Pope Francis and the Salesians

Pope Francis and the Salesians

(ANS – Rome) – As the days pass, new episodes and aspects of interest regarding Pope Francis emerge. Among them are a number tied in with the Salesian world. Besides his special devotion to Mary Help of Christians – displayed every 24th of the month at the Marian shrine at Almagro in Buenos Aires – there are others. The new Pope is also a Salesian past pupil.

In 1949 Jorge Mario Bergolio attended Wilfrid Baron Salesian School in Ramos Mejia, along with his brother. Jorge was in class 6B (photo above). From the list of prize-winners that year, we see he got first prize for conduct and for religion and the Gospel.

A detailed biography published by the Argentine daily La Nación also reports that when he was 17 the Pope had Fr. Enrico Pozzoli from the Almagro SDB community as his spiritual director. This priest, before bringing Don Bosco's charism to Tierra del Fuego, left an indelible mark on him. It was Fr. Pozzoli who suggested to young Bergoglio to go to the Tandil mountains to overcome an attack of pneumonia; it was he who helped the future Pope apply for the seminary at Villa Devoto; and Cardinal Bergoglio included a reference to him in the preface to his first book – Meditations for Religious – referring to the “strong impact” this Salesian had on his life, and the “example of ecclesial service and religious consecration” that he gave.

When he was 18, Bergoglio met Roberto Musante, two years older than he, at Tandil. In more complex circumstances he met Musante again later, e.g., when Bergoglio took in three seminarians belonging to Bishop Enrique Angelelli during the dictatorship.

At Tandil, Fr. Musante recalls, the two got to know each other and talk, and Bergoglio “was rather quiet and humble.” The two young men then took different paths. Today Fr. Musante is a Salesian working in Angola, looking after hundreds of youngsters at Lixeira (“garbage dump” in Portuguese). Bergoglio, instead, chose to follow St. Ignatius Loyola.

Fr. Fabian Garcia, a former provincial in Argentina, shared with ANS some of his memories of the former archbishop of Buenos Aires. At the end, he said: "But of all of my memories, there is one that is strongest, most significant, indelible: a man of faith who, every 24th of the month, early in the morning before the doors opened, came to the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in the suburb of Almagro, celebrated Mass, and stayed a good hour praying before the image of the Blessed Virgin which had been blessed by Don Bosco himself [before the earliest SDB missionaries took it with them to Buenos Aires]."

When he was provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina, then-Fr. Bergoglio saw that the number of brothers in his province and in the entire Society of Jesus had declined alarmingly.  He turned in prayer to the Servant of God Bro. Artemides Zatti, SDB (now Blessed Artemides), and almost at once there was a striking upturn in vocations among the Jesuit brothers.  As Archbishop Bergoglio he remained devoted to Blessed Artemides, who spent most of his life in Argentina.

Provincial Chapter 2013

Provincial Chapter Assembles,
Begins Discussions

45 confreres (44 capitulars and a secretary--your humble blogger) gathered at Don Bosco Retreat Center in Haverstraw, N.Y., on the morning of March 11 for the provincial chapter of the New Rochelle Province.  The chapter is scheduled to run through March 18, and its main task is to discuss topics proposed for next year's general chapter (GC27) of the Society.

The chapter began at 9:00 a.m. with three hours of prayer and reflection, led by Fr. Bill Keane, master of novices.  He spoke of finding God in our lives as well as of the themes of the upcoming general chapter such as “mystics, prophets, and servants” and “work and temperance.”

Each day begins with Morning Prayer in common, is centered on the celebration of the Eucharist, and includes Evening Prayer and a Good Night.  In addition to meals, there are social gatherings in the evening after the day’s work has been wrapped up.

In the chapter’s first business session, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., Fr. Tom Dunne presented a report on the state of the province, incorporating statistics, Fr. Esteban Ortiz’s report after the extraordinary visitation last year, Fr. Pascual Chavez’s commendations and recommendations following that visitation, and Fr. Dunne’s own perspectives.

The members of the chapter responded to the provincial’s report during that same afternoon session as well as in the evening session.  Some themes that came forth:  the urgency of acting on the challenges we face; the need for vocation animation; stress on the Salesian mission; preparing lay people to share the mission; the challenges of redimensioning the province; Hispanic ministry; a sense of hope.

In addition to general sessions, the capitulars have been spending a lot of time divided into five discussion groups of seven to ten members.

On March 12 the chapter discussed “Salesians as mystics,” first in groups and then in general session.  Discussion was finished by 4:00 p.m., and the chapter’s writing committee (Frs. Lou Molinelli, Dave Moreno, and Tom Ruekert) prepared a two-page (double-spaced) synthesis to present to the chapter, which, after amendment and approval, will be forwarded to GC27’s precapitular commission.  (Your humble servant assists them with his editorial skills.)

The secretary's work station; he doesn't really work for Morning Edition (but his niece does!).

On March 13 the chapter moved on to “Salesians as prophets of fraternity,” again in group discussion followed by general session discussion.

In addition, the confreres are trying to follow events happening elsewhere.

What color is that smoke?

 

Always in the Last Place You Look

It's Always
in the Last Place You Look

or, An Amazing Coincidence!

This weekend's gospel reading is the parable of the lost son (aka "The Prodigal Son").  When I preached on it, I also referenced the 2 parables that precede it in Luke 15, those of the lost sheep and the lost drachma.

