Kolkata: The 11 congregations of the Salesian Family, across South Asia, are coming together for the bicentenary celebrations of Don Bosco.
The three-day Salesian Family celebrations for the Bicentenary of Don Bosco’s Birth, in association with The Telegraph Young Metro, will be held at Don Bosco School, Liluah, and Netaji Indoor Stadium from September 26 to 28.
The program, to be inaugurated by West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, is expected to be attended by around 10,000 people, including the Salesian Family members, students, former students, teachers, parents and other guests.
The first two days of the celebrations will see the 11 congregations of the Salesian Family, who follow Don Bosco’s methodology, showcase how his presence in their lives has influenced them and how they apply his views and teachings in their daily lives. The workshops will be held at Don Bosco, Liluah.
The final day has been set aside for the public celebration of the event. The head of the Don Bosco family, Father Angel Fernandez Artime, Salesian Rector Major, who lives in Rome, will grace the occasion and address the gathering at Netaji Indoor Stadium. Students of the Don Bosco schools will put up cultural performances, The Telegraph reported.
“This is a landmark year for us. It is a time for us to celebrate and explore how we have become sons and daughters of Don Bosco. There has been a three-year-long build-up to this event,” said Father Anil Kumar Toppo, assistant principal, Don Bosco School, Park Circus.
“The first year was for studying about Don Bosco. The second was spent on knowing his pedagogy, his educational principles. And the third year was all about his spirituality. This is the fourth year, the year of celebration. Our alumni association is working hard along with us to make the event a grand success. Students from as early as the batch of 1957 are involved in the event,” Father Toppo said.
John Bosco, affectionately known as Don Bosco, was the founder of the Religious Congregation of the Salesians of Don Bosco and also the wider Salesian Family or Salesian Movement, which includes other religious congregations and groups of lay collaborators. He started providing shelter to boys without a home and taught them to work, in the process developing his famous educational method, the Preventive System.
“It is the bicentenary of a great saint. He contributed immensely to the development of the world. We want to honor him in the most fitting way. One program has already been held in Tiruchirapalli, where 2,800 scouts and guides from all Don Bosco institutions had gathered. After Calcutta, the celebrations will move on to Delhi. This is the southeast Asian chapter of the celebrations,” said Father Joseph Pathickal, principal, Don Bosco School, Park Circus.