(ANS - Rome) - This year the Salesian Missions in Mato Grosso, Brazil, celebrate their 120th anniversary and the mission in Amazonia is preparing to celebrate its first 100 years. These are the most significant events taking place in the Provinces of Campo Grande, Brazil and Manaus. The Provincials, Fr Lauro Shinohara and Fr Francisco Alves, gave a joint Goodnight on Thursday, 3 April.
The missionary work in those regions was the fulfilment of the dreams of Don Bosco. It was marked by the blood of martyrs: Fr John Fuchs and Fr Peter Sacilotti were martyred as they approached the Xavantes in 1934. Later, in 1976, Fr Rudolph Lunkenbein and an Indian called Simon Bororo were murdered during the demarcation of the Bororo reserve in Meruri. Bishop Louis Lasagna, Fr John Balzola, Fr Joseph Solari and Bro. Joseph Canute were some of the first missionaries in Brazil.
The missionaries always regarded agriculture and health care as priorities to be achieved through education in schools and vocational training centres.
They always paid special attention to local culture, in collaboration with universities. The evidence for this is found in the Bororo Encyclopedia, in the work done on the Bororo and Xavante languages, the opening of the Indigenous Documentation Centre and the Don Bosco Museum of Cultures.
The educational and pastoral activity has changed over time. At first, the work was carried out mainly in missionary centres. Nowadays, with the increase in population (now more than 20,000 Bororos and Xavantes), and the multiplication of the villages (now numbering about 250), the mission of education and evangelization is carried out through an itinerant service. This demands great asceticism to cope with the innumerable difficulties.
These activities mean that there are serious financial challenges. The funds available are insufficient to meet the needs, even though there has been a growth in youth volunteering, organizational skills and the involvement of the laity. There are also the challenges posed by globalization - consumerism, hedonism and individualism, which in turn lead to violence, prostitution, drugs and alcoholism.
In the Amazon the Salesian work has borne much fruit, such as the growth of local vocations especially from the 23 ethnic groups in the region. Now we focus on the First Proclamation of the Gospel to a substantial group of Yanomami indigenous communities that live along the Brazil - Venezuela border.
The two provincials concluded with an appeal: "Send us Salesians, because the harvest is great and the labourers are few. "
Published 07/04/2014
