Updates on Ukraine Support

Dear Confreres

During the provincial visitation to St. John Bosco Parish, Edmonton, AB, last week, I had a lunch meeting with members of the parish council. We enjoyed homemade chili, which had been prepared for a chili sale to raise funds for Ukraine. I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the parishioners in showing their support, knowing that the SDBs, Knights of Columbus, and parish had already contributed $10,000 to this cause. The kindness of the good people of the Salesian parishes in Edmonton is seen in all our Salesian presences throughout Canada and the USA. Here is a brief report as of Friday, April 1.

The Salesian Province of St. Philip the Apostle (SUE) has sent an initial $70,000 to the Salesian center in Warsaw that is coordinating the Salesian response to the war. With support from around the world, the Salesians in Eastern Europe can provide supplies for Salesian works in Ukraine and assist the overwhelming number of refugees leaving Ukraine. The SUE province contribution includes the province day gifts from the SDB communities, as well as donations from members of the Salesian Family and our Salesian works.

Don Bosco Mission Office (DBMO), Montréal, QC, has collected $30,000. DBMO will direct its funds to the vice- province of Ukraine. Fr. Luc Lantagne reports that donors have pledged to contribute much more.

From Salesian Missions, New Rochelle, NY, Fr. Gus Baek has sent an initial $50,000 to the Salesian province of Krakow. Salesian Missions has collected an additional $130,000. This doesn’t include $16,000 collected by St. Dominic Savio Parish, Bellflower, CA. Funds are still being sent in from generous members of the Salesian Family and donors across the country.

In addition to the financial contributions, Salesian Missions has sent three pallets of medical supplies from Los Angeles (value over $12,000), and they are about to send about 40 computers to Poland. Fr. Gus and his dedicated team are looking into ways they can do more.

Some individuals, groups, and works in the province have contributed to the collections organized by dioceses or other charitable organizations. Thanks to you all for all you have given. We will end the province collection on Easter. After Easter Sunday, April 17, please send donations directly to DBMO or Salesian Missions.

Besides the financial contribution and the pallets of medical supplies, Salesian Missions has also funded a series of videos produced by Salesian Film Studios of Krakow on the emergency response of the Salesians in Ukraine and Poland. In two or three minutes, they show a very human side of the war. I encourage you to use these videos in your own social media. We have not been forwarding all the email communications from Rome to the confreres. You can find many photos and stories in several languages in ANS, the Salesian news agency. A recent story in ANS shows some of the work Fr. Piotr Gozdalski, Director of the Salesian Missionary Foundation "Don Bosco" in Poland, is doing. Fr. "Peter" was the assistant director of Salesian Missions for a few years.

We have read about creative initiatives by young people seeking to help so many suffering from war. For example, college students designing an app that connects refugees with host families. We would love to hear what the young people in our Salesian presences have been doing to be instruments of peace. Please send short stories and photos with captions to Salesian News.

I know some communities have incorporated a special prayer for peace into their daily community prayer. Here is a Stations of the Cross PowerPoint that you might be able to use in these last days of Lent. We pray, not only for Ukraine, but for an end to hatred and war throughout the world—in Haiti, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, etc. We pray that Our Lady, Help of Christians and Queen of Peace will lead us to Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Fr. Tim Zak