February 2 - Golden Jubilee:

Salesians of Don Bosco in Sri Lanka

by E. Weerapperuma

Salesians Society of St. Don John Bosco, working in Sri Lanka will celebrate their Golden Jubilee on February 2. Rector Major, the World Head of the Society Very Reverend Fr. Pascual Villanueva Chavez, the 9th successor of Don Bosco, will make his first-ever visit to Sri Lanka as the chief celebrant at the Holy Mass offered in Thanksgiving at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Etthukala. Fr. Chavez will also unveil the plaque and bless the 'Boscopura Housing Complex' consisting 204 apartments at Etthukala.

The Asian Head of the Salesian community Joachim de Soza, members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Sri Lanka, Salesian family, members of other religious communities and the Maha Sangha with local and national politicians will be among the distinguished invitees to attend the celebration. 'To take youth towards Peace through education' will be the message and the theme of the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

Around the world

The 120-years-old congregation working in more than 131 countries around the globe, is famous for its service and apostate among the youth and the destitute children. 'Don Bosco' is a house-hold name among the people of this country today as their 50-year-old mission is well-known to all communities with devout faith and beliefs.

In 1956 Salesians who are second only to the 800-year-old Franciscans, the most powerful Congregation which has spread her wings to embrace the entire world, across the seas to work specially among the poor and destitute youth in Sri Lanka.

Salesians announced that the jubilee year in January 2005 and at that time Sri Lanka was plunged as a land devastated by the tsunami disaster. Though it was a catastrophe of magnitude devastation in every sense of the word, for Salesians it was the opportune moment to move with preparations for their Golden Jubilee by serving the victims of the December 26, 2004 tsunami calamity, in addition to their vowed mission based on the vision of the saintly man Don Bosco.

Presence felt

The Salesians who made their presence felt through a number of activities were encouraged more to be indigenous in their approach to many facets of their work in this beautiful island, with elevation of Sri Lanka from 'Province Delegation' to that of a 'Vice Province' on December 24, 2003 and young and energetic Very Reverend Fr. Anthony H. Pinto SDB, the son of the soil, installed as the Head on September 8, 2004, feast of Our Lady's Nativity.

The mission

The mission of the Salesians is to provide technical and vocational training to the poor, disadvantages, abandoned/orphaned children and youth, for broad human development, not only to earn a decent living for themselves and their families, but also become responsible, restrictive citizens of their communities and the nation.

Fr. Anthony Humer Pinto Provincial Superior said that Salesians made their mark in the soil with the arrival of the first Salesian Reverend Fr. Henry Remery to Ceylon in 1956, 80 years after the assurance given by St. John Bosco himself as early as 1876.

The Founder had given the promise to Fr. Louis Piccinelli who was working as a Missionary in the country to send his missionaries to the pearl of Indian Ocean.

Although his first disciple Fr. Cagliero who worked as a Cardinal in Argentina was earlier asked to go to Ceylon, he did not and it might have been designed by providence to delay as 'it was not the appointed time' for a Salesian missionary to step in here.

Fulfilling assurance

However, fulfilling Don Bosco's solemn assurance, after 80 years, Fr. Henry, a Frenchman working in Goa came down to plant the Salesian seed in the soil. The promise was: "We shall go to Ceylon - to start another very important mission".

Having come here he camped at the place where the present 'Sugathadasa Stadium' is found. Then he moved around and late His Eminence Thomas Cardinal Cooray, the then Archbishop invited him to go to Eththukala, Negombo, a costal town in the Western Province of Sri Lanka which has a large Catholic population.

Fr. Remery then converted the Mission House of St. Sylvester's Church to be the 'First Bosco Institute'. With the able support of Reverend Fr. Joe Fernando, the man behind the movement to uplift the lives of the country's fishermen, Fr. Remery purchased the 14 acre land, at Eththukala, the property belonged to Wellaweediya Mission House' and set up the first Salesian Institute, 'Bosco Training School' and in 1963, added the Don Bosco Oratory and Technical Centre.

Pioneer missionary

Fr. Remery will be remembered as a pioneer Missionary who introduced Technical Education to the Western Province. It was said that he used to walk in the evenings looking for idling youth. He takes vagabonds and loitering youth, to his little abode, to impress on them the importance of technical education. But the youth who were taken thus go missing the following day having seen for themselves the lath machine and the welding plant is fixed at the institute. Despite all these set backs, he went on until the day he succeeded.

Reverend Fr. Stanislous Peiris said that his society has to work in a adverse milieu today with some groups trying to create divisions in the country on religious and ethnic basis. "Our vocation is to work among the youth forsaken and our criteria of selection over and above is to work with all men with whatever differences. Today there is ethnic strife because we are tensed within us.

Without healing and without peace within one's own self one cannot talk of ending the war, bringing about peace. Due to the prevailing situation we cannot go to youth in the North. But we cannot shirk our responsibility and do our best to get them down, to help them and make them feel the warmth of our hearts," he said.

Fr. Stan also said that the Salesian took the lead in protecting youth from the snares of the devil. "The youth were a prey of the tourists who looked for carnal pleasure and our youth were the victims. In 1982 we took the initiative and others rallied round and in 1989 staged a protest rally after forming the first-ever 'Task Force against Child Abuse' ", he said.

Fr. Pinto said that Salesian Society came forward to set up Youth Rehabilitation Centres to reform, remould youth who were the victims of sexual abuse. He said that they are misled because there is no option: "Time has come for us to offer them an alternate and we are focusing our attention on that".

He also said that Catholics are being accused of converting others. This is baseless. We have not done that. The Buddhist monks who work with us will vouch on that.

"When we select Buddhist youth for technical or computer training (Nochchiyagama for instance) we ask them to continue teaching in the Buddhist dhaham pasalas. We have also renovated a large number of dhaham pasalas in the country on request of the Buddhist monks. We do so because we work for the salvation of the souls and not conversions", Fr. Pinto added.

Fr. Stan said that Salesian Society needed more support from the media to continue with their good work and appreciated the media coming forward to give the due publicity to the 'golden jubilee' and calling it a 'gift from the media to the Salasians' working in the country.