That's the setting that turns what follows into quite a coincidence (not to mention that on my way to Putnam Valley yesterday afternoon I was listening to stories of coincidences on NPR's This American Life!).

So--last October, Troop 40 encamped at Site 35 in Durland Scout Reservation for the annual Michael A. Boccardi Trek-o-ree (http://sdbnews.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-michael-a.html).

When I got home, I couldn't find my Swiss Army knife, which I usually strap to my belt in a sheath.  I searched my tent about 3 times.  I searched my backpack about 3 times.  I searched my daypack about 3 times.  I went into the flower bed under the back porch, where I'd draped the tent to air out on my return, in case the knife had fallen out of the tent during the draping.

When I couldn't find the knife anywhere, I concluded that I must have left it in the tent on Saturday nite, and on Sunday morning shaken it out of the tent onto the ground (among the autumn leaves?) as I was packing up.  Nothing to do but, the next time I got up to Durland, to check lost-and-found and then scour the campsite.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to take part in any more Troop 40 trips after October (having been away in December, and a February trip getting snow-stormed out).  The idea of looking over a couple hundred feet around where I'd pitched my tent, now covered by almost a foot of snow, was not a happy thought.

I borrowed a metal detector from a confrere, and yesterday finally had the chance to return to Durland--to offer Saturday evening Mass for NYLT staff.  So I checked lost-and-found, then went to Site 35, covered by about 8" of snow, and tramped back and forth.  Every time the detector pinged, I dug up snow and leaves beneath the snow to find--nothing.  I figured I'd have to wait till the snow was all gone and rely just on visual examination, or maybe I wasn't really in the right site.

So I went back to NYLT and started setting up for Mass.  I dug into the Mass kit that I hadn't used since October, pulling out vestments, chalice, hosts, wine, hymn sheets, etc.  And down at the very bottom of the bag was ... my Swiss Army knife!

Lost sheep, lost drachma, lost son, lost knife (yes, that got an honorable mention in the homily, the Scouts having witnessed the finding)!

And as they say, I found it in the last place that I looked, one place where I hadn't looked back in October.

Several of the Scouters and Scouts credited St. Anthony.  That's OK with me.

Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent

Homily for the
4th Sunday of Lent

I preached last nite to Scouts (Putnam Valley) and this morning at St. Vincent's Hospital (Harrison) on the parable of the lost son, without written text.  Here's an oldie based on all 3 readings for today.

Joshua 5: 9-12
2 Cor 5: 17-21
Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

March 25, 2001

FMA Provincialate, Haledon, N.J.

St. Joseph, Passaic, N.J.

“The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.’  On that same day after the Passover, on which they ate of the produce of the land, the manna ceased.  No longer was there manna for the Israelites, who that year ate of the yield of the land of Canaan” (Ex 5:9,11-12).

Last Sunday we heard the story of the call of Moses “to rescue [Israel] from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them…into a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:8).  Today we hear that they have finally arrived in that “good and spacious land” (ibid.) after 40 years of wandering and suffering in the wilderness of Sinai and the lands on the far side of the River Jordan.  They have just crossed the Jordan and encamped near Jericho, the gateway to the Promised Land.  Now, at last, they can begin to feast on that “land of milk and honey,” on the abundance of its grain and vineyards.  At the same time, they are leaving behind that wondrous and mysterious food, the manna, with which God sustained them for all those years in the desert.  For they have passed over the desert, they have passed over the Jordan, they have passed over to something far better.  God has delivered on his promise to Moses to lead them out of the oppression of Egypt and into the land that will become their own.  Egypt and its slavery, the Sinai and its sufferings, are now history; they are past.  The present is the fulfillment of the promise; it is salvation.

St. Paul strikes a similar note, but from a Christian perspective:  “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation:  the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor 5:17).  Having passed thru the waters of baptism, we have passed away from the old things of what Paul calls our “former way of life” (Eph 4:22) and entered a kind of promised land, a land full of new things, “a new creation.”  We have renounced Satan and all his works and all his empty promises (Rite of Baptism).  We have left behind our slavery to sin, our doom to hell.  We have crossed over the River Jordan with Christ into the kingdom of God; Christ has reconciled us to God, who has forgiven our trespasses (2 Cor 5:18-19) and put them all behind us.  We will no longer feed on our passions but will be filled with virtue.  Thru Christ, we stand in anew relationship with God, washed clean and pleasing in his sight.  Firmly united with Christ by our baptism, confirmation, and the Eucharist, we have “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:14) and become, with him, children of God; we have “become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

We have passed over with Christ into the promised land.  Now with him we celebrate our Passover, feasting on the fruit of the land.  Unlike the Israelites on the outskirts of Jericho, we don’t eat “unleavened cakes and parched grain” (Jos 5:11).  We feast on the body and blood of Christ, which is a foretaste and a promise of yet greater feasting to come.

