Year Two of Bicentenary preparation
The
poster for the second year of preparation for the bicentenary of
the birth of Don Bosco is ready and available. The Rector Major has
also made his contribution to its composition, following up the graphic
design drawn up by the “Don Bosco Institute of Communication Arts”
(DBICA) in Chennai.
A month from the changeover from the first to
the second year, the Social Communication Department is
presenting the second poster. “The graphic design presented last year
has been taken up by almost the whole Congregation,” says Fr
Filiberto González, Councillor for Social Communication. “This is a
good sign as it provides a single image for the process we are
following.”
With the colour green predominant indicating
the year dedicated to Don Bosco’s pedagogy, the poster has three
elements:
* the face of Don Bosco reproduced from the
death mask made by Cellini after his death and from which a wax mask
was made which today can be seen in the casket kept in the Basilica of
Mary Help of Christians as well as in that travelling round the world;
* a detail from the work of Mario Bogani “Don
Bosco with the boys” which is in the Basilica at Colle Don Bosco. In
the foreground are the young people to whom the work of Don Bosco is
addressed (boys and girls) and behind them those who are continuing the
work: religious and lay people. In the background the fruits of
holiness that flourished around Don Bosco: Dominic Savio, Francis
Besucco and Michael Magone.
* the three pillars on which the Preventive System rests: reason, religion and loving kindness.
The Social Communication Department repeats
its invitation to continue to make use of the graphic design, this
second green version and the new poster for sites, Salesian
Bulletins and the various events planned in the course of this second
year, dedicated to Don Bosco’s pedagogy.
The poster, in the different languages is
attached to the June issue of ANSphoto. On the sdb.org site the files
of the three logos and the second poster are available. In the same
section it is possible to request the original file for the adaptations
in the various languages.
Miscelánea Comillas praises Lenti's work
 The Jesuit Comillas Pontifical University, in its review
“Miscelánea Comillas” – its main publication for academic material from
the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences – in a recent very
positive book review spoke highly of the first volume of the Spanish
edition of “Don Bosco, History and Charism” by Fr Arthur Lenti SDB.
The Spanish language version was edited
by Fr Juan José Bartolomé and Fr Jesús Graciliano González and
published by the “Central Catequística Salesiana” (CCS) in Madrid. In
agreement with the author the two editors have brought together Fr
Lenti’s monumental work in seven volumes – in 3 volumes while updating
the notes and quotations and adding a Spanish bibliography.
William Rodriguez Campos, the author of
the review of the first volume, recommends the work of Fr Lenti, a
historian who is able to identify the main thread uniting human events,
and record them objectively. Fr Lenti does this in masterly fashion
presenting the life and work of Saint John Bosco (1815-1888). “The
first two chapters dedicated to a study of the sources and the
biographical tradition concerning Don Bosco are jewels of inestimable
value for historians, social scientists and researchers” Rodriguez
Campos declares.
Using a hermeneutic approach Fr Lenti
indentifies, evaluates, compares and often corrects documents and
interpretation regarding Don Bosco formerly considered indisputable. He
forcefully and in a definitive manner combats myths and superficial
views. In this regard he emphasises the work done on the text of the
“Memoirs of the Oratory”, because it subjects to a critical examination
anecdotes from the life of Don Bosco which had been transformed into
“categories”: Don Bosco in opposition to the parish priests, a
revolutionary persecuted by the civil authorities, abandoned and alone,
not involved in politics. Fr Lenti shows that all these anecdotes are
false.
In locating the saint in his religious
context, Fr Lenti illustrates a fundamental aspect: the direct,
conscious, desired influence of the Jesuits, Barnabites,
Franciscans, Oblates, Oratorians... In studying the social activity of
Don Bosco, his spirituality and Pastoral work, the fact cannot be
ignored that Don Bosco synthesises these influences in a vital,
spiritual and pedagogical way.
The atmosphere of the Ecclesiastical
College as experienced by Don Bosco was an experience of formative and
theological equilibrium. It was an atmosphere contrary to Jansenism,
Liberalism and Gallicanism. There was a strong Jesuit influence, among
other things, through the “friends’ association.” The models of moral
and pastoral theology proposed were, in addition very
different from one another: Saint Charles Borromeo, Saint Philip Neri
and Saint Francis of Sales. And helping Don Bosco to move towards a
spirituality founded on love and on pastoral charity there was Fr
Joseph Cafasso. “In fact,”– Rodriguez Campos declares, “ Fr Luigi Guala
and Fr Cafasso were the founders and the soul of the Convitto”.
