Mexico – The Borderer as a Place of Fraternal Encounter

24 June 2016

(ANS – Tijuana) – Tijuana is an important Mexican city, called the “Gateway to Mexico” and renowned as a significant cultural centre. It is the most visited border city of the world. Close to Tijuana, over 50 million people cross the border each year. It is in this city that, from June 20th to 22nd, 130 Salesians of the Province of Mexico-Guadalajara (MEG) met to celebrate the Assembly of the Provincial Community (ACI) 2016. This is the first time, since the initiative started 30 years ago, that ACI is held outside the city that hosts the Provincial House, Guadalajara.

This was not a simple change of the location. Both the Provincial of MEG, Fr. Hugo Orozco, and the members of the Council, invited the Salesians to live an experience of going to the border, first geographical, but also social, along which there are the young, with a small Salesian presence – even though the Salesians are active with one parish and 6 oratories.

This was an experience of “de-centralization”: placing oneself outside the centre and reaching out to those who suffer, like, for instance, migrants. Through moments of reflection, various proposals of a Salesian answer emerged, including the one of taking the responsibility of better knowing the phenomenon of migration.

Many of these migrants cross the country, going to cities in which there are Salesian houses of the MEG Province, or arriving in one of the eleven cities on the US border. In the last years, the number of deported Mexicans 800.000 people.

The Assembly thus offered the Salesians three days that proved useful to better know the reality of those migrants, mostly from Mexico and Central America, but also from other countries, who hope to obtain the refugee status from the US authorities.

For the Salesians of MEG, it was an opportunity to see things from the periphery viewpoint, to see the reality of many youth from a totally different perspective, not only geographically, but above all at a level of experience.

InfoANS

ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.

This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes. By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements, you consent to the use of cookies. To learn more or to opt out, click "Further Information".