By Ms Teaghan Dolan, Cagliero Volunteer
Melbourne, Australia, 17 August 2019 -- The Salesian Family in Melbourne celebrated Don Bosco's 204th birthday on 17 August at Salesian College Chadstone (Melbourne), involving some 100 Salesian Family members, Friends of Don Bosco (SDB, FMA, Salesian Cooperators and committed youth and lay mission partners). As well as the Eucharist at which the Provincial, Fr. William Matthews, was the main celebrant, there was alsoan opportunity to listen to the vibrant testimony of a Salesian Cooperator as well as a Cagliero Volunteer. Ms Dolan ('Cagliero' Volunteer) shared her experience from Cambodia:
I was asked to share about my involvement with the Salesians, and whilst I don’t think a short history of myself would be all that interesting – I also can’t recall with detail most of the experiences I’ve shared with the Salesian Family. Instead what I do remember are the feelings that have characterised those experiences, and in particular the presence of love in a Salesian setting.
But first, let me re-introduce myself briefly, I’ve been involved with the Salesians for around the past 5 years and came into contact with the Salesians at just the right time. I have no long-winded family history of Salesian involvement, I wasn’t educated by Salesians, and my mum definitely didn’t ship me off to Dromana for camp every holidays. I came across the Don Bosco Camp leadership program when I was 18 and to be honest I wasn’t all that fussed – I was 18 – my mindset was completely temporary, all that mattered was what I was doing and what my friends were doing. Everything was on a week to week basis, and whilst I was engaged with other youth ministries at the time, I think the unfamiliarity of who Don Bosco was and the longevity of involvement of so many young leaders that I met on my first leadership camp scared me off, I had no real intent of become a Salesian Leader at the end of that camp.
But, something had obviously sparked a sense of curiosity towards the Salesians over that week – that initial week of leadership camp wasn’t the last week I spent with the Salesians and over the last 5 years I’ve remained curious. I’ve been involved in all sorts of Salesian works and communities and most recently last year was part of the Cagliero Project and spent 12 months in Cambodia, and throughout all of this I’ve remained curious, it’s never been enough for me to see the good works Salesians are doing, or to just be told Don Bosco was a persistent and loving man – I needed to understand why, so I could emulate those qualities too.
As I said earlier – I can’t really remember every Salesian event I’ve been to or why I even stuck around to begin with, but what I do remember is a familiar feeling of being loved. I see encountering the Salesians to be a bit like an onion. The first layer is that initial joy, the fun, the laughter, the games – a happy time. The second layer is realising that that feeling of joy and happiness is actually a feeling of love. The third layer is realising that the Salesian leaders, Brothers, Sisters and Priests are capable of showing you that love because of the example of Don Bosco. The fourth layer is the realisation that Don Bosco wasn’t able to become the example he is to us alone – and that it was only possible with the assistance of Jesus and Mary. And the final layer is realising that all of this, all of the layers are manifestations of God. And so if we look at all our own different stories of encountering the Salesians, many of them would direct back to that feeling of love.
Last year, early on in my time in Cambodia I was walking home with some boarding students – by ‘walking home’ I’m referring to the 50 metres that separated the classrooms from the boarding house – and as we were walking one of the boys said to me “Teacher, tonight we have the boarder’s birthday party” and somewhat jokingly I replied to him saying “oh, can I come?” and I remember he looked back at me, his face confused and he said “yes Teacher, of course... you are part of the family”. And there again was that intersection of love, family, and the Salesians. For me Cambodia and my Buddhist students was the real beginning of understanding this ‘family spirit’ we talk about as Salesians, what we really mean when we say “sons and daughters of Don Bosco”, and despite the fact they might differ in religious belief, I’ve never met young people that carry Don Bosco so steadfastly in their heart.
My time in Cambodia was pivotal for me in understanding why I call myself Salesian, and it was only through that heart of Don Bosco that my students carried, that I was able to come to such an understanding – and unsurprisingly it linked back to that relationship of love, Don Bosco and Jesus. Through Don Bosco’s example he has given us as Salesians the means to act like a bridge for young people to meet God, and it’s because of the creativity that exists within us as a Salesian Family – that instead of seeing where this bridge leads, we initially see that first layer of joy, fun and happiness.
After coming back from Cambodia I was part of the Salesian pilgrimage heading towards Panama WYD, and prior to Panama we visited some of the Salesian schools in L.A. They were big, prestigious schools bursting with facilities for their students, much like here at Chadstone. I remember someone saying to me ‘imagine if they had this in Cambodia’, of course at first I thought ‘yeah it would be great’ but I wasn’t really convinced it was so necessary. Because, I couldn’t help but wonder if that prestigious school had the level of love that existed in the Tech School community of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I will borrow an analogy from my Brother to explain what I mean. If in our Salesian setting we had all the latest technology on offer, but were a School functioning with 10% love, Don Bosco would probably walk through the corridors and give a mere nod as he saw everything. But if Don Bosco was to wander through a school well in need of an upgrade, yet see it functioning with 110% love, I’m sure that would bring great joy.
With this idea of our capacity to love in mind I’ll share one last point, or maybe two. The second topic I was asked to share about tonight was what I think the future is for my generation in relation to Salesian Youth Ministry and the Salesian Family, and to be honest thinking about this scares me just much as when I think about my own future. In the same way the future brings me fear it also brings a lot of hope knowing the capabilities that can emerge from our Salesian family, and I particularly want to celebrate all the young Salesians in the room.
For many of us, the young Salesians in this room – lay and religious - are familiar faces – they always show up – but for each time that they show up we need to remind ourselves that they need to be and feel invited, they need to feel wanted and loved. Don Bosco didn’t achieve the relationships he did with young boys in the oratory because he expected them to show up, sure they did do just that – but it began with an invitation, with a sense of welcome.
So when I think about the future for our young people, I think about a future youth ministry and Salesian Family that can thrive if we invite young people to fully participate in the Salesian mission.
When we think about the future and where too next as a Salesian Family we are forced to recognise we are well and truly out of our comfort zone, but not out of our depths. And I think that it is through the young people of our Salesian family, we can do away with that fear of discomfort. Our young people show up despite commitments that force them to think otherwise, they go to church in an era that says the church is dead and young people have no respect for religion, and they continually try to not let go of what initially sparked their joy for being Salesian. So when I think about the future for our young people I see people that are seeking to collaborate with SDBs and FMAs, and who have the willingness to carry Don Bosco in their heart. It’s a future of combined effort, that beats with one heart that makes us Salesian.
"Be humble, steadfast, and strong!" – Don Bosco (Memoirs of the Oratory)
