“GOD’S FAMILY WITH A SALESIAN STYLE”

More than 300 Salesian Cooperators met from November 1 to 3 at the diocesan house in Malaga to “take a further step and put our charism in tune with the ecclesial reality outside the Salesian house, from the conviction that the Salesian charism is a gift for the Church that we must guard, but not retain.”

An essential part of our lay Salesian vocation is the sense of belonging that is nourished by encounter, prayer and common formation. On Friday, on the Feast of All Saints, the Malaga-born cartoonist and religious educator Fano moved us with the naturalness of the Holiness that lives in everyday life but above all as Don Bosco tells us: “holiness consists in always being happy.”

But above all he reflected on that 21st century Church in which we must live. to be with new languages ​​to transmit the joy of the gift of Faith and a clear commitment to evangelize with the heart.

Don Pascual Chávez, Rector Major Emeritus of the Salesian Congregation, urged us to be “Salt in the world, leaven and ferment in the Church of today.” Drinking from the sources of the writings of Pope Francis, especially since the Document of Aparecida, Don Pascual shook us to stop being self-referential, since we fall into this too often due to laziness, comfort and lack of creativity. Pastoral work requires us to go out to the city, to the new peripheries to be leaven from closeness, kindness and authenticity of action from the contemplation of the God who enlightens us.

Salesian Cooperators must dream of an outgoing church that puts young people at the center and courageously faces the new challenges of the 21st century.

And our favourite saints visited us

This year two meetings coincided in one: the Assembly of all those present and the Congress of the Iberian Region to which only the Provincial Councils were invited to renew the members of the Regional Secretariat, animation, management and coordination bodies. Meanwhile, the Assembly prayed with the help of the Betania group, formed by several Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and SSCC who unite their voices and talents to accompany the prayer.

And at night came the great FESTIVAL of HOLINESS: a healthy and fun vindication of our Saints to see them more closely and discover so much that they have to teach us all today.

You are the branches

Fermín Negre, a priest from Malaga and musician of the group IXCÍS invited us to be branches of life, of joy, of faith, of love, of truth… and from his hand came the music and the experience of life and of the Church of Unai Quirós.

From there we set out to visit different experiences of the local Church in Malaga: Sisters of the Poor, Cantera Project, San Juan de Dios, Carmelite Convent, Brotherhood of the Cautivo… Feeling the dedicated life of the Church that gives different answers to the many needs of today’s society.

Musical Gethsemane

This musical is a commitment by the Province of Mary Help of Christians to turn music into an instrument of evangelization and fidelity to what Don Bosco taught. More than 6 years shaping and improving a staging of the Passion with voices and live music. Due to space difficulties, they devised a special format “Gethsemane behind the scenes” where they accompanied their songs with testimonies of what this pastoral commitment means as a transforming engine of their own lives.

Young Church, Church in the family, Salesian Church on the move

Experiences nourish and enrich, but they cannot remain in the moment; They must be the catalyst in local reference centres, in parishes, schools, youth associations, workplaces, families… Branches that bear fruit. Light and life for the many projects and dreams of our Association of Salesian Cooperators.

Maribel Merina, Salesian Cooperator