School Support for Refugee Children in Lebanon

School Support for Refugee Children in Lebanon

(ANS – Beirut, Lebanon – November 6, 2024) – In 2024, Lebanon was showing timid signs of reviving its economy after the previous 4 years of severe economic crisis, which had brought disastrous consequences for human rights and forced more than 80% of the population into poverty. On October 1, however, the escalation of the war in the Middle East also involved Lebanon. The intensification of violence generated an unprecedented humanitarian emergency, with thousands of deaths and injuries and about 1.2 million people having to leave their homes in a hurry to seek a safe haven.

Hundreds of homes and public infrastructure have been destroyed, further aggravating the suffering of the civilian population. War and the closure of all schools continue to threaten the lives and futures of millions of children.

Marginalized communities, including refugees, have suffered heavily from the consequences of the economic crisis in recent years, and now their lives are turned upside down again by yet another conflict. In recent years, it is estimated that about 1.8 million Iraqis and 1.5 million Syrians have left their homes and their country, seeking refuge in neighboring countries, including Lebanon. A very limited number of displaced people require refugee status; many consider Lebanon only a place of transit, since the country has never signed the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, nor its 1967 protocol.

In this tragic situation, the Salesians, who have been in the country since 1952, have asked for help to support the activities of their Angels of Peace school, attended by 250 Iraqi and Syrian refugee children between the ages of 6 and 15. All schools in the country have been closed for security reasons, including the Salesian school located on the outskirts of Beirut, where most of the refugee and asylum seeker community lives. For now teachers are able to reach it and use the equipment and stable internet connection to manage distance classes with students.

Since 2015, the Angels of Peace school has been providing education to refugee children, as well as a psycho-social support program carried out by psychotherapists and speech therapists, to try to work on the difficulties arising from being victims of war and displacement.

Refugee children in Lebanon face several obstacles to accessing education. Until 2023, they could attend school only in the afternoon, exposed to risks and dangers: this has caused an increase in school dropouts. After the teachers’ strikes against the strong devaluation of their salaries, the afternoon shifts were suspended.

Refugee children are de facto excluded from the formal school system. The school of the Angels of Peace is the only possibility for them  to access quality education. The Salesians intend to carry out their activities, and in this tragic moment they need help to cover the costs of buying computers, tablets, and internet connection for those refugee families who do not have them. Their goal, in fact, is to continue to guarantee lessons to 250 vulnerable children, for whom the link, including digital, with school means not only preserving the path of study and the possibilities of the future, but also having moments of sharing with their classmates and having a minimum of respite from the constant fear of war.

For more information, visit: www.missionidonbosco.org (Turin).

Akash Bashir's Cause Certified in Rome

Diocesan Inquiry into the Cause 
of the Servant of God Akash Bashir 
Certified in Rome

(ANS – Vatican City – November 6, 2024) – On November 5, a communiqué was sent to the postulator general for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, that the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, in its ordinary meeting of October 24 gave legal validity to the diocesan inquiry for the cause of beatification and canonization of the Servant of God Akash Bashir (b. at Risalpur, Pakistan, June 22, 1994 – d. at Lahore, March 15, 2015), layman and past pupil of Don Bosco. This follows the verification carried out on the formal aspects of the procedural documents and the consistency of the evidentiary apparatus: number and quality of witnesses, documents collected.

The postulator general stresses that “this is a great achievement, the result of the work done with passion and competence by the members of the diocesan tribunal and by those who have contributed, in particular by the historical commission and the vice postulator Fr. Gabriel Cruz SDB.” The postulator general will now ask the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to appoint a rapporteur to guide the preparation of the Positio super martyrio of the Servant of God. It will be drawn up by Dr. Matteo Penati, collaborator of the postulation. The diocesan inquiry was held at the diocesan chancery in Lahore, Pakistan, from March 15, 2022, to March 15, 2024.

Akash Bashir was born to a lower-class family and studied at the Don Bosco Technical Institute in Lahore. He led a life like any other young man’s and had dreams for his future. He lived with his family, he had friends both at school and at work, he liked to play sports, and prayer was part of his life. He had committed himself to living as an “a good Christian and upright citizen,” as Don Bosco wanted, and had become a security volunteer in his parish church, at a time when the situation in Pakistan was worrisome, with the risk of encountering suicide bombers who targeted religious sites.

