency (NAC); – Br Joseph NGO DUC THUAN, from Vietnam (VIE) to the North African Circumscription (NAC); – Fr Domenico PATERNÒ, from Italy (Province of Sicily – ISI) to the North African Circumscription (NAC); – David Broon, from India (Province of Tiruchy – INT) to Albania (Province of Southern Italy – IME); – Elisée TUUNGANE NZIBI, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Province of Central Africa – AFC) to Albania (Province of Southern Italy – IME); – Fr George KUJUR, from India (Province of Dimapur – IND) to Nepal (Province of India-Calcutta – INC); – Br Soosai ARPUTHARAJ, from India (Province of Chennai – INM) to Romania (Province of North East Italy – INE); – Br John the Baptist NGUYEN VIET DUC, from Vietnam (VIE) to Romania (Province of North East Italy – INE); – Br Mario Alberto JIMÉNEZ FLORENCE, from Vietnam (Province of Central Africa – AFC) to Romania (Province of North East Italy – IME); – Br John Paul VIET DUC, from Vietnam (Province of India – IND) to Romania (Province of North East Italy – INE); – Br John Paul L. Mario Alberto JIMÉNEZ FLORES, from Mexico (Province of Guadalajara – MEG) to the Delegation of South Sudan (DSS); – Sarathkumar RAJA, from India (Province of Chennai – INM) to Sri Lanka (LKC); – Lyonnel Richie Éric BOUANGA, from the Republic of Congo (Province of Africa Congo – ACC) to the Vice Province of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (PGS); – Joshua TARERÉ, from Papua New Guinea (PGS) to the Delegation of South Sudan (DSS); – Nomenjanahary François MINO, from Madagascar (MDG) to the Vice Province of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (PGS); – Jean KASONGO MWAPE, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Province of Central Africa – AFC) to Brazil (Province of Brazil-Porto Alegre – BPA); – Khyliait WANTEILANG, from India (Province of Shillong – INS), to Brazil (Province of Brazil-Porto Alegre – BPA); – Fr Joseph PHAM VAN THONG, from Vietnam (VIE) to South Africa (Vice Province of Southern Africa – AFM); – Fr Miguel Rafael Coelho GIME, from Angola (ANG) to Mozambique (MOZ); – Klimer Xavier SANCHEZ, from Ecuador (ECU) to Mozambique (MOZ).
Missionary experience in Peru
Interview with José Gallego Vázquez, Salesian Brother, who after many years of service in his homeland left it to go on mission, meeting many needs.
1. Who are you and how did the missions in Peru come about? Hello, I am Salesian Brother José Gallego Vázquez. I was born 54 years ago in Vigo, Spain. I worked in several houses in the former Province of Santiago el Mayor de León for 22 years, before leaving as a missionary to Peru in 2010. The Salesians arrived in Peru in 1891 and run an oratory in the Rímac neighbourhood of Lima, where they teach classes, prepare the sacraments and play with children.
2. What do the Salesians do in Peru? We serve three missionary areas in the jungle, as well as schools, shelters, oratories and youth centres, vocational schools, parishes, Salesian Family groups and other pastoral and welfare activities.
3. Challenges of missionary life?
I have been working for more than seven years in the Amazon Mission of San Lorenzo, which has a population of 11,000 and is located on the banks of the Marañón river, in the Loreto region. I am responsible for the Oratories and the Youth Centre. We run five oratories once a week (one oratory two days a week) and a youth centre from Tuesday to Saturday evenings. The oratories and youth centre are attended by 430 children and older youth per week. We have moments of human formation (talks with city institutions, civic values, etc.), Christian formation, goodnights, sports, championships, Salesian evenings, conviviality, workshops (dance, football, handicrafts, ecology, etc.). The children and older youth we serve come from low or very low-income families, from large families and with unmarried parents who often come from other households.
Since 2016, we also run a vocational training centre, specialising in carpentry, agriculture and animal husbandry and motor mechanics. This centre is aimed at the indigenous people of the province. We have a residence five hours away from the mission, in a small indigenous community. We take care of up to 50 young men and women. They are also given a human and Christian formation and, those who request it, are prepared for the sacraments.