Return of the Prodigal, by Rembrandt

Like the younger son in the parable Jesus tells us today (Luke 15:11-32), we have wandered off from our Father’s love and done evil deeds:  more of those same evils that we renounced by our baptism.  But our Father wants us back.  All the while that we’re wandering in this worldly wilderness with all its moral dangers, the Father’s looking for us to come home for good.  Of course we can’t put sin entirely behind us as long as we are on this earth.  We can only keep returning to the Father in Christ thru the sacrament of Reconciliation.  But on the day when we pass away from this earth, we will irrevocably put away our rebelliousness and come into a great banquet that the Father has set for all his children (cf. Luke 15: 23-24).  We’ll all be clothed in festal garments (cf. Luke 15:22)—which the white robes we wore at our baptism symbolize, and perhaps also the special vestments of the Eucharistic celebration.  The Eucharist is figuratively called manna because it wondrously and mysteriously nourishes us as long as we wander about in the desert of earthly life.  But it’s also the food of our new life, the life promised us in Christ, the life when we will be with our Father always, and everything he has will be ours as well (cf. Luke 15:31).

The Salesian Family and the Pope

The Salesian Family
and the Pope
Interview with the Rector Major  

During the retreat he led for the North and South American provincials at Campos do Jordão, Brazil, Fr. Pascual Chavez gave an interview that was published in the Santa Teresinha Parish bulletin. He spoke of the Salesian Family’s relationship with Pope Benedict XVI and the role of the Holy Father, as well as the challenges that await Benedict’s successor.

Fr. Chavez, in  his capacity of president of the Union of Superiors General, addressing Benedict XVI in 2010

In your message responding to the Pope’s stepping down, you said that Benedict XVI had been very generous to the Salesian Family. Can you give me an idea of some of the things Benedict XVI did during his pontificate for the Salesian Family?

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, was a person who appreciated the Congregation and the Salesian Family very much. In a personal meeting with him, when I drew his attention to Mama Margaret, he demonstrated his knowledge of Don Bosco’s life and his mother’s life too. I had the chance to meet him often when he was vacationing at the Salesian house at Les Combes and each year at our parish at Castel Gandolfo, on the Feast of the Assumption. I always found him a man and a father of great kindness and gentleness; a true icon of God’s love.

The Holy Father showed us a gesture of particular predilection for our general chapter in 2008, receiving us and offering us a very significant message from a charismatic point of view. He greeted each one of the general councilors. Benedict XVI knows our Congregation well, and several times in his letter addressed to our 26th General Chapter he expressed his esteem for the life and apostolic activity of our Family.

Don Bosco always asked that the Salesian Family give unconditional obedience to the Pope. Do you think this request is still valid today, when dialog is very much to the fore? Why?

Don Bosco’s attitude had its roots in faith. He saw, and we share this view, the Holy Father as the Vicar of Christ, and his unconditional obedience was an act of love for both the Lord Jesus Christ and the Church, and the Pope. Don Bosco’s attitude is a fine legacy for us. We too are ready for total obedience to what the Pope asks us to do, even if such requests today follow the path of discussion, dialog, and the common search for truth.

For the Salesian Family what would be the ideal features of the next Pope?

We know that the Holy Spirit is at work and that the Pope to be elected will be someone who can best interpret the role of the Petrine ministry according to God’s heart. Looking at the Church today, we want to ask the Lord for a Pope who is open to all the situations experienced by Christians and Catholics, as found across all the continents in their cultural circumstances. We hope for a great openness to the least, the poor, the little ones who have always been the first beneficiaries of the Kingdom of God. We ask the Lord that the Holy Father will be attentive to young people, who as always are the hope of the Church. We also hope for a new and generous attention to women, recognizing that women in the Church have always been generously committed to the service of catechetics, charity, and many other ministries on behalf of the ecclesial community. I would also hope for greater consideration of consecrated life on the Church’s part. Today, tried as we are by secularism and religious indifference, religious men and women are testimony to the living God, and this means that their most important mission is to interpret the Gospel radically, incarnating the very life of Jesus in their being and action.

What do you think are the main challenges awaiting the Pope to help young people become active players in their own lives?

I believe that the biggest challenge today is, first of all, a profound renewal of evangelization. The Church needs to be close to all people, especially the young, and be able to communicate joyfully the “good news” that God loves the world, loves mankind.

We have to remove the suspicion by the young that God is someone opposed to their happiness, and invite them instead to discover that the God who reveals himself in Jesus is Love. Young people themselves need to become active witnesses of authentic freedom by choosing values that incarnate the Gospel; by dedication to building a new society; by accepting active responsibility for committed citizenship; by living their lives as a positive response to great matters of love, family, solidarity, life understood as a specific calling to build the Kingdom of God.

In what way can the Salesian Family contribute to the success of the next pontificate?

The Salesian Family is a Christian entity forever at the Church’s service following a particular charism, the salvation of the young. In all its circumstances and through its various groups; it works to “build up the Church” at local and global level. It is committed especially to the field of education; which is always the primary element in forming today’s young people to authentic human and Gospel criteria. A further basic point is its commitment to evangelization addressed not only to people who do not know the Gospel, but also those who want to undergo a journey of growth in faith and charity as indicated in the Gospel.

Education and evangelization are inseparable activities. One cannot educate authentically without anchoring the person in the great gift of Christ’s humanity – Christ who is both Son of God and Son of man.

Salesians Participate in U.N. Commission on Status of Women

Salesians Participate
in U.N. Commission
on Status of Women

The 57th Commission on the Status of Women takes place at U.N. Headquarters in New York, March 4-15, 2013. For two weeks the topic “Elimination and Prevention of All Forms of Violence against Women and Girls” is being discussed and debated by governments, civil society, U.N. agencies and other partners. The Salesians of Don Bosco, the Istituto Internazionale Maria Ausiliatrice, and lay collaborators are among the participants and contributors.

