(ANS – Quito) – The Superior of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Ecuador, Fr Marcelo Farfán, SDB, shared a message to communicate the launch of the Missionary Campaign 2025, which this year has the motto ‘Missionaries of Hope among Peoples’. The initiative will run from October 2025 until the end of January 2026.

Here is the text of the message released by the Provincial of Ecuador:

“During these months, all our efforts must focus on three major objectives that reflect our missionary commitment within our borders and outside them, that is, “ad extra”:

• Scholarships for South Sudan: we are aware of the difficult situation experienced by young people in Africa, where our confrere, Fr Heraldo Bósquez, carries out a mission with great challenges as a missionary ad gentes. In response to this challenge, we want to allocate $25,000 to provide scholarships to the boys and girls of Salesian schools in this region, helping them to access a decent education despite extreme poverty.
• Renovation of the Mission House in Taisha (Morona Santiago Province): The Mission House in Taisha is a fundamental place for the training of our “Etserin” catechists (of the indigenous communities of the Amazon, Ed.). This work needs to be restructured and strengthened to continue its mission of evangelisation and accompaniment of the Shuar and Achuar communities. To this end, we want to allocate $100,000 in the hope of providing an adequate space that promotes the integral formation and missionary commitment of our confreres and those who work there.
• Reference centre in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas (part of the Salesian Project Ecuador): we have identified an urgent need to purchase land to provide better accompaniment for the most vulnerable young people. With a target of USD 40,000, we are seeking to purchase land that will enable us to create a reference centre offering opportunities for training and growth.

This call for missionary solidarity is an invitation to all members of our Salesian Family to live generously the mandate of Don Bosco, who was always a man with a big heart, willing to go beyond himself to offer others the best of himself. As Salesians, we follow this example with the desire to transform lives, offer hope and build a better future for those most in need, both within and beyond our borders.

I renew my invitation to all Educative and Pastoral Communities, to all our works and presences in the country, to be creative and, above all, generous. By contributing to the campaign, we are renewing our missionary spirit that made Don Bosco a universal and generous man to all. (…)

May Mary Help of Christians, our Mother and Guide, bless us in this noble cause. Let us continue together to build bridges of solidarity that can transform lives and sow hope.

In Don Bosco,

Fr Marcelo Farfán, SDB

Superior of the Salesians in Ecuador“