4. What can you say about community visits and your travels? The missionary community covers an area of about 30,000 square kilometres, where we assist three parishes and about 130 indigenous and mestizo communities. It is an itinerant missionary community; the rivers are our meeting places with the mestizos and indigenous people, as we serve up to seven native peoples (Shawi, Kandozi, Chapra, Kocama, Aguajun, Achuar and Wampis). Their welcome is always good, expected and desired, nourished by our desire to say Mass, receive a word from the priest or Salesian brother. We would like to reach them more often, but distances, the cost of travel and the lack of missionaries make it very difficult to assist and accompany our brothers and sisters. This is why I encourage those who read these lines to lend a hand for a while, to help support these missions with resources, and to sensitise everyone to pray to the Lord for our recipients, the missionaries and the new native vocations.
5. Your personal experience as a missionary. Meeting the missionaries, walking through the jungle, eating like the people, sleeping in their homes, living with them and learning so much from them, one gradually learns to appreciate them, to relativise so many things in the world, to appreciate and value life with a different way of managing time and the environment. I greatly appreciate the balance in which they live in contact with nature, which they feel and experience as part of them, forming a whole, when they hunt, when they fish, when they gather in the fields or orchards, when they have their wayús or masato moments, or in community assemblies to regulate community life. One also learns and appreciates how the Christian leaders of the communities, many fathers and mothers of families, animate the Christian life of their community with the celebration of the Word on Sundays, the preparation of the sacraments for children and adults, etc. Some of them have been there for 30, 40 or more years. This is a generous example and testimony of perseverance and vocation to service to help keep the faith of the Christian community alive.
6. What process is followed for young people interested in religious life?
My final words are to reflect on the vocational dimension in these mission lands. We see that there are young men with vocational concerns, who express the desire to become priests or religious. Accompaniment with a formation plan and overall planning is fundamental to help them in their discernment in these first moments of restlessness and search. Pastoral activity and involvement will help them, in their responsible performance, to mature in their lives as persons and as committed Christians, before taking other steps. All this will bear fruit if the entire missionary community is involved in this journey, contributing and facilitating the approach and living together with the young person. This is why it is so important to be open, welcoming communities that invite and share life and mission with them.
This process comes before sending them to the provincial vocational meeting, which is organised every year, to continue the process in another Salesian house, either as a volunteer or as an aspirant or pre-novice. It is a personalised, slow and patient process.
In thanking José Gallego Vázquez for his service to those most in need, we pray that the Lord will raise up more vocations for the Salesian missions, remembering that God blesses this generosity with many more vocations. And let us remember that even if prayer is essential, we must also do our part, as Don Bosco used to say: “speak often of vocations, talk a lot about the missions, have the letters of the missionaries read” (MB XIII,86).
Marco Fulgaro
Towards a renewed missionary outlook
Salesian missions abroad, one of the characteristics of the Congregation founded by St John Bosco, begun during his lifetime, continue even though the concepts of mission and missionaries have changed due to the needs of the times.
Today we find ourselves in a different context than the missionary projects that spread the Congregation to America (1875), Asia (1906) and Africa (1980). New perspectives and questions have brought new missiological reflections. A renewed vision of Salesian missions is urgently needed.
In many countries, including countries of ancient Christian tradition, there are urban centres, or neighbourhoods, where people live who do not know Jesus, others who, after having known him, have abandoned him, or still others who live their faith as mere cultural tradition. Therefore, today “the missions” cannot be understood only in geographical terms, of movement towards “mission lands” as in the past, but also in sociological, cultural and even digital terms. Today “missions” are found wherever there is a need to proclaim the Gospel. And missionaries come from and are sent to all continents.
Salesian missionaries collaborate with the Church in fulfilling its mission to evangelise (Mt 28:19-20). Proclaiming the Gospel, especially to the young, is the primary missionary task of every Salesian. Salesian initiatives for human advancement, motivated by deep faith, are a First Proclamation of Jesus Christ. As educators and pastors, every Salesian appreciates the “rays of Truth” in cultures and other religions. In contexts where the name of Jesus cannot even be mentioned, we proclaim Him with the witness of personal and community Salesian life. It is intentionality in promoting the First Proclamation that can help us overcome the danger of being seen as social service providers or social workers instead of witnesses to the primacy of God and proclaimers of the Gospel.
