Don Bosco's Mission in Liberia

Don Bosco's Mission in Liberia

(ANS – Monrovia, Liberia – May 21, 2021) – Liberia is a country of freedom, but 14 years of civil war (1989-2003) devastated the social, physical, and psychological fabric of this West African state. The conflict left the country in economic ruin. In addition to the conflict, the outbreak of Ebola in 2014, which led to the death of the parents and breadwinners in many families, rendered many young people homeless and hopeless. British and American Salesians came to Liberia in 1979 and are currently working in the capital, Monrovia, and in Tappita, a rural town located in Nimba county in the eastern part of Liberia.

The Sean Devereux Don Bosco Youth Center was founded in 1991 to care for former child soldiers and other young people in Monrovia. The youth center with its dynamic activities and the friendly spirit of Don Bosco helped many young people to recover from the effects of the war and to be rehabilitated into society.

The youth center is situated in Matadi, among some of the poorest residents of Monrovia. Most of them are petty merchants, but many others are jobless and struggling to provide for their families.

Most of the youths of Matadi come from families that can barely afford a single meal a day. Homes are poor and overcrowded, with parents sharing a room with their children, or children sharing a room with many other children. Matadi has no electricity supply. Many of the people live in darkness by night because they cannot afford a generator.

Many of the young people call the Sean Devereaux Don Bosco Youth Center their home. Every evening the youth center is packed with over 500 young people. They come to the center to acquire life skills and engage in sports and cultural activities under the guidance and supervision of Salesians, trained staff, and volunteers. The guidance of the Salesians empowers young people and helps them to regain their confidence and set positive goals for their future.

The second Don Bosco youth center is in the rural town of Tappita. 60 miles of the road to Tappita is not tarred and is very rough. Tappita is not accessible for long periods during the rainy season. It is isolated from the capital, and commercial activities are brought to a standstill. This causes great hardship for the local people: the impossibility of access to a hospital, having to travel long distances by motorbike, difficulty in procuring provisions, and an increase in the cost of fuel and other basics. The extreme material poverty in Liberia causes a wide range of physical and psychological consequences. Young people suffer many hardships.  Many are from broken families and are left to care for themselves. The youth center provides a home-like environment for them where they feel welcome, a school where they can learn, and a playground where they can make friends and interact with others.

The youth centers in Matadi and Tappita have many amazing success stories of young people who endured hardship during their childhood, and with Don Bosco’s helping hand have achieved success.

One of these is Amy Karpu, now a 21-year-old student at the Starz College of Science and Technology. As a child, she had to overcome fear and isolation. With the help of the Salesians she has improved, got back her confidence, and is now one of the most hardworking and committed animators of the youth center. She constantly expresses her gratitude to the Salesians for their support and guidance during her education.

Amounchen Dossen is currently studying economics in Stella Maris Polytechnic University. He started his journey in the youth center in 2005, after his father couldn’t pay his school fees. He received a scholarship from the youth center from 2005 to 2010 and took part in various activities and training programs. He was also very active along with other animators in reaching out to the community during the Ebola pandemic and that of Coronavirus. Amounchen is very happy with the positive impact of the Don Bosco Youth Center on him and is proud to be able to reach out to others as an animator.

Hardworking Salesians and dedicated lay people in the Don Bosco youth centers continue to bring hope. They make a great impact on the lives of poor and needy young people in Liberia.

Source: Salesians Ireland

Homily for Thursday of 7th Week of Easter

Homily for Thursday
7th Week of Easter

May 20, 2021
John 17: 20-26
Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

“I pray … that they may all be one…” (John 17: 21).

At the Last Supper, we have Jesus’ last will and testament, as it were.  In the Synoptics, that’s his gift of himself, the Eucharist.  In John, it’s a long discourse, which includes a long prayer.  Jesus speaks of love:  his love for his Father and the Father’s love for him; his love for his disciples there at the table and in future generations; and his disciples’ love for one another.

(by Meister des Hausbuchs)

In our Johannine passage today, the conclusion of his priestly prayer, he offers unity.  As Jesus and his Father are one, he wishes to take his disciples—his friends—into that unity.

In our patristic reading on Sunday, St. Gregory of Nyssa identified the Holy Spirit as “glory.”  He cites Jesus’ words today in this prayer to his Father:  “I have given them [his disciples] the glory you gave me” (17:22).[1]

The Spirit is the principle of unity, the bond between Father and Son.  Giving this gift to us enables us disciples to “be one” as Father and Son are one (17:21).  We become one with them, bonded by the glorious gift from Jesus.  In our familiar prayer ending, we the Church are “the unity of the Holy Spirit” which makes its prayer to the Father thru Jesus Christ, in which Jesus Christ lives and reigns forever.

