austraLasia
#1817
Interviews with outstanding
missionaries - glimpse into Da Mihi Animas...
MACAU: 16th March 2007 -- The place, Macau, the person, 92 year old
long-time Salesian missionary to China, Fr Gaetano Nicosia. The project,
collected materials on the Da Mihi Animas... in preparation, hopefully by
May this year, by Fr Aldo Giraudo sdb. The materials will draw from
interviews with a number of outstanding missionaries. Given Fr Giraudo's
grasp of the spirituality of Don Bosco, and given the practical experience and
witness of a number of wonderful Salesians in the field, this material will be
something to be on the lookout for.
Just to give readers a
glimpse of what the contents might contain, herewith some snippets from an
interview with Fr Nicosia.
Q: What is it Don Bosco is
trying to say with his 'Da mihi animas...'?
A: Don
Bosco founded the Oratory and our Congregation. His motivation was the salvation
of youth; all his work was for the salvation of souls....if we are to be true
sons of Don Bosco we need to be searching for souls with all our means. It was
true of the former diocese of Bishop Versiglia (Shiu Chow) and even more
important in the schools after 1950 when they were full of students....the boys
were enthusiastic and asked us 'I want to be a Catholic', or said 'I love
Jesus'. There were many catechumens.
Q: And the secret
of Salesian success worldwide?
A: From my personal
experience it is the conviction of the precious value of each soul. And how can
we save souls, as Don Bosco used say if not by making young people sense our
love for them. Since we used talk about the soul, the boys thought about
it and gave their response. Another point - personal contact with the young, in
the missions, in the schools. These are souls in our hands. Even now (at
92) I go every week to the local prison to teach catechism on a one-to-one
basis. For my whole life, catechism for me was not only teaching but my life's
goal. Jesus in my heart - and I want to give him to each youngster! Where Jesus
is, there I am too. I have God in my heart.
Q:
What are some dangers for the Salesian mission?
A:
External dangers - society has changed so much. Once there was just black
and white tv, now they have all kinds of media. In the past there were no
forbidden newspapers even in Chinese pagan countryside. Now in Macau and
Hong Kong - too many! Digital and video games! Internal dangers - we lack
the zeal and enthusiasm to make new Christians; that's more dangerous and has a
direct impact on our mission. Our school textbooks on Religion or Values
education are not about the Catholic Faith anymore. We have 150 Sisters and some
60 priests around Macau but just 150 baptisms a year! In Yuet Wah College there
is still catechesis going on thanks to the community (and including another old
missionary Fr Rescalli, also 92 years old), and we have 20 baptisms a year [this
year 30]. Don Bosco said 'give me souls', but what we lack is the means to
attract them to Jesus. Every soul in our schools is an immeasurable treasure -
and this soul is on your hands in our school!
Q:
Cetera tolle - is that difficult?
A: I pray
each day 3 hours before the Blessed Sacrament. I read the Bible in Portuguese. I
pray from the Salesian Prayerbook. It's a wonderful time with Jesus. We are for
the young. I don't even have time to think about cetera tolle!! We
havenn't talked about the Da mihi animas for a very long time. I'm very
happy about this theme for our GC26. Let's not waste time changing a few rooms
in this or that building. What we need is more evangelization! Look at HK
Diocese. They recently spent two years on an evangelization campaign and had
more than 500 catechumens over the usual number.
A
little background: at five years of age when little Gaetano Nicosia
entered a Salesian orphanage, he saw a picture of a Hansen's disease sufferer.
It inspired him then. 'I kissed that photo', he says. 'Now I don't kiss photos -
I kiss the lepers!' He joined the Salesians after studying as a trainee printer
at a Salesian school and was sent to China. Some thirty years later he did in
fact work in a leprosarium.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the
Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for
ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact mailto:admin@bosconet.aust.com. Use
BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library
at at http://sdl.sdb.org/. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype
name is austraLasia.