The author of the review goes on to note
that Chapter XIV makes the most impact and containing the most
extensive documentation; demonstrates the “explosive discovery by Don
Bosco of the poor and abandoned boys of Turin.” In a most disillusioned
manner he describes the social, moral and religious situation of youth.
The increase in the population and the urban expansion contributing to
making worse the living conditions of the rural population with hunger,
exploitation of the work force and unemployment, poverty illiteracy,
and beggary. Whereas at the Oratory the boys found a house, a school, a
playground. The novelty of Don Bosco’s Oratory: its fundamentally
religious purpose.
Rodriguez Campos also points out that
through the Regulations for the Oratory one can recognise another of
Don Bosco’s gifts, that of the writer. And he concludes: “An
extraordinary work. Full of topics and themes. An excellent and
successful effort uniting harmoniously a realistic view of the
life and work of Don Bosco and his genuine religious motivation.”
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Guadalajara-Mexico City: SC Delegates, the Americas. 4-7 August at Guadalajara, and 7-9 August in Mexico City.
India - Kolkata: SC Delegates S. Asia Region 8-13 November, after which Fr Filiberto
will make an animation visit to communications activities in Guwahati,
Shillong, Chennai, Hyderabad
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Animation - Letter from Fr Filiberto  My dear confreres and friends of SC,
Over
the last few weeks I have had the good fortune to read good news from
and dialogue with Salesians of various nationalities concerning the
Salesian tradition of communication.
Don Bosco was intuitive when it came to the
kind word and the power of languages of communication, whihc he used
effectively and originally in dealing with his boys. He knew how to
affect the heartstrings, and this is why he succeeded in educating and
evangelising. He was more than just an educator and evangeliser; he was
a communicator. These three things go together in the ecology of
communicaiton that Don Bosco invented when he proposed the formula
“good Christians and upright citizens”.
Popular expressions of this ecology of
communication are things like: theatre, music, song, displays, telling
about his dreams and the Good Night. Brought together intelligently,
and along with the many other things he did they make up an “ecology
involving education, evangelisation and communication in the Oratory”.
He didn't achieve all this by magic, but it was something that emerged
from his deep experience of God and his great apostolic passion, always
for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. This and none other is
Don Bosco's source.
The SC Delegate coordinates and gives impetus to
this ecology by following the SSCS, bringing together the traditional
and the modern, and by drawing from that same source as Don Bosco's,
therefore bringing Don Bosco into our own time.
When you visit communities, schools,
oratories, parishes, try to encourage all of them, Salesians and lay,
students and teachers to recover this ecology and its expressions as a
true treasure of Salesian tradition, something of the first and now the
modern oratory, without overlooking IT and the digital continent.
Greetings from the SC Department Team
Affectiionately in Don Bosco:
Fr Filiberto González, Councillor for SC
Information: Catholic Media Conference praise for ANS  Catholic Media Convention, held 20-22 June at Indianapolis, United
States, was an event which brought together about 400 journalists and
media professionals from all round the world. Fr Michael Mendl, East
United States Province (SUE). was one of them.
This annual meeting is organised by the “Catholic
Press Association” (CPA) which involves the Catholic media of the
United States and Canada. The theme this year was taken from St Paul:
“We, though many, are one body” (1 Cor 10).
The Convention provided a wide series of
opportunities through workshops, round-table discussions, conferences,
groups, reports to become familiar with the great variety of the
Catholic Media. … Among the several keynote addresses greatly
appreciated by those taking part was that by Archbishop Claudio Maria
Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
After making the point that they were many
persons of diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, but all
members of one body in Christ, Archbishop Celli said that
“striving for excellence” both in faith and in work, is an ongoing,
lifelong process of inner dialogue and conversion. Then referring
to the Message of the Holy Father for the 46th World Communications Day
he emphasised that “even more important than the new technologies are
the new ways people relate to one another through social media, for
example.”
The Archbishop then observed that
communication reflects our participation in the creative, communicative
and unifying Trinitarian Love which is the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit; and in conclusion suggested the following characteristics of
Catholic communication: the search for truth, fairness in reporting,
respect for human dignity, with a vocation to build up communion within
and outside the Church, and to be missionary.
In one of the working groups words of praise
was also expressed regarding ANS, which according to some of the
professionals in the field provides “the best news service from the
religious institutes.”
In the course of the Convention there were the
presentations of the “Saint Francis De Sales” Award - the highest
honour bestowed on a individual by the CPA, in consideration of their
“exceptional contribution to Catholic journalism”; and the
“Presidential Medallion”, awarded by the Catholic Academy for
Communication Arts Professionals as their highest honour,
recognising lifetime achievement and service to Catholic communications.