Jesus gives us his Spirit out of love to enable us to love—to love him, to love his Father, to love one another:  “that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them” (17:26), and that we may so testify to the world in the power of the Spirit he gives us.

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    [1] From a homily on the Song of Songs, LOH 2:958.

Pastoral Assignments for 2021-2022

 Pastoral Assignments for 2021-2022

On May 15, Fr. Tim Zak, provincial of the Eastern U.S. and Canada Province, announced 19 obediences, of which 12 are for the triennium 2021-2024.  This was the 2d round of assignments for the coming pastoral year.

Fr. Tim also informed the province that 3 of our confreres had been approved for priestly ordination (in June):  Deacons Lenny Carlino, Steve DeMaio, and Craig Spence; Bro. Ky Nguyen was approved for diaconal ordination (also in June), and Bros. Branden Gordon and Josh Sciullo were approved for the ministry of acolyte.  In fact, Bro. Josh had been installed on May 7 in Jerusalem, where he's studying theology (as are the 3 deacons).

Several of the assignments announced concern men who are advancing to their next steps in Salesian formation:  Dan Lee was admitted to the novitiate, which he'll enter on Aug. 15 in Richmond, Calif., and Pascal Mukuye and John Taylor were admitted to the pre-novitiate program in Ramsey, N.J., to commence in August.  3 young men were accepted as candidates for Salesian life in Orange, N.J.

Fr. John Serio

4 of the assignments affect our provincial house community.  We already knew that Frs. John Serio and Bill Ferruzzi would be moving out; we just didn't know where to.  Now we know:  both have been assigned to the Marian Shrine community in Haverstraw, N.Y., for shrine and retreat ministry.  Fr. Dominic Tran, who's already here (vocation director) and whose appointment as vice provincial (2021-2024) was announced in January, will also become the province's delegate for formation.  That is, he'll oversee our formation program, including retreats, and the men in formation.  He remains vocation director, as well.  But he'll have an assistant, newly ordained Fr. Steve DeMaio, who will join our community.  Generally speaking, these assignments are effective July 1.

Fr. Bill Ferruzzi

At St. Benedict's Parish in Etobicoke, Ont., Fr. Dave Sajdak, pastor, will be leaving and Fr. Jim Berning will take over.  Fr. Dave has been assigned to St. John Bosco Parish in Chicago as assistant pastor.  Fr. Jim has been in Etobicoke already as vocation director for Canada.  Fr. Sean McEwen, who also has been at St. Benedict (for several months), will become the SDB community treasurer and the province's delegate for mission animation (replacing Fr. Tom Brennan of New Rochelle in that responsibility).

Bro. Rafael Vargas (photo by Bro. Travis Gunther)

In addition to the candidates who'll be in Orange, Bro. Rafael Vargas will be moving in as part of the formation team in the house.  Bro. Tom Sweeney will depart, transferring to the staff at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey.

Also moving to DBP is one of the school's distinguished alumni, Fr. Jim McKenna.  Fr. Jim is completing a long period of service as director of the Marian Shrine and will now serve in DBP's advancement office.

3 of the assignments affect our Maryland community, Don Bosco Cristo Rey.  Bro. Don Caldwell will move in there as community treasurer and a guidance counselor at the school, coming down from the Marian Shrine.  Newly ordained Fr. Craig Spence will become a teacher at the school.  Fr. Tom Provenzano, who has been studying liturgy at the Catholic University, will move out and become an assistant pastor at St. John Bosco Parish in Port Chester, N.Y. (where Fr. John Grinsell died from Covid on March 12, and whence Fr. Manny Gallo will leave to become director in Maryland, as announced in January).

Fr. Lou Aineto

Another "assignment" is the "retirement" of Fr. Lou Aineto, 86, after many years as assistant pastor in Chicago.  He'll move to the SDB assisted living home in Tampa, the St. Philip the Apostle Residence.  He'll have the opportunity there, health permitting, to continue some pastoral ministry at Cristo Rey Tampa and/or Mary Help of Christians Parish.

The last assignment of this round (another is promised at some future date) is that Bro. Dan Glass, completing one stage of his initial formation in Orange, has been accepted by the Rector Major to go to the foreign missions--destination to be determined.  Bro. Dan has already been a missionary, having served as a Salesian Lay Missioner in South Sudan in 2012-2013--an experience that helped spark his vocation as an SDB.

Homily for 7th Sunday of Easter

Homily for the
7th Sunday of Easter

May 16, 2021
Acts 1: 15-17, 20-26
Ursulines, Willow Dr., New Rochelle, N.Y.                                   

“Peter said, ‘The Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke…” (Acts 1: 15-16).

