INTERVIEWS
(ANS – Piura) – Fr Juan Pablo Alcas Michilot, current Superior of the Salesian Province of Peru (PER), was born on 17 August 1975 in Piura. Son of Pablo and Bertha, he met the Salesians at the oratory and was invited by Fr Casimiro Iraola to complete his vocational experience in the Salesian work in Piura, while studying accounting at the University. He was a pastoral animator in the Salesian institute in Lima, Rector of the house of formation and, later, of the Salesian house in Rimac. He was also Novice Director in Colombia and today carries out the mission of Provincial of the Salesians of Peru. Thanks to this interview we learn more about his commitment as Provincial, expectations about the Province, the role of the laity and the message he wants to leave to young people and the Salesian Family.
(ANS – Rome) – In the "Guidelines and Directives" section of the Acts of the General Council no. 440, for July-December 2023, a letter is published signed by Fr Gildasio Mendes, General Councillor for Social Communication, entitled: "Walking with young people in digital culture". The document, motivated by the requests received from various parts of the Salesian world, is the result of a joint work carried out in the Social Communication Sector, after conversations with each Delegate, visits and numerous meetings. It is given to every Salesian as an invitation to learn more and more about these indispensable means of our daily life, to learn to relate to them and to make good pastoral use of them with young people.
For this reason, ANS interviewed the General Councillor and in this interview, answering 10 questions, Fr Gildasio Mendes illustrates the document and explains its meaning and purpose.
(ANS– Rome) – More than a hundred people from Portugal, Spain, Italy and the Middle East took part, from 12 to 15 October, in Malaga at the International Seminar on the Reception of Migrants and Refugees, to reflect on Salesian activity in this field, starting with the recognition of the considerable increase in initiatives dedicated to the reception and integration of migrants and refugees, especially in the countries bordering the Mediterranean. Fr Emanuele De Maria, SDB, Youth Ministry Delegate for the Salesians of Central Italy (ICC), and Alessandro Iannini, Delegate for Marginalisation and Hardship in ICC, who attended the seminar, now share their impressions on the subject.
(ANS – Messina) – When it comes to bioethics, Fr Giovanni Russo, SDB, is one of the most authoritative references. The Salesian, a tenured professor in this area, Director of the Theological Institute of St Thomas Aquinas and of the Higher School of Bioethics and Sexology in Messina, which has become a cultural reference point at European level, thanks to his studies in the United States and at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, has the merit of having introduced a new model of bioethics, which advances and arouses interest throughout the world. A few days ago he presented his latest editorial effort, the new manual "Bioethics in Dialogue, Fundamentals and Texts", which he himself describes as "the mature fruit of his over thirty-year commitment". And today he presents it to us.