The young Salesian missionaries today bring a new paradigm of missions and a renewed model of missionaries: the Salesian missionary is not only the one who gives, who brings projects and perhaps collects money, but above all the one who lives with his people, who attaches great importance to interpersonal relationships; he not only teaches, but above all learns from the people he serves, who are not just passive recipients of his efforts. In fact, it is not the doing that counts, but the being, which becomes an authoritative proclamation of Jesus Christ.
Are there still Salesian missionaries who offer their lives for the witness of Jesus? Yes, and they no longer come from Europe as they used to, but come from all over the world and go all over the world. We present some young missionaries who have responded to the divine call.
We speak of 28-year-old Malagasy François Tonga, who went as a missionary to Albania to bear witness to his Christian and Salesian religious identity. His task as a practical trainee in the Salesian house in the capital, Tirana, is to coordinate the school lessons of more than 800 children. It is no small challenge to learn the language and understand Albanian culture, to bear witness in a majority Muslim context, even if – thank God – one does not live in a situation of clash between religions, but of mutual respect. It is a testimony made up of presence and assistance among poor and marginalised children, and of prayer for the young people they meet every day. And the response is not long in coming: young people, parents and co-workers help out and offer a good welcome.
This is also the case of another 28 year old, Joël Komlan Attisso, a Togolese by origin, who accepted to be sent as a mission practical trainee to the Don Bosco Technical Secondary School in Kokopo, in the Eastern New Britain Province of Papua New Guinea. The mission, with God’s grace, of being called and sent to serve everyone – and especially young people – already bears fruit: welcome, openness, help and love is exchanged, even if one belongs to different cultural realities. This brings to mind Don Bosco’s dream about Oceania, when he saw a multitude of young people saying: ‘Come to our aid! Why do you not do the work that your fathers began?” […] It seems to me that all this together indicated that divine Providence was offering a portion of the evangelical field to the Salesians, but at a future time. Their labours will bear fruit, because the hand of the Lord will be constantly with them, if they do not demerit of his favour.”
We also speak of 30-year-old Vietnamese Joseph Thuan Thien Truc Tran, Salesian Brother, a computer science graduate sent to Juba in South Sudan, where there is no shortage of commitments: three primary schools, a secondary school, a technical school, a parish, a camp for displaced persons and a pre-novitiate, in all, a complex of about 5000 students. Attracted by the testimony of a Salesian who worked as a doctor in Sudan, Fr John Lee Tae Seok, he decided to say his “yes” of total willingness to be sent on the mission indicated by his superiors, relying exclusively on faith and God’s grace, so necessary in one of the countries considered among the most dangerous in the world.
Another young Salesian practical trainee who has given his availability for the missions is Rolphe Paterne Mouanga, from the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville or former French Congo). Sent to the Don Bosco Central Salesian House in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in a work that includes oratory, primary school, secondary school and parish, he is one of the first two missionaries from Africa in this country, together with his compatriot David Eyenga. His African origins help him to familiarise himself with the young people who are intrigued and interested in getting to know him, and this relationship is strengthened through sport, to which he is so much inclined. The cultural diversity of Bolivia is a real challenge, because it is not only a matter of integrating into the local culture but also of being flexible in adapting to every situation. However, the openness, acceptance, cooperation and sharing of young people and co-workers help him in this endeavour. He wants to show himself open and willing to integrate with what he now considers ‘his people’.
Rolphe’s other compatriot, David Eyenga, was also sent to Bolivia, but to the Salesian house in Kami, Cochabamba: a complex Salesian presence that includes an agricultural technical school, a parish, a work of assistance and social promotion, an internship and even a radio station. Cultural differences are also strongly felt in this area, in the way they relate to others, especially in terms of hospitality, meals, dances and other local traditions. This requires a lot of patience to be able to relate to the local mentality. It is hoped and prayed that the presence of the missionaries will also be a stimulus for local vocations.
Emmanuel Jeremia Mganda, a 30-year-old from Zanzibar, Tanzania is another young man who has accepted God’s call to mission. He was sent to Amazonia, Brazil, among the Yanomami, an indigenous tribe living in communities in Maturacá. His educational tasks in the oratory and religious activity enriched him pastorally and spiritually. The welcome he received, also shown in the name given, ‘YanomamiInshiInshi’ (Black Yanomami), made him feel like one of them, helped him a lot to integrate, understand and share the love for Creation and the protection of this good of God.
