Activities: Past and Future

May 16 2024

Rome – Italy

La predicazione del teologo Borel e di Don Bosco

On 16 May 2024, on the occasion of the presentation of Wim Collin’s volume, Good Christians and Virtuous Citizens. La predicazione di Giovanni Borel agli allievi della scuola sabauda nella Torino della Restaurazione (1829-1840), Rome, LAS 2024, a seminar was held on the preaching of the theologian Borel and Don Bosco in the specific context of their time and environment.

The first talk, by Don Giovenale Dotta, professor of history and expert in 19th-century Piedmont, presented facts, elements and sensitivities that characterised the socio-cultural and ecclesial context of the 19th century.

Prof. Wim Collin, summarised the substance of the messages presented by the theologian Borel, between 1829 and 1840, in his weekly sermons to the students of one of Turin’s main schools, where the elites of the Risorgimento were formed.

After him, Dr. Massimo Schwarzel – author, together with Aldo Giraudo, of a volume soon to be published by the Salesian Historical Institute, containing sermons and speeches by St. John Bosco – spoke about the problems posed by the critical edition of Don Bosco’s preaching manuscripts.

Prof. Giuseppe Biancardi concluded the seminar with an overview of the characteristic features of catechesis and the teaching of religion in the 19th century.

August 20-23 2024

Bled – Slovenia

Forum Salesiano

“If a ruffian like me could become good enough…”

Second chance and transformation in the education and spirituality of Don Bosco

In the wake of don Cafasso, Don Bosco is introduced to the prisons of Turin. That experience shocked him deeply. “I saw a large number of young people between the ages of twelve and eighteen,” he writes, “who were sympathetic, healthy, strong and of sound mind. It was heart-breaking to see them languishing here, with a complete lack of nourishment for both their bodies and their souls. I was stunned. What shocked me most was that many of them ended up back in prison in no time after being released full of good intentions.”

Educating, working for the future. Parents, teachers, educators, animators and pastors. Those working with children or young people face a new challenge. They see new paths and nodes emerging from rapidly changing situations requiring a different pedagogical approach. On the other hand, they also know that one should not suddenly start from scratch. They know from experience that there are also good elements in their approach. Moreover, it seems fanciful to say that everything educators have gathered in the past regarding insights and experience should suddenly be swept off the table. Indeed, new paths must be sought. However, this is based on something other than the belief that we are the first in history to make a valuable contribution to the history of education.

November – January 2023-2024

Online

The art of accompanying by Saint Francis de Sales

A good guide is a balanced person who listens, has faith and prays and has measured himself against his weaknesses and frailties. This is why he knows how to be welcoming towards the young people he accompanies, without moralism and false indulgences (Final Document of the Youth Synod, 102).

There are priests, men and women religious, lay people, professionals and even qualified young people who can accompany young people in their vocational discernment. When we happen to help another discern the path of their life, the first thing is to listen. This listening presupposes three distinct and complementary sensitivities or attentions: the first sensibility or attention is to the person, the second sensibility or attention consists in discerning, and the third sensibility or attention consists in listening to the impulses that the other experiences ‘going forward’. It is the deep listening of ‘where the other wants to go’ (Christus vivit, 291-294).

Contribution: The art of accompanying by Saint Francis de Sales

A programme of 10 hours online.

February 5 – 11 2024

Rome – Italy

Spirituality of the priest according to Francis de Sales.

The universal vocation to holiness is at the heart of the Church’s life. This is what the Second Vatican Council reminded us in its constitution Lumen Gentium: ‘In the various forms of life and the different offices held, there is one holiness cultivated by all those led by the Spirit of God who, obeying the voice of the Father and worshipping God the Father in spirit and truth, follow Christ, poor, humble and burdened with his cross, so that they may deserve to share in his glory’ (LG 41). The priesthood is God’s instrument for showing this path of growth and holiness among the people entrusted to it. To guide this person, the priest is called to live this holiness in the challenges of today’s ministry.

Contribution to the Spirituality of the priest according to Francis de Sales. One holy soul gives more glory to God than a hundred mediocre souls.

Training session for French-speaking priests Monday 5 to Sunday 11 February 2024

French Pontifical Seminary Rome

November 27 2023

Rome – Italy

The origin of the Salesian Family

In response to the decrees of Vatican II, the religious orders and congregations had to search for their origins to formulate an answer to the questions of the present and the signs of the times by looking at the past. They did so in different ways, as Midali points out in his volume La Famiglia Salesiana. Responding to this call, during the Special General Chapter, the Salesians rediscovered the richness of their charism and discovered that different groups linked with them also bear this charism. Looking at the past, one can see that this diversity has been more or less present from the beginning of the work of John Bosco in Turin. The question is to what extent and whether this was Don Bosco’s intention. According to Stella, it seems illogical to look for the origins of a kind of family in Don Bosco’s writings. Desramaut, however, takes a different view. Relying on several historical documents, he sees how the germ of what is today called the Salesian Family is present already from the outset of his pastoral action.

