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=USA West Province Newsletter • San Francisco, California May 28, 2017

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SICK

Fr. Luis Gryzko...................01Fr. Ric Fernando.................05Fr. Joe Farias.......................08Fr. Larry Lorenzoni............12Br. Bob Delis .....................13Fr. Rafael Saiz....................16Fr. Edward Liptak..............16Br. Benito Guerrero............20Fr. John O’Brien.................23Fr. Lucian Lomello.............27Fr. Juan Muñoz...................29

May BIRTHDAYS

Fr. Lucian Lomello, SDBBr. Jerry Weirich, SDBBr. Tony Matse, SDB

Fr. Armand Oliveri, SDBFr. Mario Rosso, SDBFr. John O’Brien, SDB

Fr. Avelino Lorenzo, SDB

Dear Salesian Sisters and Brothers,

I am sitting in the Long Beach Air-port waiting to board my flight to San Francisco. Our flight has been delayed for an hour. This time al-lows me the space to begin my weekly letter.

I have spent several days in Los Angeles attending several meetings and events. I flew down to Long Beach on Wednesday, May 24, spe-cifically, to preside at the Mass in honor of Mary Help of Christians at St. Dominic Savio, Bellflower. The community had asked me a year ago to be the main celebrant for their feast day Mass. I was also pleased to have been able to partici-pate in the rosary procession before the Mass. During that Mass, Br. Fabian Cardenas received the min-istry of Acolyte. This ministry is

a necessary step, after the ministry of Lector, for the ordination to Dia-conate and Priesthood. Br. Fabian comes from Bogota, Colombia and will serve in our province for an un-specified time. Already, Fabian has shown leadership qualities, a desire to serve the people, especially, the young and to enrich community life with his presence and talents. We congratulate Fabian on having re-ceived this ministry and promise to pray for his perseverance and ongo-ing growth in his vocation. It was a special blessing to have had Fabian receive this ministry on the feast of Mary Help of Christians. May she guide and accompany him on his journey to serve the young.

These days, I was also grateful to have attended St. John Bosco High School’s Baccalaureate Mass on Friday evening and the Gradua-tion ceremony on Saturday morn-ing. Both events were well done and, once again, my congratulations to all those who worked so hard to prepare them. A special Congratu-lations to the Seniors who graduated at Bosco and to all the graduates of all of our schools. Again, we re-mind ourselves of our tradition and belief since Don Bosco’s time that we believe that our young people have been brought to our Salesian schools and sites by Mary, the Help of Christians. We now send them off with God and Mary’s blessings and protection.

1 INTOUCH • May 28, 2017

As I participated and watched the Graduation ceremonies taking place, I was moved by the quality of young men who are leaving our school, most of them after 4 years, to take their place in the world as young adults. I cannot help but see the Preventive System at work, or at its crowning point. And, despite our weaknesses in sometimes not living Don Bosco Educational System as well as we could, having our young people exposed to our Salesian Spirit, does wonders. I could sense something special in the spirit and quality of our young men. As our Rector Major, Fr. Angel, has told us, many of the miracles that take place on a daily basis are the miracles of how our young men and women are transformed by our preventive sys-tem. Trust in Mary Help of Chris-tians and you will see miracles, were not empty words. I am sure many of us could tell stories of young people we know who were changed for the better after being with us. Most of

us Salesians would not be Salesians if it were not for some impact left on us by the Salesian Preventive Sys-tem.

There was a touch of sadness these days at Bosco as we said “good-bye” to Mr. Casey Yeazel after five years as Principal of St. John Bosco High School. Casey has accepted another position at a Charter Orga-nization in Bakersfield. Mr. Yeazel will be missed. On behalf of the Salesians of Don Bosco, we wish to thank Casey for his dedication, pro-fessionalism and hard work. Casey has brought a new educational vi-sion to Bosco and has been instru-mental in building up the academic level of our school. But, Casey has also brought a wonderful human and Salesian presence to his daily interactions with the young and those part of the school community. I have always found it easy to speak with him and share insights and sim-ilar values. We say THANK YOU

to Casey for his five years with us and for his excellent leadership at Bosco. We wish him all the best as he carries the Salesian Spirit to an-other city and mission. He is part of our Salesian Family and always welcome to come and visit or stay.The assignments, “obediences,” for the next pastoral year, 2017-18 are official and public. There may still be some changes that will need to be made due to some unforeseen fac-tors. All the changes were done for the sake of our mission and the qual-ity of our community life. I pray that what we have hoped to accomplish will be realized. And, as many of you know, once you make one move, you impact another community and ministry and other moves naturally follow. I wish to thank my Salesian brothers for being so available and willing to go where needed. No one resisted their new assignment. This was part of a discernment process that included prayer, dialogue with the council, the person being reas-