Is there hope that the missions started by Don Bosco, almost 150 years ago, will continue? That Don Bosco’s dream – or better said – that Don Bosco’s dreams will come to fruition? There is only one answer: the divine will cannot fail, it is enough for the Salesians to give up their comforts and comforts and to be willing to listen to the divine call.
Don Bosco in Albania. A father for so many young people
The Salesian charism has put down roots in Albania, a country where the Salesian work is alive and fruitful: from the beginnings in the 1990s to looking towards the future, here are the experiences recounted by Fr Giuseppe Liano, a Guatemalan missionary at the service of Albanian youth, in the community at Scutari.
How did the Salesian presence in Albania come about? Fr Oreste Valle tells us that while looking at the dramatic Italian situation in the ports of Bari and Brindisi in 1991, it was Pope St John Paul II himself who asked the then Rector Major, Fr Egidio Viganò, for the Salesians’ immediate willingness to go to Albania. The arrival of boats overflowing with people in search of a better future broke his heart and immediately made him realise that one could not limit oneself to welcoming them at the port: there was also an urgent need to take the opposite route and go out to meet these poor and abandoned young people left behind at home. The first Salesian expedition from Italy arrived at the end of 1991. Officially, the Salesian presence began on 25 September 1992, in Shkodër, in northern Albania, destined for a promising future, starting with a full and joyful present. The context was an historically important city of great culture and faith, in the midst of appalling poverty, an unimaginable number of young people, with the memory of so much bloodshed, the blood of Catholic martyrs and those of other religions. The work developed around the needs of the boys and their families: from the oratory, the heart and genesis of the Salesian presence, to the vocational school, then the boarding school, the church and the parish. A development according to the oratory criterion: courtyard, school, home and parish, as Don Bosco wanted. After Shkodra, horizons opened up in the capital Tirana, then in Kosovo, in Prishtina and Gjilan, and, for almost three years, also in Lushnje, in southern Albania.
The Salesian house in Shkodra is located in the centre of the city: there are a significant number of boys enrolled in the boarding school and the oratory continues to be a crowded courtyard every afternoon. From the little ones who come for their football training or the folk-dance school, to the “big ones” who enjoy playing volleyball, basketball or simply meeting to talk and spend time together in the oratory. Every day, at 6pm, all activities stop for a good night and prayer, as is Salesian tradition. The catechetical groups meet each weekend (Friday) as well as the formation groups (Saturday). This is the ordinary routine, but then we would have to add vocational meetings, apostolate experiences, preparation for the various sports and feast days depending on the liturgical season. All this is animated by a fairly large believing community and a substantial number of young people and young leaders.
One could say that the beauty and originality of the Albanian Salesian works is that, on the whole, hundreds of children and families of different creeds are welcomed, offering a service of education and communion in an interreligious context. The name and tradition of “Don Bosko” (with a k) are recognised as a model of trust, work and generous good for society. Each community carries out its mission in a totally different context in terms of faith, pastoral proposal and dialogue with the city, but efforts are made to share, as far as possible, between Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. For the youngsters, everything seems to be just one playground in different places. This harmony and trust are the trump card enabling the Salesians to offer games, courses, prayers and opportunities for growth without being judged as “propagandists of the faith” or “only interested in their own good”.