One Sunday morning, March 15 2015, a suicide bomber attempted to enter the church of St. John in Youhanabad, a Christian district of Lahore, which at that time had over 800 faithful participating in Mass. When he realized the situation, Akash did not hesitate to sacrifice himself, grappling the bomber to keep him from causing a massacre in the church.

Homily for Tuesday, Week 31 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Tuesday
31st Week of Ordinary Time

Nov. 5, 2024
Phil 2: 5-11
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

Salesian sisters singing at Mass of Religious Profession
St. Anthony's Church, Hawthorne, N.J., Aug. 5, 2022

About 2 weeks ago, the bishop of Jefferson City got some attention by publishing a list of hymns and individual composers not to be used in the diocese.  The hymns were deemed deficient doctrinally, e.g., in Eucharistic theology or ecclesiology, and the composers are accused of offenses against human dignity.  The bishop was actually the 1st to implement guidelines from the USCCB’s doctrine committee published 4 years ago.

Why?  Because music is an effective teaching tool.  Consider the place of patriotic hymns, campaign songs, and folk music in stirring national, political, or social movements.  Sacred music also teaches and moves, as Protestants like Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley knew very well, not to mention St. Ambrose and St. Thomas.  Consider hymns like “Faith of Our Fathers,” “Amazing Grace,” “Silent Night,” “Here I Am, Lord,” and even “This Little Light of Mine.”

Writing to his disciples at Philippi, Paul turns to what scholars think was an early liturgical hymn celebrating Christ’s exaltation and pointing to reasons for his glorification:  sharing the human experience of suffering and death in humble, faithful obedience to God his Father.

That hymn, Paul says, shows us how to act as disciples, what kind of attitude must motivate us:  be humble like Jesus, be obedient like Jesus, and you’ll be exalted like Jesus.

Message of the Rector Major's Vicar

THE MESSAGE OF THE VICAR

Fr. Stefano Martoglio, SDB 

THE ROSE PATH

“How lucky Don Bosco is! His path is forever strewn with roses! He hasn’t a worry in the world. No troubles at all!” But they couldn’t see the thorns that were piercing my poor legs.” Nevertheless, I kept going. Every life is interwoven with thorns and roses as in Don Bosco’s famous “Dream of the Roses and Thorns.”[1] Hope is the force that keeps us going despite the thorns.

An abundance of roses
in the yard of a home outside Denver, 2013

Dear readers, friends of the Salesian Family, and benefactors who help with Don Bosco’s work in all situations and contexts, I’m sending you a thought via the various Salesian media. I’ve chosen to reflect a little longer, as we did last month, on the topic of hope. I do so not only for the sake of continuity, but mainly because it’s a topic that begs to be addressed because we all need it so much. It’s an acceptance of God’s gentleness in our lives. But when we speak about hope, let’s remember, first of all, that it’s a component of profound humanity and a clear criterion for interpreting life in every religion.

Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han points out that hope has a lot to do with transcendence and faith, love and eternal life. He underlines in his writings that while we are working, producing, and consuming, there’s no form of openness to the transcendent and no hope when living in this way.

We live in a time deprived of the dimension of celebration, even though we’re surrounded by things that dazzle us. A time without celebration is a time without hope. The society of consumption and performance that we live in is in danger of making us incapable of happiness, of rejoicing over the reality of our lives (even the most difficult situation always shows glimmers of light!).

Hope makes us believers in the future because the place where we experience hope most intensely is in the Transcendent. Czech writer and politician Vaclav Havel, president of Czechoslovakia in the era of “The Velvet Revolution,” which many of us remember, defines “hope” as a state of mind, a dimension of the soul.

Hope is an orientation of the heart that transcends the world of experience in the here and now; it’s a mooring somewhere else beyond the horizon. The roots of hope lie somewhere within the Transcendent. That’s why having hope and being satisfied because things are going well aren’t one and the same thing.

