Malaga (Spain). From 1 to 3 November 2024, the members of the Salesian Cooperators’ Association of the Provinces of Spain and Portugal met in Malaga at the Diocesan House of Spirituality San Manuel González, to participate in the 3rd Meeting of the Iberian Region, with the motto “Tralci 24. Family of God with a Salesian style” to face new challenges in evangelization and action for young people.
Among the participants – about 300 SSCC candidates, delegates from the seven Provinces of the Region in more than 80 local centers – were Fr. Pascual Chávez Villanueva, Rector Major Emeritus of the Salesians of Don Bosco; Sr Marta Liliana Riccioli, Visiting General Councilor; the Provincial of Mary Help of Christians Province (SPA), Sister Charo Ten; the Provincials of St. James the Greater Province (SSM), Fr. Fernando García; and of Mary Help of Christians Province (SMX), Fr. Fernando Miranda; the World Delegate of the ASSCC for the FMA Institute, Sister Lucrecia Uribe; the World Delegate of ASSCC, Mr. Domenico Duc Nam Nguyen, Salesian Coadjutor; Mr. Antonio Boccia, ASSCC World Coordinator; Mr. Borja Pérez, World Advisor for the Iberian Region; Mr. Raul Fernández, World Administrator.
During the meeting, the victims and people who lost their family members and their property due to the storm Dana that hit Spain in the previous days were remembered.
During these three days, the participants were able to reflect and pray on different topics, with different rhythms.
“Church of God for the 21st century” was the theme of the intervention of the artist Patxi Fano, known as Fano, who through his cartoons helped to reflect on the need to return to the source, to the gifts of God, and to the awareness of being light for the world, to feel truly Church.
“Salt for the world. Leaven and yeast in today’s Church” was presented by Fr. Pascual Chávez, starting from Evangelii Gaudium, a Church in motion, close, welcoming, loving, and encouraging to leave one’s comfort zone, to bring the Gospel into one’s daily life, to be a synodal and missionary Church.
The program included round tables and testimonies, including one with a group of young Salesian Cooperators and aspirants, which reflected on how to approach the youth world and how to make sure that young people are attracted by the Church. Another round table consisted of a dialogue with Antonio Boccia and two permanent SSCC deacons, Carles Rubio and Fernando Carmona.
The diocesan priest Fermín Negre, invited us to reflect on how the encounter with God in daily life must be nourished every day, otherwise we are not renewed, and we lose. He encouraged all to be “new wine in new wineskins, without forgetting the vine from which we come and that unites us to all the branches;” a single wine made from the same grapes.
The meeting with the singer Unai Quirós, of the Christian Action Movement (MAC), with his songs and his life testimony, showed the participants a “Church on the way”, close to the most vulnerable young people, to those who need to know God and still do not know Him.
There were moments of well-prepared prayer, such as Morning Prayer and the Good Nights, and a deeper experience through a prayer-concert by the Betania group. Another inspirational moment was the musical Gethsemane, in which the people who acted showed how it is possible to bring the presence of the Lord through theater, which for them is a way of life and for the audience becomes a testimony. They were all gifts to grow seeds and branches in hearts, also through the Eucharistic celebrations, including that celebrated in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Malaga, presided by Fr. Pascual Chávez. All the celebrations revolved around the theme of the meeting: being leaven, being a branch, and nourishing ourselves on the fruits of God.
Divided into groups, the participants also got to know the different realities in which the SSCC operate in the city and the initiatives and projects of the local Church. On the evening of November 1, All Saints, they also participated in the Church Fair, where they met some Saints from past centuries, presented in a lovely and attractive way.
The Assembly also included a regional Congress, which approved the Directive Council and renewed the Regional Secretariat.
All this, in addition to the meals together, sharing in the corridors, conversing while walking around Malaga, helped to make the experience alive with the typically Salesian family spirit, deepening the knowledge and virtues of brothers and sisters of the other local Centers, to create and strengthen relationships of friendship and mutual esteem, as well as strengthening each one in their own faith journey.