Those who enter a Salesian environment feel welcomed and able to welcome others, without distinction. And for Catholics, being part of the group of leaders and the playground means living their vocation in the service of young people according to the Salesian style, with the beauty of seeing them pray, go to confession and attend mass regularly. What is currently challenging the Salesians is finding the right answers to the needs of this generation. The phenomenon of migration is heart-breaking, poverty indicators are rising and the chances of a worthy future in Shkodra are dramatically reduced. One has to be very lucky or else leave the city to study and find a job. The Salesians dream of a day centre and a youth centre, with a worthy and profitable vocational school and a language, arts and sports school which would give their dreams a shape, a present and a future. Unfortunately, without financial support, these dreams remain ink on blank sheets of paper. And, in the meantime, young people and families continue to leave here. But the Salesians do not stop dreaming, living the present as a truly precious gift from God. Fr Giuseppe Liano, a Salesian missionary from Guatemala, tells us: “Personally, I feel like the luckiest Salesian on this earth: sharing the mission with Salesians from all over the world (Vietnam, Congo, Italy, Zambia, India, Slovenia, Slovakia, Guatemala, Albania and Kosovo), with such faithful young people and Salesians in such a beautiful city, dedicating myself to animating the oratory… this kind of thing doesn’t happen every day! All this, while still aware that getting into the context, getting to know the situation and understanding the language were slow and costly processes. But, after a while, one realises how much it was all worth it. Such a challenging and beautiful mission is a stimulus to creative fidelity and holiness!” For Albania today, a complex future lies ahead. There is no shortage of problems. Lately, economic support and projects arriving in Albania have been directed to more needy recipients, especially in Ukraine and Turkey; this suggests that it is also time to begin not only to receive but also to generate support, although it is not yet possible to fully cover the costs. The young people, who are faithful and strong, are there by God’s grace. Today the challenge is to find the point of momentum, the way to turn the context together into a certainty, an “oasis” for future generations and a source of vocations, holiness and beauty.
Marco Fulgaro
Fifty years of service. Father Rolando Fernandez
Fr Rolando Fernandez, a Salesian missionary from the Philippines, currently in the community of Dili – Comoro belonging to the Timor-Leste (TLS) Vice-Province, has completed 50 years of service in priestly life, 40 of them in Timor-Leste.
The faithful in Baucau celebrated 50 years of priestly life of Fr Rolando Fernandez, sdb, a missionary from Pangasinan, Philippines, on the feast day of St Dominic Savio. Joining in the concelebration of the Mass of Thanksgiving were the TLS Superior, Fr Anacleto Pires, priests from the Diocese of Baucau and Salesian priests. Many people took part, including some religious sisters and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, members of the Salesian Family, novices and pre-novices, government representatives, students and young people, gathered in Baucau Cathedral and animated by a joyful spirit of thanksgiving, celebrating God’s love through the person of Fr Rolando Fernandez in his forty years of life and service on behalf of the Timorese people.
Amu Orlando, as he is called by the people, spent ten years of his missionary life in Papua New Guinea, before joining other missionaries working in Timor-Leste in the mid-1980s. This celebration took place in Baucau, because Fr Rolando worked there as parish priest (1992-1994) and director and founder of the well-known Escola Secundária Santo António (ESSA) Teulale-Baucau. Along with this, Fr Rolando completed many other works in Baucau. To name but a few, translations of the Word of God into the national language, Tetum, and other printed works. He made a great effort to offer the faithful prayers and worship texts for liturgical celebrations. The last of his legacies, but no less important, which will remain in the hearts of Timorese youth throughout the country, is the organisation of the Cruz Jovens event for the youth of Timor-Leste, initiated by Pope St John Paul II in Rome on 22 April 1984 (the first World Youth Day).
In his homily, Fr Rolando went to the heart of the meaning of assistance. Firstly, he spoke of the unworthiness of a man to become a priest. The priesthood is not a right, but a gift from God. It is God who calls, in his great love, and gives this grace to become a priest. It is God’s trust to choose and raise up men to serve his people. This is also reflected in the second Eucharistic Prayer, in which the priest says: “…giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you.” For this great gift, Fr Rolando thanked God for calling him and giving him the opportunity to serve. Then, looking back to the past, to his life journey, Fr Rolando saw how the finger of God had pointed out to him, shown him and prepared the way for this gift of ordained priesthood through the experiences he began in his devoted family of parents and brothers, and through the Salesian missionaries he met. We can add that the saying ‘the fruit does not fall far from the tree’ is once again confirmed. One of the memorable events that changed his life was that his father was impressed after visiting a Don Bosco technical school. There, he saw the boys making shoes, sewing, carpentry, mechanical and electrical work. His father bought a pair of shoes for him and, on that occasion, a Salesian priest gave him a booklet with pictures of Mary Help of Christians, Don Bosco and Dominic Savio. Once home, his father told him: ‘Next year, you will go to the Don Bosco school’. Indeed, he went there. There he saw the life of the Salesians, learnt from them, wished to be like them and, in the end, became one of them, a Salesian brother and then a Salesian priest forever. Finally, Fr Rolando felt a great desire to become a sign and bearer of God’s love, especially for young people. For him, the love of his confreres and superiors who trusted him, who entrusted some responsibilities beyond his abilities to his care, the love of his former students, the boys and the people, enriched his life with meaning. And these are not empty words: so many events and experiences of love from Salesians and people could be enumerated. He could deeply feel their love even when he was ill. Then, recalling the words of Don Bosco who said: ‘Bread, work and paradise: these are three things I can offer you in the name of the Lord’, he commented that bread, for him, was never lacking, but if there was no work, the risk was that we would not even have paradise. Intense work consumes life quickly, but he is not afraid of death because he has faith in the words that Don Bosco left as his testament: ‘When it happens that a Salesian succumbs and ceases to live working for souls, then you will say that our Congregation has had a great triumph and the blessings of Heaven will descend abundantly upon it’. And this confidence in Don Bosco’s words continues, giving credence to the Salesian Constitutions which state in article 54: ‘death for the Salesian is made bright by the hope of entering into the joy of his Lord’. And – we say – this trust expressed in the Constitutions is right, because Don Bosco himself said: ‘If you have loved me in the past, continue to love me in the future with the exact observance of our Constitutions‘.
