“Don Bosco’s Coming!”
Fr. Mike Mendl, SDB
“Don Bosco’s Coming” or “Don Bosco
Visits Us!” was the general idea
animating a long meeting in the
conference room at Salesian Missions
on December 4. The topic was the
pilgrimage of Don Bosco’s relic
through the Eastern U.S. and Canada
next September and October.
Eighteen SDBs and lay collaborators
took part in the meeting. They listened
to Fr. Tom Dunne’s outline of the
importance of this pilgrimage of the
relic around the Salesian world
between 2009 and 2015 and to some
of the details already decided upon for
its visit to our province.
The pilgrimage is to be seen within
two general contexts: (1) the general
importance of relics in Christian
devotion, ultimately a devotion to the
Risen Christ, who promises resurrection
to all the saints; (2) the complete
program of Fr. Pascual Chavez and
the general council, dating back to his
first circular letter (“Salesians, Be
Saints,” 2002) through the call to the
Salesian Family to “start afresh from
Christ and Don Bosco,” from the call to
make of the Salesian Family a “vast
movement of persons for the salvation
of the young,” through the sesquicentennial
of the Salesian Congregation
(2009) and to the bicentennial of
Don Bosco’s birth (2015).
The “visit of Don Bosco” to our
province should offer us opportunities
to evangelize, catechize, foster
holiness, stir up zeal for the mission,
reach out to immigrants, and extend
the Salesian charism to the wider
Church.
The relic’s pilgrimage through Chile,
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and
Brazil has been receiving extensive
coverage in both Salesian and other
media. For example, see:
www.donbosconosvisita.org.py . |
The Western Province already has a
Web site up and running with information
about the relic’s visit there, a week
before it will arrive in the East:
www.donbosco2010.org
The casket or reliquary with the relic (a
piece of a forearm) and a composite
image of our Founder in priestly
vestments will travel by plane from Los
Angeles to New Orleans, from Miami to
Washington, from New York to Chicago,
from Montreal to Vancouver, and from
Vancouver to the Orient. It will arrive at
other stops in our province by one of the
two trucks designed for the purpose and
accompanying the reliquary, with their
drivers, around the world.
The relic of Don Bosco will visit the
following places in 2010:
- New Orleans’s West Bank on
Sept. 21(at the Alario Center and St.
John Bosco Parish);
- St. Petersburg on Sept. 23;
- Belle Glade at St. Philip Benizi on
Sept. 25;
- Miami (LaSalle HS and St. John
Bosco Parish) on Sept. 26;
- Washington on Sept. 28;
- New York from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2,
including a youth rally at the Marian
Shrine on the 2d;
- Chicago at St. John Bosco Parish
on Oct. 3;
- Etobicoke (Toronto) at St.
Benedict Parish on Oct. 5;
- Montreal at Marie Ausiliatrice
Parish on Oct. 7;
- Vancouver cathedral on Oct. 9.
Some of the precise venues are still
being lined up.
The province committee is responsible
for preparing various materials and
suggestions for use at local level, such
as a logo and slogan, printed and visual
media, banners, prayer services, music,
some publicity, etc. At each local venue
a committee of the Salesian Family will
be responsible for organizing the details
of publicity, preparation, reception,
celebration, closing, and follow-up. † |
