Meeting of the Salesian Provincial Missionary Offices in Rome

The 2023 meeting of Salesian Provincial Missionary Offices was held at the “Fraterna Domus” retreat centre in Sacrofano, on the outskirts of Rome, from 19 to 23 October based on the theme “Dare to Share”. The event was attended by Salesians and lay people who are committed in their Provinces to finding resources for missionary animation and evangelization programs. A total of 80 participants, from 42 Provinces serving the population of 69 different countries, took part in the meeting, to discuss how to focus on mobilizing local resources to reduce dependency on foreign donations. Fr Francis Vattukulam from our province participated in the meeting.

Fr Joy Nedumparampil, from the Province of Bangalore, along with Fr Gunter Mayer from Austria conducted a session on how to start a Mission Office from scratch and how to build it step by step. This session received the highest level of positive feedback from attendees at the meeting.

Participants also engaged in various other practical workshops and short sessions on fundraising events, online mobilization, and donor retention techniques. The meeting emphasized the empowerment of lay collaborators and showcased successful initiatives from different provinces, promoting shared best practices among participants.