MISSION: THE CORE OF OUR SALESIAN CONSECRATED LIFE

“We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1Jn 1:3).

We are in the 150^th anniversary of the first Salesian Missionary Expedition which took place on 11 November 1875, launched by Don Bosco himself, who cherished this missionary desire very deeply in his heart for a long time. Therefore, the anniversary we are celebrating in gratitude to God, our Bl. Mother and Don Bosco is a very significant milestone in the history of our Congregation. Furthermore, it is an occasion to remember with gratitude all our confreres and members of the Salesian Family who worked in the mission lands in the last 150 years and all our missionaries presently continuing the work with great dedication and fervour.

The year-long celebrations under the theme Give Thanks, Rethink, Relaunch, which commenced on 11 November 2024 will continue throughout 2025. The culmination of all the celebrations at the congregational level will be the central missionary send-off set for 11 November 2025 at the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco, Turin. This solemn event will be led by the Rector Major Fr. Fabio Attard, who will reaffirm the missionary commitment of all the Salesians before the Blessed Mother. The celebrations offer us the opportunity to revitalize our missionary enthusiasm and foster greater zeal for the missions.

The theme for the anniversary – Give Thanks, Rethink, and Relaunch – reflects the three main objectives of the celebration. ‘Give Thanks’ underscores the Congregation’s gratitude to God for the missionary call that has empowered the Salesians to serve in 137 nations across the globe. ‘Rethink’ encourages reflection on the Salesian Missions in the light of contemporary challenges and new missiological perspectives. It calls for a renewed vision to adapt and respond effectively to emerging realities while staying faithful to the charism of Don Bosco. Lastly, ‘Relaunch’ motivates the Salesian Family to embrace the future with zeal, enhance the services already in place and initiate new projects that will create a significant and lasting effect on the Congregation’s mission.

Missionary Dimension, an Essential Feature of our Congregation

The celebration of this anniversary offers the whole Congregation, Provinces, communities, every individual Salesian and members of the Salesian family the opportunity to reflect on an essential characteristic of the Salesian vocation – to be a missionary. Mission defines our life as Salesians. All the rest – community life, our style of prayer, formation process, governance – are in view of an effective prolongation in the Church of the mission entrusted to Don Bosco.

Going through our Salesian Constitutions and Regulations we find many articles highlighting the missionary dimension of the Salesian Congregation and our vocation. Although there are articles throughout our Constitutions let us only look into the first Chapter of the Salesian Constitutions.  The first article of the Constitutions contains two expressions closely linked to the missionary dimension of the Congregation. They are mission and apostolic projects (C. 1). Those who framed the rules felt that the very purpose of the Society, which the Holy Spirit inspired Don Bosco to start with the maternal assistance of Blessed Virgin Mary, was mission-oriented and it did have an apostolic dimension. Essentially the Salesians are sent forth. That would be the basic meaning of the two expressions mission and apostolic projects. The four-fold mention of the Holy Spirit in this article is significant. It is the Holy Spirit who sends a person or sets a community on the mission!

Article two speaks of the apostolic plan as well as the mission of the Salesians. What the Salesians are doing is in obedience to the Holy Spirit who is at the origin of all forms of missionary activity. The article emphatically states that “carrying out this mission” is the path to holiness which is among the primary goals of our religious life.

The third article too contains a typically missionary vocabulary when it states that “the Spirit sends out (the Salesians) to be apostles of the young”. The purpose of this sending forth is for ‘building up the kingdom’. Our fraternal life and the evangelical counsels are inseparably linked to our apostolic mission. We cannot miss the weight of the statement in this article – “our mission sets the tenor of our whole life”. This implies that our Congregation would not have been necessary but for the mission – a mission which was inspired by the Spirit.

Don Bosco would send his followers to the ends of the world precisely for this – to gain souls for the kingdom of God in multifarious ways. The different groups in the Salesian Family are meant for the salvation of the young and they continue the mission and apostolic efficacy that Don Bosco set in motion. Even past pupils are to be involved in the Salesian mission in the world (Art. 5).