Formation: in consecrated life  Formazione a portata di Click
Pina Riccieri, Paoline 2011Formazione a portata di Click
Pina Riccieri, Paoline 2011
Sr Pina Del Core FMA, Principal of the Pontifical Education Faculty at the
"Auxilium", Rome, introduces this book by Pina Riccieri, in the
following words (amongst others):
"The title arouses curiosity and
interest not only for those engaged in this area, but for a much
broader readership which is attracted by the word 'formation' on the
one hand, and also captured by the term 'digital communication', being
strangely associated with 'sanctification of the mind'. This book by
Pina Riccieri, then, a Pauline Sister so a communicator by calling,
tackles a very much relevant topic, and a crucial and possibly thorny
one too for formation in consecrated life. How do we form today, in the
Web era, without losing the legacy of praxis and cultural transmission
that we have inherited from centuries of formation experience of
generations of religious? What challenges do globalisation and new
communication technologies pose for formation today? What are the
implications for the processes of personal growth and the formation
styles of religious institutes and congregations? How do we go about
new situations in formation that come not just from cultural,
historical and social changes but especially from the young themselves,
by now all natively digital generations?
The response to these and many other
questions in the book, while tackling something already broad and
complex in itself, neatly photographs the reality, calling on expert
voices from various areas. The whole theme of formation to consecrated
life, nevertheless, is described and related to the problems posed by
new communications technologies, noting the influence on learning
processes and acquiring so-called 'transversal' competencies demanded
by the specific vocation and mission of someone called to follow Christ
and communicate his Gospel today.
The book's focus is the hypothesis that a commitment to knowing and
appreciating communication in all its technological innovations is now
an urgent one if we want to face up to the new models of learning and
formation, especially in the intellectual area, that emerge from
today's digital context and which demand critical users and free and
responsible individuals, ones able to interact with media, and become
"digital apostles".
In fact formation, finding itself taking a
cultural turn today of unheard-of proportions and not forseeable ones
either, needs rethinking and reorganising, especially the formation
models that now constantly have to respond to cultural circumstances
and the new questions and needs of people and communities. This leads
to the need to tackle the cultural phenomena and processes in society
today. These are ever more complex and globalised, digital society now
being the context in which new generations build their sense of
personal, social and vocational identity. Today's formation needs to
identify appropriate strategies which will help the all-round
development of the individual, as well as likely formation processes to
put into place in the various formation communities".
Another growing area of production in the Salesian world is the App, an
application for iOS, Android and other similar devices. Last year we
reported the iBreviarium (Hong Kong) by Fr Paul Leung. Then there
is the 'Shake & Pray' app by GBR's Don Bosco Publications. Edebé
has produced educational apps. Now comes news of another from Spain:
In view of the Bicentenary of the
birth of Don Bosco, Salesians and students in the Seville Province have
produced an application for smartphones with a 1000 of the best
sayings, aphorisms and expressions of Don Bosco.
Don Bosco was a man ahead of his times. Many
people spoke about him as a priest well-known for being in the
courtyards, prisons, squares and streets of Turin promoting a positive
form of education for the most needy youngsters. It is for this reason
that Don Bosco’s presence nowadays on youngsters’ mobiles seems a
natural development in a process begun many years ago.
It is made possible nowadays thanks to the
Android application that can be downloaded free from the site
www.donbosco2015.es and to Google Play, which makes it possible to read
a selection of 1000 of Don Bosco’s phrases – in Spanish - organised in
various categories.
The application has been developed by students
in the first technological baccalaureate year at the “Saint Francis of
Sales” Salesian Institute in Córdoba, under the guidance of the
computer programmer Sergio Martínez. The students chose the selection
of phrases as part of a religious education course.
In this regard the work of the Mexican
Salesian Fr Rafael Sánchez Vargas, who died in 1986 was very valuable.
Years ago he had done a lot on work on the writings of Don Bosco,
because of his great admiration for the poetry, letters and other
writings of the Saint.
With this new application users have available
to them a search engine which can find phrases containing a
chosen word: a system enabling any member of the Salesian Family,
teacher, friend of the Salesian world or young person to make use of
this material whenever they want or need to.
In a few hours the application was downloaded
far more frequently than expected – at present the statistics
indicate between 500 and 1.000 users – and this seems to confirm
one of the sayings in the collection: “Spread devotion to Mary Help of
Christians and you will see what miracles are.”
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