Volume I, Issue 9 September 2019 THE SEPTEMBER MESSAGE OF THE RECTOR MAJOR from the Salesian Bulletin DON ANGEL FERNANDEZ ARTIME, SDB “Jesus and the Crucified of This World” Dear Friends, In my office in Rome, Crucified were the teenagers Every day our Salesian con- I have a crucifix that whom I came to know in Ciu- freres visit them, but they speaks volumes to dad Don Bosco in Colombia, have little hope. Among these me. It was given to who had been forced to become young people in the prison me by the Salesians in Peru guerrillas in FARC. some are terminally ill. Little when I was visiting them. Crucified on a cross similar hope is accorded them. God It is a cross (as we well know, to the one that I have in my alone is their hope. the symbol of Christianity), but office were the teenaged and Crucified were the girls in it is not our Lord and Savior little girls who were abused various countries that I visited Jesus Christ who hangs on this sexually in Freetown, the capi- who were obliged to go to one; rather, it bears the image tal of Sierra Leone. These are work. We negotiated to get #Holiness for you, too! of a poor boy. The message is now being sheltered and cared permission for them to go to clear and very strong: our for in the Salesian house there. school, but the first to resist In this issue: Lord Jesus is being cruci- There are many others, howev- our proposal were their own fied in those who are being er, still on the streets or im- families because they would crucified in today’s world. In, With, and For 2-3 prisoned by Mafia-type groups. lose those wages (no matter the Church In all truth I do not wish to how little they might be). make you sad, my dear “We must be super vigilant to Crucified for many years More Salesian 3-6 friends, readers of the Sale- condemn what is worthy of were the families of the Family Saints sian Bulletin. Much less, condemnation. We must be so Bororo and Xavante peo- do I want to create in you a Salesian Family 7-9 active as to see what we must do ples in Brazil, who were in “guilty conscience.” But I danger of losing their lands News and how and with whom we can do wish to place before you to powerful land barons (os Our Family Album 10-12 this question which I pose unite forces.” facendeiros). Crucified, too, to myself very frequently: by being shot to death were “Is it possible that we are inca- Crucified were those boys IMPORTANT our Salesian confrere Fr. Ru- pable of making this world and girls whom I encountered DATES dolph and the Indian Simao, more just? Will we never suc- in the Don Bosco Home in Gha- whose story I wrote on anoth- ceed?” na, saved from the hands of the er occasion. Sept. 8 - FMA Jubilees, Mon- I wish to believe that we can Mafia, who wanted them for treal; FMA Past Pupils’ Induc- Crucified are the hundreds succeed, that it is possible, and organ extraction to sell on the tion, Haledon, NJ of orphan children whom I that we are making headway black market to those who are met in Aleppo. Thanks to an Sept. 21 - SDB Jubilees, Stony little by little, by baby steps. looking for organ transplants. incomprehensible war, they Point, NY But we still have a long way to The day in which I arrived, I have been robbed of every- Sept. 28 - SSCC Provincial go! I tell you this because in met nine little girls who had thing. Congress, Canada these last six years, as I trav- been “condemned” to death by Crucified for Jesus in these Oct. 3 - Province SF Council eled the world to our Salesian those thugs. Fortunately, Meeting, Ramsey, NJ places, I encountered many through Divine Providence, past months were our Salesian they were saved by the police confreres Fr. Cesar Antonio Oct. 10-15 - FMA Provincial crucifixions. This is a very and Fr. Fernando Hernandez, Chapter, Newton, NJ strong expression, is it not? at the last moment and brought to the Salesian house. murdered in Burkina Faso. Oct. 10-13 - SSCC Delegate Crucified were the street But without a doubt there are Crucified in this world are Gathering & Regional En- children whom I met in our many who still lose their lives. counter, Puebla, Mexico Salesian presences in Colom- all those who drown in Mare Crucified were the many nostrum, the Mediterranean Nov. 2 - SF Day, Montreal bia, Sri Lanka, and Luanda in Angola (and in many other teenagers who have been living Sea, on account of human traf- Nov. 7-10 - ADMA Interna- presences, where, lamentably, in prison for many years