SALESIAN COOPERATORS
                    GATHER IN IRELAND

by Richard Demeter

Eleven representatives from the Western Province attended the English-speaking Salesian Cooperators Congress last July in Limerick, Ireland. Among the approximately 100 participants were Mr. Roberto Lorenzini (the Cooperators' World Coordinator from Rome), Sr. Maria de los Angeles (from the Sisters' General Council), and Fr. Patrick Laws, SDB (the World Delegate).

Fr. Laws highlighted the conference's theme-"Sharing Our Gifts"-by describing Don Bosco as a "Gift of the Spirit." After recognizing the Salesian founder's unusual talents as a writer and an organizer, Fr. Laws stressed Don Bosco's persistent belief that the laity has to be enlisted in the cause of service to young people. In this approach, Fr. Laws pointed out, Don Bosco was ahead of his time, and he worked diligently to lay the groundwork for what later were called "Cooperators." In this effort, Don Bosco showed extraordinary persistence: although he presented his first constitution for such a lay group in 1875, it was not until 11 years later that Rome approved the document.

In his address to the Cooperators, Fr. Laws pointed out that Don Bosco's intention in forming the Cooperators was not to create a group of "father's little helpers." Don Bosco intended, rather, to form a corps of adults who follow a vocation to help the Church and the local clergy serve the young, especially the poor. Although Don Bosco expected the Cooperators to be an independent group, he saw them linked in a special way to all the members of the Salesian Family. The Cooperators would be people who have a deep sense of who they are as Salesians and who, after much discernment, would make a formal commitment to Don Bosco's work.

In addition to rededicating themselves to the Salesian vision, the Western Province attendees agreed that by the year 2000 they would host a gathering in Los Angeles for the 450 Cooperators in the province.

"For someone who has never worked with Cooperators before, this experience has opened a new dimension of Salesian life to me," remarked Sr. Barbara Campbell, FMA, principal of Mary Help of Christians School in Laredo, Tex. "Don Bosco's vision, decades ahead of his time, of asking the laity to bring the Salesian spirit and spirituality into daily life, is brilliant."

"It's always a thrill to feel that special spirit again," concluded Mrs. Anne Gibbs, San Francisco Province delegate from L.A. "I thank God for this experience, but most of all I thank God for letting me get acquainted with the wonderful Texans in our Western Province. They were absolutely the best."