Orientation Course
for New Missionaries

144th  Missionary Expedition

Dicastero per le Missioni
2013

Purpose of the Course: The enthusiasm and faith of the missionary who goes to the missions are not enough, even if they remain fundamental criteria. It is essential that the missionary, even if he goes only for a few years, makes a careful examination of the reasons for his going to the missions. On the other hand, it is important that the departing missionary is provided the necessary tools to encounter a new people and take on the personal attitude of openness, which is respectful and trusting towards the ‘other’ in order to foster a pleasant, efficient, humble and discreet presence. Certainly the missionary is a gift and a blessing, he brings new strength and vitality to the Province and the local Church; the richness of his faith and culture and his own personal gifts enrich the Province and the local Church, but without adequate preparation the newcomer could actually become a disturbance or un uncomfortable presence because he is incapable of fostering mutual dialogue with the new reality.

The Orientation Course for New Missionaries is envisioned as an immediate preparation of the departing missionaries. It is through prayer, witness of life, sharing of experiences, personal reflections and through a joyful life with other course participants that the new missionary is helped in verifying, deepening and sometimes even discovering the fundamental reasons for his going to the missions.
The orientation course for new missionaries is intended primarily to be formation (foster values and attitudes necessary for a missionary) not information (acquisition of new knowledge or ideas)! Its practical result is the drawing up of the Salesian Missionary Project of Life at the end of the course.

Presuppositions: The preparation for missionary life begins years before in the home Province of the missionary, where the candidate is accompanied in discerning his suitability and the necessary qualities leading to the option for missionary life. The home Province of the missionary has the commitment to provide the departing missionary an opportunity to take part in meetings or courses for departing missionaries, if they are organised in the country of origin.

The Missions Department has published the Criteria for the Discernment of Missionary Vocations as  essential guidelines on the path leading to the choice of candidate for the missions. A confrere who has difficulty in integrating in the ordinary life of the community in his home Province is not meant to be a missionary for the culture shock and the new and more challenging environment in the missions will not only not help solve these problems, they might even aggravate it.

The Province which receives the new missionary has also the commitment to guide and foster the integration of the new missionary in his new cultural social and ecclesial context. This requires an assiduous initial accompaniment. This means, above all, ensure that he has a spiritual guide and, during the early years, a missionary who could accompany him on his first steps in missions. It is also essential that within a year in the missions the new missionary is given the opportunity to participate in courses organised by local church or conference of religious to better understand the local culture and promote a proper inculturation.

Prerequisites: To benefit from the course, each participant needs to make the necessary preparation before coming to the orientation course, and in particular to prepare the following written work:
1) A brief presentation of the essential elements and characteristics of one’s own culture, including those which need to be healed, ennobled and perfected;
2) A brief presentation of the country where he will work as a missionary (geography, culture, social and political situation);
3) A brief presentation of the Salesian Province and of the local Church of his new mission.
The easy access to the internet makes these preliminary work indispensable prerequisites in order to participate in this course to ensure that it becomes a truly educative experience.

Methodology: The course will use the modular approach and the workshop method . Each module will have four components: a) the personal experience b) listening and evaluating through the input, c) personal reflection and sharing d) the re-formulation of one’s own personal understanding on the topic. As components of the methodology great importance is also given to the sharing the Word and the preparation of their daily journal that which helps each participant to reread his personal experiences in the light of the topic(s) of the day. Several other activities will be organised (e.g. sports, visits, programmes, meetings with other Salesians in initial formation, etc..) to foster interaction and inter-cultural exchange among participants.

Recipients: The participants are the new missionaries, the majority of whom are young postnovices who have little or no theological training and pastoral experience. A few will have a previous missionary experience. The vast majority has no command of Italian thus translations will have to be made.

