SAFCAM Communique #36 English

SAFCAM Communique #36          23/01/2021  

Dear Subscribers

Hallo-luia! And happy feast of St Francis de Sales our patron. As we near the end of the novena for Christian Unity, we begin our Novena to Don Bosco. We are therefore living an intense “Salesian” period of the year, and ought to experience extra communion with the whole Salesian Family. On the safcam.org website you will find some resources for these days: The similarities in convictions and mindsets of Saint Francis de Sales and Saint John Bosco. There is also a novena to Don Bosco - one format among others, of course. May our prayers bear much fruit.

The gospel of Mark for this Sunday presents to us the first words of Jesus as he begins his public ministry and the calling of the first disciples. Jesus proclaims the Good News of God. He is "himself" this Good News, He is "the Gospel"! His first words: “Convert and believe in the Good News”. Jesus invites us to “conversion” and to “faith”, to “change” and “believe”. And as the first disciples heard these words, they changed their lives, they left their boats and their nets and they followed Christ.

What are the “boats” or “nets” that we must leave in order to follow Jesus?

Jesus calls for a mission, “his mission”. He himself takes the initiative in vocation and mission. He calls people to live a “communion”, to form a “community”. To be called by Jesus is to follow a person, not an ideology, a human goal, but to follow the Messiah, the Son of God, as Don Bosco did.

The Rectors’ workshop – last session coming up!

The formation department of the congregation has published a second video on the new "manual" of the Rector, available on the congregation's website.

This coming week, SAFCAM will host the fourth and final online session for Rectors.

Next month we plan a 4-session workshop on the Preventive System in the context of Africa, and how it both affirms and challenges cultural practices and traditions in the field of education. These sessions are intended not only for confreres, but for members of the Salesian Family and lay people engaged in the mission of Don Bosco.

Current affairs

The world sighed in relief that the transition from Trump to Biden occurred without further complication.

Trump continues to be demonized while Biden is canonized and celebrated as the great saviour redeeming the USA from all the evils of the ‘last four years’! I believe a little caution is advisable in reading watching listening to the mainstream media regarding this simplistic assessment. While Biden is welcomed as the second catholic president of the USA, who ‘preached’ an impressive “homily” at the inauguration, it will be by the fruits of his four years that we will need to judge his merits.

One major fear for the developing world is that ‘woke imperialism’ or “ideological colonization” (as Pope Francis warned in Christus Vivit) will intensify under the Biden administration.

President Joe Biden marked the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalised abortion across the USA on 22 January 1973 with a pledge that he will make sure that “everyone” who wants it has access to the termination of pregnancy:

“In the past four years, reproductive health, including the right to choose, has been under relentless and extreme attack. We are deeply committed to making sure everyone has access to care — including reproductive health care — regardless of income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status,” said Biden via a White House Press Office statement that was attributed to both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He will furthermore be revoking the Mexico City Policy in the coming days, as part of his broader commitment to “protect women’s health and advance gender equality at home and around the world”. The Mexico City Policy prohibits funding of abortion abroad. So, we can expect renewed pressure on our countries to legalise abortion. Sad to see a president appear so pious, yet ignoring the need to defend certain fundamental values of life.

Free Catholic Bible Summit coming up online:

For the first two weeks in January, Fr. Mike Schmitz had the most popular podcast in America. This was ahead of The New York Times. And he’s currently at number two and will likely remain in the top ten for quite a while. Of even greater significance is that Fr. Mike's podcast is centred on reading the Bible. Not since Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's 1950's TV show, Life is Worth Living, have we seen this kind of popular interest in the faith. Fr. Mike’s humility, humour, and wisdom has reached countless people around the world, affirming those already in the faith as well as calling people back to the church...many for the first time. Fr. Mike Schmitz will be one of over 70, including Scott Hahn, impactful and gifted presenters at The WORD 2021 Catholic Bible Summit, Feb. 11-13th. Google Catholic Bible Summit 2021 for more info and to register.

God bless

Camiel and François