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| Vatican – GC26: Benedict XVI speaks to the Salesian chapter members |
Fr Chávez recalled the advice which Don Bosco gave to his Salesians: “No effort should be spared when the Church and the Papacy are at stake.”
“The Chapter that we are celebrating”, said Fr Chávez, “has focused out attention on an important charismatic feature of our Salesian Congregation: “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle”. This short prayer is the motto that Don Bosco chose, from the very beginning, for his apostolate among the young. With it he intended to express at one and the same time, his total dedication to God, a great apostolic passion, and complete readiness for every renunciation, so as to bring his mission to its fulfilment.”
Fr Chávez provided some background about the Congregation’s commitment to education: “Thirty years ago the Rector Major, Fr Egidio Viganò began ‘Project Africa’. As a result of an extensive programme of missionary twinning schemes, it has been possible to so multiply our presence that it now reaches 42 countries on the continent. Today the Confreres in Africa are more than 1,200 and the majority of them are local vocations. In Latin America we continue to work in the field of education with great commitment. Great attention is always given to the poorest young people on the outskirts of the cities, on the streets and also in the least developed areas of the continent. In Asia and Oceania, where the Catholic religion, in percentage terms, is scarcely present, we have witnessed a great flowering of vocations, and evangelisation is being carried out with enthusiasm and great fruit, especially among the tribal peoples. This is so in India, in Indonesia, in Vietnam, in Timor, and as far as the Islands of Fiji and Samoa.”
In a similar way, said the Rector Major, GC26 is preparing to set up a ‘Project Europe’, “aimed at re-dimensioning our Salesian presence for greater impact and effectiveness in this continent. That is, seeking a new form of evangelisation in order to respond to the spiritual and moral needs of these young people, who to us appear as wanderers without guides and without destination.”
In conclusion, Fr Chávez assured the Pontiff of constant prayers for his intentions for the Church and for the world and said that he awaited from him with joy “proposals that can most clearly indicate the way ahead for our Congregation during the next six years, in which we shall be making immediate preparations for the celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco.”
Published 31/3/2008
