Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Turin (Agenzia Fides) - 74 missionaries are leaving to reach the 5 continents where they will bring the Gospel, in the educational style of Don Bosco, thus giving rise to the 142th Salesian missionary expedition. According to tradition, on Sunday, Sept. 25, the Major Salesian Rector, Fr. Pascual Chávez Villanueva, during a Mass in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, will deliver the crucifix and the missionary mandate to 31 Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), 21 Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (DMH), 5 Caritas Sisters of Jesus, 3 members of the Mission of the Lay Community of Don Bosco, 14 lay members of the Salesian NGO.
According to information from Ans, out of the 31 Salesians, 14 are destined to the new evangelization in Europe, for which the Salesian Congregation started in 2009 the Project for Europe; 8 for Latin America; 5 for Africa; 2 for Asia and 2 for the Middle East.
For the 21 Daughters of Mary Help the destination will be determined after the mandate. To be noted that 12 missionaries are from Asia; 5 from Europe; 2 from Latin America and 2 from Africa.
This year, for the first time, the expedition will see the participation of the Caritas Sisters of Jesus, an institution from Japan and founded its first mission in Africa, in Juba, capital of South Sudan. The 5 sisters come from South Korea, Japan and Brazil.
The 3 lay members of the Community mission of Don Bosco are part of the last group welcomed in the Salesian Family. 3 members will leave: an Italian missionary who will go to Haiti and a pair of young Malagasy, accompanied by their one-year-old child will lend their service in Burundi. Finally, the 14 lay members of the Salesian NGO. 9 are Italian volunteers of the International Volunteers for Development, 4 are young Spanish of Jóvenes y Desarrollo (JyD) and 1 Austrian boy of Jugend Ein Welt (JEW). The group represents a much larger number of lay volunteers who already left during the year with the respective NGOs.
The departing missionaries participated in a preparation course, which began on 1 September at the General House of the Salesians in Rome, where they alternated training sessions in classrooms, group work, liturgical animation and leisure time. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 20/09/2011)
