Salesian Presence among Muslims

Abstract of the Paper Presented by Fr. Václav Klement

Introduction

We are meeting to reflect together on the Salesian Presence among the Muslims. The world of globalisation has changed a great deal in these 11 years. Starting from 9.11.2001 – scarcely six months after the previous Seminar in 2001, throughout the whole world relations between Christians and Muslims were subjected to great tensions and challenges. And again after 9.12.2006 – the date of the conference Benedict XVI gave at the University of Regensburg – it is clear that the growth of Islam signifies for the disciples if Jesus Christ one of the ten 'megatrends' which exert a great influence on the future of the Catholic Church.

The First Missionary Dream (1872)

When negotiation started between the Government of Argentina ns a Don Bosco for a Missionary expedition, the meaning of a certain dream, or vision, which he had had years before, began to be clear to the mind of Don Bosco

This is how Don Bosco narrated it: “I Found myself suddenly transported into some wild and unknown region. The whole country around formed an immense, uncultivated plain, whose flatness was unrelieved by wither hill or mountain. I saw there, in that plain, immense crowed of men running hither and thither, men of ferocious aspect and of extraordinary stature, with bronzed, almost black complexions and long stiff hair. Their only garments were animal skins and which they wore hanging from the shoulders, and fro weapons each one carried a rude spear and sling.

Salesians: Missionaries of the Young

God called Don Bosco and gave him a specific mission in life which was to work for the salvation of the young. It was among the young people that Don Bosco developed his style of life his pastoral and pedagogical legacy, his system of education, his spirituality and method of evangelization. Now his sons also follow the same style of life and it is very relevant in today’s mission field. This makes our charism unique giving primary importance to young. 

Don Bosco, the Missionary

The missionary dimension was always an original inspiration of Don Bosco. It can be said that the missionary ideal was almost part of don Bosco’s fundamental make up. Don Bosco had great desire to become a missionary and preach the good news in foreign lands but he realized that divine providence had other plans for him. 

The Missionary Spirit of Don Bosco

Don Bosco was in love with the missions from his early years. In his young age, he felt an interior voice calling him to preach the Gospel in mission lands. But Fr. Cafasso guided him to fulfill God’s plan for another mission. Though Don Bosco never went to the missions, he never abandoned his missionary ideal; rather, he nurtured it in his heart. It was this zeal that inspired him to send his sons as missionaries all over the world. One of his last recommendations was: “Save many souls in the missions.”(Don Bosco nel mondo 157)          

The ideal of the missions was always alive in Don Bosco. In 1861 in the “dream” of the magic lantern the Lord disclosed to him the future of the Salesian Congregation. He showed him “an immense crowd of youth, from different countries, speaking various languages… ‘They are all your sons’.”[VI 897-916].Eleven years later the Lord revealed to him the mission field for his sons: Patagonia. The dream was rich in hope because Don Bosco saw that his sons, with the help of the Blessed Virgin, were reaping abundant fruit where others had failed. (X: 54—55). After this dream “he felt his zeal for the missions burning bright, but he could not understand where the crowd of young people belonged. (X 1267).