The missionary dimension of the Congregation also springs forth from our desire to continue Mary’s “mission as mother of the Church and Help of Christians”. Article 8 on Mary’s role in the life of Don Bosco and in the Congregation makes the Salesians witnesses to the young – another typical word with a missionary slant. Chapter one of the Constitutions concludes with a reference to St. Francis de Sales, “the zealous pastor and doctor of charity”. He is the one Don Bosco presented to his collaborators as model in order to give a particular dimension to our very style of work when seeking the salvation of souls. Pastoral zeal and love should become our hallmark in all our efforts at evangelization.

Missionary Spirit at the Heart of Don Bosco

Though Don Bosco had never been a missionary ad gentes, his missionary spirit is evident from his childhood years. He lived in Piedmont in Italy during a vibrant missionary reawakening and as early as 1848 he talked to his boys about sending missionaries to distant regions. He often spoke about his desire of evangelizing those who do not know Christ in Asia, Africa and America.

Don Bosco’s missionary option was a confluence of three factors. Firstly, it was the realization of his own long-held personal desire to go to the missions, expressed in his five missionary dreams; secondly, Don Bosco felt that the missionary commitment of his newly approved Congregation would prevent the members from falling into the real danger of a soft and easy life-style; and thirdly, above all, his Congregation’s missionary commitment is the fullest expression of his charism summed up in the Congregation’s motto: Da mihi animas, cetera tolle.

Fr. Paul Albera testifies to it in these words: “The foreign missions were always a burning aspiration in Don Bosco’s heart… He spoke about it continually to us his first sons; we were filled with wonder and felt ourselves carried away by a holy enthusiasm”. Don Rinaldi, in his turn, speaking on the occasion of the centenary of Don Bosco’s dream at the age of nine (1825-1925) said, “In commemorating the first dream of our Father, we have implicitly celebrated the centenary of the beginning of the whole Salesian work, because we may say that it was in that first dream that he was consecrated as apostle of youth, the father of a new religious family, a missionary to non-Christian peoples; that dream it was that stirred up also in his heart a lively desire for religious life and evangelization of faraway peoples.” Don Bosco’s first seminarian, Fr. Ascanio Savio, testifies to the deep love of Don Bosco for the missions very emphatically: “He burned with a desire to convert all the people of the world and save their souls.” From 1848 onwards, Don Rua and others had heard him exclaim more than once: “Oh, if only I had lots of priests and clerics! I would send them to preach the Gospel in Patagonia”.

In 1875, after many trials and sacrifices, when he was able to launch his first missionary expedition, his missionary heart exulted, and he seemed to give to the missions the whole of his attention. Don Albera, knowing the heart of Don Bosco, comments on this great occasion thus: “From then onwards, the Missions were at the centre of his heart and he seemed to live for them. He talked about them with such enthusiasm that we all marvelled and were deeply edified by his burning ardour for souls.” The same feeling is repeated by Don Rinaldi: “For me there has never been a missionary as zealous and tireless in his propaganda as he was. He was a true missionary, an apostle devoured by a passion for souls.”

Don Bosco’s Missionary Dreams

Among his many dreams, five specifically pertain to mission ad gentes. These dreams took place between 1872 and 1876. The first of these dreams, that of 1872, on Patagonia made Don Bosco decide on sending his sons there in 1875. Two more dreams were on South America – that of 1883 and 1885. The subsequent dream, also from 1885 was on Africa, Asia and Oceania and the last one perhaps, is the one most familiar to us in India – the line from Valparaiso in Chile to Peking in China, passing through India (Kolkata). These dreams help us to understand the mind of our founder, his missionary zeal and enterprise. In these dreams, the Congregation is clearly depicted as one of the ecclesial groups dedicated to the mission ad gentes. They foretell the flourishing of vocations among native peoples. The period from the first missionary expedition (1875) to the present day shows that these dreams have come true. They have had a real influence on missionary life in the Congregation, and continue to do so.