Fr. Brennan (left), Sr. Rita (3d from right), Fr. Pallithanam, and three other speakers

The Salesians, in collaboration with the Salesian Sisters (through IIMA) organized and held a parallel event on March 6 during the Commission: “Men and Women Partnering to End Violence against Women and Girls.” The speakers and topics addressed were:

• “Motivating Men to Defend the Dignity of the Girl Child,” Sr. Jacintha Lobo, FMA, Auxilium Navajeevana, Chamarajpet, Bangalore, India;
• “Community Action: Women and Men Collaborating to End Violence Against Women and Girls,” Rev. Thomas Pallithanam, SDB, People's Action for Rural Awakening, Andhra Pradesh, India;
• “Voices of the Victims of Violence: Rural Women Speaking Out” (via video), Ms. Pothumudi Sesharatnam, Gender Desk Coordinator, People's Action for Rural Awakening, Andhra Pradesh, India;
• “A Victim of Violence Challenges Society: A Personal Testimony,” Ms. Shanthi Ravikumar, Bangalore, India.

Fr. Thomas Brennan, SDB, and Sr. Glorina Rita, FMA, partnered to form the panel and moderated the event.

In addition to participating in some of the ongoing discussions for recommendations for agreed conclusions for the Commission, the Salesians, through their representative, Fr. Brennan, prepared and submitted written interventions in preparation for the Commission. These included:

• E/CN.6/2013/NGO/43, on the links between violence against women and girls and HIV infection;
• E/CN.6/2013/NGO/14, on the relationship of trafficking and violence against women and girls;
• E/CN.6/2013/NGO/149, encouraging governments to honor their pledges to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girls, specifically addressing violence, education, economic exploitation, and harmful cultural attitudes and practices;
• E/CN.6/2013/NGO/196, on the criminalization of those infected with the HIV virus, especially vulnerable women.

Fr. Brennan also served as a moderator of a “Conversation Circle” on the topics of migration and the trafficking of persons. The purpose of these groups is to spur “conversations” among groups around mutual interests, to network to plan for future collaboration, and to work collectively to implement the U.N. frameworks and agreements that aim to achieve gender equality.

Province Reaccredited by Praesidium

New Rochelle Province
Reaccredited by Praesidium

On March 8 the St. Philip Province of the Salesians of Don Bosco (based in New Rochelle) announced that Praesidium has renewed our accreditation as an institution dedicated to providing safe environments for the young people and vulnerable adults under our care. The New Rochelle Province was found to be in compliance with the highest current national standards for protecting children and adolescents. The province has acted upon the call to more accountability and transparency in how to protect children and adolescents, handle allegations of sexual abuse, reach out to victims, and supervise members who have sexually abused.

During the period of this reaccreditation, the New Rochelle Province will uphold fundamental values and stringent safety practices that demonstrate our commitment to protecting those whom we serve from abuse.

American Provincials on Retreat with Rector Major

Provincials
of the Two American Regions
on Retreat with the Rector Major

ANS reported on March 5:

Starting March 4 and running till the weekend, the provincials of the InterAmerica and America Southern Cone regions have come together at Vila Dom Bosco, Campos do Jordão, to take part in a retreat with the Rector Major and his vicar, as well as the two regional councilors, Fr. Esteban Ortiz and Fr. Natale Vitali.

 

At the Lenten season, dedicated to reflection, conversion, and reaffirming our Christian identity, 23 out of a total of 25 provincials from the two regions came for the retreat. The presence of so many provincials in the one place, along with four members of the general council, also helps with informal meetings over these days and facilitates the tackling of matters of greater interest across the two American continents.

The retreat venue, Campos do Jordao, in the São Paulo Province, is at Brazil's highest location, 5,000 feet above sea level, with a continental climate and European style of architecture often described as “Brazilian Switzerland.” Besides the retreat house at Vila Dom Bosco, the Salesians also run the Santa Clara social work, which offers courses, seminars, daily meals, and cultural and free-time activities for young people from poor families.

Both U.S. provincials are there:  Fr. Tom Dunne from the East (New Rochelle) and Fr. Tim Ploch from the West (San Francisco).

In the province newsletter for this week (dated March 8), Fr. Tom describes the experience (slightly edited here):

Last Saturday night, Fr. Tim Ploch and I took an overnight flight from Newark, N.J., to São Paulo, Brazil.  Our journey was long (9½ hours). However, it was rather pleasant considering the length of time that we were confined in a small area. When we boarded the flight, both Fr. Tim and I were surprised that our assigned seats were right next to each other! For an aircraft holding well over 250 people, that is an amazing coincidence (and grace)!

Needless to say, the nine hours gave us plenty of time for conversation, collaborative planning, and reflection.

The Salesians in São Paulo were very kind in welcoming us with great attention. At lunch we had the joy of greeting Fr. Pascual Chavez and Fr. Adriano Bregolin, his vicar. Fr. Chavez looks quite well. He is certainly filled with the same spirit and sharp focus we’ve been used to in his role as Don Bosco’s ninth successor.

On Sunday night, the provincials from the 24 provinces in the Americas boarded a bus for a 2½-hour ride to the Don Bosco Retreat Center in Campos do Jordao. This center is a beautiful place to make a retreat!

