By Fr. Alfred Maravilla
General Councillor for the Missions
Sacro Cuore, Rome, 8 December 2020 -- Yesterday, 8 December, a date that is dear to us Salesians because it marks the beginning of Don Bosco’s work for poor and abandoned youth, as he has done since 2016, the Rector Major invited Salesians to discern if they are willing to place themselves at his disposal as missionaries ad gentes, ad exteros, ad vitam anywhere in the world.
Fr. Ángel Fernández Artime pointed out that had it not been for the missionary spirit of Don Bosco and the missionary generosity of the first Salesians, probably today we would only be a small congregation with few members in Italy. Thanks to the missionary spirit and zeal of Don Bosco, today Salesians continue his mission to be “witnesses-sign” of God's saving Love for poor and marginalised youth in the most diverse cultural and religious contexts in 134 countries.
Through this letter the Rector Major is inviting all Salesians in all the Provinces of the world to relive the generosity and missionary vitality at the beginning of our Congregation in order to respond to the missionary needs of the Congregation particularly
- in our presences in the Amazon and in some missionary frontiers of Latin America;
- in Salesian presences at the service of refugees and in the new frontiers of Africa;
- in Lithuania, Bulgaria and other new frontiers of the Project Europe;
- in Azerbaijan, Laos, Nepal, Mongolia, Yakutsk;
- in our numerous presences in the islands of Oceania.
Apelo Missionário 2021 POR.pdf
p.1