(ANS - Port-au-Prince) - During his visit to Haiti from 10 to 14 March, the Rector Major, Fr Ángel Fernández Artime, gave an interview to Bro. Hubert Mesidor, SDB,  Director of Communications of the Blessed Philip Rinaldi Vice-Province in Haiti.

Four days in Haiti: What is your assessment of the Salesian situation?

The overall experience was very beautiful indeed. I am leaving with my heart full of joy, of experiences, images, smiles, of the heartbeats of young Haitians and the people of Haiti. Regarding the Salesian presence in the country, I think it is really wonderful, and surely it will develop over time with great fidelity to the Salesian mission and the charism received from the Lord and from Don Bosco. Consequently, as I said to my brother Salesians, it is a question of being very intelligent, listening to the signs of the times, looking to the future and being able to respond with fidelity. We don’t base our response on what we need, but rather on what the Lord expects from us today and what the young people and the people of Haiti need from us, beginning with the Gospel and our mission as educators and pastors.

The situation in Haiti is exceptional after the earthquake. How do you see the work of reconstruction, in general, and especially that of the Salesian, five years after the earthquake?

Overall I have the feeling that there is still much to be done in terms of reconstruction.  I do not know if it will be possible to achieve it all. I am impressed by the number of houses being built. I must admit that I was really struck by what I saw in Cité-Soleil, where the situation is the same as it was before the earthquake. This belt of extreme poverty did not change either during the earthquake or after it. The small tin houses of the poor people were not destroyed and their situation has not changed. I think this is the big challenge facing the people of Haiti, and I say this with great respect, and with the hope that Haiti can escape from this extreme poverty. On the other hand I see a people full of life and passion for life, living with great dignity and full of the joys of life.

As for the Salesian presence, a great job of reconstruction has been done thanks to the efforts of the people of Haiti, and with great help from the Congregation and the Salesian Family, from the Salesian Mission Offices and other organizations that have helped so much, including official agencies from different countries.

I am proud to see how serious we were and how we were able to allocate funds for the purposes for which they were intended. We still have work to do and we hope to find the help that is needed. To completely rebuild eleven works is an almost herculean task. But I think we can look at the situation with optimism and hope. Education is still the key.  The people of this country cannot survive forever just by selling on the streets. Yes, that needs to be done. But the key continues to be education, imparting training and vocational skills to many thousands of young people. And here I am very confident and very happy with what we are doing as a Salesian mission and as the mission of the Church.

In Gressier, speaking to some young people, you said: "Dear young people, other young people need you, Don Bosco needs you, Jesus needs you, to be the builders of the new Haiti." How do you see the situation of the young people of Haiti?

I see them as young people with great potential. Yesterday I saw hundreds and hundreds of young people in our formation house, and I said to myself, “This is the way forward if we can give these young people a complete well-rounded formation.”  It is very important to form the person, not just to teach a trade or a profession.  At the same time, I think that young people have the right to have career opportunities. It is not fair that just because they were born into a situation of poverty, and are then punished by an earthquake, that their horizon is so narrow that they can see nothing beyond it. So, I insist on the right of these young people to have opportunities in life.  I insist that they should have the opportunity of a full education in what it means to be human and to live with dignity, and also the opportunity to become believers, since we are educators in the faith. I can see that in general the professional and technical training that we are offering is excellent.  I end by saying that I believe in the young people of Haiti. This is a country with great potential, a nation with a large number of marvellous young people, like many nations of Africa and Latin America.  They are not old nations but young nations, and we must dream and plan for the long term, not only for the immediate future.

25 March 2014 – 25 March 2015: one year as Rector Major. What is your overall assessment of this year?

Personally it was a great year, a year of grace of the Lord, a year in which I had some very beautiful and significant experiences that made a great impact on me.  Looking at the Congregation, I was able to get to know the Congregation a little better. I visited fifteen countries. I read many reports and heard many talks. I had many interviews and hundreds of meetings with people who have enlightened my vision. I must say that we have a Salesian Congregation that is really beautiful, full of life, ready to give of its best to the Church, to the world and to the youth of the world, and I believe that we can continue to build and to pass on a Salesian Congregation very faithful to the Lord. We will strive - this is what I ask of the whole Congregation - to be always faithful, to grow in fidelity to the young and the poor, to get closer to those who need us, to be faithful to the charism that Don Bosco lived and left to us,  and, ultimately, to be faithful to the Lord Jesus. I think we are faithful, but my passion is to be even more faithful and we have five years ahead to make this journey together. We have this challenge and we also have great faith that the Lord will help us along this path.

What does it mean for you to be Rector Major in the Year of the Bicentenary of the Birth of Don Bosco.?

It is a gift of God. It is a gift of Don Bosco to me, one that was absolutely unexpected. I receive it as a gift, with great gratitude and great humility, and knowing that it is a great responsibility. I ask every day for the light and the help of the Holy Spirit in my ministry and for all those who are exercising ministry in the Congregation. I want to   emphasize that it is a year of grace, not only for me but for the whole Salesian community and for our whole Salesian Family throughout the world. It is not a year of great celebrations or great demonstrations of force. Quite the opposite! We have chosen the most authentic way, which is to make it a profound experience of our charism and our vocation, in great fidelity to the Lord and to Don Bosco, expressed in any sign or any work that brings us closer to the young people and especially to the poorest. This is the Year of the Bicentenary!

Published 20/03/2015