When we speak about the future, we understand it in relation to what will happen tomorrow, next month, or two years from now. The future is what we can plan, predict, control, and make optimal. Hope is the construction of a future that connects us to that future that never ends – to the Transcendent, to the Divine dimension. Cultivating hope is good for our hearts because it puts energy into our efforts to construct our way to Heaven.

The word most uttered by Don Bosco

Fr. Albert Caviglia wrote, “Leafing through the pages that record Don Bosco’s words and speeches, one finds that “Paradise” was the word he used to employ in every circumstance as the most compelling argument for every activity for good and for every forbearance in adversity.”

“A piece of Heaven fixes everything!” Don Bosco repeated in the midst of difficulties. Even in modern schools of management, they teach that a positive vision of the future turns into a life force.

When he was old and bent over and would walk across the courtyard in strides as long as an ant’s, those who were passing by would greet him without much thought, “Where are we going, Don Bosco?” The saint would reply, with a smile, “To Paradise.”

How much Don Bosco insisted on this: Paradise! He raised his young people to keep the vision of Paradise in their hearts and before their eyes. We can be Christians, even convinced Christians, but not believe in Paradise.

Don Bosco teaches us to unite our here present with the hereafter. And he does so through the virtue of hope.

Let’s carry this in our hearts and open our hearts to the charity and the humanity that incarnate our deep beliefs.

When you receive this brief message in November, live this hope together with our saints and with your beloved deceased, like of group of mountain climbers tethered together by a rope that has its origins in our everyday lives and is anchored, at its end, in the Infinite.

Like Don Bosco, let’s live as though we see the invisible, nourished by the hope that is the Provident Presence of God. Only those who are very grounded, practical, and solid, as Don Bosco was, are able to live by fixing their gaze on the invisible.

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[1] “The Dream of the Roses and Thorns.” The Biographical Memoirs of St. John Bosco,  III, 25-28. Online. https://donboscosalesianportal.org/wp-content/uploads/BM_03_en.pdf

The anchor of hope figures prominently
in the SDB coat of arms

Homily for Thursday, Week 30 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Thursday
30th Week of Ordinary Time

Oct. 31, 2024
Eph 6: 10-20
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R.

“Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power” (Eph 6: 10).

Today Paul paints a dark picture of the world we live in—perhaps as dark today as it was in his time and place—a world ruled in large part by the powers of darkness.  It’s dark in Gaza and Lebanon; in Ukraine, Sudan, the eastern Congo, Nigeria; in the South China Sea, in the worlds of drug cartels and human trafficking; even in an election in which the Pope advises us to choose the lesser evil—which means still to choose evil (unless you want to cast a protest vote for a 3d party; there’s one whose platform aligns with Catholic social teaching).

Nevertheless, the Pope continues to preach hope, which is the theme for the coming Jubilee Year.  We have hope because the armor of God (6:11) protects us; faith shields us (6:16).  By the mighty power of the Word of God—enfleshed into our world in the person of Jesus Christ—we are “able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil” (6:17,11).

The tactics of the Devil won momentarily in the Sanhedrin, the court of Pontius Pilate, and Calvary.  But the strategic victory is revealed in “the mystery of the Gospel” (6:19), in the power of Christ’s resurrection.

Prayer by Antoni Piotrowski

For God’s help, we rely upon prayer:  “With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit” (6:18).  That’s a vital ministry of God’s people, whom the Fathers of the Church call the soul of the world—the world’s life, the world’s hope.  We place our confidence in him who is the light that overcomes the darkness of the Devil and his world.

Homily for 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 27, 2024
Creed
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx
Our Lady of the Assumption, Bronx

This is the 5th, final homily in a series on the Nicene Creed, preached in alternating weeks in the 2 parishes.

“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life” (Nicene Creed).

Bernini's Holy Spirit

2 weeks ago we began to consider the 3d Person of the Holy Trinity.  I quoted a writer who calls the Holy Spirit is “the effective presence and power of God among humans.”^[1]  His presence and power are spelled out in the last paragraph of the Creed.

This final section is the 4th that begins “I believe,” after the sections on “one God,” “one Lord Jesus Christ,” and “the Holy Spirit.”

