Egidio Viganò – “The Don Bosco centenary and our renewal” in “Acts of the Superior Council”

The Don Bosco Centenary Year was a significant and demanding event for the Salesian Family. It marks the end of a period of redefining our vocation through three General Chapters and the beginning of a phase of renewed vocational awareness and missionary effectiveness. The Centenary is seen as a culmination of shared efforts, reaffirming Don Bosco’s enduring values and relevance in contemporary times. It has been a “year of grace” that highlights the ongoing transformative impact of great Saints, who, though from the past, continue to inspire the future through the Holy Spirit’s activity.

Contents:

• Introduction
• A rapid look back over the celebrations
  • The Jubilee Year; enthusiastic participation by young people
  • Appreciation on the part of civil authorities
  • Studies and publications
  • Artistic cultural and sporting manifestations
  • Lived experiences in the Congregation
  • Vitality of the Salesian Family
  • lnterest of the Blshops and of so many diocesan and parochial communities
  • Wholehearted participation of the Holy Father

• Some priorities to be fostered: Our ecclesial dimension
  • The urgent need for the christian education of youth
  • The careful and competent development of a “Laity-project”
  • A more modern use of the means of social communication as a means of evangelization

• The overriding impression: “an event of grace”
• The primacy of an internal apostolic convinction
• The surprising vitality of the Salesian Family
• The Youth Movement
• Lay involvement
• The Marian dimension
• Devotion to Don Bosco, the Saint
• The two great commitments before us: the 1989 Strenna; the GC23
• Conclusion

Reference time period: 1989

Reference institution:
Direzione Generale SDB