MESSAGE OF THE PROVINCIAL | MARCH 1, 2018

Dear Salesian Family,

I had the great honor of being at Don Bosco Prep when the school joined in prayer for the commissioning of 40 missionaries, both students and teachers. Some were preparing to go to Nicaragua and some to Haiti. The Nicaragua mission has been conducted in collaboration with the Mama Margarita Foundation for at least seven years. The Haiti mission is more recent. Students and teachers from the Prep also went to our province home mission in Belle Glade, Fla., over the Christmas break to join Fr. Matt DeGance and the youth leaders there in the work of education and evangelization. The zeal of the young for these mission trips is supported in part by a missionary spirit in the school. The Mission Club sells cookies to raise awareness and money for foreign missions. The Speak Out Club brings the mission closer to home with service to the homeless in Jersey City and in-depth reflections on issues related to Catholic social teaching.

The missionary animation at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey is just one example of what is happening in many places in our province. Every Salesian presence is doing something to promote the formation of missionary disciples. Along with the Salesian leadership retreats and Gospel Roads, these experiences can change the lives of young persons.

Knowing that so much good is being done for the young and with the young in our Salesian presences, how do we respond to the recently published study by St. Mary’s Press of Minnesota (in collaboration with the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, September 2017) on the dynamics of disaffiliation of young Catholics, Going, Going, Gone? This work presents the results of a two-year study on why young people are leaving the Catholic Church. The statistics are alarming and should fire us up as Salesians to live our vocation with renewed joy and enthusiasm. We see that the gift of the Salesian charism to young people and the Church is more necessary now than ever. The SDBs will pick up this theme for a more profound discussion at our spring leadership meeting. I encourage everyone in the Salesian Family to become familiar with the study and allow the Spirit of God to renew us in the same apostolic zeal that motivated Don Bosco, Mother Mazzarello, and so many other Salesian missionaries.

While the young are in our schools, parishes, and youth centers, we have an easier opportunity to provide them with personal accompaniment and formative experiences. Even if they go away to college or work, however, our accompaniment and concern for their growth do not need to end. The larger network of presences of the Salesian Family throughout Canada and the USA, indeed throughout the world, can be a helpful resource for the young to stay in touch. With social media, we can engage young adults, in appropriate ways, in the virtual oratory.

I would like to propose another very effective experience to help the young live their faith with a commitment for life: volunteering for a year in the missions. That might be in the home missions or the foreign missions, with the Salesian Lay Missioner Program (SLMs) or VIDES, or some other organization. If a one-week mission trip in high school can help a young person live his/her faith, how much more a year in the missions can be foundational in the life of a young adult! Two weeks ago, we have received a request from Fr. Vaclav Klement, the East Asia-Oceania regional councilor, for English teachers in Indonesia and East Timor. That Salesian province has 200 SDBs and 34 novices!

The young Salesians will continue their formal studies in English, and they need tutors to prepare them. Maybe you could invite some young adults from our Salesian presences to give courageous witness to their faith by volunteering for a year or two. Refer them to www.salesianlaymissioners.org or www.vides.us.

This season of Lent is the perfect time to be converted, to become more and more authentic disciples and enthusiastic apostles of Jesus.

Fr. Tim Zak