(ANS - Rome) – To help all the Provinces in promoting the Salesian Mission Day, the Mission Department is publishing in this month of October, the missionary month, some videos that present the best practices carried out by many Salesian communities in Europe to meet the new challenges of immigration.

The Salesian Mission Day is a tradition that has developed over time. It is no longer linked to a single Sunday - which gave it its old name DOMISAL - nor is it tied to a specific date.  Each province can celebrate as it thinks best according to the pastoral needs, always preserving the essential elements, such as the study of a specific theme, analyzed in the concrete reality of a particular continent.

For 2014 the theme proposed is migration in the European context. “We are the others – Sharing Christ’s love for migrants” is the title chosen for this year’s celebration.

Seven videos, made in collaboration with Don Bosco Missions of Turin, were recently published online. They show the commitment of the Salesian Congregation in this field:

1. Sharing Christ's love with migrants - an introductory video that presents the history, the meaning and features of the Salesian Mission Day.
2. A home for people from all around the world - the experience of the Santa Chiara work in Palermo, Italy, which has changed from a being a reception centre for orphans  to a reception centre for migrants.
3. Teranga - a project developed by the Salesians of León, Spain. It takes its name from a word of the Senegalese dialect Wolof, which means welcome.
4. Valdocco, yesterday and today - the service offered today to young people most in need, in the place where it all started.
5. The yeast of Argenteuil - the initiatives developed to assist in the integration of young people in the Parisian suburbs.
6. Helenemberg, work in progress to build the future - training and job placement for migrants offered by this small Salesian community in Germany.
7. Migrants in Stockholm - the commitment of the local Salesian community in one of the most multicultural situations in the world: forty different nationalities in one parish.

To help in the preparation for the Salesian Mission Day 2014, in addition to the videos, there are many other resource materials: prayer and missionary rosary, a brochure and poster, some testimonies and letters of the Rector Major and the Councillor for the Missions. These materials have already reached many Salesian houses all over the world and are present in digital form on sdb.org.

Published 17/10/2013