Our Missionary Response: Keeping Alive the Missionary Spirit

Salesian history clearly shows how, from the very beginning, we have fostered missionary vocations in the strict sense. Every confrere was fundamentally available to go to the missions if obedience should take them there. In fact, it is amazing to note that at the death of Don Bosco, 20 percent of the Salesians were serving in the mission territories (SGC 471). Further, the annual missionary expeditions that depart from the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Valdocco serve as strong evidence of the Congregation’s dedication to missionary work.

Missionary spirit and generosity are very central to the Salesian Congregation as was in the mind of Don Bosco. Without missionary work the Congregation would not only be impoverished, but would be distorted and alienated from its true nature. In it one could no longer recognize the Salesian Society as its founder had visualized and wanted it (Project of Life of the Salesians of Don Bosco, p.307). The same view is reiterated by GC 19 in the words, “The Salesian Congregation… revives the ideal of Don Bosco who wanted the work to be a permanent preoccupation of the Congregation to the extent of being part of its nature and purpose…. it therefore reaffirms the missionary vocation of the Salesian Society… and intends that it be known as such in the Church as well as to its own members and cooperators” (GC 19, pp 178-179).

The real implications of our missionary dedication require us to do everything possible to nurture the growth of the missionary vocation. It is essential that we keep the missionary spirit alive within us. We must re-examine the missionary aspect of our Salesian vocation and live our Salesian consecrated life “permanently in a state of mission,” as stated by Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium (n. 25). Our dedication to missionary work will undoubtedly drive us to express our faith and religious commitment with increased joy and authenticity. The counsel of Pope Benedict XVI given to the Superiors General of Religious Institutes in 2011 sums up the essence of our consecration which is missionary in nature: “The mission is the route to being part of the Church and, through it, part of the consecrated life; it is an element of your identity.” The task of devoting to the “missions” is included in the very call of the Consecrated persons.

As a province we have been participating in the dream of Don Bosco substantially. The Yemen and Nepal missions are tangible examples of our commitment to our missionary zeal. The Salesian presence in Yemen dates back to 1987 when, at the request of Fr. Egidio Viganò, the Rector Major, the Province of Bangalore started sending priests to minister to the pastoral needs of expatriate Catholics and religious communities, mostly the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Theresa. The confreres in Yemen looked after four different parishes: Sana’a, Hodeidah, Aden and Taiz. Speaking of the dedicated work by the Salesians, Fr. Francis Alanchery, the then General Councillor for the Missions, who visited Yemen on 10 January 2004 wrote: “I want to place on record my great admiration for the confreres who brave it out in Yemen in spite of the hostile and unfavourable environment. All of them except one have nagging health problems, and yet they continue to work with enthusiasm and dedication. To all of them our sincere thanks as well”. The Nepal Missions, juridically under the Province of Kolkata has been assisted by confreres from Bangalore. At present our confreres work in the three districts of Lalitpur, Surkhet and Susari.

Apart from the many confreres hailing from our Province’s territory working all over the world, there are 24 confreres who once belonged to the Province of Bangalore who now have joined other provinces around the world working in various mission countries, particularly across the expansive continent of Africa.

How do we Envisage Mission today?

In today’s context, it is also important to realize that with globalization the concept of borders have changed significantly. While in the past there were nations that were categorized as Christian, Hindu, Muslim, etc., the reality today is that in the population of a single neighbourhood, there may well be believers of several different religious faiths. This is quite true for many nations and cities in the world. Migration is a phenomenon that most of the nations of the world need to reckon with. Together with international migration, it is also significant that intra-migration (within the country) is on the increase. We only need to look around in our own province territory to see the inflow of migrants from other parts of India. This being the case, our style, mode and the way we look at mission and missionary works also need to be appropriately adapted.

In recent years, the SPCSA has placed significant emphasis on Migrant Ministry. As a province, we have been actively engaged in this mission and have established a province-level commission dedicated to migrant ministry. One pressing concern we must address is intra-migration, which continues to reshape the social and pastoral landscape. Traditionally, missionary work involved traveling to distant lands to proclaim the Good News. However, in the present context of migration the dynamics have shifted: now, people are coming to us. This calls for a thoughtful and compassionate response. We must earnestly explore effective ways to reach out to migrants, attending to their spiritual needs without neglecting their physical and psychological well-being. Our mission is to be present to them, to walk with them and to offer them support in whatever way we can.