“I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”  The Church is one, bound in a unity by the Holy Spirit even tho she’s also diverse—not only among the hundreds of nations and peoples of the world, but also in 24 different rites with their particular laws, customs, languages, and liturgies.  We belong to the Latin Rite, by far the largest in numbers.  There are also Byzantine, Maronite, Melkite, Syro-Malabar, Coptic and 18 other “Eastern Rites,” all united by the Catholic faith and the authority of the Pope, all united by the Holy Spirit.^[2]  Many of our prayers to God the Father, you’ve noticed, end with the phrase “through our Lord Jesus, your Son, who lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit.”  As we noted 2 weeks ago, the Spirit is the bond of unity between the Father and the Son; he’s also the bond of unity between the Church and the Trinity and between all the members of the Church.  We are the unity of the Holy Spirit.

Further, it’s the Holy Spirit who guides our prayer, as St. Paul teaches in his Letter to the Romans:  “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we don’t know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And the one who searches hearts knows what’s the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will” (8:26-27).  The Spirit unites us with the Father and the Son in our prayer.

Unfortunately, Christians aren’t completely united.  That’s been a problem since earliest Christianity.  Some reject a truth of the faith like the divinity of Christ or Christ’s working thru the sacraments; others reject the unifying office of the Holy Father.  St. John XXIII called the 2d Vatican Council, which met in 4 sessions between 1962 and 1965, in part to seek ways to reunite all Christ’s followers.  We’re still working on that.

The Spirit makes the Church holy because the Spirit conveys the grace of God to us.  We’re not professing that there are no sinners in the Church.  Lord knows there are, starting with you and me.  But when the Spirit pours God’s sacramental grace upon us, he renders us holy and eligible for eternal life.  More on that momentarily.

The Church is catholic, with a small c.  That’s from the Greek word for universal.  Jesus, Mary, the apostles, and the 1st believers were all Jewish.  But the Church isn’t just for the Jews.  It’s for every race and nation, like the Gospel itself—“from the rising of the sun to its setting,” in the words of the prophet Malachi (1:11) and the 3d Eucharistic Prayer.

And the Church is apostolic.  As St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, she’s “founded upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone” (2:20).  She continues to be guided by the apostles’ successors, the bishops, and by the work of the Holy Spirit infallibly preserves the apostolic faith—which the Holy Father, successor of St. Peter, guarantees.

Next, we “confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”  This brings us back to the sanctifying work of the Spirit.  Jesus teaches that to enter the kingdom of God we must be “born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5), i.e., washed in Baptism, which confers the Holy Spirit upon us, makes us children of God by our relationship to Christ, and unites us to Christ’s saving death and resurrection.  Baptism and the other 6 sacraments convey God’s grace to us; the Eucharist and others renew the forgiveness that began when we were 1st washed clean.  In the Eucharistic Prayer, listen to how the Spirit is invoked as we pray that our bread and wine be changed into the body and blood of Christ and we be firmly united to God thru Christ. 

The forgiveness of the sins we commit after Baptism is particularly renewed in the sacrament of Reconciliation, which we sinners need on a regular basis.  How good Jesus is; he came to call not the just but sinners (Matt 9:13), and he makes himself available to us so easily thru his priestly ministers.^[3]

In truth, there’s only one Christian priest, Jesus Christ, whom the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of in today’s 2d reading (5:5-6).  All others whom we call priests and bishops only exercise Christ’s ministry; they act “in the person of Christ” by the great gift and call of the Holy Spirit, conferred by the laying on of a bishop’s hands, anointing with sacred chrism, and prayer.

Finally, we “look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”  We’ll all die, as Christ died.  But by the power of his resurrection, he’ll restore to life all who are united to him by the Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of life.”  Not only our souls but our whole persons, body and soul, are meant for eternal life, for heaven, for unending happiness.  St. Paul writes to the Romans, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies thru his Spirit living in you” (8:11).

I used to joke when I was a lot younger that heaven would be an eternity of ice cream and baseball.  (That might not be good news for Yankees fans right now.^[4])  Now I think it’ll be far, far better than that!  It’ll be a homecoming among all who love us most tenderly, starting with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

“This is our faith.  This is the faith of the Church.  We are proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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[1] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters (New York: Doubleday, 2003), p. 158.

