Rector Major Captivated by American Youths

“You’ve left a marvelous impression on me!”

Rector Major Captivated by American Youths

(ANS – Los Angeles – November 18, 2022) – On the third day of his visit to the United States Western Province, Nov. 17, Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime continued his acquaintance with the Salesian presence in the Los Angeles area. The three highlights of his day were visits to St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower and Don Bosco Tech in Rosemead, and, back in Bellflower, the Eucharist in honor of St. Artemides Zatti, celebrated together with Salesian Family members.

Fr. Angel’s morning had opened with the Eucharistic celebration he presided over with the Salesians, the lay people involved in the Salesian mission, and the young people present at the St. John Bosco High School. “It is something very meaningful to celebrate the Eucharist with all of you: this is what Don Bosco did every day,” the 10th successor of the saint of youth said on the occasion.

Next, moving among the different facilities of the same work, the Rector Major went to the institute’s freshly renovated gymnasium: in front of the stands filled with students and staff of the school, the Rector Major received tributes from the educational community – including a school sweatshirt – and gave the solemn blessing to the new basketball court; and to inaugurate the facility, he also threw a shot at the basket, the first “official” one of the renovated institute.

In his address to all present afterward, Fr. Angel said he was favorably impressed by the “Salesian brotherhood” seen in the student community, and urged the boys and girls to cultivate and preserve it, even beyond their years of study.

The Rector Major’s day then continued with a stop at Don Bosco Tech in Rosemead; greeted with all the tributes by the Salesian community, staff, and faculty of the center, and later by the student band – which performed, playing some famous rock songs by U.S. bands. Before kicking off the other scheduled activities, the Rector Major was also offered a Mexican-style outdoor agape time.

Then began the long sweep to the various workshops and labs of the work, a boys’ high school and college that boast a long tradition and excellent record of teaching technical disciplines. In visiting it Fr. Angel showed great interest in the shops, the disciplines taught, and the methodologies used, but especially in the school’s young students and alumni, inquiring about their present in the school and their dreams for the future.

All this served as a preamble to the moment of the direct meeting with the students. It was a moment that developed in two parts: first, the more intimate one, in the chapel, during which the Rector Major spoke openheartedly with the youngsters; and then the more festive one, in the gymnasium, with artistic and technical skill performances by the youngsters, and the musical response, on guitar, by Don Bosco’s successor.

On this occasion, too, the Rector Major did not fail to emphasize the typically Salesian atmosphere of joy and cheerfulness that he experienced, and he pointed out that such a family spirit is not learned as content in the classroom or in the shop, but is breathed in those environments that truly live and carry forward the spirit and charism of Don Bosco. And in his greeting to the students, openly appreciating their enthusiasm, welcoming spirit, and cultural diversity, he commented, “This being the first time I have met any [American youngsters], I could not imagine what the young people of the United States were like. You have left a marvelous impression in me!”

At the end of the day, Fr. Angel presided over Mass with the Salesian Family in honor of St. Artemides Zatti, in which he retraced the path of sanctification taken by the Salesian coadjutor, under the banner of humility and trust in Mary Help of Christians.