Human Resources: Fr. Václav Klement (Councillor for the missions), Fr. Alfred Maravilla (course coordinator), Fr. Jose Anikuzhikattil (missions department) Br. Jose Luis Muñoz (social communications department), Fr. Peter Gonsalves (UPS), Fr. Giuseppe Nicolussi  (Casa Generalizia), Fr. Luigi Cei (Archivio Centrale Salesiano), Fr. Elio Torrigiani  (catacombs); Fr. Valerio Baresi (Sacro Cuore);Sr. Concetta Strada (Mornese), Fr. Gianni Ghiglione & Egidio Deiana (Colle Don Bosco), Fr. Elio Capriglio (Ivrea) Dc. Joseph Han Quang (cultural mediator).

The Councillor for the Missions: Fr. Václav Klement will have a personal talk with every member of the 144th missionary expeditions and will be available for other personal talks during the entire course. During the pilgrimage to the Salesian Holy Places Fr. Václav will have a second round of personal talk with every missionary.

Duration: twenty-six days 4 – 29 September 2013.
Arrival before 5.00 pm on 4 September. Departure is after 3.00 pm on September 29 if you are departing from Turin or September 30 if you are departing from Rome.

Venue: Rome (Generalate / Salesianum) and Piedmont (Salesian places)

General Objectives:
The orientation course for new missionaries is envisioned as an aid to the immediate preparation of new missionaries before their departure for the missions in order to provide them with the necessary tools as they encounter a new culture by having the correct personal attitude which fosters a pleasant, efficient, humble and discreet presence through the four nuclei: introductory, anthropo-cultural, missiological and Salesian.
At the end of the course each participant

• Deepens his own missionary motivations and the purpose of his going to the missions;
• Is prepared to respond to a new situation and a new culture at the start of his missionary life;
• Acquires a style of relating with the other which is respectful of the other’s culture and values in order to foster a relationship which is mutually enriching;
• Visits important Christian shrines in Rome in order to foster a profound sense of Church;
• Visits the places of Don Bosco to foster a deepening of one’s own charismatic identity as a Salesian missionary;
• Evaluate one’s own experiences in order to make a Christian and Salesian rereading of one’s own life;
• Draws up the Salesian Missionary Project of Life at the end of the course.

General Schedule

6.45 Sharing of the Word / Lauds (animation by language groups)
7.30 breakfast
8.15 workshop method (introduction)
8.30  session
10.00 break
10.30          session
12.00          personal reflection and / or personal work
13.00          lunch
15.00          session
16.30 workshop method (conclusion)
17.00          snacks / recreation / community games on Tuesdays and Saturdays
18.30 Eucharist with Vespers (animation by language groups)
19.30          Journaling
19.45          dinner, rosary / good night / presentation (video or power point) of one’s own country   
or culture or occasionally a short film about the missions (optional)

04 September (Wednesday) - Arrival - Day 1

19.00

1. Prayer Service
2. Welcome by Councillor for the Missions
3. introduction  
4. presentation of the animating team
5. preliminary orientation (schedule / Generalate house plan)

20.00 dinner

Introductory Nucleus
Specific Objective:
The introductory nucleus aims at providing departing missionaries with basic and necessary skills for the positive outcome of the course.

20.00 cena

Nucleo Introduttivo Obiettivo Specifico: Il nucleo introduttivo mira a fornire i missionari partenti le competenze di base e gli atteggiamenti necessarie per un esito positivo del corso.

05 September  (Thursday) – Day 2

• Introduction: Orientation / Introduction (Fr. Alfred)
• 10.30 preparation for the Pauline Pilgrimage
• 12.00          lunch

Pilgrimage to Places of St Paul in Rome
Objective: The pilgrimage aims at giving each participant the possibility of visiting and praying at the tomb of St Paul and at places in Rome connected with St. Paul.

• 14.15  departure for a guided pilgrimage to the places of St. Paul in Rome: (rosary in the bus)
• 15.00 visit tre fontane
• 15.30 Eucharist (Presider: Fr. Václav)
• 16.30 departure
• 16.50          Basilica of St. Paul outside the walls
• 17.30 departure for Santa Maria in via Lata (second residence of St. Paul in Rome), San Paolo in Regola (first residence of St. Paul in Rome).
• 19.30 dinner / good night

06 September  (Friday) Day 3

• Module 1: Missionary Motivations (Fr. Václav)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to enumerate the indicators of correct motivations in going to the missions.