Br. Fabian Cardenas received the ministry of Acolyte on May 24, 2017 at St. Dominic Savio Church, Bellflower CA


Province Calendar

Province Calendar 2017 Province of St. Andrew the Apostle

San Francisco, California As of February 22, 2017

January, 2017 1 SU Mother of God 3-5 TU-TH Provincial Council Meeting, Salesian Preparatory, Richmond 4 WE Provincial Council Presentation: Care of the Elders 5 TH Provincial Council: Report on Novitiate 10-19 TU-TH Provincila Visitation, Salesian Community, Bellflower 16 MO Martin Luther King, Quarterly Day 17 TU Province Financial Advisory Mtg. 18 WE Board Members @ 1:30 PM SJB Bellflower 24 TU St. Francis de Sales, Patron 31 TU St. John Bosco, Founder February, 2017 1 WE Mass for Deceased Confrere 1 WE Members Board w/Dinner @ 4:00PM St. Francis High School 2 TH Members Board @ 12:00 PM Salesian, Richmond 2-6 TH-MO Provincial Visitation, SS P&P, San Francisco 7 TU Pius IX 7-10 TU-FR Visit, Curatorium, Orange, NJ 9 TH Bl. Eusebia Palomino Yenes, vir. 12-14 SU-TU Provincial Council Meeting, Don Bosco Tech, Rosemead 13 MO Provincial Council Presentation: Sharing the Mission with the Laity 16 TH Trusts Meetings 17 FR Board Meeting, Bosco Tech, Rosemead @ 10:00 AM 17-20 FR-MO Provincial Visit, St. Mary’s Parish, Los Angeles 20 MO President’s Day 23-26 TH-SU Religious Ed Congress 25 SA SS. Louis Versiglia & Callistus Caravario, Salesian Protomartyrs March, 2017 1 WE Ash Wednesday 3-6 FR-MO Provincial Visit, St. Dominic Savio Parish, Bellflower 8 WE Board Members @ 1:30 PM SJB Bellflower 10-17 FR-FR Provincial Visitation, Don Bosco Hall, St. Ambrose, Berkeley 13 MO Provincial Council Presentation: On-Going Formation

13-15 MO-WE Provincial Council Meeting, Villa Maria del Mar, Santa Cruz 17 FR St. Patrick’s Day 19 SU Salesian Family Province Day, Bellflower, followed by Rock Out Poverty, Bellflower 26-2 SU-TH “Conjunto”, Cochabamba, Bolivia April, 2017 5 WE Directors-Pastors Meeting, 10:00 AM to Dinner, Corpus Christi, San Francisco 6-7 TH-FR Provincial Council Meeting, Provincial Residence, San Francisco 11-17 TU-MO Provincial Visitation, San Luis Rey, Laredo 16 SU Easter Sunday 24-26 MO-WE North American Salesian Conference New Hampshire 28 FR Board Meeting, Bosco Tech, Rosemead @ 10:00 AM 28-3 FR-WE Provincial Visitation, Provincial Residence, San Francisco May, 2017

2 TU Province Finance Advisory Committee, San Francisco @ 5:20 4 TH Members Board w/ Dinner @ 4:00 PM Salesian, Richmond 5-6 FR-SA Provincial Council Meeting, Provincial Residence 6 SA St. Dominic Savio 9-12 TU-FR ESA, Medellin, Columbia 12-14 FR-SU Provincial Visit, St. Bridget Parish, Los Angeles 13 SA St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello 16 TU St. Louis Orione 17 WE Members Board @ 10:00 AM St. Francis High School 18 TH Board Members W/ Dinner @ 1:30 PM, SJB Bellflower 19-22 FR-MO Provincial Visitation, Corpus Christi, San Francisco 24 WE Mary Help of Christians 29 MO Memorial Day 31 WE Trusts Meetings @ 9:30 AM

signed and others. Let us ask God to guide and strengthen our brothers as they begin their new ministries with all the challenges and blessings they will encounter.

