East Asia - Oceania Region, 26 December 2022 -- In November, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis is preparing to release an Apostolic Letter on 28 December on Saint Francis de Sales to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death. The apostolic letter also comes one hundred years after Pope Pius XI proclaimed Saint Francis de Sales as the “Patron Saint of Journalists, Editors and Writers.”

       Looking back on the ‘Salesian Year’ 2022 we cannot but be very grateful for many fruits harvested during past 12 months:

       In some EAO provinces the confreres have been receiving short quotes of St Francis de Sales daily (365 times, e.g. Korea), while in other provinces regular conferences - talks online were provided (e.g. Philippines-North Malaysia)- Elsewhere, new publications of St Francis de Sales or about our ‘Salesian Saint’ reached the Catholic community (e.g. China province) and many others.

       Also the fruits of the 2022 EAO Salesian Family Spirituality Days (13-16 January 2022) held online, is now completely available on the SF-EAO English YouTube channel, with 6 LIVE-streamed sessions (World level at Valdocco) and 23 single videos produced by different EAO Salesian Family groups and most of the provinces.

       At the world level there was the Rome-UPS (Salesian University) International Conference on St Francis de Sales: Posterity, Spirituality and Pedagogy, held at the Salesian University in Rome (UPS) from 18-20 November 2022. Probably for the first time in history the two ‘Salesian Families’ came together - the SF of St Francis de Sales and Don Bosco’s Salesian Family - to get know each other.

       Just before Christmas we received a valuable booklet ‘The Spirituality and Pedagogy of Francis de Sales’ (SF Advisory Council, Rome, 150 pages) - a wonderful collection of sharing by almost all 32 Don Bosco Salesian Family groups. Each group shares its ‘Salesian’ inspiration it treasures, the practice of ‘Kindness’ in their mission. The book can be easily downloaded from the Boscolink website.

       Resources

• The Spirituality and Pedagogy of Francis de Sales (SF groups sharing 2022, 150 pages)
• Magisterium and China province - 400th of St Francis
• St Francis de Sales - new publications 2022

       Salesian Family Spirituality Days 2022 (St Francis de Sales)

• video - text
• 29 videos

       Related news articles:

• AustraLasia 5863 (III) The Year of St Francis de Sales in the EAO region
• AustraLasia 5897 (I) Symposium on 400th anniversary of St Francis de Sales (Korea)

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