Don Bosco's Relics in California - Itinerary

• Saturday, 11 September 2010 – San Francisco: The relics cross the border into the USA and California from Baja California in Mexico, leaving the Salesian Center at 12:00 noon.

A delegation that will meet the relics and accompany them on the road, from Tijuana to San Francisco. 


Projected arrival time for the relics at SS Peter & Paul is for between midnight on Saturday and 2:00 am on the following morning. Parish youth are planning to spend the night for the eventuality of a late arrival.

• Saturday, 11 September 2010 – San Francisco: SS Peter & Paul hosts a reception celebration for St John Bosco. This culminates a triduum of parish celebrations that include invitations to religious and parish priests of San Francisco, Marian societies and cultural communities of North Beach. The triduum will feature ecumenical and youth celebrations. Archbishop George Niederauer will profile Don Bosco in celebrations on Thursday, 9 September; other speakers include Russ Gumina and Fr John Itzaina. Today’s celebrations will have a strong youth dimension, leading up to the welcome of the relics at midnight (or at the moment that they will arrive).

• Sunday, 12 September 2010 – San Francisco: SS Peter & Paul hosts veneration of the relics through the night and early morning hours with six honor guards (SFPD, SFFD, Knights of Columbus, Knight of Malta, Knights of the Holy Sepulcher) and the participation of the youth and young adults, Chinese community, Italian community and Marian societies. Regular parish masses all take a theme: Community Service (7:30), Don Bosco, Apostle of the Young (8:45), Don Bosco, Missionary to the World (10:15), Don Bosco, Model of Holiness (12:00). Bishop Ignatius Wang, Auxiliary of San Francisco, will celebrate the 10:15 mass. The evening celebration (5:00 pm), with the theme Don Bosco, Faithful for the Kingdom, will honor Salesians who celebrate Jubilees and Anniversaries during 2010.

• Monday, 13 September 2010 – San Francisco: SS Peter & Paul celebrations for the children of the school, with a festive assembly and mass of Don Bosco and Mary Help of Christians (9:00 am). Send-off of relics from SSPP at 10:30 am, arriving at Corpus Christi at 12:00 noon. Afternoon functions with school children of Corpus Christi. Evening vigil at Corpus Christi with parishioners and Salesian Family, with prayer and celebrative functions. Relics repose at Corpus Christi over night.

• Tuesday, 14 September 2010 – Richmond/Berkeley/Watsonville: Journey from San Francisco to East Bay: depart Corpus Christi at 6:30 am, arrive Richmond Salesian High School at 8:00 am. Student delegations receive the relics at gate and accompany them into Salesian campus as part of Triduum celebration and school picnic. Journey to Berkeley: depart Salesian High at 11:30 am, arrive Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology at 12:15. Journey to Watsonville: depart Berkeley at 2:15 pm, arrive by solemn procession through Watsonville at Our Lady Help of Christians Valley Church towards 5:30 pm.

• Wednesday, 15 September 2010 – Watsonville/Los Angeles: St Francis School, Watsonville (mass and reception for students of St Francis, Salesian Sisters, friends of St Francis); departure (11:30) from Watsonville for Los Angeles (St Mary’s Parish, Boyle Heights); estimated travel time: 7 hours. Evening vigil services with parishioners and Salesian Family and alum at St Mary’s Church.

• Thursday, 16 September 2010 – Los Angeles/Rosemead: St Mary’s Church: following early morning mass, relics are brought to Salesian High School for student rally and prayer service for the students of Salesian High and their feeder school (6:30 am); journey from Boyle Heights to St Brigit’s Chinese: receiving relics and veneration by Chinese community (11:00), with particular participation of the elders of the Chinese Catholic community; journey from Los Angeles to Rosemead: receiving of relics and veneration at Don Bosco Tech (1:00 pm) as part of the student triduum, with student and alum participation; celebrations at Bosco Tech conclude with a procession of the relics, from the school to St Joseph Salesian Center.

