Guadalajara (Mexico). On 30 and 31 May 2022 in Guadalajara, at the Anáhuac Chapalita College, of the North Mexico Province (MEG) of the Salesians of Don Bosco, the meeting of the Central Commission of the Salesian School of America was held (ESA).
The representatives of various Regions of the American continent were present: Fr. Carlos Alberto Montoya SDB, Mesoamérica Referent and host of the meeting; Sr. Flora Fanfan, FMA Referent of the CIMAC-NAC Interprovincial Conference; Sr. Adair Sberga, FMA, Referent of the Interprovincial Conference of Brazil ( CIB); Ana Paula Costa and Silva, Referent of the Conference of the Provinces of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Brazil (CISBRASIL); Sr. Myriam Celeste Benítez González, Referent of the Interprovincial Conference of the Southern Cone of Latin America (CICSAL); Sr. Victoria Esperanza Paz Escobar, FMA, Referent of the Interprovincial Conference of Bolivarian Nations (CINAB); Sr. Patricia Lorena Parraguez Núñez, FMA (Chile); Referent of the Youth Ministry Sector of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sr. Ivone Goulart Lopes; and Referent of the Youth Ministry Department of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Claudio Cartes. Cecilia Poblete, who will be the new CICSAL Referent, participated in the online mode.
The objectives of the meeting were to continue the drafting of the 2021-2023 Strategic Planning, organize the Virtual Seminar on the “Global Educational Pact in harmony with the Salesian Preventive System” and start planning the ESA V meeting to be held in May 2024.
The opening Eucharistic celebration was presided over by the Provincial of the MEG Province, Fr. Filiberto González Plasencia, who in his homily said, “We are not education entrepreneurs; we are educators and we want to evangelize. We must live the joy of the Gospel. I invite you to believe in what Jesus said, ‘have faith’. The Father will always be with you. Pope Francis invites us to commit ourselves to the Global Educational Pact, for an integral education. The Salesian Family has a lot to offer with the Preventive System. Our educational proposal is integral; it is of faith”.
The Provincial of the Mother of the Church Province (MMO), Sr. Leonor Salazar, sent a video greeting to the participants, “You, members of the team of the Salesian School of America, have the task of reflecting and encouraging all of us to reflect on a new education, which forms the citizens that our society and our Church need today. The challenges we have to face are very great and of all kinds, but I believe that the first and greatest challenge is in ourselves, that is, in our formation as Salesian educators, as Salesians. We need a formation that touches concrete life and leads us to the necessary and opportune changes to be made to our daily life, to be proactive, credible, and attractive witnesses, with a new lifestyle that is transmitted to the new generations, by contagion”.
Then work began with the various reports and interventions. Sr. Ivone Goulart Lopes shared a reflection on the Planning of the General Council, on the XXIV General Chapter, and on the 150th anniversary of the FMA Institute. Sr. Adair Sberga illustrated the research carried out in 38 Focus groups in the 5 continents, which will be presented at the international conference, “The contribution of the FMA to education (1872-2022). Paths, challenges, and perspectives” scheduled from 25 to 30 September 2022 in Rome, at the Generalate.
Among the items on the agenda, the meetings held or in progress in the various Regions were presented and the steps to be taken to follow up on the research of the educator’s profile and formation needs, on which a webinar will be carried out in July 2022.
Sisters Adair Sberga and Ana Paula Costa and Silva also presented the Curriculum of the Schools of the Salesian Brasil Network (RSB), consisting of six booklets that are being implemented in all Salesian schools in Brazil. The elaboration process, the structure of each booklet, its innovation aspects, and the formation plan for the management, pedagogical, pastoral, communication, and administrative teams were contextualized for their proper use in all segments and sectors of the schools.
With regard to the ESA 2022 online meeting on the theme “Global Education Pact and synergy with the Preventive System”, which will take place on 11 and 12 November 2022, details will be provided shortly.