After the homily, Fr Rolando renewed his religious vows once again before the Superior, Fr Anacleto Pires, Fr Manuel Ximenes, sdb, parish priest of Baucau, and Fr Agnelo Moreira, sdb, Rector of the Baucau community. He gave a living testimony of God’s love for mankind, especially for young people. After the final blessing, there were a number of speeches by various representatives who expressed their gratitude to Fr Rolando for his presence, his life and his work for the Church in Timor-Leste, particularly in Baucau. Thanks to his example of life, there are many vocations to religious life, many sistersnd priests. Fr Rolando Fernandez, just like a drop of honey, has attracted many young people, boys and girls, to embrace the religious or priestly life. As a sign of gratitude on behalf of the confreres in Timor-Leste, Fr Anacleto presented Fr Rolando with a statue of Don Bosco. And in memory of this event, a tree was also planted in Baucau by Fr Anacleto and Fr Rolando.
Fr Julian Mota, sdb
Don Bosco in Cambodia
Cooperation between lay people and religious for the education of the youth of Cambodia.
Cambodia is a country in Southeast Asia with over 90% of its population Buddhist and a very small Christian minority.
The presence of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Cambodia dates back to 1991, when the Salesians arrived from Thailand where they were taking care of the technical education of war refugees along the border between the two countries, under the leadership of Salesian Brother Roberto Panetto and Salesian past pupils from Bangkok.
After training some 3,000 young people, the latter, who were about to be repatriated to Cambodia, asked the Salesians to go with them. The Salesians did not let that invitation fall on deaf ears, realising that that was where God wanted them at that moment, and that those were the young people calling on Don Bosco. The challenges were and are many, in a non-Christian cultural environment and in a very poor society.
On 24 May 1991, feast of Mary Help of Christians, the Salesian presence began in Cambodia, with an orphanage and the Don Bosco technical school in Phnom Penh, officially opened on the feast of Don Bosco, 31 January 1994. In 1992, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians also reached the country and their work offers hope to many poor and abandoned girls in a country where more than half the total population is female and where women are victims of violence, abuse and human trafficking.
The Salesians have established technical institutes and schools in five provinces of the country: Phnom Penh, Kep, Sihanoukville, Battambang and Poipet. The enormous educational and pastoral work is only made possible thanks to the invaluable contribution of the laity. Almost all the staff involved in the Salesian structures are former students who are continuously committed to giving the best to the students in formation. This is a concrete application of shared responsibility and of the many invitations to share the mission.
The Salesians have established an NGO in Cambodia with no religious affiliation. Commonly known as the fathers, brothers and sisters of Don Bosco, they are loved and respected by all. There is a great love and partnership between the Salesians and past pupils in Cambodia, which contributes to the popularity and 100% placement rate of the students over the last ten years, as Fr Arun Charles, an Indian missionary in Cambodia since 2010, recently appointed as coordinator of missionary animation in the East Asia-Oceania region, tells us. The Salesians encourage minors to complete the primary education cycle, through support projects for children, the construction of primary school buildings in poor villages, and the management of some literacy centres. In Battambang, brick factories retain children to work as labourers, and there Salesian education aims to offer an alternative and hope for a different future.