The retreat schedule is rather full. We begin the day with Morning Prayer and a meditation by the Rector Major.  These meditations are on the great friends of God: Abraham, Moses, David, Jeremiah, and Mary. Fr. Chavez has been following the theme of the “Year of Faith.”

We have two talks per day. The Rector Major gives the morning talks on vocation and formation as a way of deepening our reflections on the theme of the 27^th General Chapter (“Living the Gospel in a Radical Manner”). Fr. Bregolin gives the afternoon talks. These instructions have dealt with the spirituality and formative nature of our lives of service as province leaders. Each day we have a period of Eucharistic adoration. Evening Prayer is accompanied by a Good Night by the Rector Major.

On March 6 all of those in initial formation for the Brazilian provinces came to the retreat house to spend time with the Rector Major, his vicar, and the provincials of the Americas. The number and quality of those young men in formation were very impressive. It is evident what creating a vocational climate or culture can bring about in a province or a number of provinces!

A number of the young Salesians send their regards to their friend and confrere, Fr. Tarcisio Dos Santos, who serves so well in our province (Holy Rosary Parish in Port Chester and St. Anthony Parish in Elizabeth). I was sure to give them the good news of Fr. Tarcisio’s effective ministry with the Brazilian immigrants in our province. In the name of the province, I thanked Fr. Edson, provincial of São Paulo, for the grace of allowing Fr. Tarcisio to be with us in the St. Philip Province for these years.

On Saturday, we will visit some places around the São Paulo area. In particular, I am looking forward to going to the Aparecida to spend some time in prayer in that center of pilgrimage and renewal.

The Rector Major sends greetings, prayers, and good wishes to all in the St. Philip Province. He asked me to pass on his sentiments of gratitude for the prayers and friendship that he has received in the midst of his illness.

I look forward to returning to the province on Sunday morning. It will be good to be with the provincial chapter members on Monday morning. I will remember all of you in the province on my pilgrimage to the Aparecida.

Homily for 3d Sunday of Lent

Homily for the

3d Sunday of Lent

March 3, 2013

Ex 3: 1-8, 13-15

Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“Moses came to Horeb, the mountain of God” (Ex 3: 1).

Moses has been living with Jethro for many years; unfortunately, Exodus describes the passage of years only as “a long time” (2:23).  Moses has married one of Jethro’s daughters, had a son, lived in exile as “a stranger in a foreign land” (2:22), and presumably been helping tend Jethro’s flocks for that whole “long time.”

Is the occasion in today’s story from Exodus 3 the 1st time Moses and the flock—and whoever else was with them—have come to Horeb, which is another name for Sinai?  Probably not, assuming that nomads like Jethro’s clan followed a regular pattern of travel from pasture to pasture, from watering place to watering place, year after year.

But this time Horeb is different.  From the burning bush God tells Moses to remove his sandals, “for the place where you stand is holy ground” (3:5).  Did the place suddenly become holy, or is Moses is being made to see God’s presence where he’d never been aware of it before?  Granted, it had never been so obvious before.

Moses and the burning bush. Mosaic in the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington

Something else happens in this episode.  It’s skipped over in the 5 verses that the lectionary omits from the passage.  God tells Moses, “I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt” (3:10).  And Moses responds, “Who?  Me?” (cf. 3:11).  He doesn’t see his own capabilities, but only his limitations—fear, poor speaking skill, refugee status.

So 2 things are hidden here:  the presence of God in an ordinary place, an ordinary scene, ordinary life; and the power of God within someone whom God calls.

Grace Loeffler. Photo from her blog.

In the last couple of weeks at least 2 of the SLMs have noted in blogs that they’ve rather suddenly, in this season of Lent, become aware of all the opportunities for penance around them in their daily lives.  For instance, from South Sudan Grace Loeffler writes: “What I’ve discovered is this: Mission is in itself is a penance. Paralleling the satisfaction and joy of daily life is the daily commitment to sacrifice. This joy masked the small struggles of daily life for many months; and without coincidence, the Lord chose this holy season to open my eyes to this daily sacrifice, offering me the opportunity for growth and a greater dependence upon His grace. It’s truly a gift, but it hasn’t been easy!”

Of course we SDBs have always been aware that the Lord calls us to “accept the daily demands and renunciations of the apostolic life” and to be “ready to suffer cold and heat, hunger and thirst, weariness and disdain whenever God’s glory and the salvation of souls require it” (C18).

The Lord’s presence, the Lord’s graces, the Lord’s love, opportunities and challenges from the Lord are always around us.  We shouldn’t need bushes to burst into flame to see them, or to be knocked to our feet like St. Paul, or to have strange dreams like Don Bosco.  Jesus urges us to recognize “the signs,” not just in tragedies (as in today’s gospel, Luke 13:1-9) or in weather patterns (12:54-56), but in the entire world around us.  How is God revealing himself to us, and to what is he calling us, in ways that maybe we haven’t been noticing but should be noticing:  in the natural world, the environment; in great political events like the resurgence of Islam, democratic revolutions, and political paralysis; in vast cultural changes in the Western world and in globalization; in the decline in religiosity and even the re-paganization of the West, in Latin America’s turning from Catholicism to evangelical religion; in the huge transformations in communications technology?  How does God reveal himself to us, and to what is he calling us, in the people around us every day:  in their needs, their fears, their longings, their hopes, their triumphs, their failures?  How is he revealing himself in my own life, in what happens to me, in the fears, the longings, the joys of my heart (like the burning hearts of the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus!), and in the Word that I read and hear every day?