• Module 2: Journaling (Fr. Alfred)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to explain the role of journaling in rereading one’s own experience and is able to show the capacity to write a daily spiritual journal.

07 September  (Saturday) Day 4

• 6.45  - Eucharist
• Module 3: The Project of Missionary Life (Fr. Václav)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to discuss in a group the necessity of the project of life especially in Salesian missionary life and draw up a Project of Life which will be periodically revised during the course in view of drawing up its final version at the conclusion of the course in Turin.

• 10.30          writing of the first draft of the Project of Missionary Life
• 16.00          community evaluation of the introductory nucleus
• 17.00          snacks / community games
• 18.45          eucharistic adoration with vespers
• 19.30 Journaling
• 19.45          dinner / rosary / good night / serata

08 September (Sunday) Day 5
Pilgrimage to the Catacombs & the Papal Basilicas of Rome (Fr. Alfred)
Objective: The pilgrimage aims at giving every participant the possibility to visit and pray in important shrines in Rome.

• 6.40 Lauds
• 7.00 breakfast
• 8.00 departure
• 9.00 Eucharist and visit to the Catacombs of St. Callixtus
• 10.30 guided pilgrimage to the Papal Basilicas (St. John Lateran, St. Mary Majors)
• packed lunch / afternoon free for tourism
• 19.30  dinner
• rosary / good night

Antropo-Cultural Nucleus
Specific Objective:
The anthropo-cultural nucleus aims at providing the departing missionaries with instruments that would help them better understand the dynamics of culture and foster their inculturation.

9 September  (Monday) - Day 6

• Module 1: What is Culture? (Fr. Alfred)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to provide a definition of culture which rejects either cultural superiority, cultural inferiority or cultural relativism.

10 September  (Tuesday) - Day 7

• Module 2: Elements of Culture (Fr. Alfred)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to draw an illustration to show the elements of his own culture and explain how they interact.

11 September (Wednesday) - Day 8

• Module 3: Culture Shock (Fr. Alfred)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to narrate his own experience of cultural shock and explain what he has learnt today that could help him cope up with it in a similar situation in the future.

12 settembre  (Thursday) - Day 9 

• Module 4: Inculturation (Fr. Alfred)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to explain what is inculturation and illustrate what is a real inculturation and how to foster it among missionaries.

13 September (Friday) - Day 10

• Module 5: Burnout (Fr. Alfred)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to explain the symptoms of burnout and how to prevent it.

Visit to the Historical Archives of the Propaganda Fide
Objective: Each participant is able to visit the historical achieves of the Propaganda Fide which coordinates the mission of the universal Church.

• 9.50  departure
• visit to the Historical Archives (Pontifical Urbanian University)
• 10.30 - 11.15 first batch
• 11.15 - 12.00 second batch
• 12.00 departure for Pisana
• 13.00 lunch

14 September  (Saturday) - Day 11

• 7.00 Eucharist / Lauds with the Generalate community
• 7.40 breakfast
• 8.45 workshop method
• 9.00 session

• Module 6 - Part I: Intercultural communication (Fr. Peter Gonsalves)

Modules’ Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to draw out the important attitudes to foster and effective communication across cultures.

• 15.00          community evaluation of anthropo-cultural nucleus
• 16.00          personal review of the draft of the Project of Missionary Life
• 16.30          snacks / preparation for cultural evening
• 18.00          eucharistic adoration with vespers
• 18.45 Journaling
• 19.00          dinner / rosary
• 20.00 cultural evening / good night

15 September  (Sunday) - Day 12
Pilgrimage to the Tomb of St. Peter in the Vatican (Fr. Alfred)
Objective: The pilgrimage aims at giving each participant the possibility to visit and pray at the tomb of the Apostle Peter and of the Popes.

• 6.30 breakfast
• 7.15  departure for the Vatican (Lauds in bus)
• 8.00  Eucharist in the Vatican grottoes (St. Peter’s Basilica)
• Free day for tourism
• 19.30  dinner
• rosary / good night

Missiological Nucleus
Specific Objective:
The missiological nucleus aims at helping the departing missionaries to better understand fundamental missiological concepts.

