America. On 26 and 27 May 2021, in online mode, the XXIII Meeting of the CIMAC / NAC-Mesoamérica Region for the Heads of the Salesian Schools of Central America, Mexico, the Antilles, and North America took place.

The 29 participants were those responsible for province education representing the 14 Provinces among the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA), the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), and the Daughters of the Divine Savior (HDS) from 13 countries where the Salesian presence animates hundreds of educational centers in which children, adolescents, young people, and adults are formed.

Fr. Filiberto González Plasencia, SDB, Provincial of   Christ the King and Mary Help of Christians Province of Mexico Guadalajara (MEG), welcomed the participants. The Referents of the Region, Fr. Carlos Alberto Montoya and Sr. Flora Fanfan greeted the participants and animated the prayer for the start of the activities.

The Referents of the Salesian School of America (ESA) – Sr. Ivone Goulart, collaborator of the  FMA Youth Ministry Sector and Fr. Claudio Cartes, of the SDB Youth Ministry Department – greeted the participants praying  that: “Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello may give us their pastoral heart and their dynamism to courageously take on the task of renewing our educational presence in schools at the service of the young, especially the poorest. ”

The first formative moment, held by Fr. Felipe De Jesús Carranza Orozco, Vicar of the MEG Province, presented the figure of Fr. Paul Albera, the second successor of Don Bosco, on the centenary of his death (1921-2021). The centenary celebration aims to make known the spirituality and work of the disciple of Don Bosco, who played a decisive role in consolidating the Salesian work in a delicate historical moment. Very close to Don Bosco, Fr. Albera was a great model and guardian of the Salesian charism. The vocation of every Salesian educator is to be another Don Bosco and to make each school another Valdocco.

Sr. Patricia Parraguez (Chile), representative of the ESA Central Commission, led the first workspace on updating theStrategic Planning ESA, 2021-2023”.

“The Global Education Pact and the Salesian School”, was the theme of the second formative moment, developed by Fr. Eduardo Lara, SDB of the MEG Province, who highlighted the call to overcome inequality, indifference, the culture of waste, and climate change and opening up to the dynamism of the global world through networking: “The value of our educational practices will be measured by the ability to touch the heart of society and give life to a new culture.” Fr. Lara, manifesting the great opportunity to bear witness to fraternity, recalled some values: care, peace, justice, goodness, beauty, and acceptance of others, and commitments to focus on: the person at the center, listening, the presence of women, the family, the welcome, the common home

Inspired in Valdocco, Turin, the Salesian Schools are born to respond to the concrete needs of young people, and are part of a global project of education and evangelization of young people, especially the most needy. Students are the first protagonists of the formation journey and grow in relational skills through the exercise of scholastic and formative participation.

Sr. Sarah García, collaborator of the YM Sector and Contact person for the Human Rights Office (IIMA) in Geneva, in the third formative space presented the project: “Network of young people – defenders of the human rights of young people”, to establish a network of young people in defense of human rights.

In the second workspace, Sr. Ivone Goulart and Fr. Claudio Cartes presented the Identity Card drawn up by the ESA Central Commission, which will be published shortly. The Identity Card is a fundamental document because it constitutes the set of principles that characterize the Salesian Educational Institutes of America, which will guide the actions, individual or collective, of the Educating Communities and will be a reference element in the evaluation processes of the Centers.

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