Comunicati Stampa

India – Fr Tom Uzhunnalil Released

(ANS - Bangalore) - Salesian Indian missionary Fr Thomas Uzhunnalil, seized more than 18 months ago in Yemen by a group of guerrillas, is released. According to the Indian media who announced the news, the Salesian religious is now in Muscat, Oman. Official confirmation came from a tweet by Sushma Swaraj, the Honourable Indian Foreign Minister.

Fr Uzhunnalil was kidnapped by a group of armed men on March 4, 2016, during an attack on the home of the Missionaries of Charity in Aden, Yemen, where 16 people died, including 4 religious.

(Rome - May 18, 2017) - May 20, 2017 will be a day of celebration for the entire Salesian Family: the Institute of the Volunteers of Don Bosco (VDB) will be celebrating 100 years of life. The Volunteers (VDB), founded by Fr Philip Rinaldi in 1917 in Turin, now number around 1200 and are present in 58 countries around the world.

This group of the Salesian Family had its origin one hundred years ago in the desire of three young women who wanted to be like the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians while still living and serving in their own environment: in work, in family, in society ... They sought a way of living the Salesian charism that Don Bosco himself desired.

The VDBs are women consecrated to God with evangelical counsels, to be prophetic signs in the heart of the world, in the Salesian spirit. They are both secular and consecrated: a binomial that allows them to work and be witnesses in ordinary places and activities with a heart free and passionate about God and the world. Though they take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, they do not live in communities and do not run their own works.

They are actively present in the most diverse environments, and they seek to seize and enhance the signs of good that exist in society. They are open to dialogue and listening, attentive to the least and most marginalized in society, especially young people and their needs and aspirations. They work creatively and humbly, trying to be "leaven and salt" wherever they are.

Through their membership in the Institute, the VDBs are part of the Salesian Family and live the Salesian charism through their apostolate with young people, especially the most needy, by fulfilling their mission inspired by love for Jesus and trust in Mary.

From 19 to 21 May, at Valdocco in Turin, in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, there will be celebrations in the presence of representatives of the 31 groups that are part of the great Salesian Family.

This celebration of the Centenary of the VDB presents itself as a special occasion for the Institute to thank God for the gift of this vocation inspired by the Holy Spirit.

For further information, visit: http://www.volontariedonbosco.org/en/

(Kakuma - Kenya, April 27, 2017) - Faced with the delicate situation in Venezuela, the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, in a statement sent from Kenya, expresses his support for the Salesians in Venezuela and the Venezuelan people. In a fraternal message he says, "You are not alone. We, in the different parts of the Salesian world, are worried about you. We are attentive to what you are experiencing and well aware of everything that happens to you.

"Below is the text of the message:

I am on a visit these days to the Salesian work in Kakuma (Kenya), where my Salesian confreres have been living for years in the United Nations refugee camp, sharing the lives and the fate of these 150,000 people. Our simple vocational school helps young people to learn a job for when they leave the camp. They are mostly young people and families from South Sudan, Rwanda, Congo and other countries. They have come here, to this place in the north of Kenya, and they continue to come, fleeing conflict in their own countries, the lack of security, the instability in their villages and the hunger that these situations create.

In this context, I have seen the video recorded personally by Fr Francisco Méndez, Superior of the Salesian Province of Venezuela, in which he states that he had to make this video because he felt in his conscience that he could not remain silent.

With these words of mine, I want to express fully my total support for Fr Francisco Méndez and all my Salesian confreres in Venezuela, and also my total support for the great Salesian Family in Venezuela.

As Superior General of the Salesians of Don Bosco in the world, I want to tell Fr Francisco and my confreres, that we are with you, we are by your side. We can sense the pain you feel and the tiredness you are experiencing. For a long time, we have been praying for this beautiful country and its good people. We have prayed for the dead of recent weeks, some of them close to the Salesian work.

Today I want to express our affection and our support and help. I want to say to Fr Francisco and to the Salesians and the Salesian Family in Venezuela, that you are not alone, and that from various parts of the Salesian world we care for you, we are attentive to what you are experiencing and well aware of all that happens to you. Today we are close to you more than ever.

I pray for all of you and for your people that you may have Peace, that Peace that is possible always and everywhere in the world only if it comes from the hand of Justice and Respect for the most inviolable human rights of each person.

And I ask the Good God to give you that inner and spiritual strength that comes from Him.

With true affection,

Fr Ángel Fernández A., SDB

Rector Major

“MISIONES SALESIANAS” of Madrid, in collaboration with “ISCOM” Association presents the documentary “Alto el Fuego” (Cease Fire) on the process of the personal rehabilitation and social reintegration of Child Soldiers thanks to the Salesians

(Rome, January 27, 2017) - Over 50 years of armed conflict in Colombia between FARCELN, the Paramilitaries and the State left on the field eight million victims. Throughout this time, thousands of children were part of armed groups and in their turn became the victims, because their childhood remained attached to arms, the forest was their only home and the battalion their sole family.

The use of child soldiers is a very widespread practice in countries at war: they are cheap labour, easy to manipulate, with few exigencies, loyal, easily replaceable, they do not cost much to feed, create less suspicions in enemy lines, and are perfect companions and sex slaves… According to an estimate, in Colombia there are still from 8.000 to 14.000 child soldiers.

Deprived of education for years, the minors that have been driven away from the conflict are hosted in the Salesian house “Ciudad Don Bosco” of Medellin, that in the last 14 years accompanied over 2.300 ex child soldiers. The programme “Construyendo sueños” (Constructing Dreams) welcomes them, cares for their rehabilitation and educates them, helping them to overcome the traumas they suffered through a pedagogy of trust, transforming their fears into the desire of learning, and teaching them a profession so that they may reintegrate in the society and reunite with their families.

The documentary “Alto el Fuego”, directed by Raul de la Fuente, traces in 21 minutes the fears, dreams and hopes of the protagonists, Catalina and Manuel. It recounts their entry in the guerrilla warfare, the phase of de-militarization, the process of personal reconstruction in the Salesian house and their dreams of a future of peace and as actors and constructors of that same peace. “I want to buy a small house… no, a big house! I want to go to University, to think big…”, says Catalina who has just obtained her diploma in Graphic Arts at Ciudad Don Bosco.

MISIONES SALESIANAS” of Madrid, in collaboration with “ISCOM” Association hereby invites journalists to the presentation of the documentary.

 

Information for the Media

 

Day: Thursday, February 2nd, 2017 - Hour: 11:00 - Venue: Borgo Pio 172, Rome

Participants: Catalina and Manuel, young people delivered from FARC in Colombia; Rafael Bejarano, Salesian and Director of “Ciudad Don Bosco” in Medellin; and James Areiza, educator and responsible for the Programmes of Child Protection at “Ciudad Don Bosco”.

 

The SALESIAN MISSIONS were born in 1875, when Don Bosco sent a group of ten missionaries to Argentinian Patagonia. Since then, over 140 years have passed, during which more than 10.000 Salesians were sent to mission countries. Now we are present in over 130 countries, where we carry out projects to the benefit of the most underprivileged children and youth.

 

For further information:

José Luis Muñoz +39 340 181 71 76 - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - +39 06 6561 2579

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