Dear friends,
The Jubilee Year of Hope initiated by Pope Francis will draw to a close in a few weeks’ time by his rightful successor, Pope Leo XIV. In the past few months, it has been a blessing for me being in Rome seeing many pilgrims throughout the world coming together and making the most of God’s graces through their participation in various liturgical moments the Jubilee Year has offered. Christians are people of hope, and we hope for a better world as well as for ourselves. We do not give up because our hope is rooted in the risen Jesus.
With faith and hope in Jesus Christ, Salesians throughout the world strive for a better future in collaboration with people from different cultures and religions. Giving and providing hope does not need barriers. Please pray that the Salesians and our lay collaborators continue to strive for a better world with your support and kindness.
The Jubilee Year of Hope may come to a close. But, our hope in Christ to bring love, peace and harmony among God’s people for a brighter future will continue.
Fr Will Matthews SDB
General Councillor for East Asia & Oceania
This October, the month of missions, Pope Leo invites us to pray for the Church to adopt a synodal lifestyle, listening, dialoguing and discerning together "for a shared mission". And what better context to do so than the 150th anniversary of the first Salesian missionary dispatch.
Today, as then, the Lord and Don Bosco continue to call us: "Leave everything, it is time to leave!" Let us not be afraid to say "yes", to leave our comfort zone to bring the joy of the Gospel to other nations, cultures and peoples. It is true that "we are all missionaries", but we also need missionaries "ad exteros" to proclaim the Kingdom to "all nations". Thanks to these missionaries, the Salesian charism is present in 137 countries today.
To set out as missionaries is to learn to love diversity, to respect local traditions, to sow the Good News with humility and to allow ourselves to be enriched by what the Spirit has already sown in each people. The mission teaches us the beauty of encounter and urges us to build together a true evangelical interculturality.
In this missionary October, let us renew our availability: the world awaits courageous witnesses of Christian hope!
And you? Are you willing to set out and be a "missionary of hope among the peoples"? “Give me souls, take away the rest!”
Fr Jorge Mario Crisafulli SDB
General Councillor for Missions
Dear Germain, you are one of the young missionaries sent to the Middle East province, which includes several countries. How do you perceive the diversity of cultures, languages, religions and traditions?
What surprised me was the presence of different rites in the Middle East, such as the Chaldean, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Melkite, Maronite and Latin rites. So, I am used to being only with Latin Catholics, but when I arrived here, I realised that people from other rites that are not part of our Latin rite also participate in our activities at home. This experience taught me that the most important thing is to be a Christian, not to belong to a particular rite. Knowing the language helps a lot in the mission. When young people see that you are speaking their language, they help you and become more open. Learning the language is necessary in order to be with young people and be part of their world.
The communities in your province are all very international. How do you perceive this fact?
Although we come from different countries, God, through the mission and the constitutions, unites us to live together and overcome difficulties. However, humility and understanding are needed to live in harmony in community. Sharing among confreres is one of the keys to knowing and understanding one another. Without this, the quality of community life may be significantly compromised.
What is your experience of working with young Muslims and Christians? Are there any differences?
It seems strange to us to work with Muslims, but we have a youth club with Muslims in Alexandria and Lebanon, and we also have young Muslims in our institutes in both Cairo and Alexandria. For me, I value the person more than their religion, so they are all equal and I treat them the same. However, we have to be careful with words that might offend them. In our house, like the Christians, the young Muslims also follow our organisation well.
Even though there is diversity in culture and religion, I always try to find the things that unite us in order to have a good relationship with everyone.
