Who is Don Bosco for you?
For me Don Bosco is this poor, fatherless boy who knew how to listen to what God was telling him through people and through the events of his life; and he listened so well that we venerate him today as the Father of Youth. For me, Don Bosco is the young man who eventually succeeded in going to study in Chieri, though always with few resources and not without humiliation, but who nevertheless knew how to win the hearts of the people of Chieri and establish friendships that lasted him a lifetime. For me, Don Bosco is the young priest who knew how to make a choice that was not at all easy, between the girls of the Marquise Barolo and her boys. For me, Don Bosco is the priest who knew how to rely on the guidance and direction of Cafasso, as he had already done with the good Fr. Calosso, and who would continue to do the same with his other confessors and spiritual directors. For me, Don Bosco is the priest who, despite a very different education and training, invented the Preventive System, a wonderful fruit of God's Spirit and gift to the Church and society...
How did you come to know him?
I grew up in a Salesian parish, where a young Salesian priest, who still lives, was always with us altar boys, and from him we heard the stories of Don Bosco, Dominic Savio and Michael Magone.
Why did you decide to become a Salesian?
It seemed normal. It was not my first intention; I wanted to be of help to my family, being the eldest son. But Fr. Matteo knew how to make the invitation and I said yes. It is true that the question was "Do you want to be a priest?" Or maybe it was simpler still, "Do you want to go to Lonavla," the aspirancy. He talked to my parents, who gave him assent, which was certainly not easy for them. It was an act of faith on their part, I am aware of that.
What was your vocational path?
Apostolic school in Lonavla, pre-novitiate in Pune while we were doing our first year of college, then novitiate with 52 others in Yercaud, South India, an inter-provincial novitiate. Then the young Provincial's surprising invitation to "do philosophy" not in the Yercaud postnovitiate, but in Pune, attending the Jesuit-run "Jnana Deepa" study center. Four years of philosophy - baccalaureate and licentiate -, with residence at the "Don Bosco Youth Centre" in Koregaon Park, together with other young Salesians who were attending university; two years of internship as postnovice assistant, also in the Koregaon Park house, because in the meantime the Province had begun its own postnovitiate; one year of internship with street boys at the "Bosco Boys Home" in Borivli - Mumbai; then perpetual profession; four years of study of Theology at "Kristu Jyoti College" in Bangalore, South India; and finally presbyteral ordination, in Goa.
Was there any person who was a new "Don Bosco" for you?
I greatly admired the young provincial who could instill enthusiasm in young Salesians. I learned a lot from several of our formators. And then there was one, much later, whom I still admire, for his ability to establish relationships with everybody, but especially with young people, his fatherhood, his ability to give people confidence. He touched so many people, not only in the Congregation but also in the Salesian Family.
What are the characteristics of Don Bosco that you most admire?
His faith in God, his ability to love young people, to believe in them, to have so much patience with them... For me, the reading found in the Office for his feast day in the Universal Church is something that has been with me since my apprenticeship, where the appointee but had suggested it. A wonderful thing, and for me the most beautiful expression of his Preventive System. It impresses me to think that a fairly conservative man, at a time when reason seemed to triumph over religion, chose reason as one of the pillars of his educational system. And the way in which the three elements of the system hold together is marvelous: the preemptive Love of God at the heart of everything, lovingkindness (the MAKROTHYMIA of 1 Cor. 13:1), and reasonableness, which today is easily declined as listening, dialogue, and synodality.
In your opinion, can young people still find inspiration in Don Bosco?
Plenty. Even in non-Christian circles. When Don Bosco's casket arrived in Nashik, India, I had to tell the story of Don Bosco to a young Hindu journalist. I did it in very simple terms. "He was a poor boy who was able to make a wonderful gift of his life for other poor young people at a time when Italy was experiencing the consequences of the industrial revolution." So was the young Pole I met yesterday in the plane, who wanted to learn about "the philosophy" of Don Bosco. As also the young man from the street - also non-Christian - who told me the same thing: "Don Bosco was a young man like us, and then he became our father." Always moving.
How can Salesians be new Don Bosco for young people?
By praying for a faith like his, for a very clear and very great love for the young people who really need us, and by following the Preventive System. That's it.
And how does Don Bosco inspire your work as Formation Counselor?
We have found that his Preventive System must be exactly our style of formation! I am very happy that the very short 28th General Chapter found a way to affirm this, and that the Rector Major proposed it to the Congregation with his authority. We hope so much that we can instill this conviction and style in the revised Ratio. Then it is wonderful that we find tremendous encouragement in this direction from Pope Francis, in his beautiful letter to the Chapter, but also in so many of his interventions, official and otherwise.
If you could meet Don Bosco, what would you like to say or ask him?
Don Bosco, you, with your education so 'narrow,' how did you arrive at your wonderful educational system?" And I think he would tell me that formation cannot be identified only with formal moments, with the seminary in Chieri in his case, but with the whole of life, with the people that God puts on your path: with a Mamma Margaret, but also with a family that was not always ideal; with a Fr. Calosso who was in Morialdo because he had been removed from other centers; with an almost unknown Fr. Cottino... and with the events of life and history. In all of this, God the Father is molding us in a wonderful way, through the Spirit, into the image of the Son. And I think we can only ask Don Bosco to pray for us, that we may be faithful, creative, full of hope and love -- and even a little crazy.