[2] We might also consider the Anglican Ordinariate of Catholics who have converted from the Anglican or Episcopal Churches a distinct rite.

[3] Jesus says there’s only one unforgiveable sin:  “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin” (Mark 3:29).  If the Spirit is the giver of forgiveness and one curses the Spirit, rejects him, or calls his work evil—then how can that person be forgiven?  If the Spirit guides our prayer to God and we reject the Spirit, how can we come to God?  Unless one repents, of course.  As long as we’re in this life, we can turn back to God, who will never reject a prayer that the Holy Spirit come to us.

[4] They lost to the Dodgers last nite to go down 2-0 in the World Series.

Homily for Thursday, Week 29 of Ordinary Time

Homily for Thursday
29th Week of Ordinary Time

Oct. 24, 2024
Luke 12: 49-53
Missionaries of Charity, Bronx

In this morning’s gospel, Jesus makes 2 points.  1st, he wants to set the world on fire, and he’ll do that thru his baptism.  2d, he’ll cause division in families.

St. Patrick lights the Paschal fire
for the 1st time in Ireland

Jesus’ baptism is his passion.  He spoke of that just last Sunday in his dialog with James and John (Mark 10:35-40).  God’s love so evidenced fires human hearts to love God and to extend God’s love to others—which is what Mother Teresa, and indeed all the saints, did so well.

Jesus’ purpose, of course, isn’t division.  But when hearts are fired with his love, that stirs up opposition, as in his own case, which Isaiah foretold in the prophecies of the Suffering Servant, and Simeon when Jesus was presented in the Temple:  “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed” (Luke 2:34).  It continues to happen in history, especially in the lives of the saints.  The early virgin martyrs like Agnes aroused family opposition by their dedication to Christ.  Elizabeth Seton was disowned by most of her family and her deceased husband’s family when she converted to Catholicism.  Thomas Aquinas’s family locked him up to try to block his vocation to the Dominicans (obviously, he escaped).  John of the Cross’s confreres imprisoned him because he was reforming the Carmelites (some brothers!).  Today’s saint, Anthony Claret, dodged an assassination and was compelled to resign as archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, because of his attempts to reform the archdiocese.

Committing ourselves to Christ warms our hearts and empowers us to worship God our Father and do good for others.  It doesn’t forestall misunderstandings, opposition, and division, even within the Church, even within religious houses, even among people of good will.

But God will triumph thru Christ, for he “is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20).

Salesian Missions' Donors Fund Learning Tools

Salesian Missions’ Donors Fund Learning Tools

Tools benefit more than 700 students in India

(ANS – Chennai [Madras], India – October 22, 2024) – Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, located in Perambur, Chennai, India, purchased 15 sets of interactive intelligent panel boards to facilitate a more dynamic and engaging learning environment for students. The boards were purchased thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions in New Rochelle.

The boards have been installed for classes in 8th, 9th, and 11th grades as well as the audio-video hall for staff. This new technology will have an impact on more than 700 youths. Most of the students are from challenging family situations. The technology will also support 63 staff. On special occasions, other classes will have access to this technology.

One young student said that he found it easier to concentrate and grasp concepts better thanks to the new boards. Other students have voiced the same opinion. Salesians report that many students thanked the school management for having brought about this enhancement into the classroom. Parents have also been pleased.

One Salesian said, “Don Bosco Higher Secondary School has taken steps to sustain engagement and inquisitiveness with improved comprehension levels. The methodology of teaching is interactive and enjoyable. During parent-teacher association meetings, the parents have expressed happiness about the educational progress of their children and the improvement of their exam grades. Given the success of these interactive boards, we plan to expand this technology to all 42 classrooms in the school.”

India has the world’s 4th largest economy, but more than 22% of the country lives in poverty. About 31% of the world’s multidimensionally poor children live in India, according to a report by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.

India’s young people face a lack of educational opportunities due to issues of caste, class, and gender. Almost 44% of the workforce is illiterate, and less than 10% of the working-age population has completed a secondary education. In addition, many secondary school graduates do not have the knowledge and skills to compete in today’s changing job market.

Source: Mission Newswire