When we do hear God’s voice—in dramatic events or deep within our hearts—we may feel overwhelmed and incapable, as Moses did.  Our Holy Father emeritus surely felt that way when he was elected Peter’s successor 8 years ago—and he’d been begging Blessed John Paul for years to allow him to retire to a quiet, scholarly life much more suited to his personality.  Isn’t that how Johnny Bosco felt in that 1st dream:  “Confused and frightened, I replied that I was a poor, ignorant child.  I was unable to talk to those youngsters about religion.  ‘Who are you, ordering me to do the impossible?’” (MO 1989, p. 18)?

God knew what Moses was capable of; he’d already seen Moses in action:  defending his fellow Israelite against injustice (Ex 2:11-12), defending Jethro’s daughters against the local bullies (2:15-17).  God gave Moses human assistance:  his brother Aaron as spokesman and aide, and later, young Joshua and a whole cohort of judge-assistants.  Most of all, God himself stayed with Moses.  “Tell the Israelites, the Lord has sent me to you” (3:15), and here’s the evidence:  he’s told me his name (3:14), which means I can call upon him any time I need to (one commentator compares this revelation of the divine Name to giving someone your private phone number).  God forms a most intimate relationship with Moses, so that, as Exodus 33 tells us, they speak to each other “face to face, as one man speaks to another” (v. 11), something entirely unheard of in the OT.

God knows what we’re capable of, as well, and assures us that he is with us.  “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus tells his disciples repeatedly.  “If God is for us, who can be against us?” St. Paul asks (Rom 8:31).  As Moses’ life and ministry, and Don Bosco’s too, show us, we don’t know the resources within us when we allow God to direct us, to use us as his instruments to rescue his people from their slavery and guide them toward salvation (cf. Ex 3:8).

Former Dom Savio Building to Be Sold

Former St. Dominic Savio HS
Building to Be Sold

Another little piece of my personal history will become ancient history before long--as will the history of a lot of young men who grew up in East Boston, Winthrop, Chelsea, Revere, Lynn, and other communities in those precincts.  (Related story at http://sdbnews.blogspot.com/2012/03/dom-savio-high-school-holds-great-savio.html)

I did 2 of my 3 years of practical training--2 very happy years--at St. Dominic Savio HS in Eastie in 1972-1974, teaching English mostly, but also Afro-Asian world and (Lord help us!) French III.  That last one was an act of desperation on the part of the school administration--on the basis of my having taken French I and II in high school, and not a lick more.  Such were the sometime workings of Salesian assignments in a long-gone era.  I was also dean of freshmen in 1973-1974, and many of those young men and I formed long-lasting friendships--a grace for me, and also for them, I believe.

Some of Savio's Class of 1977, most of them my former students, last November at their annual get-together. (Photo courtesy of Mike Giannattasio)

For those not up on SDB practices, "practical training" is a period of formation for young SDBs that follows their immediate postnovitiate training, which is still in a house of formation, usually doing studies like philosophy to earn a college degree.  This was generally a 3-year period until 1974 in our province, and since then has generally been a 2-year period.  In practical training the young SDB for the 1st time lives and works full-time in an "active" SDB community practicing apostolic ministry, such as teaching.  Nowadays he might be engaged in a boys and girls club or retreat work, but "back in the day," it was always in the classroom.

After practical training, candidates for the priesthood begin their theological studies, and coadjutor brothers make their perpetual (final) vows and continue with their apostolic ministry as teachers, youth ministers, etc.

Well, St. Dominic Savio HS was closed by the SDBs in the late 1990s due to low enrollment and budget problems.  Not long after, a group of alumni organized to start a new school, renamed Dominic Savio Prep, and leased the buildings from us.  For a time they also had a couple of SDBs on staff and were recognized as a Salesian school (because they tried to follow Don Bosco's charism).  But they too struggled financially and after 10 or 12 years (I haven't verified the dates precisely) were compelled to close.  Truly a sad date, 2 sad dates (the 2 distinct closings).

In the meantime, SDBs continued to live in the residence at the corner of Bennington and Byron Sts.  Two buildings across Byron St. adjacent to the Savio gym and cafeteria (Savio Hall) had been knocked down sometime in the '80s (I'm guessing again), the one that had housed Carlo's Deli and the little 2-story house where Bro. Joe Botto had lived for years with occasional other SDBs, including me during my 2 years in town.

Savio Hall/Salesian Boys & Girls Club, 2009. The building, built in the early 1960s, houses the gym and various activity rooms; it used to include the school cafeteria, locker rooms, and 3 freshman classrooms.

And most, and then all, of the activities of the Salesian Boys & Girls Club were brought to Savio Hall, up from their other property on Paris St.  It has been the Club staff living in the SDB residence all these years, along with other SDBs now and then doing studies or some other local ministry, e.g. Fr. Tom Brennan when he was chaplain at Harvard and Fr. Tom Dunne when he was director of YM for the Boston Archdiocese.

Well, some 4 or 5 years after Savio Prep's closure, and steady deterioration of the old school building (Caselli Hall) at the corner of Horace and Byron (the John Paul Jones School in its first incarnation, before the SDBs bought it in 1945), we're selling it and the rest of the property on that side of Byron St. to the Edward W. Brooke Charter School.

