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"These photos were made available to the Salesian web site due to the generosity of Fr. Steve Dumais SDB, Sr. Emy De Filippi FMA, Fr. Franco Pinto SDB, Fr. Mike Mendl SDB."
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Welcoming
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Sister Emy and Kathy .. our welcome wagon!
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Friends find a warm welcome.
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Fr. Tim greets Br. MIguel
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.Reviewing early photos of Don Bosco. "Don Bosco dreamt of a many-sided mission to the young and the poor and welded the efforts of as many as shared his educative and saving plan into a vast movement." (Common Identity Card, #2)
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Opening session
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Our MCs at work
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Moment of Prayer
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Art and Salesian Cooperators lead the prayer
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Young brothers lead a lively hymn to Don Bosco
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Salesian Family at prayer
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Fr. Joe Boenzi, our guide for the day.
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An attentive audience
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Fr. Joe making a point
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An affirming presence
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Fr. Joe and Fr. Tom
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Lunch
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Lining up for pasta at lunch!
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It's meat balls and spaghetti!
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Don't forget your salad!
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Small Group Session
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Our young participants send their greetings.
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Some more greetings from a small group.
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A small group discussion
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A spirited sharing session
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We're number 1!!
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WE WON!!! Yippeee!!
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Eucharist
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Gathering for Mass
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Fr. Jim as our celebrant
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Our music ministry at Mass
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Frequent reception of Penance and Eucharist
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Celebrating our Identity
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Fr. Bill fills in an evaluation form ... and we begin preparations for the next Salesian Family Spirituality Day in 2009.
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Salesian Family Spirituality Day
by Fr. Tom Dunne S.D.B.
Last Saturday, Feb. 3, more than eighty members of the Salesian Family gathered at the Marian Shrine to celebrate their common identity in the Salesian Family Spirituality Day. This day was organized by the Salesian Family Commission as a way of bringing together the members of the Salesian Family during the week of Don Bosco’s feast.
Representatives of the Salesian Cooperators, Don Bosco Volunteers, Past Pupils, Salesian Sisters, Salesians of Don Bosco, Salesian Lay Missioners, and Salesian collaborators centered their attention on the pastoral environment that Don Bosco fostered in the Oratory: Home that welcomed; Parish that evangelized; School that prepared for life; Playground where young people could gather and have fun with their friends.
The day was organized around this Oratorian criterion. Experiences of welcome, evangelization, education, and play were integrated into the fabric of the day.
Fr. Joe Boenzi, SDB served this Salesian Family gathering as the presenter and guide. His scholarship, wisdom, ministerial experience, and pastoral approach were profound gifts to all participants. We all left the Marian Shrine this past Saturday feeling more united around a common understanding of and commitment to Don Bosco’s pastoral approach and spirituality as expressed in the Oratory Criterion.
The Salesian Family Commission worked together for two years to give this day a solid preparation and an effective implementation. Throughout that day, they witnessed the reality that is the Salesian Family:
"Today the Salesian Family is made up of numerous Groups. They form a single vital organism, and this explains their convergence with each other and also the differences between them." (The Common Identity Card #3)
The day came to an end with two typically Salesian experiences: childlike fun and prayer. A game of Jeopardy with seven competing groups managed to create a lot of laughter and excitement while reviewing the content that had been covered during the day. The closing celebration of the Eucharist brought the Salesian Family together around the altar. It also expressed an essential element of our identity as Don Bosco’s Family:
"The Eucharist as sacrifice and sacrament, the Eucharist eaten and adored, was in Don Bosco's life strength and consolation, the source of peace and the fire of activity. For both him and his boys holiness was unthinkable without the Eucharist" (Common Identity Card #17)
The entire Salesian Family looks forward to the next Salesian Family Spirituality Day in February 2009.