By Workshop of Simone Martini - https://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/european_paintings/saint_matthias_workshop_of_simone_martini//objectview.aspx?OID=110002131&collID=11&dd1=11, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12167838

The infant Church’s 1st decision—except the decision to continue hiding out in the cenacle—concerned filling Judas’ place in the apostolic college.  To make the decision, immediately they placed themselves under divine authority, in 2 steps.

1st, they assessed their situation in the light of the Scriptures.  They acknowledged the Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God, the voice of the Holy Spirit.  They took that Word as their guiding rule.

From the very beginning up until today, the Church is under the Word of God for our guidance and governance.  E.g., Vatican II refers to the Scriptures thru and thru, and one its most important documents was in fact the Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum.  Likewise, subsequent papal and curial documents consistently refer to the Scriptures for what they teach.

What holds for the Church universal is valid for us too—as a religious community and as individual disciples of the Lord Jesus.  We need to read the Bible, pray with the Bible, refer our life situation to the Bible.

2d, the infant Church placed their decision in God’s hands.  This they did in part by what our Holy Father calls the “synodal way.”  Peter initiated the discussion of how they should fill Judas’ place, but all participated, eventually putting forward 2 candidates:  “they proposed 2, Joseph[1] called Barsabbas…, and Matthias” (1:23).  And they did it in part by explicit prayer:  “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these 2 you have chosen” (1:24).

Here, too, is a guide for us:  consultation, seeking advice; discussion of options, implications, means, intentions; and then prayer.  This, also, holds for both communities and individuals.

The 120 in the upper room left the choice to God by drawing lots, however they did that.  Sometimes it seems that we—the Church, the community, ourselves—make a decision by a figurative roll of the dice.  If we’ve invoked God 1st, I guess you could say it’s a biblical way of determining God’s will.  Should we close this work or open that new one?  Whom should we assign to this particular responsibility?  Is sister ready for a move?  Should I or should I not accept what’s proposed?  What should we do about such-and-such a situation in the community or the school?  After all the “synodal way,” and prayer, maybe our way of casting lots is to vote.  There is an adage, at least as old as medieval Scholasticism, “Vox populi, vox Dei.”

Of course, sometimes the superior alone has to decide.  We need to pray she’s listening to God.

A separate point brought out in the passage we read is the nature of the apostolic office that Matthias was chosen to fill.  This bears on our purpose as apostolic religious, and the purpose of our schools and catechesis and any other ministry; indeed, on who we are as disciples of Jesus.  “It is necessary that [the one chosen] become a witness to Jesus’ resurrection” (1:21-22).  However much we might talk about the public ministry of Jesus, his exorcisms, his parables, his miracles, the Sermon on the Mount—the fundamental truth of faith in Jesus is that God raised him from the dead, that he is our living Lord, that he is our life.

St. Paul writes to the Corinthians:  “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.  If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all” (I, 15:17,19).  Without the resurrection, we have no hope of eternal life, and nothing we do, or don’t do, in this life matters.  As a cynical but very popular song in the ’70s said, “We’re just dust in the wind.”

But God created us for life, and in his Son Jesus Christ he has made it possible for us to live happily forever.  This has to be our hope and the basis for everything else we teach:  social justice, sexual morality, self-denial, humility, patience, love for our sisters.

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          [1] The Word of God is inerrant; not so the lectionary.  The edition commonly used in the U.S. today misprints his name as “Judas.”  Cf. the exact same passage for the feast of St. Matthias, May 14, as well as different editions of the Bible itself.

Homily for Solemnity of the Ascension

Homily for the Solemnity
of the Ascension

June 1, 2003
Collect
Resurrection, Riverview, Fla.
Most Holy Redeemer, Tampa           

In most of the U.S.--indeed, in most of the Catholic world--the solemnity of the Ascension is observed on the 7th Sunday of the Easter season (May 16, this year).  But in some places in the U.S. and elsewhere, it remains on its traditional Thursday of Easter's 6th week.  Here's an old homily to mark that festivity (on which I won't be preaching this year).

“May we follow your Son Jesus Christ into the new creation, for his ascension is our glory and our hope” (Collect).

(source unknown)

The opening prayer of the Mass always combines praise of God the Father with petition.  So this morning we acknowledge the Father’s saving power:  Christ’s ascension is our glory and our hope.  And we pray that we may follow Christ into the new creation.

According to one version of the origin of Satan and his demonic cohorts—the fall of Lucifer from angel of light to prince of darkness—God put all the angels to a test.  This isn’t in the Bible; it’s just theological speculation and carries no doctrinal weight.  The divine test was to reveal to them that God was going to create lesser creatures, but the angels would one day have to pay homage and be obedient to one of these creatures, a human being.  At such a scandalous idea, Lucifer and his allies revolted against God and the divine plan, and so they abandoned heaven and created hell.  And thenceforth they made perpetual war on both God and men.

