Posted February 12, 2008

United States - Education and Business: A Collaborative partnership

Left to right, Fr. John Serio, Fr. Tom Brennan, Fr. Steve Shafran

(ANS - New York) - Throughout the 46th Commission on Social Development, the issue of youth employment has been addressed by governments and NGOs, both civil and religious. Many youths (defined by the UN up to age 25) are finding themselves under-employed or unable to find decent work even after completing university studies. While not neglecting the issue of forced child labor and the exploitation of young workers, the discussions have emphasized the need to find creative ways to facilitate the entry of young people into the paid labor force.

The Salesians offered a contribution to this discussion on Monday, February 11th. In a workshop organized by Fr. Tom Brennan, the Salesian Representative at the UN, and Sr. C.J. Willie, for the Elizabeth Seton Foundation, speakers presented the collaborative educational model of the Cristo Rey School. Fr. John Serio, Superintendent of Schools for the New Rochelle Province, and Fr. Steve Shafran, President of Don Bosco Cristo Rey in Washington, D.C. were joined by the Principal of Cristo Rey, NY and a faculty member and three students from NY in a panel presentation of this prophetic model of education.

In Cristo Rey Network Schools, students take college preparatory coursework while also working one full day a week at a sponsoring business. Four students share a fulltime job, and the supporting businesses pay the school the value of the job. This covers nearly 70% of the tuition at the Cristo Rey School. The highlights and challenges of the model were presented by the adults, but the presence of three students benefiting for the school spoke the most eloquently.

United States - United Nations: 46th Session on the Commission for Social Development

(ANS - New York) - Beginning with the Civil Society Forum on February 5th and ending on February 15th, the topic of Decent Work for a Decent Life is being discussed by member states and Civil Society during the 46th Session of the Commission for Social Development.

The Subcommittee of NGOs on Social Development has worked throughout the year preparing talking points and interventions to be presented during this commission. The Salesians of Don Bosco were represented in these discussion and preparing these interventions by Fr. Tom Brennan of the New Rochelle province.

The NGO subcommittee worked diligently to encourage member states to include the most vulnerable and marginalized populations (i.e. women and children) not only in their deliberations, but also in the planned action steps at the conclusion of the commission.

Among the issues considered in the discussions on decent work were: gender equality, disabilities, migration, climate change, youth, education, social protections, and social inclusion.

Spain – Educating the little ones in non-violence and peace

(Madrid) – The children in the nursery and the elementary school in the Salesian Institute of Atocha, Madrid, took part in the School Day for Non-Violence and Peace, an annual celebration in Spain on January 30th. The School Day School Day for Non-Violence and Peace began in 1964, was recognised by UNESCO in 1993. In Spain it is celebrated on the anniversary of the death of Mahatma Gandhi.

Little boys and girls, 750 of them ages 3-12, gathered in the courtyard of the Institute to form a dove and the word Paz (Peace). This was preceded by classroom activities that had the students drawing and making posters about situations of violence in society.

Peace Starts in the Heart, No to War, No to any Kind of Violence, Peace Begins with a Smile, were some of the messages the children used  to express their feelings about peace and how to achieve it. The youngest children (3-5 years old) held little paper doves that they had cut out. During the assembly in the courtyard, some of the  messages written by the pupils were read, and the celebration ended with songs and a prayer for peace.

The teachers invited the youngsters “to build peace day by day at school, at home, among their friends, remembering that peace is everyone’s responsibility.”  

Italy – The De Lubac Prize for 2007 to a Salesian from Haiti (Rome)

On Monday January 28, 2008, at the Villa Bonaparte in Rome, seat of the French Embassy to the Holy See, a Haitian Salesian, Fr. Maurice Elder Hyppolite, who is Rector of the Institut de Philosophie Saint François de Sales di Tabarre in Port au Prince, Haiti, was presented with the De Lubac Prize for 2007.

The prize is awarded by the French Embassy to the Holy See for theses written in French and defended in Pontifical Study Centers and Universities. Fr. Hyppolite’s thesis in Philosophy, Le Réalisme de la Connaissance Comme Condition pour l’humanisme Intégral de Jacques Maritain (Realism and Knowledge as a Condition for the Integral Humanism of  Jacques Maritain) was defended at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome on May 18, 2007. Among the reasons given by the Jury for awarding the prize were the speculative depth, the methodological ability and the significance of the research.