with- ficking. Launched onto the tional Congress VIII, Buenos children live on the world’s out having had a fair trial. Mediterranean without safe- Aires: Register here streets). guards, they are abandoned by Page 2 In, With, and For the Church S. F. Snippets Mother General Emerita, Sr. Antonia Colombo, FMA Requiescat in pace (Rector Major Letter, cont. from p. 1) Mother Antonia Colombo al Chapter XXI, she was recon- the traffickers after having paid was born at Lecco, Italy, on firmed in her office for a fur- huge sums of money for each April 12, 1935. She made ther six years. Mother Antonia “passage.” What an irony to call her first profession in the believed in a shared commit- their voyage a “passage”! Institute of the Daughters ment and in a future of hope. On every continent and in many na- of Mary Help of Christians The one condition was that of tions, I met those who are crucified in 1959 at Contra di Missa- building it together. in this world. So today I want to say glia. In that year she ob- In her 12 years at the head of a few simple words to you: I refuse, tained her degree in law at the Institute she traveled and we must refuse, to view these the Sacred Heart Catholic thousands of kilometers to realities in which the poor pay such University in Milan. She animate the communities and high costs as common, expected, and later obtained a licentiate took on the great task of ful- natural. In the pharisaical and mili- in applied psychology at the filling "the prophecy of the tant language of war, they use the Catholic University of Lou- whole." expression “collateral damage” – vain in Belgium. In her magisterium she particularly empha- but never, NEVER is a death, the From 1966 until 1989 she was part of sized the culture of life and the promotion of loss of a human life, to be regarded the community of the Pontifical Faculty the young woman in her dignity. She knew as “collateral damage”! of Educational Sciences 'Auxilium' and was able to foster the commitment to When faced with so many crucifix- where she taught and held various posts active citizenship, encouraged the educating ions, we must see – must see only -- of religious and academic responsibility. communities to be laboratories of life and and be aware that these things can She was the President of the Faculty educational relationships, supported the im- never be regarded as inevitable, una- from 1983 until 1989 when she was ap- portance of educating to solidarity and of voidable. We must be super vigilant pointed provincial superior of the prov- peace rooted in the values of the Gospel. She to condemn what is worthy of con- ince of 'Sr. Teresa Valsé Pantellini' in gave witness to the radical nature of follow- demnation. We must be so active as Taranto, Italy. ing Jesus, the center of her life. to see what we must do and how and Her particular sensitivity to women's prob- with whom we can unite forces. lems led her to promote numerous initiatives The great people of history, the great Mother Antonia believed and to establish relations of study and friend- and the small saints, have done so. ship with religious and lay people interested They are many. The most well- in a shared commitment in women and their education, and to wel- known to us is our beloved Don come the exhortations of the Church and the Bosco. He constantly sought just and in a future of hope. Pope on the issue of women. answers to unjust situations. The one condition was In 2008, after her service at the central level To end, my friends: the next time of the Institute was completed, despite vari- that you contemplate a crucifix, re- that of building it ous and recurrent health problems, she col- call some of these words since, most laborated in the revision of the biographical probably – and I say this with pain together. profiles of the deceased sisters and devoted in my heart – there will still be oth- herself to reading and intensified prayer. ers who will be crucified. "Humanizing culture and relationships in the During General Chapter XIX in 1990, May the good Lord bless you. light of the message of Jesus and the Salesian she was elected a Visiting Councilor and charism was not a slogan for Mother Antonia, Don Angel six years later (GC XX in 1996), Mother but a precise commitment that identifies her General. In the following six years, to- mission as a Mother and formative guide," gether with her Council, she sought to wrote Mother Yvonne Reungoat.