Caselli Hall in 2009

The Brooke School plans to renovate the school building and knock down the 2 triple-deckers that make up the SDB residence, then build a large addition to the school and a playground where the residence and parking lot are presently.  Construction is expected to start in May and be completed by Sept. 2014.  While those associated with Dom Savio from 1958 until its definitive closure about 4 years ago (not only alumni but also many SDBs and former staff) lament the closures, at least we can be happy that the abandoned school building will be returned to educational use.

Salesian residence

There's a chance that the original part of the SDB residence, the one closer to Byron St., will be moved across the street by Savio Hall to remain our residence. Otherwise a new one will have to be built.

According to a story in the Boston Globe (http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/east_boston/2013/02/zoning_board_approves_plan_for.html), the Brooke School will be able to use Savio Hall when the Boys & Girls Club isn't using it, and the Club will be able to use Brooke's playground when students aren't using it.  Brooke students will, of course, also be able to join the Club.  Jon Clark, co-director of the Brooke network of charter schools, is quoted by the Globe as saying that Fr. John Nazzaro, executive director of the Club, "has a great after-school program.  We're excited that our families will have access to that.  It just worked out really well.  A lot of synergies."

Dom Savio/Boys and Girls Club gym, 2009

I wonder whether the Brooke School will retain the name Caselli Hall.  Fr. Joseph Caselli was the founding director of St. Dominic Savio HS and a treasured, long-time presence at the school and in the East Boston community.

A little SDB history:  Assisted by the intervention of Abp. Richard Cushing, the Salesians bought the John Paul Jones School from the city in 1945 sent up 3 SDBs, led by Fr. Angelo Bongiorno (http://www.salesians.org/press/angelo_bongiorno.asp), who began an "oratory" or youth center (http://www.salesiansofdonbosco.org/storage/province-history/Province%20of%20St.%20Philip%20History%20-%201945-1973.pdf).  A few years later, they opened a trade school named for Don Bosco, and the youth center relocated to another old school building on Paris St., about a mile away (I'm not certain of the date of this move).  Don Bosco Trade School did well, and in 1954 yet another old school building was purchased, this one in downtown Boston on Warrenton St., and in 1955 Don Bosco Technical HS was opened on that site (http://sdbnews.blogspot.com/2009/08/look-at-don-bosco-tech-in-boston-during.html).  Over the course of the next 3 years, the old building at Horace and Byron was renovated and prepared to re-open as St. Dominic Savio HS, accepting its 1st freshman class in the fall of 1958.  A few years later, Fr. Joseph Stella oversaw the building of Savio Hall, which Cardinal Cushing came to bless.

Besides Savio, 1 of the 3 grammar schools I attended, both high schools, my college seminary, and the high school where I was principal for 4 years have all become "history."  Oy!  But so far the provincial house is open for business!

Benedict XVI's Visits with Don Bosco

Benedict XVI's Visits with Don Bosco

(ANS - Rome) -- Today, February 28, the pontificate of Benedict XVI officially ends. The Salesian iNfo Agency (ANS) offers its readers a collection of numerous occasions where the Roman Pontiff visited Salesian works, leaving his mark everywhere.

 

The first visit of Benedict XVI to a Salesian house occurred in July 2005, during the first year of his pontificate. Inheriting a tradition already started by John Paul II, the Holy Father spent about 20 days in the Aosta Valley, a guest at the Salesian house of Les Combes. It was in that small, secluded spot in the shadow of Mont Blanc, and on the long walks through the woods, that the Pope began to develop his first Encyclical, Deus caritas est.

Fr. Pascual Chavez, Rector Major, welcomes the Holy Father to Les Combes in 2005

The Pope returned to the Salesian house of Les Combes for the summer holidays of 2006 and 2009.

As bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI met the Salesians for the first time on February 24, 2008, the Third Sunday of Lent, when he went to visit the Salesian parish of St. Mary Liberator, in the working-class Roman neighborhood of Testaccio. The visit also served to celebrate the centennial of the church’s consecration and opening to worship, November 29, 1908. The Pope also recalled one of the parish priests of that community, Venerable Fr. Luigi Maria Olivares, SDB, and invited the whole parish community “to persevere in the educational efforts which constitute the typical charism of each Salesian parish.”

Benedict XVI presiding at Mass at St. Mary Liberator Church in Rome in 2008

In the following year, during the apostolic journey that touched Cameroon and Angola, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass in the Salesian parish of St. Paul in Luanda, on March 21, 2009. Because the celebration was directed particularly to the clergy, religious, catechists, and representatives of Church movements of Angola and São Tomé, approximately 3,000 people, the Pope, with deep humility said: “Finally, let me offer a particular greeting to the Salesian community and the faithful of this parish of St. Paul; they have welcomed us to their church, without hesitating to yield the place which is usually theirs in the liturgical assembly. I know that they are gathered in the field next door, and I hope, at the end of this Eucharist, to see them and give them my blessing, but even now I say to them: ‘Many thanks! May God raise up in you, and through you, many apostles modeled on your patron.’”