Cardinal Paul Poupard, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and President of the Jury presented the prize to Fr. Mauro Mantovani, Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy at the UPS and a Salesian from Haiti Fr. Pierre Ernest Bazile, who is currently preparing his doctorate at the University. They represented the Rector Magnificus, Fr. Mario Toso, and the prize winner, Fr. Maurice Elder Hyppolite.

Costa Rica - “Educating with the heart of Don Bosco” in a Latin American context

(San José) – Fr. Pascual Chávez, Rector Major of the Salesians, delivered a conference on the theme of the Strenna for 2008 attended by members of the Salesian Family and educators from various Salesian centers in Costa Rica. It was given at the  Don Bosco Institute in San Jose, the capital.

In his address the Rector Major referred to some aspects of the Strenna putting them in the Latin American context. Educating with the heart of Don Bosco,  Fr Chávez said, means having a special love for the lowest: giving more to those who have the least.

According to the Salesian charism, the educator is not an employee but a person who works with the conviction that it is in response to a vocation. “Teachers impose themselves, educators are chosen by the youngsters!” the Rector Major insisted.

For Fr. Chávez, the updating of the Salesian educative system is a challenge to contemporary culture. The secret of Salesian pedagogy is that it aims at the full development of the potential of the human being, that through a high quality scientific and technical education sets out to form citizens with a real sense of solidarity.

The subject of human rights, explained in the message of the Strenna for 2008, the  Rector Major pointed out, is a continuation of what Don Bosco himself did, who gave priority to the most poor, the weakest, and the abandoned.

In the afternoon Fr. Chávez went to the Center for Salesian Education, CEDES Don Bosco, a large Salesian center in a district on the outskirts of the capital of Costa Rica. Here the Rector Major blessed a new sports center and the adjoining buildings.

Kenya - Statement released by members of Childline Kenya on the situation of children

(Nairobi) – The organization Childline Kenya, which brings together various associations involved in helping children and safeguarding their rights in Kenya, has recently released a statement about the dramatic situation facing youngsters at this difficult time there.

According to Childline, thousands of innocent children are suffering in displacement camps or on the streets, lacking the basic essentials of food, warmth and security - the right of every child. “While politicians dispute, people demonstrate and security forces battle on the streets, it is the children of Kenya who have the most to lose.”

Camping in the open, they are susceptible to sickness and lack access to basic health care. Many are also prey to sexual exploitation and abuse, because their parents, killed or lost in the post-election chaos, cannot protect them. Traffickers become the next danger.

Some have been traumatized by watching their parents, siblings, friends and neighbors murdered with machetes, or gang raped. Others have been raped themselves.

Riots bring further danger. Some children have been maimed in the cross fire. And, unless they are allowed to return to school, many will lose the chance of economic prosperity.

The children of Kenya are not the future - they are the present. If we do not protect them today, they will have no tomorrow. For their own social and economic stability they must be allowed to live as children again.

Members of Childline Kenya are: SOS Children’s Villages Kenya, Childline Kenya, Goal Kenya, Plan International Kenya, The Cradle, Hope World Wide, Kuna Tumaini Counselling Centre, Children`s Legal Action Network (CLAN), ICT Policy Centre, Shangilia Mtoto wa Africa, Bosco Boys, Gender Violence Recovery Centre of Nairobi Women`s Hospital, Naivasha Community Project.

Vatican – Small steps in Salesian holiness

(Vatican City) – On Tuesday  January 29, 2008, the two packages containing the Acts of the diocesan enquiry regarding the Servant of God, Bro. Stefan Sandor, a Salesian Brother killed in 1953 in Hungary and of the Servant of God, Fr. Carlos Crespi Croci, who died in Cuenca in 1982, were opened by officials of the congrgation for he Causes of Saints.

The diocesan enquiry regarding Brother Stefan Sandor began on May 24, 2006, and was  completed on December 8, 2007. The Vice-Postulator is Fr. Giovanni Szoke. Since it is a process of a martyr, there will be no need for a miracle to proceed to the beatification of this young Brother. He was a very skilled printer, an apostle of the press, a great leader of youngsters and altar servers at the oratory.

The diocesan enquiry of the Servant of God Fr. Crespi, began on December 8, 2006, and was completed on December 8, 2007. The Vice-Postulator of the Cause is Fr. Luciano Bellini, Rector of the Salesian Polytechnic University in Ecuador. The Univeristy was founded  by the Servant of God in 1940 whose reputation for holiness was such that even during his lifetime people usually called him Saint Carlos Crespi.