It is equally important to recognize that at one point in history missionary activity was heavily centred around the maxim extra ecclesiam nulla salus (outside the Church there is no salvation). If this phrase were taken in a strictly literal sense, it would imply that 82.3% of the current global population and approximately 98% of Indians, not to mention a vast number of people from earlier generations, would be excluded from salvation. Does this mean the Church was proposing something flawed? Certainly not. Rather, it highlights the need to reconsider how we understand and interpret the concepts of “Church” and “outside.” The Second Vatican Council brought about a significant shift in this perspective, reshaping how we evaluate mission and missionary activity. Equally noteworthy are the papal teachings that followed. Documents such as Evangelii Nuntiandi of Pope Paul VI and Redemptoris Missio of Pope John Paul II explore the multifaceted nature of mission. More recently, Evangelii Gaudium of Pope Francis emphasizes the Church’s call to move toward the peripheries, to reach out to those on the margins and engage with the world in a spirit of compassion and inclusivity.

There has been considerable discussion about a shift from the pre-conciliar ecclesio-centric vision to that of a Kingdom-centered missionary vision. Pope John Paul II emphasized the universality of the Kingdom, stating: “The kingdom of God is meant for all mankind, and all people are called to become members of it” (Redemptoris Missio, 14). Thus, mission is not accomplished through coercion or conquest, but through the dedicated efforts of missionaries who seek to establish the Kingdom of God through preaching, presence, witness, friendly dialogue, and a preferential option for the poor.

Two essential dimensions of mission stand out: proclamation and witness. On one hand, it is vital to affirm the primacy of Christ and the Gospel as central to the Christian faith. Yet, what often draws people to Christ, especially in today’s world, is not merely theological argument, but the personal witness of believers. Therefore, our lives as priests, religious, social workers, teachers, counselors and others in service must reflect the Gospel we proclaim. Our witness is not optional; it is of paramount importance. When messengers sent by John the Baptist came to Jesus to inquire about his identity, Jesus responded: “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard” (Luke 7:22). The response highlights the power of lived experience and visible testimony in revealing the truth of the Gospel.

The International Congress on Consecrated Life held in Rome in 2004 stressed mission as the core of consecrated life. It brought out this aspect beautifully with the phrase, “Passion for Christ, Passion for Humanity”. The icons of the Samaritan woman who meets Jesus at the well side and the Samaritan man who helped the wounded person at the roadside remain benchmarks for the life and mission of the consecrated person. It is very important to create a dynamic harmony between contemplative mercy and committed contemplation. The fundamental mission of consecrated life is the mission of the Church, the only one that Jesus entrusted to his disciples. It is the mission of the Church, which continues to announce the Gospel of the Kingdom to all people and serves the cause of those to whom it belongs: the poor, the peace makers, those who work for justice, those who suffer (cf. Mt. 5:1-12).

Thus the central theme of the 150^th Year Jubilee of the First Salesian Missionary Expedition – Give Thanks, Rethink, Relaunch – is profoundly relevant to our missionary outlook and engagement today. We gratefully acknowledge that the mission entrusted by Don Bosco to his Salesians originates from God, who raised him up as a special ambassador for the salvation of the young. Therefore, the source and foundation of all our missionary work is God Himself. We participate in the same mission initiated by Christ, the missionary of the Father, who entrusted this mission to His Apostles, calling them to be “fishers of men” (Mt. 4:19). In today’s socio-cultural context, we are called to cooperate with the Spirit of God to rethink and relaunch the missionary dimension – an essential aspect of both the Church and the Salesian Congregation.

Our goal remains clear: to proclaim the Good News to all and to help make God’s Kingdom a lived reality on earth. In this sacred endeavour Mary, the Mother of Jesus, stands out as a true missionary and a model for each of us. She carried the Good News (Jesus) in her heart and womb, and went in haste to share it with her cousin. Her mission of sharing continued until, united with the Apostles, she received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. May she intercede for us.

Yours affectionately in Don Bosco,

 

 

Fr. Jose Koyickal sdb

Provincial