The Pope during his visit to St. Paul's Church in Luanda, Angola, in 2009
 

In his apostolic journey to Benin, instead, by the end of 2011, Pope Benedict XVI, despite not visiting any Salesian building, in a certain way could benefit from the same Salesian attention: the bed on which the Pope rested in those days was constructed by young men from the Salesian works in Porto Novo; while the kitchen of the apostolic nunciature, where the Pope resided, had involved the Salesian Sisters and their students.

The Holy Father greets youngsters at the Salesian parish of St. Anthony of Padua in Cotonou, Benin, in 2011

To these occasions of particular closeness must also be added the many Masses celebrated by the Pope at the parish of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo on the occasion of the solemnity of the Assumption of Mary each August. The Mass in the parish, run by the Don Bosco’s sons since the time of Pope Pius XI, was an appointment to which Benedict XVI proved very faithful, unless he was engaged in other parts of the world.

Homily for 2d Sunday of Lent

Homily for the
2d Sunday of Lent
Feb. 24, 2013
Collect
Christian Brothers, Iona College, N.R.

“Nourish us inwardly by your word, that, with spiritual sight made pure, we may rejoice to behold your glory” (Collect).

The Transfiguration by Bellini, 1487

The Collect this evening offers us a mixed metaphor:  God’s word nourishes us and purifies our spiritual sight—it’s both food and light.  Both metaphors are rooted in the Scriptures.

We pray that the word of God might nourish us inwardly.  We all believe that God’s word, the Sacred Scriptures, possesses a special power to feed our souls with divine truth; to transform and build us up, not physically but spiritually; to imprint something of the divine image in our hearts.

The word is so important that we read it in all our liturgies; this was one of the most important liturgical reforms of the 2d Vatican Council.  We’re encouraged to read a portion of it even in Penance, tho we usually don’t—old habits being so hard to die.

If God were to hear our prayer that his word should nourish us inwardly, what might happen?  We’d make time to read and meditate upon the Scriptures.  Isn’t it obvious that his word will have an inward effect upon us only if we read it or listen to it? if we give it a chance to sink in, to take root, like the seed that the sower scattered so prodigally in Jesus’ parable?

Of course, we have to allow the word to sink in—not to be shallow ground for it, not to choke it off with distractions and a thousand mundane concerns.  We’d have to take the word seriously and apply it to ourselves:  to our lives, our families, our community, our ministry.

During Lent we might resolve to do more reading and reflecting upon the Scriptures, perhaps to make them an ongoing part of our daily spiritual life.  We who pray the Liturgy of the Hours every day have a leg up on that score, but we might ask ourselves whether we’re truly attentive as we pray the Hours, or do we just rush thru them mechanically, thoughtlessly?  Could we take a piece of the Hours—a psalm, a reading—and pray with it privately?  Or ought we to do additional Scripture reading on our own?

There’s another profound sense in which God’s word nourishes us.  Jesus is the Word made flesh, and he is our spiritual food in the Eucharist.  During Lent, catechumens are in their final preparation for the sacraments of initiation; so it’s very fitting that the whole Church pray with them that they may be nourished with God’s Living and Eternal Word in the Eucharist.  Of course, we “veteran” Catholics need that same nourishment.  We need to be so fed by Jesus our Lord that we’re transformed in our words and actions into his very image—Christ within us showing outwardly.

We who celebrate the Eucharist daily probably could be more attentive to what we’re doing, less distracted.  I could, for sure.  Those who don’t come to Mass daily might add a weekday Mass or 2 to their Lenten practices each week.

In last week’s gospel, we heard how the Devil tempted Jesus to turn a stone into bread; Jesus rejected the temptation by quoting from Deuteronomy (8:3):  “Man doesn’t live by bread alone” (Luke 4:3-4).  Matthew’s version of the temptation (4:4) completes the verse that Jesus cites:  “not by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Our familiarity with the word of God gives us guidance for our lives.  Being rooted in the word of God, we’re strengthened to resist temptations, including subtle ones like the one that was laid before Jesus.

We can see here the aptness of the double metaphor of our opening prayer.  God’s word strengthens Jesus—and us—to resist temptation.  As Wonder bread used to build strong bodies 12 ways, the nourishing sacred word builds strong souls (in multiple ways).

The word also enlightens us that we might recognize temptation for what it is.  Doesn’t temptation, very often, present itself in the guise of something good?  The word enlightens us that we might might discern what is the true path for us:  “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path,” one of the psalms tells us (119:105).  Don’t we often talk ourselves into some failing, some sin, arguing its benefits?  So our “spiritual sight” needs to be “made pure” by God’s word, that word which, as Hebrews assures us, “is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart” (4:12).

As we look tonite at the example of the 3 select apostles who witness the transfiguration of Jesus, who hear his dialog with Moses and Elijah about “his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31), who are commanded to “listen to him” (9:35)—and who still fall short in numerous ways before, during, and even after the Lord’s passion and resurrection—their example reminds us that this nourishment and purification by God’s word (the written word, the proclaimed word, the Eucharistic Word) is a long, long process of conversion for us; a process that involves not one Lent but many Lents; not one celebration of the sacrament of Reconciliation but many; not one resolution to live closer to Jesus but renewed resolutions.

So we take courage to continue our own “exodus” of discipleship with Jesus, the Word of God, until “the Lord Jesus Christ changes our lowly body to conform with his glorified body” and our discipleship reaches its perfection “in heaven” (Phil 3:20-21), until we “behold God’s glory” (Collect).