(ANS - Madrid) - Tomorrow, Saturday 7 June, two new Salesian Provinces of Spain will be officially established. The Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, will preside at a Mass which will mark the inauguration of the new structures of the congregation in the country. Then, in his first official visit to Spain as Rector Major, he will meet the Salesians, young people and members of the Salesian Family.
Mass will start at 12.30 p.m.(local time) at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Atocha, Madrid. The new Provincials and Provincial Councillors, recently appointed by the Rector Major, will be present, together with the members of the six existing Provincial Councils of Spain, as well as many young people and representatives of the Salesian Family.
After the homily, the decrees of erection of the new provinces and appointment of the new Provincials will be read. Fr Cristóbal López Romero will be provincial of the Mary Help of Christians Province based in Seville, while Fr Juan Carlos Pérez Godoy will be provincial of the Province of St. James the Greater based in Madrid.
This brings to a conclusion the process initiated at the end of the 26th General Chapter, when it was decided to reorganize the Salesian communities in Spain. Up until today there are six Salesian Provinces in Spain, with their headquarters in Leon, Bilbao, Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid and Seville. From tomorrow, 7 June, there will be two.
The New Salesian Provinces of Spain
A Province is a union of Salesian communities and works in a given territory. The Salesian Congregation is present in 132 countries and is divided into 90 ‘circumscriptions’ (mostly provinces or vice-provinces). These can be created, suppressed or altered by the Rector Major, with the consent of his Council. The leadership of each Province is entrusted to a Provincial with his Council. Henceforth, the Salesian Congregation in Spain will be divided as follows:
Province of Mary Help of Christians (Seville):
• Territory: Andalucia, Andorra, Aragon, Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Catalonia, the communities of Valencia, Murcia and Extremadura.
• Provincial: Fr Cristóbal López Romero.
• Provincial Councillors: Fr Ángel Asurmendi, Fr Antonio Echeto, Bro. José Luis Aguirre, Fr Alejandro Guevara, Fr Francisco José Pérez, Fr Joan Lluís Playa and Fr Juan Bosco Sancho.
Province of St James the Greater (Madrid):
• Territory: Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla La Mancha, Castilla y León, Galicia, the Communities of Madrid, La Rioja, Navarra and the Basque Country.
• Provincial: Fr Juan Carlos Pérez Godoy
• Provincial Councillors: Fr Samuel Segura, Bro. José Manuel González, Fr José María Blanco, Fr Xabier Camino, Fr Fernando Garcia, Fr Javier Valiente and Fr José Luis Villota.
Statistics of the main activities:
Published 6/06/2014
