(ANS – Rome) – From the 19th of September to the 20th of October, Fr Giuseppe Casti and Fr José Pastor Ramírez, World Delegates respectively for the Salesian Cooperators and the Past-pupils of Don Bosco, visited and met various groups and the reality of the Salesian Family of Africa. A journey that follows other initiatives put in place to support the growth of the Salesian Family in the black continent.
With the support of the Conference of the Provinces and Vice-Provinces of Africa-Madagascar and of the Regional Councillor, Fr Guillermo Basañes, the two global Delegates were from:
The various educational meetings were attended by: Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Salesian Cooperators, Association of Devotees Maria Ausiliatrice, Past-pupils of Don Bosco, Don Bosco Volunteers. Significant was the participation of young Salesians in initial formation: prenovices, novices, post- novices and theology students. In the Vice-Province ATE there were 180 people, from the Vice-Province AFO 305 people, and from the Province AFW 210 people, making a total of 695 members of the Salesian Family.
There were various objectives for this training trip desired by Fr Adriano Bregolin, Vicar of the Rector Major and responsible for the animation of the Salesian Family: to get to know more closely the reality of the Salesian Family in Africa and check the commitments made previously; to encourage the qualitative and quantitative growth and the identity of the groups; to study and to analyze the Charismatic and Spiritual Identity of the Salesian family; to deepen the identity and role of the Delegates of the Salesian Family; to study the identity of the different groups of the Salesian Family, especially of the Salesian Cooperators and Past-pupils of Don Bosco.
The "Charismatic Identity Card of the Salesian family" was presented at every meeting and documents such as "The identity and vocation of the Salesian Cooperator", "The identity and mission of the Work of Don Bosco", "The identity and mission of the Delegate of the Salesian family" and the "Statute of Past-pupils of Don Bosco" were shared.
In the 3 Vice-Provinces, established about 30 or 35 years, the Salesian Family is young and is in the process of structuring; they are becoming aware of the importance of "autonomy not only spiritual, educational, economic and governmental, but also apostolic, by implementing the mission in their structures and in a specific manner" (Identity Card, 20). The big challenge is to strengthen and build Local Centres and Provinces for the Salesian Cooperators and strengthen and create Local Unions and National and Provincial Federations for the Past-pupils of Don Bosco.
While in Africa, because of the distances, the encounters between different centres are difficult and expensive, the Provincials, their Councillors, the Delegates of the Salesian Family and the various groups seek to overcome the challenge "to think together, to work together and pray together" (Identity Card, 39) to make of the Salesian Family "a vast movement of people who, in many ways, work for the salvation of youth "( SDB Constitutions, 5).
This training trip constituted a further step in the commitment to training of the Salesian Family in Africa. A first trip had been made, again by Fr Casti and Fr Ramírez from 1st to 31st March this year in the Vice-Provinces of Africa Ethiopia-Eritrea and East Africa Province. Part of this effort were the two training sessions for Delegates of the Salesian Family which took place in Addis Abeba: the first from 21st to 25th September 2011, the second from 1st to 11th March, 2012.
Published 23/10/2012
