Poxoréu, Brazil – December 2023 – On Saturday 16 December, the Poxoréu São João Batista Youth Centre welcomed the young people from Salesian Social Works in different districts of the city as well as the Alto Coité district, to celebrate Christmas together. The event was opened by the young people from the AJS (Articulação Juvenil Salesiana – the Salesian Youth Movement in Brazil), who presented a show called "The real Christmas". Then the recreational activities began, with inflatable games, a mechanical bull, a cable car and a visit from Santa Claus. The Christmas party at the São João Batista Youth Centre is a tradition that has been renewed for 18 years and that mobilises many people. This year the event brought together around 1,500 young people, children and families. This beautiful tradition is made possible by the collaboration of various partners and municipal departments which have contributed with aid and donations.
(ANS – San Marcos) – After visiting the Don Bosco Museum of Cultures (Museu das Culturas Dom Bosco) and the documentation centre of indigenous peoples at Dom Bosco Catholic University in Campo Grande, Fr Alfred Maravilla, General Councillor for the Missions, visited the Salesian Missions among the Xavantes in San Marcos on 25 and 26 November 2023. It has been a visit that has given him the opportunity to listen to his confreres about the opportunities and challenges of this important work.
(ANS – Campo Grande) – Fr Alfred Maravilla, General Councillor for the Missions, arrived on the evening of Thursday, 23 November in Campo Grande, in the Brazilian State of Mato Grosso do Sul, and was received at the provincial headquarters by Fr Ricardo Carlos, Provincial, and by Fr Aldir da Silva, Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry.
Santa Cruz de La Sierra, Bolivia - November 2023 - On 2 November, the first edition of the International Salesian Games of Integration was held at the Don Bosco College in Santa Cruz de La Sierra. The event involved 250 athletes from the Salesian Santa Teresa College in Corumbá, Brazil, and three other Salesian schools, who competed in basketball, volleyball and futsal games. The Brazilian student athletes travelled some 660 km by bus, from Corumbá to Santa Cruz de La Sierra, to take part in the tournament and also visited the Mary Help of Christians parish and Salesian works in the Bolivian city. Fr Ivan G. Mamani, Rector of the Don Bosco College in Santa Cruz, and Fr João dos Santos Neto, Pastoral Coordinator of the Santa Teresa College conceived and organised the tournament. The latter declared that “This tournament was the seed of something very beautiful that is being born on our continent and that will flourish in Salesian youthful joy.”
Campo Grande, Brazil – October 2023 – Students Gabriel Nazareth Mendes, Carolinne França Olmedo, Loren Queiroz Garcia da Cruz, Stefany Aparecida Silva Dutra and Juliana Lino, from the Design course at the Dom Bosco Catholic University (UCDB), ranked eighth globally in the competition known as the Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival (DBGYFF), edition 2023. The students took part in the festival by presenting a short film entitled "Nothing is lost", made as part of the "Illustration and digital animation" course, led by Prof. Gabriel Ferraciolli Soares. Making the short film was a great challenge for these young people and for this reason receiving the award made them feel satisfied and enthusiastic.
Três Lagoas, Brazil - October 2023 - The Salesian Institute "Don Bosco" of Três Lagoas (MS), dedicated the afternoon of 20 October to the screening of three finalist short films of the "Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival" (DBGYFF). The event was organised by the school's Pastoral Care Coordinator, Pedro Nei, and brought together the young representatives of the Lectors, Altar Servers and Everyone for Don Bosco (Todos por Dom Bosco) group and the school's Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) group. A short reflection on the festival theme, 'Love builds peace and solidarity', followed at the end of the screenings, starting with the stories as told in the short films.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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RMG – “Do Elderly Salesians have a role in the Digital Culture?”The answer in the letter “Sharing wisdom and hope in digital culture” from the General Councillor for Social Communication
(ANS – Rome) – In view of the current digital reality, and due to the presence, especially in some regions of the Salesian world, of a large number of elderly Salesians, the General Councillor for Social Communication, Fr Gildasio Mendes, has decided to dedicate a special letter to them, entitled: "Sharing wisdom and hope in digital culture". Here is how he explains to ANS readers today the origins, significance and perspectives of this document.
EDITORIAL
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Myanmar – Tragedy of Innocent Children in the midst of Armed Conflicts(ANS – Naypyidaw) - Myanmar finds itself immersed in profound grief and anguish as innocent lives, particularly those of children, continue to be mercilessly lost in the enduring armed conflicts. Families are left devastated by the tragic loss of their loved ones while the relentless violence shows no signs of abating. This week, a heartfelt plea from Myanmar reached our community, shedding light on the heart-wrenching death of a young girl Juliet in a military airstrike, prompting a unified call for prayers and action.
EVENTS
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Italy – "Education and culture of safeguarding in sport. Towards the establishment of protection and prevention models": PGS conference with UPS(ANS – Rome) – The synergy between the Salesian Youth Sports Centres (PGS) and the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome gave rise to the conference on "Education and culture of safeguarding in sport. Towards the establishment of models of protection and prevention", which will take place on 13 April, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., at the UPS facilities in Rome.
SPECIAL REPORTS
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Latin America – Strengthening Vocational and Educational Commitment Today: 30 Years of the Salesian School in Latin America(ANS) – Since the first meeting in Cumbayá (Ecuador), 30 years ago, educational processes on the continent have found a collaborative epicentre which has given rise to the Salesian School in (Latin) America – ESA, in Spanish – as a forum for reflection and a common path. Many Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA) and other groups of the Salesian Family (SF) have enriched this synodal journey, focusing on young people and their integral development. What are today's demands of us in the educational field? How are we building the Salesian School of the future? Can we further strengthen this great Salesian educational network in America? Some FMAs and Salesians who were at the first meeting in 1994, share their experience and their vision of how this journey has allowed a growth in the understanding of the youth reality, in the strategic decisions within the Provinces themselves and in the challenges that emerge for Salesian education.
MESSAGES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
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I’M A SALESIAN AND I’M A BOROROTHE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB
Diary of a Happy and Blessed Missionary Day
Dear friends , I’m writing to you from Meruri in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. I write this greeting almost as if it were a journalistic report, because it has been only 24 hours since I arrived in the middle of this Brazilian state.