One of the specialities of the Salesian mission in Cambodia is the hotel school, which provides instruction in hospitality, cooking and hotel management, having a full hotel to enable students to gain practical experience in their field, in addition to workshops and exercises.
The visit of the Rector Major Fr Juan Edmundo Vecchi in 1997, a very important moment of encouragement, focused on the exhortation to build an educative and pastoral community and to put Don Bosco’s Preventive System into practice, has remained in their memory.
Don Bosco’s missionary gaze continues to to be alive almost 10,000 km from Valdocco, always with and for the young, in the Salesian presences in Phnom Penh, Poipet and Sihanoukville.
Don Bosco in Uruguay. The missionary dream has become a reality
The Salesian mission in Uruguay, as shared by a Vietnamese priest, Father Domenico Tran Duc Thanh: Christian love through life lived with the local people.
The Salesians were officially founded as a Congregation in 1859, but the dream had been in the pipeline for a long time. Already at the beginning of his work, Don Bosco realised that the work had to be shared, as he had sensed in many of his dreams. So he involved people from all walks of life to collaborate in various ways in the youth mission that God had entrusted to him. In 1875, with the start of the missions, an important stage in the history of the Congregation began. The first destination would be Argentina.
On 13 December 1875, the first Salesian missionary expedition, led by Fr John Cagliero, bound for Buenos Aires, passed through Montevideo. Thus Uruguay became the third country outside Italy reached by the Salesians of Don Bosco. The Salesians settled in the Villa Colón neighbourhood, amidst enormous difficulties, starting their work at the Colegio Pío, which was inaugurated on 2 February 1877. In the same year, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians arrived in Uruguay and also settled in this neighbourhood: in this way, Villa Colón became the cradle from which the charism spread not only in Uruguay, but also in Brazil, Paraguay and other lands of the Latin American continent.
Over time, that Salesian presence became a Province and today has a variety of Salesian works in different parts of the country: schools, social services, parishes, basilicas, shrines, rural and urban chapels, health centres, student and university residences, Salesian Youth Movement and more. The breadth of the work shows the response to the needs of the area and the flexibility of the Salesians in adapting to the local situation. By visiting people in the neighbourhood, trying to understand what the people are experiencing through dialogue and daily life, adaptation to new situations is carried out in order to better respond to the mission entrusted. This going out to meet young people, especially those most in need, makes the Salesians happy, allowing them to continue to discover the beauty of the Salesian vocation day by day. The efforts in these works has been shared with the lay faithful, and having taken care of their formation, today we find a good number of them working in these activities, sharing their lives with the Salesians and strengthening their mission. Openness to others has also allowed Salesians who are not native to the area to be welcomed here. This is the case of Fr Dominic, who carries out his Salesian mission there.
The response to the missionary vocation is one that has left a strong mark on his life. He tells us that he found himself almost suddenly in an unfamiliar country, with a different language and culture, having had to separate himself from all the people he knew, who had remained far away. He had to start from scratch, with a different openness, with a new sensitivity. If before he thought that being a missionary meant taking Jesus to another place, once he arrived in Uruguay he discovered that Jesus was already there, waiting for him in other people. “Here in Uruguay, through others, I was able to encounter a totally different Jesus: closer, more human, simpler.” What he was not lacking was the maternal presence of Mary, who accompanies him in the daily routine of missionary life and gives him a profound strength, which drives him to love Christ in others. “When I was a child, my grandmother took me to a church every day to pray the rosary. From those days at her feet until today, I still feel protected under the mantle of Mary.” Marian worship bears fruit; love is paid with love.
He confesses to us that: “In Uruguay I am a young man who has nothing; I only have faith, the faith of knowing that Christ and Mary are always present in my life; the hope of an ever closer Church, full of holiness and joy.” But it is perhaps this poverty that helps him prepare his heart to follow Christ, educate his heart to be with the brothers and sisters he meets along the way. This leads him to see the Church as a place of joyful encounter, a celebration that manifests the faith of the other, an encounter that implies unity and holiness. And this also leads him to realise that his place is right where he is, in his community with his brothers, with the people of the neighbourhood, with the animators, with the children, with the laity, with the educators. This is how the beauty of the missionary vocation is manifested: by letting Providence act, through humility and docility to the Holy Spirit, one transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Article edited by Marco Fulgaro
Don Bosco in Uruguay. The missionary dream has become a reality
The experience of Rodgers Chabala, a young Zambian missionary in Nigeria, starting from the rediscovery of Don Bosco when visiting his places.
