(ANS – Rome) – The seminar for Directors of Specific Formation for Salesian Brothers and candidates to the priesthood began on Tuesday, May 26, 2026, with an opening address by the Rector Major, Fr. Fabio Attard. In his intervention, Fr. Fabio Attard outlined the formative processes in light of General Chapter 29, highlighting key challenges that formators are called to reflect upon and address in today’s context.
Among the priorities he identified were the renewal of the quality of spiritual life and the grace of unity; the promotion of formation as a lifelong journey; the strengthening of relational maturity and fraternal life; and ensuring real closeness to the poor.
He also emphasized the need to develop personalized accompaniment, invest in the formation of formators, foster co-responsibility with lay collaborators, and integrate contemporary cultural challenges into the formative path. Particular attention, he noted, must be given to safeguarding and ethical formation, as well as shaping Salesians who are coherent and credible witnesses.
Concluding his reflection, the Rector Major posed a fundamental question:
“At the center of everything remains the fundamental question: who is the Salesian formator today? Not a manager of programs, not a supervisor of external conformity, but a person interiorly shaped, a credible witness of the grace of unity, capable of inhabiting — with Don Bosco — the frontier between contemplation and action, between fraternal community and mission among the poorest young people.”
Following the conference, the confreres participated in a guided visit to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Rome. The morning concluded with the celebration of the Eucharist presided over by the Rector Major at the altar of Mary Help of Christians, where St. John Bosco celebrated his only Mass in the Basilica.
The participants then gathered for a fraternal meal, during which Fr. Cassius Correya of the Australia-Pacific Region (AUL) celebrated his birthday. In the afternoon, the confreres visited the Don Bosco Museum, deepening their appreciation of the Congregation’s historical and spiritual heritage.
The day concluded with a presentation by Fr. Jose Kuttianimattathil, a member of the formation team, who outlined key elements for understanding the new Ratio and its implications for specific formation communities.
The seminar brings together 30 confreres from the Congregation’s eight regions: East and South Africa (2), Central and West Africa (4), America Southern Cone (4), Interamerica (5), Central and Northern Europe (4), Italy–Mediterranean (4), South Asia (4), and East Asia–Oceania (3). Their diverse presence reflects the strongly inter-provincial and increasingly inter-regional character of Salesian communities dedicated to specific formation.