16 September (Monday) Day 13

• Meeting with the 9th Successor of Don Bosco (depending on his availability)

• Module 1: Initial Proclamation (Fr. Václav)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to explain the importance and urgency of initial proclamation in the mission of the Church.

17 September (Tuesday) - Day 14

• Module 2: Introduction to the Theology of Mission and Evangelisation (Fr. Jose)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a short and simple explanation of the theological foundations of mission and what is evangelisation and its different dimensions.

• Module 3: Evangelisation and Human Promotion (Fr. Václav)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a short and simple explanations of the connection of evangelisation with human promotion.

• 15.00         
• Group I: visit to the Salesian Central Archives (Fr. Cei)

Objective of the Visit: Have the possibility to see the original copy of Don Bosco’s Memoirs and Souvenir to the first missionaries and the more important letters of Sts. Luigi Versiglia and Callixtus Caravario.

• Group II: visit to the ANS (Br. Jose Luis)

Objective of the Visit: Have the possibility to see and understand how diffusion of missionary news takes place in the Congregation.

18 September (Wednesday) - Day 15
Meet the Successor of Peter (Fr. Alfred)
Objective: At the end of the morning each participant will have the possibility to meet the successor of Peter in order to be strengthened in his own sense of Church.

• 6.00 breakfast
• 6.30 departure
• papal audience in the Vatican

• 12.00: packed lunch  
• 13.00 departure for Novitiate at Genzano (where St. Luigi Versiglia was Novice Master)

• encounter with the Novices
• 17.00 Eucharist /  vespers
• 18.00 departure for Pisana / rosary in the bus

19 September  (Thursday) - Day 16

• Module 4: Education and Evangelisation (Fr. Jose)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to list down practical initiatives to ensure that, faithful to the intentions of Don Bosco, we evangelise  by educating and educate by evangelising.

• Module 5: Salesian Voluntary Service (Fr. Václav)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to explain the relevance and role of volunteers in evangelisation.

• 15.00         
• Group II: visit to the Salesian Central Archives (Fr. Cei)

Objective of the Visit: Have the possibility to see the original copy of Don Bosco’s Memoirs and Souvenir to the first missionaries and the more important letters of Sts. Luigi Versiglia and Callixtus Caravario.

• Group I: visit to the ANS (Br. Jose Luis)

Objective of the Visit: Have the possibility to see and understand how diffusion of missionary news takes place in the Congregation.

20 September (Friday) - Day 17

Salesian Nucleus
Specific Objective:
The Salesian nucleus aims at giving the departing missionaries the possibility to follow the footsteps of the Founder as the source of identity of their Salesian vocation through a personal contact with places connected with the origins of the Salesian charism and evaluate their own personal experience in the light of Don Bosco’s charismatic experience in order to continue his mission in their new field of work.

Module 1: The Missionary Dimension of the Salesian Charism (Fr. Alfred)

• Module 1: Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a simple and brief explanation about the missionary dimension of the Salesian charism and its practical application in one’s life as a Salesian and a missionary.

• 15.00 community evaluation of the missiological nucleus
• 15.40          personal review of the draft of the Project of Missionary Life
• 17.00          snacks / community games
• 18.45          eucharistic adoration
• 19.30          Journaling

• 19.45 dinner / rosary / good night

21 September (Saturday) - Day 18

• 6.45 Sharing of the Word / Lauds

7.30 breakfast

• Module 2: Historical Outline of the Salesian Missions (Fr. Jose)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to narrate important events in the history of the mission of the Church and specially the important developments of the Salesian mission.

• Module 3: Salesian Missionary Spirituality  (Fr. Václav)

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a brief and simple explanation about the fundamental elements of Salesian missionary spirituality.

• 12.20: departure for the Basilica of the Sacred Heart
• 13.00: lunch with missionaries participating in the on-going formation course (UPS)
• 14.00: interactive activity

Pilgrimage to Some Places of Don Bosco in Rome (Fr. Alfred)
Objective:  The pilgrimage aims at giving every participant the possibility of visiting and praying in important places in Rome connected with Don Bosco.

