Porto Alegre (Brazil). From 5 to 7 September 2022, the Second Meeting of the School Directors of Our Lady Aparecida Province (BAP) took place at St. Teresa House in Porto Alegre in Brazil.
The meeting was attended by 15 lay Directors, plus the Provincial Council and the BAP animating Nucleus, who found themselves in the context of a journey of growth in synodality and in the synergy between the Educating Communities that the Province is carrying out in following the new configuration of the Brazilian Provinces, which took place in 2021.
The program began with a cultural outing in Gramado and Canela, two cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul where the participants were able to visit places of a touristic and spiritual nature, enjoying the flavors of a good Café Colonial and admiring the natural beauties sites, in particular the famous Lago Negro.
On 6 September, the group experienced an intense day of formation and sharing in St. Teresa House. The Provincial, Sr. Alaíde Deretti, opened the meeting with a reflection in which she focused on three words: joy, commitment, and responsibility. She invited the group to welcome the present moment in the awareness that it is “a joy to meet and to be able to weave networks, to share life and the journey traveled; a commitment, in the sense of joining forces and venturing towards new horizons, in and for the mission, a great responsibility to go forward together, in communion, in synodality.”
Sr. Ivone Yared, Director of the CENSA School in Lins and Responsible for the Province Schools, then coordinated the presentation of some good practices by the various groups that make up the hospital and school areas of the Province, in order to share their experiences.
The Executive Director of Our Lady Help of Christians Hospital – HNSA, of Três Lagoas – MS, Marco Antônio Calderon de Moura, presented the “administrative and managerial health” of the institution through numbers, investments, activities that involved the Community in the provision and improvement of services, as well as the prospect of a future partnership, which will expand the action of HNSA, thanks to the construction of a hydroelectric plant in the Municipality of Inocência – MS.
The Schools of the State of São Paulo, represented by Fabiana de Almeida, Director of Mother Mazzarello Institute, presented the 2023 Enrollment Campaign, while the School Directors of the South and Central-West regions gave an overview of each School and of the way in which the management accompaniment of the Units is carried out through the SIG – Integrated Management System.
In the afternoon, Nurse Clarice Souza Pinto, a health professional with extensive experience, led a reflection on the theme: “Affectivity and gender – a current issue for Directors”. Indeed, it is urgent to reflect on gender issues, always integrating educational practices with the values of Salesian education, in particular with the pillars of Don Bosco’s Preventive System.
The day ended with the Eucharistic celebration, presided over by Fr. Isidoro da Silva, Salesian of Don Bosco, Secretary of St. Pius X Province of Porto Alegre, and with a time of conviviality to get to know each other better.
On the third and final day, the group went to Sítio Mornese, located in Morungava, in the Municipality of Gravataí – RS, a house for days of retreat and spirituality where, guided by some of the FMA present, the participants were able to deepen their knowledge of the charismatic figures of the origins such as: Emilia Mosca, Corinna Arrigotti, Felicina Mazzarello, Enrichetta Sorbone, Petronilla Mazzarello, Assunta Gaino.
To conclude the day of Salesian spirituality, each of those present went individually to the ‘well’, a reconstruction of the well of Mornese present in Sítio Mornese. Sr. Alaide Deretti welcomed each one with words of trust and encouragement and gave a gift/remembrance of the 150th Anniversary of the Foundation of the FMA Institute.
The Directors expressed their appreciation for the formation days lived, because they found them regenerative and had created deeper unity, aroused greater commitment, and awakened the desire to know the Salesian Charism ever better.