Such is one theory of the origin of the devils.  That theory highlights one of the meanings of today’s feast:  Jesus Christ’s ascension is our glory and our hope.  The Son of God, the 2d Person of the Holy Trinity, was always in heaven.  Who ascended from earth to heaven was Jesus of Nazareth, the human being born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, God’s Son but the Son of Man as well.  The angels of heaven are obedient to Jesus Christ, God and man; “all things are beneath his feet,” St. Paul says (Eph 1:22).  The devils of hell he has conquered.

When Americans accomplish great deeds—at the Olympic Games, for instance—or when an American is honored by canonization as a saint, we’re all proud and bask in their glory.  When the Salesian bishop of Dili, East Timor, Carlos Felipe Belo, won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1996, his 17,000 Salesian brothers felt the same pride and joy.  And today we boast that Jesus has raised our human nature to divine glory, giving all of us hope of joining him.  Where one human being has gone, pioneering the way, so to speak, the rest of us may follow.  So today we celebrate the exaltation, the heavenly enthronement, of one of our own.  “God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy,” Ps 47 says (v. 6), but in Christ the divine is now inseparable from the human nature the Son took on by his incarnation.  The whole of humanity has been exalted by the triumph of Jesus Christ.  Our destiny has been changed, our hope has been raised, from the inevitable corruption and disintegration of the grave to the integrity and the glory and the joy of eternal life with God our Father.  The preface of the Mass for today says that Christ our Lord “was taken up to heaven…to claim for us a share in his divine life.”

So our prayer this morning was that we might follow our Lord Jesus into the new creation.  “New creation” is a New Testament concept for eternal life in Christ.  In Romans St. Paul writes that “creation itself would be set free from corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (8:21).  In the original creation described in the 1st chapters of Genesis, the 1st man and woman enjoyed immortality and walked in intimate friendship with God.  There was neither pain nor sorrow on the earth.  All those bless-ings they lost when they sinned, rebelling like Satan against the divine plan.

But our redemption by Christ reversed our condemnation and the whole creation’s:  “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation:  the old has passed away; behold, the new has come,” Paul writes to the Corinthians (II, 5:17).  St. Peter affirms that “we await a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (II, 3:13).  In his risen body, Jesus of Nazareth is already part of that wondrous new creation—as also is his holy Mother, whom he raised from the tomb and assumed into heaven to be with him, as we also shall be at the end of time.  If we follow Christ in this life, we’ll join him in eternal life and be made new, whole, young, strong, joyful, and glorious like him.  Our prayer today is that we may indeed follow him.

Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter

Homily for the
6th Sunday of Easter

May 9, 2021
Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Blessed Sacrament, New Rochelle, N.Y.             
Holy Name, New Rochelle, N.Y.                        

“I see that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10: 34).

This morning’s passage from the Acts of the Apostles speaks to present crises in our country.

The Vision of Cornelius (van den Eeckhout)

The story of Cornelius and St. Peter is a story of conversion, but of more than that.  Cornelius was a Roman centurion stationed at Caesarea in Palestine when he had a vision that commanded him to send for Simon Peter (Acts 10:1-6).  A short time later, Peter also had a vision in which various foods unclean to Jews were presented to him, and from heaven a voice commanded him to eat.  He said no 3 times because the food was unclean.  But the voice ordered, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”  And he was informed that a delegation from Cornelius was at hand, and he must go with them (10:9-20).

As you know, the Jews scorned the people of all other nations—the Gentiles—as unclean.  Peter should avoid the company of Cornelius and certainly not go to his house and meet his entire household.

But under God’s command, he went.  We heard excerpts from what followed.  The 2 men reported their visions to each other, Cornelius asked what message from God Peter had for him, and Peter told him about Jesus (10:34-43).  “While Peter was still speaking,” we heard, “the Holy Spirit fell upon those who were listening” (10:44), an experience quite like what the apostles, the Virgin Mary, and the other disciples had on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).

Peter and his companions were astounded (10:45), but, in combination with the 2 visions—of Cornelius and of Peter—they got the message.  In the matter of salvation thru Jesus Christ, “God shows now partiality.”  Jesus is not only for his own Jewish people but also for the Gentiles—Greeks, the despised Romans, and anyone else who will believe in the Gospel.  God created everyone “clean,” so to speak, or capable of being cleansed by grace; God created everyone in his own image, as his own children—a relationship meant to be deepened thru a relationship with Jesus Christ.  “In every nation whoever fears God and acts uprightly is acceptable to him” (10:35).

There are people in the U.S. who are not accepted.  While “God shows no partiality” in his gift of salvation—and it is a gift, not something we are due—too many Americans discriminate against other people because of their race, language, national origin, or religion.

