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(ANS – Rome) – Castelnuovo Don Bosco, Chieri, Turin Valdocco and other nearby places remind us of the history and the geography of the places in which  Don Bosco lived and worked. A Project has been launched to appreciate the value of this precious resource in returning to Don Bosco, studying in depth Salesian charismatic identity and living with apostolic passion.

In recent days the Rector Major and his Council have approved a project for the consolidation and the development of the places of special Salesian interest, and especially for the “return to Don Bosco”. The “Project for the Salesian places on the way to the bicentenary of 2015” is based on the practical decision of the 26th  General Chapter, for the six year period  2008-2014, to focus on a better knowledge of Don Bosco, and on appreciating and taking advantage of the Salesian places, and in this way to prepare for the bicentenary of his birth in 2015.

With the ultimate responsibility being that of the Rector Major and his Council, a number of other groups have been invited to be involved in the project. Above all the four Salesian communities of Turin Valdocco, “Mary Help of Christians” and “Saint Francis of Sales”, of Colle Don Bosco at Castelnuovo and of Chieri, are asked to coordinate projects, activities and programmes with the help of two teams, one already being constituted which will include Salesians from various countries with a special formation in the area of Salesianity and spirituality. Of the two teams one will be active at Valdocco the other at Castelnuovo and Chieri.

In addition a Central Commission for the Salesian places has been established by the  Rector Major to supervise and guide the process. Its members are: the Councillor for Formation, who chairs it, the Councillor for Youth Ministry, the Economer General, the  Provincial and Vice Provincial of the Special Circumscription of Piedmoint and the Val d’Aosta, the Rectors of the Communities of Mary Help of Christians and  Saint Francis of Sales in Turin, Colle Don Bosco and Chieri, a representative of the Salesian Studies centre at the UPS, the Rectors of the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin and of the Basilica of Don Bosco at the Colle. The Commission, meeting twice a year, will help to give uniformity and structure to the Project, broaden the processes of collaboration, bear in mind the needs of the Congregation, propose the sending of personnel from other Provinces, indicate the structural requirements, propose working guidelines which involve the Sectors for Formation, Youth Ministry and the Salesian Family, to work together in view of the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco in 2015.

The Project is addressed to the whole Congregation, so that through the Regions, the Provinces, the various Sectors and the Salesian Family new ways may be found to appreciate and make good use of them. Already the setting for pilgrimages, retreats, formation experiences, the Salesian places will become more and more welcoming and have more things to offer. They are not primarily places to be looked after and visited but experiences to be lived. The text of the Project will shortly be available on the site sdb.org.

Published 27/07/2010