austraLasia #3332
DB: The Priest, The Man, The Times
BOLTON: 16 December 2013 -- Given all the interest in Don Bosco the man, the saint, the educator and the erudite studies now available (including in English) we would not want to forget that the power of the written word often shows through and convinces rather more in simple narrative than in academic discourse. Proof of this was Don Bosco himself, of course. Fr Bill Ainsworth, who died in 2005 at 97 years of age, and was much beloved in many parts of the English-speaking Salesian world, was a writer in that narrative tradition. Don Bosco Publications UK has chosen to reprint his Don Bosco The Priest, The Man, The Times.
In 1966 Fr Ainsworth came to Australia, to be part of the formation team at the Studentate, amongst other things. He also, I recall well, came to Tasmania (which is part of Australia, one hastens to add - but delightfully idiosyncratic in style and climate). I recall it because I was in practical training and 'Fr Bill', as we knew him, endeared himself to us 'mere clerics' very much indeed. We learned many things from him but two I recall in particular.
On one occasion, on a drive up Mount Wellington overlooking Hobart, and which reminded him very much of a similar scene in Cape Town, he wanted to know the story behind the road that led to the summit. We had to confess we knew little about that and his reply was 'Make it up, then', and he launched into an impromptu pseudo-history of the Mt Wellington summit road which included, amongst other characters, the Gingerbread Man! He was never short of a story.
The second occasion was on a wild, wet winter's night beside the fire at Swansea on Tasmania's East Coast, in what had been an old inn during convict days but was then given over to summer camps for kids. He showed us how to mull beer! We were horrified of course. Fancy plunging a red hot poker into a cold Aussie beer! But with that out of the way, once again it came down to stories around the fireside and frequent trips to the municipal library, as much to chat to the librarian and the church organist as for anything else.
The same Fr Ainsworth published his Don Bosco The Priest, The Man, The Times in 1988 for the Centenary celebrations of Don Bosco's death. So it is appropriate that Don Bosco Publications has chosen to reprint this delightful book about Don Bosco as we lead up to the bicentenary celebrations for Don Bosco's birth.
You might believe you know Don Bosco well - have read just about all the stories and anecdotes about him that there are to read. If so, be prepared for a surprise! and trust Fr Bill too - he might have been prepared to introduce to the Gingerbread Man into a bit of local Tassie history, but he has been far more circumspect about Don Bosco. Yet he had an eye for detail, and the stories that perhpas we skipped over and di not really notice.
There is something expansive about Fr Ainsworth's way of narrating Don Bosco that avoids the triumphalistic or the super-hero, while leaving us in no doubt that Don Bosco was a triumph of God's grace and a hero we can follow. Look at this passage, for example:
Don Bosco in these years was not the only pebble on the beach, as if Our lady and all Heaven were concentrating their interest and benevolence only on that rather murky district of Valdocco. Wonderful indeed as their help to Don Bosco was, he was by no means the only builder of great churches to the glory of God; he was not the only priest caring for social misfits, not the only one working in hospitals and prisons, running oratories, running evening classes. During the very times we have been describing, four great parish church went up in the city of Turin all the work of dedicated, hardworking devout priests and people. One church, with its various parochial buildings, cost almost 500,000 lire more than Don Bosco's Sanctuary. The spirit of God is active everywhere, fruitful in creation. Well, we can't tell everybody's tale, but while we concentrate on Don Bosco's, we acknowledge with admiration the work of many other great men and women of God.
We can't tell everybody's tale, but ... and in so doing he has told us so much abotu Don Bosco! Pick up a copy from DBP!
DB: The Priest, The Man, The Times
An old favourite back in print
BOLTON: 16 December 2013 -- Given all the interest in Don Bosco the man, the saint, the educator and the erudite studies now available (including in English) we would not want to forget that the power of the written word often shows through and convinces rather more in simple narrative than in academic discourse. Proof of this was Don Bosco himself, of course. Fr Bill Ainsworth, who died in 2005 at 97 years of age, and was much beloved in many parts of the English-speaking Salesian world, was a writer in that narrative tradition. Don Bosco Publications UK has chosen to reprint his Don Bosco The Priest, The Man, The Times.
In 1966 Fr Ainsworth came to Australia, to be part of the formation team at the Studentate, amongst other things. He also, I recall well, came to Tasmania (which is part of Australia, one hastens to add - but delightfully idiosyncratic in style and climate). I recall it because I was in practical training and 'Fr Bill', as we knew him, endeared himself to us 'mere clerics' very much indeed. We learned many things from him but two I recall in particular.
On one occasion, on a drive up Mount Wellington overlooking Hobart, and which reminded him very much of a similar scene in Cape Town, he wanted to know the story behind the road that led to the summit. We had to confess we knew little about that and his reply was 'Make it up, then', and he launched into an impromptu pseudo-history of the Mt Wellington summit road which included, amongst other characters, the Gingerbread Man! He was never short of a story.
The second occasion was on a wild, wet winter's night beside the fire at Swansea on Tasmania's East Coast, in what had been an old inn during convict days but was then given over to summer camps for kids. He showed us how to mull beer! We were horrified of course. Fancy plunging a red hot poker into a cold Aussie beer! But with that out of the way, once again it came down to stories around the fireside and frequent trips to the municipal library, as much to chat to the librarian and the church organist as for anything else.
The same Fr Ainsworth published his Don Bosco The Priest, The Man, The Times in 1988 for the Centenary celebrations of Don Bosco's death. So it is appropriate that Don Bosco Publications has chosen to reprint this delightful book about Don Bosco as we lead up to the bicentenary celebrations for Don Bosco's birth.
You might believe you know Don Bosco well - have read just about all the stories and anecdotes about him that there are to read. If so, be prepared for a surprise! and trust Fr Bill too - he might have been prepared to introduce to the Gingerbread Man into a bit of local Tassie history, but he has been far more circumspect about Don Bosco. Yet he had an eye for detail, and the stories that perhpas we skipped over and di not really notice.
There is something expansive about Fr Ainsworth's way of narrating Don Bosco that avoids the triumphalistic or the super-hero, while leaving us in no doubt that Don Bosco was a triumph of God's grace and a hero we can follow. Look at this passage, for example:
Don Bosco in these years was not the only pebble on the beach, as if Our lady and all Heaven were concentrating their interest and benevolence only on that rather murky district of Valdocco. Wonderful indeed as their help to Don Bosco was, he was by no means the only builder of great churches to the glory of God; he was not the only priest caring for social misfits, not the only one working in hospitals and prisons, running oratories, running evening classes. During the very times we have been describing, four great parish church went up in the city of Turin all the work of dedicated, hardworking devout priests and people. One church, with its various parochial buildings, cost almost 500,000 lire more than Don Bosco's Sanctuary. The spirit of God is active everywhere, fruitful in creation. Well, we can't tell everybody's tale, but while we concentrate on Don Bosco's, we acknowledge with admiration the work of many other great men and women of God.
We can't tell everybody's tale, but ... and in so doing he has told us so much abotu Don Bosco! Pick up a copy from DBP!
3337_ Happy Christmas!