• Thursday, 16 September 2010 – St Joseph Salesian Youth Renewal Center: receiving the relics that arrive from Bosco Tech in procession (5:00 pm), veneration with religious and socio-cultural celebrations by a succession of groups. These celebrations include: a children’s program with catechesis, cultural dance, games, exhibits, youth performances, clowns, jugglers, live music (5:45-7:45); Family Rally (8:00); Night Prayer and Good Night (8:30); All Night Vigil (beginning at 9:30 pm) that includes storytelling, labyrinth walk, Taizé Prayer, Rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Film Festival, praise and worship.

• Friday, 17 September 2010 – Rosemead/Bellflower: All night vigil at St Joseph Salesian Center ends with mañanitas and Morning Prayer (6:30), Eucharist (7:00), and a Farewell gesture to Don Bosco with the departure of the Relics for Bellflower (8:00). The journey continues by road from Rosemead to Bellflower. Receiving the relics and veneration at St John Bosco High School (9:30 am) becomes the concluding exercises of a student triduum, with mass, artistic and athletic celebrations. The students of St John Bosco accompany the relics to St Dominic Savio School with a procession along Bellflower Boulevard. The children at St Dominic Savio School receive the relics (1:30 pm) and accompany then into the parish church for veneration. After school, there are parish and Salesian Family observances that will include evening and night vigil services.

• Saturday, 18 September 2010 – Bellflower: St Dominic Savio, Bellflower: religious services, literary-musical events, educational contests and socio-cultural celebrations by a succession of groups: Religious Education, Damas Salesianas, Adma, Alum (Filipino Bosconians; Vietnamese Past Pupils; Ex-alumnas latinoamericanas; Ex-alumnos de Don Bosco; alum of St Dominic Savio; Awakening 68 Don Bosco Makati), ADMA, Don Bosco Volunteers; Young Adult Volunteers; SYLC – Salesian Youth Movement, parishioners, Cooperator Salesians, FMA, SDB. In the evening Liturgy (5:30 pm), the Mass of Perpetual Profession.

• Sunday, 19 September 2010 – departure: travel from Bellflower to Long Beach Airport (LGB) for transport by cargo plane to New Orleans.

Don Bosco’s relics arrive first in San Francisco – the city where Don Bosco’s sons began their first work in the United States in 1897. From San Francisco, the relics will be transported gradually through the state, arriving in Los Angeles County, where the Salesian presence is particularly significant. Local committees will coordinate celebrations.

Central committee: Joseph Lockwood, Elisabeth Gamarra, Duoc Le, Frank Lavin, Marc Rougeau, Joe Boenzi. 

Salesian educators in West Bengal

Last night we were met at the provincial house by Fr Anthony Valluran and a classmate of his by the name of Fr George Ukkran, who is from the Chennai province and works in formation. Both Anthony and George joined Thomas and I in a little tour of Calcutta surroundings today.

In the morning we visited the Don Bosco school at Park Circus.

Don Bosco Park Circus is the first school built by the Salesians in this area of the country. It is an English-medium school, and includes academic and trade sectors for children, teens and young adults. The new programs for job preparation are attracting a whole new clientele and the school is under expansion, which is incredible to me in this day and age when money is scarce. Still, from all appearances, the Salesians and their collaborators are moving ahead with great enthusiasm and solid support.

Fr Anthony Valluran (Guwahati province) and Thomas Kayyalackel (Kolkata province) both participated in the ISS at Berkeley in this past year (2008-2009)

Classes were not in session because the students were on their June break, we were told. However, the school grounds were filled with students playing organized games of football (soccer) and cricket (India is a leading country for this game, of course). As we toured the plant, however, I realized that there were a number of students still at work. Those enrolled in the trade-training programs were preparing for examinations. Passing these exams would land them placement in the job market of Kolkata and surroundings, if not across India. To have a Don Bosco diploma is credential enough for those in the trades.

Don Bosco Park Circus, Calcutta: cricket for the youngsters from the neighborhood and boys from the school.

Shortly before noon we arrived at the Marian Shrine of Bandel. This shrine, situated in the Hoogly district, goes back to the 17th century and centers around the recovery of a statue of the Virgin Mary that was originally placed in a Portuguese chapel 1599, but which was recovered from the river after the siege of Hougly in 1632. She is called Our Lady of Happy Voyage, and the original statue is today situated in a niche high up in the bell tower of the church built by the Christians in the 17th century.