Who isn’t aware of the violence inflicted unjustly upon blacks and Asians?  Who isn’t aware of anti-Semitic incidents?  I suppose that most church-going people strive to be fair and just to everyone.  Still, we ought to examine our hearts from time to time.  We ought to examine the language we use, the stories and jokes we tell.  Are they harmless and innocent, or offensive and demeaning?  How do we act in the presence of people who aren’t like us?  What lessons are we teaching the young people around us?

Sen. Tim Scott spoke after Pres. Biden 2 weeks ago and made the point that, altho he has personal experience of racial discrimination, America is not a racist country.  He’s black and from South Carolina, so he has credentials to say that.

But others, both black and white, disagree.  One black woman said recently:  “People of color, particularly African Americans in this country, have had the collective knee on the necks of our people since we were sold here, brought here.  Understanding that truth in terms of what happened with George Floyd became a vision that many of us will never forget and felt like even more of a betrayal because we’re supposed to be better. This is America, and we are not.”[1]

Evidently there are plenty of people with racist attitudes, attitudes at variance with the God-given dignity of every human being.  And sometimes those attitudes lead to terrible actions.

Every day we hear news that some Chinese or other Asian person has been assaulted on the streets—even in New York or San Francisco, places that supposedly are the most tolerant on earth.  How is it so?  Like St. Peter, some people need to be converted to the message of Jesus Christ.

We can say the same about how many in our society regard Jews.  There are outrageous incidents in France and Germany—and here too:  Jews murdered at their synagog in Pittsburgh, Jewish synagogs defaced in Riverdale.  The Church teaches us that the Jews are God’s beloved people; they are our elder brothers and sisters in their belief in God our Creator and Lord.

How many Catholics are completely compassionless for people from Central America and the Middle East who are fleeing from persecution, war and gang violence, natural disasters, or “simply” economic impossibilities?

Immigration and control of our borders are tremendously complex issues; they concern not only our hearts but also our social health and balance.  We who are descended from Irish, Italian, and Central European immigrants of just a century ago, however, have to see current migrants and refugees as God’s children, too, and try to find ways to address these complex issues, not just build walls and pack detention centers.  “The bishops along the border of the United States and northern Mexico released a joint statement last month saying, ‘Undoubtedly, nations have a right to maintain their borders. This is vital to their sovereignty and self-determination. At the same time, there is a shared responsibility of all nations to preserve human life and provide for safe, orderly, and humane immigration, including the right to asylum.’”[2]

Pope Francis has taken up this matter again and again—it’s not unique to our country, but to Europe and Australia too, because there is so much injustice in the world and so many natural disasters.

Are these questions—the treatment of racial minorities, religious minorities, immigrants and refugees—just political questions?  Not if we listen to Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan or his parable of the Last Judgment (which speaks of welcoming the stranger).  Not if we ponder the dignity that God bestows on every human being, from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.  He “shows no partiality,” and “whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.”  Even more, he reaches out to and loves even wrongdoers.  Jesus Christ died for sinners, for everyone.

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    [1] John Lavenburg, “By pledging $100 million for slave descendants, Jesuits are ‘owning’ their history,” CRUX online, May 4, 2021.

    [2] William Donohue, “Biden’s Border Problem Is Exploding,” Catholic League online, May 6, 2021.

Annual Meeting of North American Salesian Network

Annual Meeting of North American Salesian Network

(ANS – New York – April 30, 2021) - On April 12-13, the North American Salesian Network (NASN) held its annual meeting via Zoom at the DeSales Retreat Center in Brooklyn, Mich. The NASN brings together organizations that share the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales. For Don Bosco’s Salesian Family, they include the provinces of the Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the three provinces of the Salesian Cooperators, and the Volunteers with Don Bosco. In recent years the NASN has been working toward the 400th anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales, to be celebrated in 2022, to draw attention to his spirituality and apostolic activity. On the initiative of Fr. Joe Boenzi and the NASN, a request signed by Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime and the generals of the OSFS and MSFS on behalf of each organization was presented to Pope Francis asking him to write an apostolic letter for the anniversary.

Diocesan Inquiry for Mother Rosetta Marchese Opens

Diocesan Inquiry for
Mother Rosetta Marchese Opens

(ANS – Rome – May 3, 2021) – The opening session of the diocesan inquiry on the life, heroic virtues, and reputation of holiness of Servant of God Rosetta Marchese, FMA, took place on Friday, April 30. During the opening session, the members of the diocesan tribunal were sworn in: the episcopal delegate, Msgr. Giuseppe D’Alonzo; the promoter of justice, Fr. Giorgio Ciucci; the actuary notary Marcello Terramani; the deputy notary Giancarlo Bracchi; and subsequently, also the postulator, Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, SDB, and the vice postulator Sr. Francesca Caggiano, FMA.

