By Bro. Amilcar D’Silva & Fr. João D’Costa, SDB

Fatumaca, East Timor, May 16, 2015 – It’s a fabulous and meaningful event of keeping a day as a FAMILY DAY in the Marian month. The Colégio Dom Bosco- Fatumaca was crowded with the presence of the parents. The day was bright and the events of the day began with a solemn Eucharistic Mass presided by the acting Rector Fr. Tomas Gusmão de Carvalho, SDB in the Shrine of Mary Help of Christian. In his homily he encouraged the young people to seek a knowledge that leads to eternal life. He also highlighted the challenges that the families are facing nowadays. He re-echoed the message of the His Holiness Pope Francis to the families on the occasion of His visit to Manila. Modern families are confronted with the new colonialism. This colonialism manifests itself in the form of individualism. 

After the Eucharistic celebration, the meeting of the educators and the parents were taken place in two separate places. The Aspirantates along with their parents have a meeting with Fr. João da Costa Boavida, SDB and all the formators inside the church. The students of Technical School with their parents have a meeting with Bro. Adriano Maria de Jesus, SDB and all the educators in the hall of Electronic workshop.

The highlights of the meeting:

Bro. Adriano Maria de Jesus, SDB – the Director of the Technical School presented the rules and regulations in the meeting. He highlighted the need for letting the parents consciously know the rules and regulations of the school in order to educate the students in a discipline way. The parents are the key factor and in full responsible to the all-round education of the children.

The parents really appreciated the presentation and in full support towards the implementation to the best quality of education of their children. Fr. João da Costa Boavida, SDB – the in-charge of the Salesian Aspirantate opened the meeting with the parents by introducing the formators to the parents. He proceeded with the presentation of the vision-mission of the Aspirantate. He informed the parents that Aspirantate is not only an ordinary school. It is a school for the youth who are discerning to be Salesian brothers and priests in the future. He also discussed some rules and regulations with the parents. He told them the house rules are made in order to guarantee the smooth running of the formation house. The spirit behind the rules is to foster good relationship between the aspirants and formators.

The parents showed their appreciation to the efforts of the Salesians in forming and educating their children by thanking the Salesians. In a country where educational system is chaotic, the Seminary has offered a good alternative in educating the young.

The meeting was concluded with the distribution of the mark sheet of the students to their parents. Last but not the least; the FAMILY DAY is much more cultured with the thanksgiving songs from the students to their parents and the fellowship lunch.