(ANS - Turin) - The Salesian Regional Centre for Ongoing Formation at Quito (CSRFP) is meant to "train the staff of the various Salesian works by offering content based on first-hand sources.” This is the purpose of the courses of the Salesian Studies Centre.  The fourth and final level is held in the places associated with Don Bosco, the source of Salesian spirituality.

The participants of the course for teachers of Salesian Studies had already completed three previous levels, and have now finished their formation journey with a pilgrimage-tour  in the footsteps of Don Bosco.

An important aspect of the course is that it is offered to the Salesians in both regions of the American continent – the Inter-American and the Southern Cone.  At the Team Visits in 2005 (in Brasilia, Bogota and San Miguel, USA) the then Rector Major Fr Pascual Chávez expressed the wish that the CSRFP be considered the centre for formation of both regions.

On this occasion the participants came from nine Latin American countries : Ecuador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Peru and Argentina. A total of 25 people visited the places associated with Don Bosco, not as tourists, but with a Salesian heart and in search of traces of the charism of Don Bosco.

In this way, the participants sought to understand better the apostolic experience of Don Bosco and his charism, to bear witness to his message in their communities and among young people.

One of the participants said: "It's very important to reach out and touch, with simplicity and devotion, the objects and places they meet along the way. Each site shows the poverty of our origins and the faith and trust of Don Bosco in Divine Providence and in our Mother and Teacher Mary Help of Christians."

The formation course was run by the team of CSRFP, represented on this occasion by Fr Josué Costa Do Nascimento (Brazil-Manaus); Fr Alejandro Leon (Southern Argentina), and Fr Julio Humberto Olarte Franco, who is finishing his term at the Regional Centre and returning after seven years to his province of origin, Colombia-Bogotá.

Further information on formation for the Salesian Family are available here.

Published 30/05/2014