Deliberations on the 28th General Chapter

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Society of St. Francis of Sales
sede centrale salesiana
Via Marsala, 42 – 00185 Roma
Il Rettor Maggiore

Prot. 18/0139
Rome, 28th March 2018

To the Salesian Confreres 
To the Salesian Family

DELIBERATIONS ON THE 28th GENERAL CHAPTER

              Dearest Confreres,
              During this blessed liturgical time of the Holy Week, I would like to express on my behalf and on behalf of the General Council heartfelt greetings and sincere wishes for a very fruitful Holy Easter Season, filled with the presence of the Lord and the guidance of the Spirit.
              Today we have concluded the extraordinary session of the General Council. Our focus has been the General Chapter and all the issues related to the process leading towards its celebration.              
              As a first fruit of this intense Council work, I am now able to communicate the following deliberations:

1. THEME OF THE 28th GENERAL CHAPTER

              The title of the GC will be: “What kind of Salesians for the youth of today”?
              With this theme, we would like to study and deepen the following points:

• The profile of today’s Salesian, and also of the Salesian of tomorrow, so that he will be able to offer the best possible answer to today’s young people, especially the poorer and the ones most in need of help. Obviously it is a mission we do not carry on by ourselves, but a mission shared between Salesians and lay people.
• We will as well focus our attention on several juridical issues, very relevant for the Salesian mission that we are called to live today.

 2. PLACE FOR THE CELEBRATION OF THE 28th GC
               
The venue will be Valdocco (Turin), as in the early General Chapters of the Congregation. Valdocco is a place so meaningful and rich of symbolism for all of us, ideal and inspiring for responding to the challenges we face as Salesians willing to stay in the midst of todays young people.

3. DATE

              The 28th General Chapter will begin on Sunday 16th February 2020, with the solemn Eucharistic Concelebration in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco.
              The closing session will take place on Saturday 4th of April 2020, before the beginning of the Holy Week. Therefore, the General Chapter will last altogether seven weeks.

4. MODERATOR OF THE GENERAL CHAPTER

              After due consultation, and after listening to the General Council, I appointed as Moderator of the 28th General Chapter  Fr Stefano Vanoli, General Secretary of the General Council. We are very grateful and appreciative for his availability.
             
              I invite you, my dear Salesian Confreres, and the dear members of the entire Salesian Family, to pray the Lord staring from today, asking for the grace of fidelity and also for the gift of freedom in the Spirit, to lead us in our common desire to dream how we should be today, how we should live and operate, in order to respond in fidelity to what the Lord is expecting from us.  We have received from Don Bosco’s hands the mission he begun, constantly inspired by the Holy Spirit and guided by the motherly presence of our Mother Mary, to whom we entrust this new important process just started.

With sincere affection

                Yours

  P. Ángel Fernández A., SDB
            Rector Mayor