• 15.00 Eucharist at the altar of Mary Help of Christians
• Visit Chapel where the letter from Rome was written
• Visit Museum & room of  Don Bosco
• Visit work for migrants

• 18.00: departure for Pisana

A Spiritual Journey with Don Bosco
Through His Life and Times
(22-29 September)

22 September (Sunday) - Day 19
5:30 departure for Genoa
11.30 arrival at Istituto Don Bosco Sanpierdarena
12.00 Eucharist with the Latin American Community
13.15 lunch with the SDB community
14:30 brief visit to the room of Don Bosco, a brief stop at the Port on the way to MORNESE –  rosary in the Bus

• Module 4: Mother Mazzarello: The Feminine Dimension of the  Salesian Charism  

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a short and brief explanation how St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello lived and transmitted the Salesian charism.

16.30 arrival,
17.00 guided visit to the places of  Mother Mazzarello: Collegio
19.00 evening prayer
19.30 dinner / interaction with FMA missionaries
20.30 community evaluation
20.45 Journaling / good night

23 September (Monday) - Day 20
7.00  Eucharist & Lauds in the Basilica / breakfast
8.30  introduction about the day’s activities
8.45 visit MUSEUM, Mazzarelli, Valponasca
10.30 departure for Colle Don Bosco
11.30 arrival / settle down
12.00 visit to the Ethnological Museum
13.00 lunch

• Module 5: Colle Don Bosco: Childhood and Adolescence of Johnny Bosco

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a brief and simple narration about the childhood and adolescence of Don Bosco and reread the events in one’s life which have helped him in his human and spiritual  maturity.

14.00 introduction about the afternoon’s activity
14.20 departure for Capriglio
moment for reflection and personal prayer

15.30          departure for Becchi
15.45 visit to Becchi (casetta, field of dreams, house of Joseph Bosco)
moment for reflection and personal prayer
18.45 Eucharist with vespers - Basilica
19.30          dinner
20.10 rosary
20.30 community evaluation
20.45 Journaling / good night

24 September (Tuesday) - Day 21

• Module 6: Castelnuovo D’Asti  and Chieri: The Young Bosco and his Formation

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a short and simple narration of Don Bosco’s human and spiritual formation and see the personal gifts he has received from God and how these can help him in his radical gift of self to God.
6.45 Lauds / personal meditation
7.30 breakfast
8.15 introduction about the day’s activities
8.45  departure for Chieri
9.15  visit to the Jewish Ghetto, Convent of Peace, old seminary
visit to the Church of St. Philip Neri
moment for reflection and personal prayer
visit to the Cathedral of Chieri
moment for reflection and personal prayer

11.45 departure for Colle Don Bosco
13.00 lunch

14.00 departure for Castelnuovo Don Bosco
14.30 visit to St. Andrew’s Parish Church
15.30 Eucharist
16.15 departure for Moncucco
16.45 visit to the Moglia farm
moment for reflection and personal prayer
17.30 Vespers
18.30 departure for Colle

19.30          dinner
20.10 rosary
20.30 community evaluation
20.45 Journaling / good night

25 September (Wednesday) - Day 22

• Module 8: Missionary Animation

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to have a practical experience of missionary animation among the students of Ivrea (former missionary aspirantate).
6.45 Lauds / personal meditation
7.30 breakfast
8.15 introduction about the day’s activities
8.45   departure for Ivrea (former Missionary Aspirantate)
10.00 arrival / encounter with the students (by class)
12.00 lunch

14.00 departure for Courgnè (birth place of St. Callistus Caravario)
14.30 arrival / visit
15.30          Eucharist
16.30 Departure (vespers & rosary in the bus)
19.30          dinner
20.15 community evaluation
20.30 Journaling / good night

26 September (Thursday) - Day 23

• Module 7: City of Turin: The Priest Don Bosco and the Beginnings of His Work

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a brief and simple explanation of the expressions of the oratorian heart of Don Bosco and evaluate how one has lived Don Bosco’s Da Mihi Animas.
6.45 Sharing of the Word / Lauds

