Asylum Link Merseyside
Posted: Thu, 21 May 2009 11:59
There are two accounts of Asylum link from Ewan Roberts who is the Centre Manager of Asylum Link Merseyside, and from Fr. Michael Cunningham who has been working with the project.
Ewan Roberts, Centre Manager of ALM
Since the withdrawal of English teaching for newly arrived Asylum Seekers, the volunteer classes at Asylum Link have steadily filled to the point where 70-80 people per day are taught basic... Read More »
Reflections on Dominic Savio
Posted: Thu, 14 May 2009
'Young people are that part of human society, so rich in promise and yet so exposed to danger', Don Bosco used to say. He was convinced that in Dominic Savio, he had been privileged to encounter a young person who though he was only 15 years of age when he died, had lived life so fully that he could be seen as a heroic example of what it is to be a young Christian. Being young in Don Bosco's way of... Read More »
School Leaders visit Turin
Posted: Mon, 4 May 2009
A group of senior staff and governors from Salesian Schools in the UK went on pilgrimage to Turin from 1st to 4th May 2009 to deepen their understanding of Don Bosco's charism. Fr Hugh Preston SDB, the GBR Province's Animator of Salesian Schools, writes about the experience:
The group in front of Don Bosco's Rooms at Valdocco
If you want a really good ice cream to cool you down after a couple of... Read More »
Around the UK in Four Meals
Posted: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:59
What do you get if you cross an inability to cook with the catering needs of twenty five hungry Europeans and a healthy dose of chutzpah? Cheese on toast masquerading as Welsh Rarebit. Tesco's fish, McCains' chips and a copy of the Macclesfield Express becoming traditional English fish and chips. A pan of scouse cooked by a Widnesian morphing into Irish stew. And what can only be described as people... Read More »
Alan and Nicki in Tanzania
Posted: Fri, 24 Apr 2009
Alan and Nicki are in Tanzania for the second time now. The extracts from their emails below give a taste of their adventures:
-On the school front, we have had a lot of visitors. One important guest was the Provincial for the East Africa province (this includes Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan ).
He kindly blessed the new infirmary which is now operational. As the rector said, it is the best room in the school... Read More »
Celebrating Salesian Volunteering
Posted: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:59
On the 16th until the 18th of January, Savio House hosted the "Celebrating Salesian Volunteering" Weekend. I was lucky enough to have the time to go, along with Carmela, my wife. We were quite late and arrived in the middle of the evening social at 11pm (I say the middle, it was just beginning!). The whole weekend was an opportunity for us to link up with other past and present volunteers. I realised... Read More »
Transitions - Where are they now?
Posted: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:59
Apparently I now live in the most desirable postcode in London. What makes it so "desirable"? Well according to the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, it is within easy cycling distance of central London; it has the most popular properties, and the most enviable neighbours - so that is why he and his family have moved into:N1. Yet within this small geographical area of N1 is a wide, social and economic divide.... Read More »
Collaborative Ministry in Parishes
Posted: Tue, 7 Apr 2009 11:59
Following the death of Pope John Paul II, I read his reflections on his own vocation story, his journey towards the priesthood. In it he pays warm tribute to the parish in which he grew up; the parish of St Stanislaus Kostka in Cracow, which was run by the Salesians. He recalls that all the parish personnel and the community were sent to Dachau concentration camp, except an old parish priest and the... Read More »
Gospel Reflections for Lent: Year B Sunday 6
Posted: Tue, 31 Mar 2009
In Year B we are offered two options for the Gospel reading as we commemorate the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem, the versions of Mark and of John. Since we have been following John in recent weeks, and the idea of palms and the Sunday dating both stem from his version of the event, I'd be inclined to opt for this. It is also shorter(!), concentrating on the entry without any preamble.
The next day... Read More »
Gospel Reflections for Lent: Year B Sunday 5
Posted: Thu, 26 Mar 2009
The Gospel extract this week takes us to the last days of Jesus' ministry. In the unfolding of the narrative, Jesus has recently raised his friend Lazarus from the tomb in Bethany. As a result of the impression which this sign has made on the people, Caiaphas and his Sanhedrin friends have agreed that Jesus should die, and have made their decision public, so that Jesus is a marked man. A celebratory... Read More »