Present for the Salesian Sisters were Mother Yvonne Reungoat, superior general, Sr. Chiara Cazzola, her Vicar, Sr. Piera Cavaglià, secretary general, and some sisters from the Generalate. In her speech, Mother Reungoat compared the faith witness of Mother Marchese to that of St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello: “Both – the only two superiors general, so far, whose holiness we have asked the Church to recognize – consciously offered their lives for growth and the sanctity of the Institute, in difficult times. Both lived their mission as a service to the life and vitality of the Institute, paying attention to the journey of each sister and of the Institute as a whole. Emblematic are the words she spoke when she was elected on October 24, 1981: ‘The Institute has always given me everything, but now it gives me all of itself.’ Both in their educational service were capable of intuition and mystagogy, they nourished their donation to the educational mission with a profound interior life, they were sisters and mothers for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, for young people, for those who needed to be welcomed and accompanied in the response to God’s call.”

Mother Rosetta Marchese was born in Aosta, Italy, on October 20, 1922. She knew and attended the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians since childhood, thus maturing her faith and her ideal of total consecration to God. After her first religious profession in 1941, she completed her studies at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, graduating in literature. From 1947 to 1958 she was a teacher and vicar in the Mother Mazzarello missionary house in Turin, where she followed with particular attention the young sisters who were preparing to leave for the missions. From 1958 to 1974 she carried out tasks of animation and government in Sicily, Rome, and Lombardy.

In 1981 she was elected superior general, but just eight months after her election, the first signs of leukemia came. In a circular letter on October 24, 1982, Mother Marchese concluded her teaching by wishing that all her daughters let themselves be infected by Don Bosco “with acute nostalgia for ‘beautiful Paradise,’” to enter the path of holiness “with a will without return.” She said, “The destination is unique: to arrive in Heaven with all the young people for whom we have given and consumed our existence.” She died on March 8, 1984, in Rome.

You can see the opening celebration and a video presentation by Mother Marchese.

You Are All Beautiful, O Mary

THE MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR

Fr. Angel Fernandez Artime

TOTA PULCHRA ES, MARIA

(YOU ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL, O MARY)

Something very great is happening when, after 2,000 years of human history,

we continue to feel today, perhaps more than ever, that she, His Mother, is our Mother also.

Dear friends of Don Bosco’s charism spread throughout the world,

Please accept my most cordial greetings for this Easter Season.

During this month of May, we direct our gaze to her, Mary of Nazareth, Mother of Jesus Christ and our Mother.  How could we do otherwise?

(ANS)

In these past years, when visiting the members of our Congregation and the rest of the Salesian Family around the world, I had the gift of learning how the hearts of the peoples of many nations became deeply human and tender whenever it came to anything to do with our Heavenly Mother.

I was able to visit and celebrate the faith in many Marian shrines.  Still very present to my mind and in my heart are, among others:  Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, Our Lady of Aparecida in Brazil, Our Lady of Lujan in Argentina, the Virgin of Loreto in Italy, and the Black Madonna of Czestochowa.  I have also visited, as you can readily imagine, many basilicas and churches dedicated to Mary Help of Christians all over the world.  Of course, Valdocco and the house of our Mother are at the center, as our Lady’s words to Don Bosco in his vision attest:  “Hic domus mea; inde gloria mea.” (“This is my house; thence shall my glory go forth.”)

Always, and I mean absolutely always, when contemplating the thousands of people I have seen in the basilica, who carry with them the stories of their lives, their tears, and their thanks for graces received, I have been in awe, impressed by the deep faith of the people.  This speaks to me of a mystery resting in God.  Something very great is happening when, after 2,000 years of human history, we continue to feel today, perhaps more than ever, that she, His Mother, is our Mother also.

A “CATHEDRAL” IN THE BRAZILIAN JUNGLE OF THE BOI-BORORO

I put “cathedral” in quotation marks because certainly there, in that jungle area of Brazil, where most of the Boi-Bororo people live, there is no stone cathedral, not even one made of wood.  Still, I was able to experience the emotion of seeing and hearing those people sing to the Virgin Mary, our Mother, under Don Bosco’s title of the Help of Christians.  Our Salesians, who have been sharing life with them for decades, have done a very good job in passing down to the native peoples this, our particular devotion.

Bororos celebrate MHC in 2014 (ANS)

During that same visit, after the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, a group of women, men, and children who belong to the Association of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA), wearing their festive outfits and the best feathers they had, stood around the statue of the Help of Christians.  They initiated this on their own.  They did not wait for a priest to give them any signal or direction.  No, that was not the case.  It was their moment between them and our Mother—nothing more was needed.  I heard them sing some beautiful songs, ones that certainly would have delighted our beloved Don Bosco in his missionary dreams.  Who knows whether these peoples of today did, indeed, appear in some of his visions!

