Carroll, Peter This year we Salesians of Don Bosco are celebrating 200 years since the birth of our founder, St John Bosco, and it is impossible to understand who we are now without an awareness of the circumstances within which we were born. John Bosco's life spanned a turbulent period of massive change in the city of Turin, where he founded his ministry. It was the era of the Risorgimento, when city-states and larger kingdoms were recovering from the Napoleonic (...) invasions at the turn of the century and, after a series of wars of independence, merged into the unified nation of Italy. (shrink)

This article applies to the social dimension of the Salesian mission. Subject was, chronologically, included in the three points. The article begins with the presentation of the social aspect of the life of the Founder of the Salesians – St. John Bosco. Then it moves to the activity of Bl. Michael Rua and the contribution of other saints, the servants of God and candidates for sainthood from the Salesian Family. The last point indicates a variety of pro-social activities in (...) the above mentioned areas in recent years. This article, of which the author is the Postulator for the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, is a contribution to the celebration of 150th anniversary of the Salesian Congregation (1859 – 2009). (shrink)

This article portrays the most important elements of the Salesian formation and education in the context of social life. It also points out the specifics of the community and its charism which set the foundations for this congregation. The conclusion is a reflection on the key elements of the Salesian mission in the present world.

Born in Bolton on 13 July 1938, the son of a mill-worker, Martin William Doyle was educated at St Joseph's R.C. primary school and then, having obtained an academic scholarship, at Thornleigh Salesian College. He entered the Order of Friars Minor at the age of 16, made his solemn profession the day after his twenty-first birthday and was ordained to the priesthood on 16 July 1961, which required a dispensation in view of his young age. This was followed by studies (...) in Rome at the Athenaeum Antonianum, 1962-64, where Doyle trained as an ecclesiastical historian and where he received his doctorate summa cum laude, obtaining maximum possible marks.Inspired by Vatican Council II Doyle was at the forefront of the renewal... (shrink)

About the Book: - Brahman and Person is a collection of essays by the late Richard De Smet (1916-1997) on the topic of person in Indian thought. Overturning the current interpretation, De Smet proposes that the nirguna Brahman can be regarded as properly personal, provided person is understood in the original and classical sense that emerged in the Christian effort to speak abut the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Rendering of saguna and nirguna Brahman as personal and (...) impersonal, instead originated with the Western translators of Sanskrit works, who were influenced by an individualistic idea of the person and the consequent restriction of its application to the human being. De Smet also dedicated attention to the question of the human person in Indian and Western thought over a number of essays, proposing that a properly holistic and organic notion of the human person can be found especially n the thought of sankara. This collection of essays by an eminent Indologist constitutes and important contribution not only to Indological studies but also to cross cultural and interreligious dialogue. About the Author:- Richard De Smet taught Indian Philosophy at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune. Born in Belgium in 1916, he joined the Jesuits in 1934 and came to India in 1946. He earned a Ph.D. in 1953 from the Gregorian University, Rome, for his thesis on the theological method of Sankara, proposing both that sankara was srutivanadin, and that he used the method of analogy in his interpretation of the Upanisadic mahavakyas. De Smet was a life member of the Indian Philosophical Congress and the Indian Philosophical Association and Founder-President of the Association of Christian Philosophers of India and in these capacities carried out an ongoing dialogue with Indian philosophers and religious personalities. He died in 1997. Ivo Coelho is Reader in Gnoseology and Metaphysics at Divyadaan: Salesian Institute of Philosophy, Nashik, and editor of Dvyadaan: Journal of Philosophy and Education Born in 1958 at Mumbai, he studied under De Smet at Pune, and went on to specialize in the hermeneutical thought of the Canadian Philosopher theologian and economist Bernard Lonergan. He is interested in issues of cross-cultural and interreligious understanding, dialogue and collaboration. He is the author of Hermeneutics and Method: The Universal Viewpoint in Bernard Lonergan (Toronto, 2001). (shrink)

Ivan Ortinsky was born on January 20, 1922 in the village of Pogirtsi, Rudkivsky District. At the age of 17, having just got a certificate of maturity for a gymnasium, he departed from Lviv to Italy. Here in 1939-1943 young Ivan studied at the Salesian Small Seminary in Ivrea. In August 1942, in the city of Turin, he joined the novices of the Salesians fathers. Thanks to the good knowledge of different languages, in 1946 he was appointed guide in (...) the catacombs of St. Kalista. In 1949-1963, Ortinsky served as coordinator of the catacombs excursion bureau. (shrink)

When people hear the name of Cardinal Newman, one of the first associations they make is to his Idea of a University. However, it is rarely known that his first love was Catholic education at the elementary and secondary levels, so that the Oratory School he founded has been described as the “apple of his eye.” Interestingly, Pope Francis is the first pontiff in modern history, at least, to have taught high school (chemistry and Latin) and who has reflected extensively (...) on his own personal experiences of being raised by the Salesian Fathers in Argentina. Both Newman and Francis would regard Catholic elementary and secondary schools as essential to producing what Newman repeatedly referred to as “an educated laity” – equally essential for what St. John Paul II dubbed “the new evangelization.”. (shrink)

When people hear the name of Cardinal Newman, one of the first associations they make is to his Idea of a University. However, it is rarely known that his first love was Catholic education at the elementary and secondary levels, so that the Oratory School he founded has been described as the “apple of his eye.” Interestingly, Pope Francis is the first pontiff in modern history, at least, to have taught high school and who has reflected extensively on his own (...) personal experiences of being raised by the Salesian Fathers in Argentina. Both Newman and Francis would regard Catholic elementary and secondary schools as essential to producing what Newman repeatedly referred to as “an educated laity” – equally essential for what St. John Paul II dubbed “the new evangelization.”. (shrink)