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We are grateful for their accompaniment and walking with the novices during the Novitiate year.\u00a0\u00a0 And, we pray for our two new novices:\u00a0 John Castonguay and Kevin White, who are beginning their Novitiate year.<\/p>\n
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The Mass of Profession took place at St. Dominic Savio Parish at 5pm followed by a simple but festive reception at St. John Bosco High School.\u00a0\u00a0 The ceremony took around and hour and a half and all commented on the beauty of the service.\u00a0\u00a0 We were happy to have some young people present and some representation from places where Leo and kris had previously worked and ministered.\u00a0\u00a0 After a few days with family, both Leo and Kris will head out to Orange, New Jersey for their post-novitiate studies.<\/p>\n
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On August 15th<\/sup>, during the day, the Provincial Council met with the delegates and coordinators of the province.\u00a0\u00a0 We met from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.\u00a0 This meeting was mandated by the provincial chapter to improve the communication and implementation of our Organic Plan.\u00a0\u00a0 The Organic Plan, with its six priorities:\u00a0 To grow in the witness of apostolic consecration in fraternal communities;\u00a0 To seek out, call forth and accompany new vocations to the Salesian religious life;\u00a0 To identify and form religious and lay personnel for the Salesian mission; To develop a planning mentality in all aspects of our apostolic and consecrated life;\u00a0 To respond prophetically in all our presences to the economically poor with a special focus on the undocumented;\u00a0 To develop the means to seek financial sustainability in order to support province works, especially to reach poor and disadvantaged youth, was the focus of the day.\u00a0 After reviewing the plan together, we discerned that we should focus on one priority and strategy for the coming year.\u00a0\u00a0 The group chose priority 2:\u00a0 To seek out, call forth and accompany new vocations to the Salesian religious life, strategy 1: By rediscovering the joy of accompanying young people and finding out God\u2019s plan for them;\u00a0 line of action 1:\u00a0 Foster among the Salesian Family a strong sense of belonging in order to witness to the value of living and working together.\u00a0\u00a0 The sense of belonging is something that young people seek and we felt that it is an important value to foster in the province with the entire Salesian Family.\u00a0\u00a0 And, if we succeed to foster this spirit of belonging among all, this alone can be a powerful witness which will also attract vocations to the Salesian life, in whatever capacity that might be and help us all persevere.<\/p>\n I often find that when young people (and, really all of us) feel the sense of family, of belonging, that can create a magnet which causes people to want to gather and return to our Salesian houses.\u00a0\u00a0 This is part of what we call the Spirit of the Salesian Family so dear to Don Bosco and to us Salesians.\u00a0\u00a0 It is sad when it is lost.\u00a0\u00a0 Don Bosco\u2019s letter from Rome in 1884, found in our rule book, reminds us that even in Don Bosco\u2019s days, he struggled to get his Salesians to understand this family spirit.\u00a0 He lamented the absence and distance of the Salesians with the boys and the cold attitude that some exuded.\u00a0\u00a0 Don Bosco\u2019s guide (a past pupil) showed him the coldness, lack of gratitude, boredom and lack spiritual devotion of the boys.\u00a0 Don Bosco asked:\u00a0 \u201cbut how can we bring these youngsters to life again, so that we can get back to the liveliness, the happiness, the warmth of the old days?\u201d\u00a0 Don Bosco\u2019s guide responded:\u00a0 \u201cwith charity!\u201d\u00a0 The guide insisted that those who took Don Bosco\u2019s place should not only love the youngsters but they themselves (the young) should know they are loved.\u00a0 The Salesians should love the things the young love and become involved in their games and lives.\u00a0 The guide told Don Bosco that this family spirit would be accomplished \u201cBy a friendly informal relationship with the boys, especially in recreation.\u00a0 You cannot have affection without this familiarity, and where affection is not evident there can be no confidence.\u00a0 If you want to be loved, you must make it clear that you love.\u00a0 Jesus Christ made himself little with the little ones and bore our weaknesses.\u00a0\u00a0 He is our master in the matter of the friendly approach\u2026.One who knows he is loved loves in return, and one who loves can obtain anything, especially from the young.\u201d\u00a0 (Don Bosco\u2019s letter from Rome, 1884).<\/p>\n As we begin this new scholastic\/pastoral \u00a0year, this focus will be very important in our ministry and work with the young.\u00a0 It will also be very important in our communities and in our relationships with one another.\u00a0 Most of us were drawn into the Salesian life not only because someone invited us but also because we felt loved and that we belonged.\u00a0\u00a0 Don Cagliero\u2019s cry, \u201cI will stay with Don Bosco,\u201d was a response to the love he felt from Don Bosco and his sense of belonging.\u00a0\u00a0 Our decision to focus on this second priority and strategy is an inspired one.\u00a0\u00a0 Fr. Maria Arokiam, during his visitation, felt that the confreres and members of the Salesian Family in general, felt a sense of belonging to their community and to the province.\u00a0\u00a0 But, more can be done.\u00a0\u00a0 Let us also seek out those who might feel disconnected and as though they do not belong and make the first move to include them and make them feel welcomed in our circle of friends.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes, we might feel more at home in our cultural circle, due to customs, language or likes.\u00a0\u00a0 But, in a world where we see division, racism, grouping by class, by our culture or \u201cour people,\u201d we must be brave and bold and witness the Gospel of unity, inclusiveness and welcome.\u00a0 This is our collective witness as religious and as Salesians.<\/p>\n Today, Tuesday, I leave for San Francisco where I will stay at the provincial house and visit some of the Northern communities before heading back down to Los Angeles for our Pastors\/Directors meeting on Monday, August 26, at St. Joseph\u2019s in Rosemead.\u00a0\u00a0 Our delegates and coordinators have also been invited to attend.\u00a0 Please keep us in your prayers.\u00a0\u00a0 May we exemplify true Salesian Leadership, in the style of Don Bosco, with his warmth, openness and welcoming style.<\/p>\n Please keep Fr. Thomas Thodukulam in your prayers.\u00a0 \u00a0Fr. Thomas left to India a few days ago due to his Mother\u2019s failing health.\u00a0\u00a0 He was told that she was dying and might not have much time left to live.\u00a0 It is not easy to lose a loved one but, especially, a parent.\u00a0\u00a0 Please also keep Fr. Thomas\u2019 Mom and the entire family in your prayers.<\/p>\n With warm regards and gratitude,<\/p>\n Ted<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Salesian Sisters and Brothers, Last Thursday, August 15th, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mother into heaven, the Western Province of St. Andrew had the blessing of witnessing the first professions of two of our brothers:\u00a0 Leo Imbert and Kris Tran.\u00a0\u00a0 We wish to congratulate them and promise them our prayers.\u00a0 We wish to thank their parents for the love and … Continuar leyendo Provincial Letter: August 20th, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":10336596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20310044,69785],"tags":[100143],"class_list":["post-1860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-province-news","category-provincial","tag-sdb"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-u0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10336596"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1860"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1884,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1860\/revisions\/1884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"PYMT-4\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/salesianbulletin.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/pymt-4.jpg?resize=720%2C540&ssl=1\")
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