Young Salesian Rodgers Chabala is part of the new generation of missionaries, according to the renewed paradigm that goes beyond geographical boundaries or cultural precepts: from Zambia he was sent as a missionary to Nigeria. The missionary course he experienced last September was a powerful moment for him, especially the atmosphere he breathed in Don Bosco’s places: a true spiritual experience.
Don Bosco began his work with his own boys, realising that no one was looking after the souls of these young Piedmontese who often ended up in prison for theft, smuggling or other crimes. If these young men had had a trusted friend, someone to instruct them and give them a good example, they would not have ended up there and so Don Bosco was sent to them by God. We can say that it all began with the dream at nine years of age which Don Bosco gradually understood over time, thanks to the help of many people who helped him to discern. His pastoral desire to care for the souls of the young reached the whole world thanks to the Salesian missionaries, starting with that group of eleven sent to Patagonia, Argentina, in 1875. Initially, Don Bosco did not have a clear intention of sending missionaries, but God in time purified this desire and allowed the Salesian charism to spread to every corner of our earth.
The Salesian missionary vocation is a “vocation within a vocation”, a call to missionary life within one’s Salesian vocation. From the beginning, Rodgers felt a strong missionary desire, but it was not easy to make others understand what his motivations were. At the time of his aspirantate, when he was still unfamiliar with Salesian life, he was greatly impressed by the testimony of a Polish missionary and began to reflect and struggle with himself to decipher the intentions of his own heart. When the missionary asked “who wants to be a missionary?” Rodgers did not doubt and began the path of discernment, starting with the Polish Salesian’s answer to begin by loving his own country. Obviously, many challenges began to emerge and moments of discouragement were not lacking. As with Don Bosco, for Rodgers the help and mediation of many people was essential to distinguish God’s voice from other influences and to purify his intentions. God speaks through people, discernment is not merely an individual process, it always has a community dimension.
Last September, Rodgers attended the formation course for new missionaries, which precedes the official sending out by the Rector Major. Arriving a few days after the others, he met up again, after several years, with some of his novitiate companions and his old Rector from the studentate of philosophy. He joined the group and immediately noticed a special atmosphere, smiling faces and real joy. The reflections on interculturality and other insights provided by the Missions Sector were useful tools to prepare for the missionary departure. During the course, participants had the opportunity to visit Don Bosco’s places, first at Colle Don Bosco and then at Valdocco. Fr Alfred Maravilla, General Councillor for the Missions, asked the newly appointed missionaries: “What effect do these visits to Don Bosco’s holy places have on your life?” When one reads about Don Bosco’s life in books, doubts may arise and one may even be sceptical, but to see those places with one’s own eyes and breathe in the atmosphere of Don Bosco by retracing his story is something that can hardly be recounted. Besides the historical memory of what happened to Don Bosco, Dominic Savio and Mamma Margaret, these places have the capacity to reinvigorate the Salesian charism and make one reflect on one’s vocation. The simplicity and family spirit of Don Bosco show how poverty is not an obstacle to holiness and the realisation of the Kingdom of God. When speaking of Don Bosco we often run the risk of omitting the mystical part, concentrating only on activities and works. Don Bosco was truly a mystic in the spirit who cultivated an intimate relationship with the Lord.
So we arrive at 25 September 2022: Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, today’s Don Bosco, presides over the Mass with the Salesians of the 153rd SDB missionary expedition and the Sisters of the 145th FMA expedition in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, in Valdocco. Rodgers recalls meeting, a few days earlier, his new superior of the ANN province (Nigeria-Niger), and feeling the weight of responsibility for the missionary choice he had made. During the mass, says Rodgers, “I received the missionary cross and the desire to be a missionary largely became real.” “The missionary vocation is a beautiful vocation, once the journey of discernment is carefully completed. It requires an openness of mind to appreciate the way of life of other peoples. Let us therefore pray for all the missionaries of the world and for those who are discerning the missionary vocation, that God will guide and inspire them in their lives.”