It was in those moments that my mind confirmed what perhaps many of us know and feel.  In the area of faith, while so many people are far away from it or do not know which way to go, she who is our Mother continues to be a safe path, an open doorway, a guide for our steps.

DON BOSCO WAS A GENIUS OF MARIAN PEDAGOGY

If we have learned anything about bringing our boys and girls closer to Mary, we owe it to Don Bosco.  He was a pedagogical genius in this area.  He made his boys—many of whom were orphaned of their parents or who had parents living very far away—feel that Jesus was a friend, and that His Mother was also a mother to them.  Don Bosco was a genius of concrete and down-to-earth pedagogy that made life, with all its harshness and demands, an ongoing reason to celebrate, to be joyful, and to be happy. For this reason, to this day in Salesian presences, generations and generations of past pupils and young people have great love for our Mother etched in their hearts.  They are certain that by trusting in her, they will discover what miracles really are, just as Don Bosco himself had promised.

During this Easter season, we have more need than ever for hope.  In a world that continues to be battered by the pandemic, we see the light, but are still in the dark tunnel. Yet we know that it is in the risen Jesus Christ that life takes on its full meaning, both in the here and now and forever in eternity.  We unite our sufferings with those of our Mother, who endured the soul-wrenching loss of her only Son. We do this knowing and rejoicing that God is forever present and alive.  That is why our prayer to her, our Mother, during this beautiful month of May makes full sense.

Therefore, today I wish to make this prayer my own and offer it to you.  These are the words and poetry of a great author, the Chilean Gabriela Mistral, a woman of faith, who dedicated this poem to the Blessed Virgin:

Mother, I’m already here;

At your feet I will leave my heart.

Life is sad when lived without you—

long the anguish and unending the pain.

In the deepest folds of your wide mantle,

this ancient weariness puts me to sleep.

Dry my tears

and give me sunshine before I die.

Mother, I’m already here.

I have taken away peace; I have caused suffering.

If my heart doesn’t rest finally in you,

where will it go?

Dear friends, I wish you a holy Eastertide and a beautiful feast of our Lady on May 24.

Let us hold onto what is most important so that our hearts can rest.

May you be happy.

With affection,

Fr. Angel

Homily for the Memorial of Bl. Edmund Rice

Homily for the Memorial
of Bl. Edmund Rice

May 5, 2021
Wednesday, Easter Week 5
Collect
John 15: 1-8
SDB Provincial House, New Rochelle, N.Y.

Because of the strong presence of the Congregation of Christian Brothers (CFC) in the New York Archdiocese, the optional memorial of Bl. Edmund Rice is on the archdiocesan calendar.  For the Brothers themselves, it's a feast, of course.  The SDBs of New Rochelle have been the Brothers' chaplains at least since the founding of Iona College in 1940, and possibly earlier when Iona Prep was located on what became the college campus.

According to the Collect, our heavenly Father inspired Bl. Edmund Ignatius Rice “to open his heart to those oppressed by poverty and injustice.”  Bl. Edmund was not exactly a contemporary of Don Bosco—his dates are 1762 to 1844—but his character and the situation of his society were similar to our Founder’s.

Edmund’s Ireland knew religious, political, and economic oppression.  For much of his life, the anti-Catholic penal laws were still in effect, and thruout, British overlordship kept Irish Catholics in their social place.  One biographer calls him “a fearless defender of the faith.”  He died just before the infamous potato famine began, but the lot of most Irish was still a hard one.

Edmund himself was comfortably middle class.  He inherited an uncle’s export-import business in Waterford, and at age 25 married.  But only 2 years later, his wife was killed in an accident, leaving him with a daughter disabled in that accident.  He found comfort in religious devotion, and in his own sorrow took note of the troubles of so many young people in the city.

Edmund was inclined toward entering a monastery.  The bishop of Waterford discouraged that, encouraging him instead to attend to the city’s street boys.  The bishop’s sister (no Marchioness Barolo) challenged him:  “Would you bury yourself in a cell rather than devote your wealth and your life to the spiritual and material interest of these poor youths?”

So Edmund opened a school in a converted stable in Waterford in 1802.  With more episcopal encouragement and after arranging for his daughter’s care, he and 7 others founded the Presentation Brothers for the education of poor boys, basing their rule on the Presentation Sisters. Edmund adopted the name Bro. Ignatius.  “Trusting in God’s help,” he said, “I hope to be able to educate these boys to be good Catholics and good citizens.”  (That sounds familiar!)