7.30 breakfast
8.15 introduction about the day’s activity
8.45 departure for Turin
9.50  walk from Porta Palazzo to the Cathedral (Chapel of the Shroud)
walk to the Vincentian Church  of the Visitation
11.40 visit to the Church of St. Francis of Assisi
moment for reflection and personal prayer
12.15 brief visit to the Shrine of the Consolata

13.00 lunch (Valdocco self-service)
14.30 visit to the Pinardi chapel, Church of St. Francis de Sales
moment for reflection and personal prayer
16.00 Eucharist Church of St. Francis de Sales
16.40 departure for Valsalice tombs of Don Bosco, Don Beltrami and Don Albera and Chapel of the Sacred Heart
moment for reflection and personal prayer

18.00 departure for Colle / (vespers & rosary in the bus)
19.30          dinner
20.15 community evaluation
20.45 Journaling / good night

27 September (Friday) - Day 24

• Module 8: Valdocco: Characteristics of Don Bosco’s Spirituality

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a brief and simple explanation of the characteristics of the spirituality of Don Bosco and evaluate how he has lived it in his own life.

6.45 Lauds / personal meditation

7.30 breakfast
8.15 introduction about the day’s activities
8.45 departure for Valdocco
10.00 arrival / video & visit to the rooms of Don Bosco
moment for reflection and personal prayer
11.00 visit to the Basilica, Chapel of relics
moment for reflection and personal prayer
12.00 Eucharist in MHC Basilica
13.00 lunch

• Module 9: The Places of Dominic Savio: The Educative Proposal of Holiness

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to make a brief and simple explanation of Don Bosco’s concept of holiness as shown by Domenic Savio’s spiritual experience and in this light evaluate how he has lived  Salesian holiness.

14.30 departure for Mondonio
15.30 visit to Dominic Savio’s house and school
brief stop at Mondonio’s cemetery chapel

16.30 departure for Murialdo
17.00 visit to the Church and house of Dominic Savio
moment for reflection and personal prayer / vespers
18.00 vespers
18.30 rosary while walking towards Colle Don Bosco (spontaneous grouping)
19.30          dinner – Thank you to the community
20.20 community evaluation – COURSE 2013
20. 45         Journaling / good night

28 September (Saturday) - Day 25

• Module 10: Towards A Project of Missionary Life

Module Objective: At the end of the module each participant is able to reread his journal and draw out from it important elements for his spiritual life in order to draw up the final version of his Project of Salesian Missionary Life.
6.45 personal meditation
7.00  Lauds / Hill of the missionary dream
reading of Don Bosco’s 5th Missionary Dream / group sharing

7.30 breakfast
8.15 introduction about the day’s activities
8.45 points for reflection
- moment for reflection and personal prayer
- possibility for personal Eucharistic adoration in the Tempietto
- final version of the personal Project of Salesian Missionary Life

11.00 Penitential celebration: possibility for confession
12.00 Eucharist Don Bosco Basilica (with FMA missionaries)
13.00          lunch at mamma Margarita (followed by SDB- FMA missionaries’ group
sharing)

16.00 HARAMBÉE
Around 300 young people from Italian Provinces, VIS + Missionaries (testimonies - sharing)
20:00 dinner, Basilica – serata, torchlight proccession  – rosary, good night:

29 September (Sunday) - Day 26
7.00 breakfast
7.30 departure for Turin-Valdocco (Lauds in the bus)
9.00 Valdocco: DB Theatre – meeting with young people of VIS-Italia and Rector Major - presentation of departing missionaries and volunteers
cf. complete list of missionaries – SDB, FMA, CMB, Volunteers – Poland, Spain, Slovakia, Italy, etc.

12:00 Basilica of Mary Help of Christians – Eucharist presided by the Rector Major and giving of the missionary cross to missionaries of 144th Salesian missionary expedition

15:00 departure for Rome and other destinations, estimated time of arrival in Rome 24:00

Liturgical Animation & Celebrations