(ANS – Rome) – “The Salesians are evangelisers, educators and communicators of the love of God” is the opening of an interview given by Fr Filiberto Gonzalez, Councillor for Social Communication, to Zenit, the international Catholic news agency.

After giving a short statistical picture of the Congregation and of the Salesian Family, Fr Gonzalez describes the charism of Don Bosco as “educative and evangelising on behalf of the young especially those most in need. In this educating by evangelising and evangelising by educating we are trying to tell them that God loves them and that they are important in the Church. We are working being faithful to the charism: evangelisers, educators, communicators of the love of God.” A single charism, he emphasises, in spite of the geographical and cultural differences when compared with the historical experience of Don Bosco.

He mentions two new frontiers on the new evangelisation in response to the appeals of John Paul II and Benedict XVI: the Project for Europe, which starts from the inner renewal of the Salesians and the radical approach of the gospel which invites Salesians “to be Salesian mystics, seekers of God as the meaning of life; prophets with a personal and community life that is authentic and fraternal arising from the fact of being  sons of God; and to be servants of one’s neighbour, especially of the young most in need, in particular of the ones without God and those who have forgotten Him.”

Other topics mentioned are the love of Don Bosco and the Salesians for the Pope, the 27th General Chapter, youth involvement and therefore  also Salesian, in the internet and vocations.

The full text  of the interview is available on Zenit.

Published 19/07/2012