Desramaut’s position is made clear by looking at the first part of this contribution on how the article on the Salesian Family was inserted into the rewritten Constitutions of the Salesians of Don Bosco after the Vatican Council. The second part of this contribution focuses on Desramaut: 1) the role of the Colloqui Salesiani in Desramaut’s action; 2) Desramaut’s way of thinking explained based on the changes in the first article of the Constitutions written by Don Bosco; 3) how this way of reading history influences Desramaut’s perspective on the Salesian Family and differs from Stella’s. Towards the end, we try to describe what is the correct interpretation of Desramaut’s methodology and how Midali’s perspective attempts to find a new equilibrium.

November 10 2023

Leuven – Belgium

The universal call to holiness in the Church (LG 40). Francis de Sales as a predecessor of the Vatican Council according to the popes’ teachings 

The paper aims to systematically set out how the teaching on “holiness” of Francis de Sales is adopted by the Magisterium of the Church in the writings of the popes, the Second Vatican Council and the very last documents of Pope Francis.

Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology XIV

60 years Vatican II: The End of the Western Church?

8-11 November 2023

March 25 2023

Trecate – Novara – Italy

Saint Francis de Sales and the Virgin Mary

On the occasion of the 290° anniversary of the “Sorelle Ministre della Carità di San Vincenzo de Paoli” I will be speaking on the place and the meaning of the Virgin Mary in the life and the writings of Saint Francis de Sales.

December 16-22 2022

Belo Horizonte (Brazil)

Spiritual exercises

Tutto per amore

Right before Christmas, I preached a retreat for the Salesians of Don Bosco of the province of Belo Horizonte (Barbacena) on Saint Francis de Sales. We reflected on religious life according to the bishop of Geneve. He did not only encourage laypeople to follow Christ, he was also a big reformer of religious life, and founder of a congregation. For our reflection we used the meditations presented by De Sales in the Introduction to the devout life.

November 18-20 2022

Rome (Italy)

International Convention

Saint Francis the Sales: Posterity – Pedagogy – Spirituality

For 3 years I have been working, together with some colleagues on the international convention on Saint Francis de Sales on the occasion of the 400 anniversary of his death.

Apart from being the coordinator of the whole convention, I held a talk on the link between Saint John Bosco and Saint Francis de Sales.

October 1 2022

Simpelveld (The Netherlands)

Love must be learned

On the first of October, I had the honour to give a keynote speech on the occasion of the inauguration of the exhibition on Saint Francis de Sales in the museum of Simpelveld, The Netherlands. The exhibition was organized by the different congregations and institutes inspired by Francis de Sales present in Flanders and the Netherlands.

October 8 2022

Annecy (France)

Colloque François de Sales: Fresquiste et écrivain

Saint Joseph: ami du Bien-aimé, époux de la Bien-aimée

Sur la façon dont Saint François de Sales décrit le sauveur du Sauveur du monde

I spoke for the first time at the place where Francis de Sales lived and worked more than 400 years ago, at the borders of the lake of Annecy. In my presentation, I talked about Saint Joseph. The first part showed how people thought about Saint Joseph then, and the second part clarified how Saint Joseph is represented in the collected works of Francis de Sales.

At the end of the day, there was a pannel discussion transmitted on the radio. You can listen to the discussion here.

September 2022

Huo-Hin – Thailand

Formation course

Saint Francis de Sales: History and Spirit

In the month of September, I’ll gave twice a seminar in Thailand on the figure and the spirituality of Saint Francis de Sales. The seminar was open to the salesians of the Thai Province and the members of Salesian Family.

Read more here: Link

August 20-26 2022

Turin – Italy

Forum Salesianum

What I want is your Happiness

The meeting of the Salesian Forum was held 23rd to 26th August 2022 at Torino, Valdocco (Italy). The theme was“Accompaniment”. And the title given to these three days of study is very promising: WHAT I WANT IS YOUR HAPPINESS. A sentence that is referring to the dream of Don Bosco for every youngster. By means of study and exchange the Forum aimed to explore more deeply the theme of “accompaniment” and its relationship with the Salesian Preventive System. To present the different dimensions of the theme, speakers form various study centres dealt with this topic.

I spoke about accompaniment in the letters of Saint John Bosco.

May 14 2002

VDB Flanders

Saint Francis de Sales: Introduction

A whole day reflecting and sharing about Saint Francis de Sales, his spirituality, his mayor works, his thoughts, and his meaning for today. The conference was online (in dutch).

Colombia Medellin, April 25 2022. For the Salesians of Don Bosco of the Salesian province of Medellin, and especially for the Salesians participating in the provincial chapter, a conference was given on sinodality in the life of the bishop Geneve. The conference was held online and was followed by the Salesians of the provincial chapter and by all the Salesians in formation. It was translated simultaneously from Italian to Spanish.

Hechtel (Belgio), sabato 22 febbraio 2020. Conferenza sulla attivita pastorale e missionaria di Giovanni Cagliero, partendo dalla sua giovinezza, il primo incontro con don Bosco e la sua crescita umana e spirituale nella nascente congregazione Salesiana.

Particolare attenzione è stato prestato alla prima spedizione missionaria salesiana del 1875. Sono stati presi in considerazione, le lettere, le indicazioni del fondatore ai primi missionari partenti, il motivo della scelta per andare in Patagonia e il lavoro svolto nei primi anni tra i migranti italiani.