(ANS – Rome) – The feast of St. John Bosco, Father and Teacher of Young People, is a feast day that is deeply felt and widely participated in all over the world. Globally, there will be numerous broadcasters and newspapers that will include special items in their columns dedicated to remembering Don Bosco and talking about those who carry out his mission today. On Italian television networks, for example, two appointments are already scheduled that will involve Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians, the Co-spokesman of the Salesian Congregation, Fr. Giuseppe Costa, and the General Councillor for Salesian Youth Ministry, Fr Miguel Ángel García Morcuende.
(ANS – Rome) – In the year in which the entire Salesian Family focuses on Don Bosco's Dream at Nine Years of Age, many other small dreams are arising in the Salesian world, carried out by those who call on him for the education and evangelisation of young people. This explains, for example, the new initiative that is being developed at Sacred Heart in Rome: the first Salesian Symphony Orchestra (OSS), a project, moreover, still in its embryonic phase, but which has already received the blessing and explicit support of Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians.
(ANS – Turin) – Involvement returning to pre-Covid times is already a good way to celebrate the 42nd edition of the Salesian Family Spirituality Days 2024, which opened on 18 January in Turin. 345 members from 45 countries, 22 groups of the Salesian Family represented in the Don Bosco theatre at the afternoon opening of Days. “We are in the house that we all belong to” said Card. Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians and Centre of Unity of the Salesian Family, in his opening greeting. Our Lady welcomes us, God blesses us. We are here to demonstrate a charism that is alive.”
THE RECTOR MAJOR’S MESSAGE, Card. Ángel Fernández Artime, SDB
Dear friends: we are at the threshold of a new year, 2024, a truly special year because we remember the bicentennial of Don Bosco’s dream at age nine. This dream was much more than a pleasant episode in the life of a nine-year-old boy; it was like a dream-vision and a premonition of what he was to do in the course of his life.
(ANS – Rome) – From 29 January to 4 February 2024, the St Aloysius Gonzaga Province of Brazil-Recife (BRE) will host Card. Ángel Fernández Artime, Rector Major of the Salesians. Among the aims of his visit: to celebrate the Feast of Don Bosco with the local community; to participate in the dedication of the church of the Bom Jesus in Juazeiro do Norte and to assign the posthumous qualification of Salesian Cooperator to the Servant of God Father Cícero Romão Batista.
(ANS - Turin) – The presentation of the strenna of this year based on the Dream of Don Bosco, when he was nine years old, was held on Monday, 8th January 2024 at the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians at Turin. The significant moment offered by the author of the strenna, Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, the Rector Major of the Salesians, turned out to be a presentation from the Salesian point of view. It was a heart-warming evening of a family sharing, which aimed to deepen the understanding of the crux of the strenna in a simple but clear manner.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERVIEWS
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Italy – A Salesian on the front line of the war in Ukraine: "Being close counts, words come later"(ANS - Rome) - As he tells with a gentleness that does not seem to come from horror, he is "resting a little bit" in Rome these days. Fr Oleh Ladnyuk is a Ukrainian Salesian priest who is a military chaplain at the front, among the soldiers who fight in defence of their country and among the civilians who for over two years have seen their lives wiped out. He brings humanitarian aid where the missiles fall and from those places he helps with the evacuation of young people and adults - so far at least 500 people, but there are probably many more. These days the Salesian – who carries out his ministry in Dnipro and teaches History in a state school in the city – is in Rome to take part with two other priests and a dozen lay people from his country in the "Accompanying when Trauma Hits" course hosted by the Pontifical Salesian University in collaboration with the Faculty of Educational Sciences, with the DON BOSCO NEL MONDO Foundation and the Don Bosco Network. A project that aims to provide theoretical and methodological tools to deal with the traumas caused by war.
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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United States – INT’L DAY FOR STREET CHILDREN: Salesian Missions highlights programs that provide shelter and support(ANS – New Rochelle) – Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, joins humanitarian and international organizations around the globe in highlighting the plight of homeless children on the International Day for Street Children. The day provides organizations and the millions of street children in countries worldwide with an opportunity to have their voices heard while ensuring that their rights are not ignored.
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.