Façade of the Basilica of Our Lady of Bandel

The shrine was made a basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1988 and so is known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Bandel. It is the oldest church in Bengal, and the Salesians have ministered here since 1928. As part of the shrine apostolate, the Salesians have created a retreat center out of the original Augustinian priory, and this attracts groups and individuals almost every day of the year for directed and group experiences. There is also a junior seminary as part of the complex, and a parish as well which is growing each year.

Frs Thomas continued to guide us through the Shrine, which neither Fr Anthony nor Fr George had ever visited before (and of course, this was my first visit as well). We met a lot of pilgrims who came to pray: religious women and men, laity, youth and young adults, families. There were many non-Christians who came to visit the shrine as well and they did so with great devotion.

Frs Thomas and Anthony and George at Marian Shrine Bandel

The church carries all the beauty of a Portuguese mission church. In fact, the church does not look too different from what you might find the Spanish mission churches in California, New Mexico or Texas. The exterior of the church is vested in granite and stone, but this is not original. The Salesians who came from Italy had all the exterior walls completed this way, not so much in imitation of the churches in Italy, but as a way to cut down on maintenance. What a good idea!

Main altar and sanctuary, with statue of Our Lady of Bandel

The church's interior is like a jewel box. It is cool and dark, and pilgrims remove their shoes, in typical Asian style, when they enter. The sanctuary of the church follows the Portuguese style, with the statue of Our Lady of Bandel at the center above the tabernacle. Processional statues decorate side altars, and the church invites recollection and devotion.

Journey to India - Kolkata

Arrived this morning in Calcutta, after a long journey that took me from San Francisco (SFO) to Washington (IAD)… to Dubai (DBX) on United Airlines… to Calcutta (CCU) on Air Emirates. Okay, officially it is Kolkata, but so far everyone who is from here is saying "Calcutta" to me. Interesting.

On my arrival at the international airport in Kolkata, Thomas Kayyalackel met me. Thomas did this past year in Berkeley for the ISS at Don Bosco Hall. His mother's failing health necessitated his early departure during Holy Week. It was a loss for us at Don Bosco Hall, but did a world of good to his mother, whose health immediately recovered.

Thomas has a driver, and he picked me up in a landrover right from the arrivals lane at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU). It was about 10.00 when we arrived at the Salesian Provincial Headquarters in town, and after a quick shower and change of clothes, I was able to meet members of the provincial staff there in this very busy center. I joined the community for lunch and in the afternoon Thomas took me into the city, directly to the house founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Mother Teresa's founding center is in a very busy area of the city. One still sees street people and children begging… although the heavy traffic makes the area so noisy that it is very difficult to hear what people are saying to you. When we stepped out of the landrover, it was immediately obvious that here was a European and several children approached me asking for alms. I had no rupies with me. In fact, I had not even brought my wallet. Thomas took care of giving them something as he led me into a side alley and into the entrance of Mother Teresa's house.

We visited the care center, the children's hostel, and of course the rooms that were inhabited by the saint. A few of the sisters recognized Thomas, and invited us to stay for the Eucharist at 5.00 in the afternoon. We did stay and were able to concelebrate at the mass celebrated with over 100 people at Mother Teresa's tomb.

Of course I had brought my camera with me but was unable to take any photos of Mother Teresa's house. To my horror, I discovered that I packed the wrong batteries for my camera. I had brought akaline batteries. They did not work with the camera. Whoa!

Thankfully, Thomas had a contact who has contacts, and we went into a place into a popular shopping area filled with booths and stalls. What I needed were lithium batteries, and after conveying the concept in Bengali, we bought rechargeable lithium batteries and a recharger. Now we're in business.

Buying lithium batteries and a recharger on a Calcutta sidestreet… Frs Thomas and Augustine.

Aside from almost getting hit by a speeding bus, the trip around the streets of Kolkata was enlightening in itself.