(ANS – Bellflower) – Beginning Friday night, November 11, through Saturday, November 12, the Province of St. Andrew in the Western United States celebrated Salesian Mission Day 2011. After months of planning by the Province Mission Animation Team and others in the Salesian family, the doors of St. Dominic Savio Youth Center in Bellflower opened for a Mission Exposition. 

Young adult Volunteers from the Province exhibited the places where they had served in Salesian missions as far as Africa, India, Ecuador, and Mexico and as near as their hometown.  Their exhibits opened people’s eyes to other cultures and to the needs of youth, fostering awareness of what it means to be a missionary. But that was only the beginning.

A second highlight was a presentation by Fr. Alfred Maravilla, SDB, a team member from the Mission Department, who spoke about the missionary call for all Christians and the passion with which Don Bosco lived this call.  As such all learned that a missionary serves to lead others to Christ no matter where they find themselves. 

On Friday evening highlighting the joy of missionary service, nine volunteers formed a panel to respond to questions from the evening’s participants, a group of over 200 people of all ages.  The Volunteers shared their experiences of apprehension before leaving, to joy in serving and then negotiating the challenges of return. Together they mapped out for everyone the way of the apostle who gives all to God for the proclamation of the Gospel.
 
On the following day there was a missionary opportunity for over 75 young people and adults.  They went to serve at the Salesian Salesian Boys and Girls Club in East Los Angeles, a neighborhood characterised by economic need, gang violence and drugs.  There, along with the neighborhood children, they cleared trash and leaves from walkways, assisted the elderly in their homes and created an experience of Salesian family engaged in mission for the good of the community.  Their work was supported by the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, which provided tools and dumpsters for the clean up through their Environmental Programs Division.

The day concluded with the Mass at which Fr. Tom Prendiville, Vice Provincial presided and Fr. Bill Keane, Director of Novices concelebrated and together they commissioned participants to “go make the difference” in their communities.

Juan Carlos Montenegro, Provincial Delegate for Mission Animation, thanked  all the branches of the Salesian family who helped with the events of Salesian Mission Day 2011, including Cooperators, Past Pupils, Bosconians and ADMA.  Among them were also Salesian novices from both the Eastern and Western Provinces who go every Saturday to assist with the children at the Los Angeles Salesian Boys and Girls Club.

Published 16/11/2011