austraLasia - 5739(I)_Six year journey of the Past Pupils of DB World Confederation

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By World Confederation of Past Pupils of Don Bosco

PPDB, 28 November 2021 -- While almost 100 registered members of the 6th General Assembly of Don Bosco Past Pupils joined the second day session (2-4pm, Italian time), more than 600 other Past Pupils and Friends of Don Bosco were able to watch the YouTube LIVE streaming of this event.

With the theme 'What kind of Past Pupils of Don Bosco for the 21st Century?' this first online General Assembly in history on its second day presented a three-fold landscape of our Bosconian Association over the past 6 years (2015-2021) with a clear vision for the future. A truly amazing, very human and very Salesian picture came out! The stage for this day was arranged as a 'Cafe' - to give due visibility to the symbol of 150th anniversary of Don Bosco's Past Pupils. Indeed on 24 June they offered a coffee set to their beloved father and teacher. During this 150th year some 150 coffee sets (Carlo Gastini blend and two coffee cups) were sold at 150 Euro to support four Past Pupil Projects for the benefit of poor young people. And set no.1 was given by the World Delegate, Br Dominic Nam to Pope Francis, our Past Pupil par excellence!

Mr Michal Hort, outgoing World President, gave thanks to a large number of Past Pupils - present and former members of the World Presidency since 2015, to numerous volunteers, to the Salesians of Don Bosco involved in the animation of their Association and also his own family, wife Martina and his 3 children who supported him a lot. Among the main achievements of his 6-year term were mentioned:

# Growing awareness of the Past Pupils among the Salesians SDB, the Salesian Family members and beyond

# New Statutes (2015) and 6-year Strategic Plan with a clear vision and regular evaluation brought a lot of energies together

# Growing visibility and enhanced communication system is taking place: PDO (Planning and Development Office), digital platforms (SNS, website), quarterly digital 5 language magazine (Newsflash), DB Connex, online Database.

# Waking the sleeping giant: with new Federation in all continents (Haiti - America, Pakistan in Asia) and especially the Past Pupils in Africa Project to assist the growth of more Federations in this continent.

Next in line was the report by Mr Peter Kovac, outgoing Secretary General (2020-2021) who offered a clear picture of the team work connected to communications (especially during the pandemic time), with the painstaking work on the Worldwide database of Past Pupils of Don Bosco, networking within the Salesian Family, with the Catholic Past Pupils Confederation and also with other civil society institutions. Among the good news is the high standard of transparency and visibility of all activities done during the past 6 years (digital archives).

Last of the three members of the World Presidency was Mr Bryan Magro, outgoing Administrator (Treasurer), who shared not only the budget of the World Confederation during past 6 years, but also pointed to the future path for fostering more robust financial support for this world-wide Confederation.

At the end of the meeting all respective candidates for the World Presidency were introduced (President, Treasurer and Secretary General and the Regional councilors for Asia - Oceania, America, Africa and Europe). The digital vote takes place from 5 pm (Nov 27) to 11 am (Nov 28) and during the last session of the General Assembly on Sunday, the Rector Major will announce (as traditionally done) the name of the World President (2021-2027).

Also some 5 new proposals for amendments to the World Confederation Statutes (2015) are put to the vote of the 33 General Assembly members with voting rights. Among them the most relevant is the suggestion to establish a 'Council of Elders' (former World Presidents) as a consulting assistance to the World Presidency.

The last live-streamed session (2-4pm, Italian time) on the YouTube channel was on Sunday November 28.