At Edmund’s beatification in 1996, John Paul II called him “a shining example of the fruitfulness of the Christian life….  Here we have an outstanding model of a true lay apostle and a deeply committed religious.  The love which he first gave to his daughter blossomed into a host of spiritual and corporal works of mercy, as he helped the clergy of his parish meet the pressing needs of his fellow citizens oppressed by poverty and the weight of anti-Catholic legislation.  The Spirit eventually led him to the total consecration of himself and his companions in the religious life.”

The Presentation Brothers spread rapidly within Ireland, carrying out works like Don Bosco’s in his time, but always under the control of the local bishop.  This caused administrative difficulties (as Don Bosco would have with a certain archbishop), and that led to the re-founding of the congregation as one of pontifical right called the Christian Brothers, modeled on the De La Salle Brothers and approved by Pope Pius VII in 1820.  They seem to have been the 1st, and perhaps the only, religious congregation founded by a layman.

But some of the brothers chose to remain Presentation Brothers, still honoring Edmund as their founder. 

Edmund remained superior general until he retired in 1838.  When he died 6 years later, the CFCs had some 2 dozen academic and trade schools in Ireland and England.  Eventual expansion took them to Australia, India, Canada, the U.S., Gibraltar, and 9 countries in Africa and 5 in South America.  Their membership peaked in the 1960s with over 5,000 brothers in about 600 schools.

1st as a layman, then as a religious, Edmund Rice firmly attached himself to Christ, the true vine, and so bore abundant fruit from and for Christ (cf. John 15:1-8), in his own time until our time.  May Christ keep this vineyard healthy and fruitful.

The stained glass image of Blessed Edmund hangs in Bl. Edmund Rice Chapel on the campus of Iona College, New Rochelle. It was done by Bro. Kenneth Chapman, CFC.

Homily for 5th Sunday of Easter

Homily for the
5th Sunday of Easter

May 2, 2021
John 15: 1-8
Holy Name, New Rochelle, N.Y.   
St. Anthony, Bronx, N.Y.

“Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit” (John 15: 5).

All of us hope to leave some kind of a legacy, to make some kind of mark on the world, to leave a memory.  For most of us, that legacy is probably confined to our families:  our children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and all the relationships involved, the impact we have upon them.

For some there may be more:  the impact of a career, a business, or a vocation.  Think of the generational legacy of a teacher, for example, or the founder of a family business.  As a teacher I made a positive impact on at least some of my students; I hope it was on more of them than I know of.  I also hope that books and articles I’ve written will be part of the Salesian heritage.

Jesus doesn’t use the term legacy in today’s gospel.  Instead, he speaks of fruit, using the image of vines, branches, and grapes that his disciples would recognize instantly.  He calls himself a vine and his disciples its branches:  “I am the vine, you are the branches” (15:5).  He tells them that their lives will be fruitful—will have a lasting impact—insofar as they remain attached to him.          After his death and resurrection, after his ascension into heaven, they spread his Gospel message, and that Gospel gave their lives meaning.  St. Paul writes, “For me life is Christ” (Phil 1:21).  Attached to Christ, they bore the fruit of more disciples for Christ, and the fruit of Christ’s life within themselves.  They spread the Church, which is the body of all who belong to Jesus, all who share in the life he won for us thru his victory over death.  No preacher can pass on this life of Jesus Christ unless he is himself firmly attached to Christ.

You, brothers and sisters, belong to Christ.  You are branches shooting off from him.  You are to bear fruit, too; that’s not just for the 12 apostles and St. Paul, or for priests and sisters.  If you have children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, when you teach them to pray, when you tell them the story of Jesus, when you explain to them the truths of our faith, when you model Christian living to them, you’re bearing fruit.  You may also bear fruit among other people you know, not by explicitly teaching but by showing them, quietly, what it means to belong to Christ.

And how do you remain attached to Christ?  How do you “remain in him so that you may bear much fruit”?  I suggest 3 means.

1st, prayer.  Talk to Jesus and his closest followers—Mary and the saints.  Tell them your concerns, ask them for help, listen to the advice they give to your heart.

2d, Scripture.  Read and reflect on the gospels and Paul’s letters and the stories and psalms of the Old Testament.  God speaks to us thru them, which is why we attend so much to the Scriptures in the liturgy.  Pick up the Bible every day and spend some time with it, which is time with Christ.

3d, the sacraments.  Jesus comes to us and remains with us in the Holy Eucharist.  In fact, the Eucharist is a basic part of his legacy to us:  he told us, “Do this in memory of me.”  He also tells us, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (John 6:50).  “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (6:54).  He’s our nourishment for faithful daily living.  And when, inevitably, we fail in our fidelity—we commit sin—he offers us forgiveness and a fresh start and a more vigorous life thru the sacrament of Reconciliation.  This sacrament is a personal meeting with Jesus, an encounter with his love.  It’s a powerful means of remaining on the vine that is Jesus so that the sap of his grace may invigorate us.

God bless you!