On Saturday 3rd December ten Salesian Cooperators, plus eight others including a family of five children, attended a Day of Reflection in Falmouth presented by Fr Martin Poulsom, the SDB Delegate, on the theme of Family and the true meaning of Christmas. His title, The Humble Shed, linked the Crib with the Pinardi Shed in Turin where Don Bosco started his work just over 150 years ago. Earlier in the day during Mass, Frank Goff from Camborne was enrolled as a Salesian Cooperator and all Cooperators present renewed their Promise to pray for and, where possible, work with young people according to the Salesian charism of St John Bosco.

The Cornwall group with Frank Goff holding his certificate.

The day was divided into two with the morning session devoted to the theme of Advent with inputs from Fr Martin interspersed with his singing and group discussion. The afternoon session followed a similar pattern based on the true meaning of Christmas and our apostolate with the young. In between, we enjoyed Cornish Pasties from 'down the road'.

The discussion left us full of hope as becomes this time of the liturgical year. We promised not to be despondent when our efforts to engage with the young do not always work out, as we would like. The important message is that we may never know what effect our efforts have in years to come as young people reflect on the experiences of their youth. As we were reminded, The best is the enemy of the good and we should never underestimate what we do in the name of the Lord.

Finally, Fr Martin gave us a little leaflet on Advent, encouraging us to reflect of the four topics of Hope, Trust, Expectation and Desire.

Paul Barnes
Cornwall Centre Coordinator.