Communique #19 

Communique #19                            13-09-2020        

Dear Subscribers

SDB “Seeds”

(ANS - Rome) – The outcomes of the 2017 survey within the Salesian congregation was published in the book -"Young Salesians and accompaniment: Orientations and Guidelines". Five young SDBs have summarized the contents of it in a set of ten 3-minute video-clips. These will be available online (in 5 languages) at the rate of one per month. The first clip for September introduces us to the fact that a large proportion of the congregation (30%) is young – under the age of 35. This is a charism, a gift, and a challenge. But the youthful section of the congregation is not evenly distributed across the continents. For example: the percentage of SDBs with temporary vows in Europe is 4.17%, while in Africa-Madagascar it is 37.35%!

• 72.48% of novices, as of December 31, 2019, live in Africa, South Asia, East Asia and Oceania.
• 93% of post-novices replied to the 2017 questionnaire on accompaniment. Of this group of young Salesians, 59.4% used English. Italian is diminishing as the lingua-franca of SDBs!

The ‘famous 5’ young SDBs conclude with questions at the end of each video-clip to stimulate reflection and community sharing. For September, the questions are –

• How do we cultivate the SENSE OF BELONGING to the Church and to our Congregation?
• Are we open to the great HORIZONS that the Church and the Congregation open before us?
• How do we experience INTERNATIONALITY and INTERCULTURALITY?
• Is this considered a problem or a valuable resource?
• How does the DIALOGUE BETWEEN GENERATIONS work within our formation community?

Watch the first 'seed' which is accessible on www.sdb.org or on ANSChannel and you are encouraged to respond to the above questions in the GoogleDoc indicated at the end of the clip.

Don Bosco Embu (AFE) - “Education and Training for a Sustainable Future” is an eleven-minute documentary on Don Bosco Technical Secondary School, Embu, produced in 2015. It tells the history of the school that has given education and helped hundreds of youngsters, mainly from a poor background, to find a place in society. It continues to be a centre of Education and Training for young boys from all over Kenya.

Watch: https://youtu.be/V36kvK6cLgc

Another very interesting clip to watch was posted on our SAFCAM website a few days ago – The numerical growth of religions 1946-2019. In 3 minutes, you have presented 75 years of the increase in membership of the main religions of the world. It should stimulate our missionary passions.

The post-GC28 document as well as the Rector Major’s programme of action for the coming sessenium are available on www.sdb.org and should be required reading for every SDB. Both documents are around 25 pages in length and though the translation is Italianish, we have an obligation to familiarise ourselves with this.

A Free Virtual Catholic Conference on Healing available on the weekend of the 25-27 September with 50 interesting guest speakers available to watch and listen to online. Details on Safcam.org.

Other recommended websites trawled out of the net recently:

www.OSV.com – Our Sunday Visitor – A US catholic newspaper which provides not only news but plenty of pastoral resources in articles and video clips…

www.Ucatholic.com  - A collection of excellent blogs and podcasts on contemporary issues.

www.Catholicsprouts.com  - focused on building the domestic church with resources for transmitting the faith in the home.

Wishing you a blessed week ahead. God bless, Camiel and Francois