Kenya - The commitment of the Salesians to building peace

(Nairobi) – Salesians have been actively engaged in working for peace and the safety above all of the young in the troubled nation. The Salesians have ten presences throughout Kenya with half of them in Nairobi, the capital.  They also work in the Rift Valley. On January 30, 2008 the day before the Feast of St. John Bosco, the Provincial, Fr. Joseph Pulikkal, called together all the Rectors of  the communities in Nairiobi to have them share the situation each community faces, and to coordinate efforts to respond.

Boys Town and Bosco Boys are two Nairobi-based Salesian institutes deeply involved in the current crisis because students and staff represent a microcosm of the difficulties the nation is facing - men and women, boys and girls of different tribes living together in harmony, but caught up in the violent world around them. Bosco Boys, provides care for street children and also houses the aspirantate and pre-novitiate. They have been visiting the Jamhuri Camp set up to take in internally displaced persons after violence erupted following the December elections. They have been distributing food in conjunction with the Red Cross and have taken 8 students from the camp into their elementary school.

The situation at Boys Town, on the outskirts of Nairobi, has been challenging. Several staff members and relatives lost houses and property. Two close relatives were killed, a third shot and wounded by police and yet another wounded in mob violence.  Fourteen families have been displaced, and 6 staff members have been forced to move from their homes. The school has set up a counselling service for distressed members, and has taken stock of food supplies to deal with contingencies if they need to support school members.  A plan is in place to deal with eruptions of violence in the vicinity of the school should that occur, though every effort is being made, especially inside the school, to keep students busy and focused on the positive. The annual Jesus Cup, which brings together students and families from all across the city, and which normally happens in February is being seen as an opportunity to build friendly relationships through sport and being together in a positive atmosphere. This year’s event has  ever greater significance.

The growing impact of Salesian communications, through the DBYES Center, is being utilized to promote peace. The Salesians held a Day of Prayer at the Center and Fr. Tom Kunnel, S.D.B. the director, has been distributingn of materials on peace, justice, and forgiveness to Citizen TV and Waumini Radio.

Fiji – Religious Professions under water

(Suva) – In spite of the problems caused by the floods, the lack of drinking water and of electricity due to Cyclone Gene three young Salesians from Samoa: Antonio Lealea, Ralf Solomona and Meter Sua, celebrated their first religious profession on January 31, 2008. Visesio Muliaga made his perpetual profession.

Presiding at the Mass for the religious professions was Fr. Francis Moloney, Provincial of the Salesians in Australia, who managed to overcome all the difficulties in travel to reach Fiji.

On February 1, 2008, six young men began their novitiate. They come from Australia (1), Fiji (1), Samoa (3), Tonga (1). This mission territory is now fostering more and more native vocations, giving both the Salesians and the universal Church a more diverse community.

Brazil – Light and shadows in Abaetetuba

(Abaetetuba) – The bishop of the diocese of Abaetetuba, in the State of Pará in Brazil, Bishop Flavio Giovenale SDB, continues to live his life and his pastoral ministry between the light and the shadows.

Thanks to the intervention by a number of organizations, including Amnesty International, the Bishop has been given some guarantees of safety by the government authorities. The police have assured the Bishop and his closest lay collaborators of their full support.

The Bishop has received a number of death threats due to the stand he has taken against injustice and corruption in his region of Brazil. On Sunday, January 27, 2008, in the early hours of the morning, when the Bishop was on his way to the airport with the diocesan representative for Child Services, the threats on his life became more serious. His car was stopped by three strangers who forced he and his visitors to lie face down on the ground with guns pointed at their heads, and robbed them.

Some hours later Bishop Giovenale received an anonymous phone call: “This is the undertakers. You’ll be the next!” 

Being a prohpetic voice on behalf of the poor and speaking out against corruption is Gospel inspired, but very dangerous in our missionary lands.

Cuenca, Ecuador  Salesian Volunteers

On January 23, 2008 lay volunteers from the coastal region of Ecuador who spent the past year working involved in various works directed by the different branches of the Salesian Family held their final meeting to assess their experience of volunteering with the Salesians. The joy they felt from serving the young and the poor is evident in the final group photo. As a result of their experience, seven young men decided to enter the Salesian aspirantate (seminary)

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