(ANS – London) – The event went “well beyond our expectations”. Fr Martin Coyle, Provincial, Great Britain, does not speak in half-measures to describe the impact the pilgrimage of the relic of Don Bosco had in his Province. In an interview with ANS Fr Coyle tells us in detail what happened and what this visit meant for Salesians in the United Kingdom.

The Pilgrimage of Don Bosco's Casket concluded just a few days ago. What are your immediate impressions?
My immediate impressions are that the Pilgrimage of the Relics of Don Bosco was a truly blessed time for our Province and for the local church. Many, many people came on pilgrimage to pray in the presence of the relics of Don Bosco. We received a very warm welcome in each of the Cathedral venues and had a very good experience of church. The creation of the ‘Road Crew – Pilgrim Leaders’ – a group of young people and SDBs who travelled throughout the entire Pilgrimage was a very significant part of our experience. They created a community, a visible expression of the Salesian family, and brought to life the Valdocco Oratory Model – they made the Pilgrimage happen!

What preparatory process did you undertake as a Province and what particular organisational choices did you make?
The preparation over the last 4 months was intense. We made the decision to take the Pilgrimage, not to our own Salesian Centres, but to engage with the local church and visited each of the Metropolitan Cathedrals in Scotland, England and Wales. This meant a far more complex organisational task. We engaged the services of Mr Gerry Kehoe, a past pupil of Salesian College, Battersea, London to be the ‘Operations Director’ for the Pilgrimage; Gerry has a vast experience of event management and was involved in the Papal Visit to the UK in 2010 and the London Olympics in 2012. We established a Task Group, made up of SDBs, an FMA and young lay people, to take responsibility for the different elements of the preparation. We asked for volunteers to accompany the pilgrimage and had 30+ young people, SDB and the task team travelling and animating the Pilgrimage. They were wonderful and really brought the Pilgrimage to life, and allowed pilgrims to meet the Salesian family in action.
We engaged with the media and received very good and positive coverage, and also sent promotional literature to every parish in Scotland, England and Wales.
We created the ‘Pilgrim Experience’, which was a series of banners which led pilgrims through Don Bosco’s life, the dream of the roses, his pedagogy in the preventive system and his spirituality, into a quiet personal space of prayer before the Relics of Don Bosco. We presented all of this as a ‘Balanced Spirituality for all’.

How was all this seen by people, confreres, local Church and the media?
There was an overwhelmingly positive response from everyone. Some people, perhaps even the confreres, were initially sceptical, but as soon as the Pilgrimage began to be planned and then actually happened the response was positive. Nearly 20 000 people came in the different venues! All experienced the ‘living charism’ of Don Bosco in the Salesian Family, all were welcomed and invited into the Pilgrim Experience and time of prayer, all were offered the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and in each venue there was a celebration of the Eucharist.
We received a very warm welcome in each Cathedral venue and the Archbishop or Bishop or Auxiliary presided at Mass, according to their availability. It was a real opportunity for the Salesians and the Salesian Family to engage with the Hierarchy and the local church as never before.
There was very good coverage in the National Catholic Press and also in the national media: a news item link on the homepage of the BBC news website, a news segment on the BBC north west news, a 4 minute segment on BBC Radio 4 Sunday Programme, a photograph in the Guardian (daily newspaper), a full page article in the Liverpool Echo (local daily newspaper).

What were your expectations prior to the arrival of the Casket?
I’m not sure. I had given considerable time and effort to the project and just wanted it to go smoothly and have a real impact in our province, in our country and in our church: and I think it far exceeded my expectations. There were 1000’s of people who came on pilgrimage, young and old; that surprised me.

What results do you hope to achieve from the visit?
I hope that the Salesians and the Salesian Family are now established as a vital and relevant part of the church in the UK with a common sense spirituality to offer to all people. I hope that we have re-connected with many people who had a Salesian connection in the past (confreres who left, past pupils, co-operators, family and friends), and made new contact with people who want to get to know Don Bosco and the Salesians more. I hope that some of these contacts may think of joining the Salesians or contributing to our mission as volunteers.

In addition, I would like to speak about a personal highlight of the Pilgrimage and what I think may be a unique event. On Sunday 13th January I accompanied the Relics of Don Bosco to the Young Offenders Institute at Feltham in London. It houses 700 prisoners aged 14 - 21, of whom 120 are Catholic. Bishop Alan Hopes, Auxiliary Bishop in Westminster presided at the 2 morning Masses, along with Fr Roger Reader, the Chaplain. 80 young men attended the Masses and it was a very powerful and poignant moment of the Pilgrimage. I felt very close to Don Bosco, who used to visit the prisons of Turin. At the end of each of the Masses, during which the young men were extremely reverent and attentive, they were invited to come forward to venerate the relic and to pray. The theme I took for the sermons was ‘that Don Bosco was their particular Saint in heaven; and I encouraged them to try to find the good in themselves and in other people’.
I understand that the Relics of Don Bosco visited an adult prison in Rome at the beginning of the Pilgrimage, but I think that this may be the first prison for young people that the Relics have visited. It was a very particular, special and privileged experience. Somehow I can’t help but think that Don Bosco would be pleased!

Published 31/01/2013