Today, our Western province connected through zoom.\u00a0\u00a0 The meeting\/gathering lasted almost two hours.\u00a0 Communities all connected with most of the confreres present and shared their experiences of fraternal life during this Covid-19 epidemic.\u00a0\u00a0 Three things stayed with me:\u00a0 <\/strong>\u00a0First, <\/strong>we are all dealing with a new and difficult situation in a calm and fraternal manner.\u00a0\u00a0 We are safe, happy and living with each other in a caring and brotherly manner.\u00a0 Brothers are pitching in to help out and care for each other. \u00a0\u00a0I am very grateful for this fraternal witness.\u00a0 Secondly, <\/strong>we are creatively trying to reach out to our young people and to those who are suffering, through distant teaching, live-streaming Masses, retreats and other services, virtual oratory models, handing out food and supplies to poor and needy families, praying for them and even attending to their needs, whether through listening, administering some sacraments or encouraging them through the internet.\u00a0 THANK YOU!\u00a0 Thirdly, <\/strong>we have been blessed by so many good people who continue to support us, bring us food, look after us or share their supplies with us.\u00a0\u00a0 And, many pray for us.\u00a0 THANK YOU! <\/strong>\u00a0While so many are suffering, we give thanks and are grateful for what we do have and the abundance showered upon us by God.\u00a0 May we also be moved to share!<\/strong><\/p>\n Tomorrow, May 14th<\/sup>, Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has invited all religions to a day of prayer, fasting and doing good to others.\u00a0 We are all in different situations, but I encourage us all to keep tomorrow as a day of remembrance and do something different that will help us be in union with the world, with our Church and with those who are suffering.<\/p>\n On May 15th<\/sup>, the Salesian World begins its nine day novena in preparation for the celebration of the feast of Mary Help of Christians on May 24th<\/sup>.<\/strong>\u00a0 This year, because May 24 falls on a Sunday, we are asked to celebrate the feast of Mary on Monday, May 25th<\/sup>.\u00a0\u00a0 Let us be creative and try to make these nine days very special.\u00a0\u00a0 Let us ask Mary for her continual protection, for her guidance as we move forward and for her presence to give us courage, peace and serenity.\u00a0 MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS, PRAY FOR US!<\/strong><\/p>\n I wish to announce and congratulate the following for accepting the invitation to serve the province in a special capacity:<\/strong><\/p>\n I WISH TO THANK ALL THREE FOR ACCEPTING AND SAYING, \u201cYES\u201d TO THIS NEW CHALLENGE IN THEIR LIVES AND TO THE SERVICE OF THE PROVINCE.\u00a0\u00a0 IN THE NAME OF THE PROVINCE WE SAY:\u00a0 THANK YOU!! <\/strong>We hope to accompany you with our presence and our prayers!<\/p>\n Fr. Tim Ploch, <\/strong>who was our provincial from 2019 -2014 and was elected Councilor for our Inter-America Region for six years, has finished his term of service for the Congregation.\u00a0\u00a0 He could have been re-elected for another six years, but he and the Chapter members felt that Fr. Tim deserved a break.\u00a0\u00a0 In the name of our Western Province of St. Andrew the Apostle, we wish to say, THANK YOU to Fr. Tim<\/strong> for his service and commitment during the last six years as Regional. <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Definitely, I did not envy his job and obligations, his many hours of travel and commitment to the provinces of the region.\u00a0\u00a0 The Provincials of the Region had planned to have taken him out for a special dinner during the Chapter to say, THANK YOU!\u00a0 But, then came Covid-19 and that changed all of our plans.\u00a0\u00a0 So, in a very simple way, with some wine from California and Amaro, we said thank you and good-bye while at the Chapter during one of our meals.\u00a0\u00a0 You could sense that the provincials of the region were very grateful for his service, his warmth and closeness to the confreres, provincials and provinces.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Later during the summer months, Fr. Tim will return from Rome to his home province of New Rochelle in the Eastern United States.\u00a0\u00a0 Fr. Tim hopes to take care of some medical needs and be given a short sabbatical.\u00a0\u00a0 After that, Fr. Tim Zak and the new provincial of the Western Province will have to negotiate Fr. Tim\u2019s future.\u00a0 We wish Tim all the best and good health.\u00a0 And, we accompany him with our prayers and offer him our warm welcome anytime he wishes to return to visit or stay in our province.<\/p>\n We do not have a clear path to our future!\u00a0 Should Schools reopen and when?\u00a0 When is the best time to begin reopening our businesses?\u00a0 When should we start opening our Churches and begin Masses and Sacramental services for our people?\u00a0 When is it safe to travel, etc.?\u00a0\u00a0 We do live in a very precarious time.\u00a0 \u00a0Many of us probably feel safe and secure.\u00a0\u00a0 However, there are many who have lost jobs or feel very uncertain about the future.\u00a0\u00a0 We Salesians, while blessed in so many ways and we are grateful to God and to so many generous people, still don\u2019t know what the future will bring and how best to confront the reality of the future.\u00a0\u00a0 Finances will be diminished, regulations for continuing to minister will be different and restricting, our ability to move freely will be limited.\u00a0\u00a0 We really do not know our future and what it will look like.\u00a0\u00a0 We may return to what it was before\u2026.but, I doubt it.\u00a0\u00a0 We will return to some form of ministry and post-Covid-19 life.\u00a0\u00a0 But, this I do know:\u00a0\u00a0 We will not be abandoned by our God. <\/strong>\u00a0Yes, life might be different, but God will continue to accompany us and walk by our side.\u00a0\u00a0 Mary Help of Christians will continue to guide us and give us her protection, as she has done throughout the centuries and she did with Don Bosco and Mary Mazzarello.\u00a0\u00a0 Let us open our hearts to God\u2019s Holy Spirit who continues to move in our Church and in our world.\u00a0 We will be victorious! <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0But, much will depend on our trust, resilience, our faith, flexibility and openness! <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0God writes straight with crooked lines.\u00a0\u00a0 Those who cannot change or surrender to what life will offer us, will continue to struggle.\u00a0 Those who can surrender to God\u2019s spirit and newness, will see new dreams!\u00a0 Let us ask Mary Help of Christians to give us a heart like hers, trusting, open, kind and humble.<\/strong><\/p>\n With warm regards and gratitude ,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Salesian sisters and brothers, I wish all of you a very Happy Feast of Mary Dominica Mazzarello today, May 13th. \u00a0\u00a0In a special way, I wish the Salesian Sisters a Happy Feast Day!\u00a0 \u00a0Mary Mazzarello was a simple peasant girl who opened herself to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and allowed herself to be guided by Don Bosco and other important figures in … Continuar leyendo Provincial Letter May 14th, 2020<\/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":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20310044],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-province-news"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p59ePG-Ls","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942","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=2942"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2945,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions\/2945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salesianbulletin.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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