Dear friends,
Compassion and mercy are not just ideals in the mission of Salesians; instead, they are vital actions that shape our relationship with God and with those we serve, because we are called to imitate the ‘Good Shepherd’, Jesus, in the Don Bosco way. We live out our vocation with deep empathy, understanding and care as compassion invites us to stand with those less privileged, especially the young, offering not just material help but also emotional and spiritual support.
Salesian spirituality teaches us to embrace mercy, as Don Bosco did, respecting the dignity of each person. As we relaunch our commitment to this mission, we reflect on how we can deepen our relationships with those we are sent to serve. May we be instruments of God’s love, showing mercy in our words and actions and let us pray that we may live out our relationships with compassion and mercy, reflecting God's love in all we do.
Fr Jose Joseph SDB
Treasurer, Office of the Salesian Economer General
Just over a month ago, Pope Francis left us—the Pope of mercy and compassion. His life, his teachings and his pastoral style remind us that compassion is neither a weak sentiment nor a passing emotion. Quite the contrary, mercy and compassion are essential attributes of the Trinity and the heart of Jesus of Nazareth. They are the living soul of the missionary Church.
Compassion, in the words of Francis, is a transformative force born from the heart of the Church and expresses its deepest identity. In Evangelii Gaudium, he tells us clearly:
"The mission at the heart of the people is not just a part of my life, or an ornament that I can remove; it is not an 'extra' or just one more moment amongst many. It is something I cannot uproot from my being without destroying myself" (EG 273). The Salesian missionary intention of this month, which invites us to pray for the gift of compassion and mercy in our relationships with those to whom we are sent, refocuses on this urgency. It is not simply about doing good or fulfilling a pastoral task. It is about allowing ourselves to be touched, moved, shaped and transformed by the pain of others. At a homily in 2015, the Pope said: "Today the Church is a mother; she is our mother. She is a mother and walks with us, weeps with us... A Church that does not weep is a cold Church, which does not feel pain at the suffering of her children. A Church that does not weep cannot be a mother."
Following that thought, we could say with absolute clarity: a Salesian Congregation, a province, a community, a Salesian, a member of the Salesian Family who does not feel the pain of young people and is not capable of weeping with them, cannot call themselves mother, father, brother or friend. Indeed, the Salesian mission is not born from our strategic plans or technical-pastoral projects, but from a sensitive heart like that of Don Bosco. Touched by Christ's love, he wept in the ‘Generala’ prison. He transformed those tears into concrete action, founding the Salesian oratory as a home, school, church and playground that restores hope and smiles to those forgotten by this world.
Today more than ever, we are called to let ourselves be moved by that same compassion, which drives us to be a Salesian Family that "reaches out", with doors wide open to all. Francis preferred "A Church wounded from going out to the peripheries rather than a Church sick from being closed in on itself" (EG 46). May mercy and compassion transform us into a living presence of tenderness and justice, capable of weeping, loving and acting with Christ's heart, true missionaries in Don Bosco's style.
Fr Jorge Mario Crisafulli SDB
New General Councillor for the Missions
Dear Julie, this month we pray with Pope Francis that the world might grow in compassion. How do you, in the Salesian Mission Office of Korea, contribute to this?
A part of our mission is to support the evangelization of our benefactors. We strive to share news from the mission fields around the world and encourage people to join in prayer and charity. We aim to highlight stories of growth in mission areas, so that the benefactor’s compassion may grow not from pity but from a sense of solidarity. Personally, I love hearing stories from various fields. It’s not because I’m special, but because I’m blessed to be in a position to encounter them firsthand. This gives me a responsibility to shape and share them meaningfully. We also take great care in selecting projects for support, ensuring that our benefactors’ goodwill may blossom into worthwhile impact.
We know that many lay people are active in your country, for example Salesian cooperators and past pupils. How does the collaboration between them and the SDB work?
Salesian Cooperators are always the first to step forward when emergency help is needed. During crises such as the war in Ukraine and the situation in Myanmar, they prayed and raised funds with genuine concern, as if it were their own.
Past Pupils from Don Bosco Technical School (now closed) and Salesian high schools, now working across a wide range of fields, provide invaluable expertise and other help we lack. Whether Catholic or not, they all speak fondly of the time with their Salesian educators, often recalling those days as if they’ve momentarily returned to their youth. As we prepare for WYD 2027, we are encouraging more active participation from SYM youth by giving them opportunities to take the lead.
Julie, what are you most happy about (proud moment in) your work lately?
Since I don’t work directly with youth, it is easy to fall into routines that focus on numbers and processes. That’s why I try to keep the Salesian mentality and a wider perspective in my work. Balancing the needs of our missions and our benefactors is challenging, but having colleagues who share the same mission encourages me.
Last year, I visited South Sudan. I spent time with a local Salesian I had earlier known only through correspondence. One day, after watching my efforts to understand the local context fully, he said, “Julie is a big woman.” It was such a small sentence, but it stayed with me.