Next week, Sunday, the provincial council and I will begin our annual retreat/planning days up in Lake Ar-rowhead. Thanks to the Neiger fam-ily, we are able to use their mountain home for these days of reflection and visioning. We will spend a week, from June 4 to June 10 up in Lake Arrowhead. These days will include quiet time for prayer and re-flection, visioning, time to dialogue on topics of structure, formation, laity, finances and other related top-ics. These days also include team building and time to relax with one another. These are special days for us. Please keep us in prayer as we continue to look towards the future

and seek new ways to enhance our Salesian presence and quality of life in the province.

Tomorrow we celebrate Memorial Day. This is a day in which our country stops to remember those who have served in the military and are now deceased. Many of us remember our own Dads, uncles, neighbors, friends, maybe, even Moms, sisters and aunts who spent time, in some capacity, in the mili-tary service. While as Christians we do not condone war, we are grateful for the many men and women who willingly served to protect values which have always been dear to us Americans. Tomorrow is a day to recall those values. Our values can-not simply be to defend American (USA) interests, but values of free-dom and justice for all, generosity toward those who have less, helping

to promote a world of peace, fair-ness, kindness and welcoming. We have always welcomed those who came from other countries, especial-ly, those we felt were fleeing unjust and oppressive situations. May to-morrow not only find us praying for those who have died defending our country, but also find us in deep re-flection and open dialogue with one another asking whether our country still upholds those precious values which we as followers of Jesus also uphold.

With warm regards and gratitude,

Fr. Ted Montemayor, SDB


Celebration of St. Dominic Savio Church, Bellflower, CA on Mary Help of Christians’ Feast day.

May 24, 2017, BELLFLOWER, CA - at St. Domi-nic Savio Church, there was a beautiful Marian ser-vice with reciting of the rosary in English and Spanish outside. Lead by a stature of Mary Help of Chris-tians. Afterwards there was a Mass celebrated by Fr. Ted Montemayor and ten concelebrants. During the services, Brother Fabian Cardenas, SDB received the minor order of Acolyte. Before the final blessing, Bro. Fabian sang the Ave Maria - MAGNIFICENT, superd (watch out Andrea Brocelli.) What a fantastic voice God gave him. May the good Lord continue to bless Bro. Fabian on his way to becoming a Priest in the Salesian Order. (Larry Arellano)


Br. Fabian Cardenas received the ministry of Acolyte at St. Dominic Savio Church, Bellflower, CA.


May 24, the whole Salesian Family from all around the world celebrated the Feast of Mary Help of Christians. All communities in our province celebrate this feast day at our schools or parishes. Here at Salesian College Prep, Richmond, our community and school joined together for the celebration.

On Wednesday morning, Richmond community started our day with morning prayers followed by a large break-fast to celebrate the feast day. At ten o’clock, the student body, faculties and staffs and our community gathered in the school’s gymnasium for the celebration of the Eu-charist by our director. Two guests from Berkeley, Fr. Bryan and Br. Vien joined us for Mass. The liturgy of Mary Help of Christians was also the last Mass of the school year.

The day Damien and I were inducted into the Novitiate on August 14th, we have been on the journey of intense discernment for the Salesian life. Our accompaniment, studies and reflections, led us to say yes and apply for vows. The tradition is that novices will offer their letters of petition to Mary on this day during Mass. After the homily, we offered our letters to Mary and placed them on the Altar. I felt blessed and happy that this is a life I have chosen to live with God and for youth. Meanwhile, as we placed our letters on the Altar, we were surrounded by the students and received a blessing from them. This was a special moment and reminds me that God is al-ways there in these young people. To follow the footsteps of Don Bosco and let Mary be our guide, as Salesians we are called to be witnesses of

Feast Day of Mary Help of Christians in Richmond


the Gospel and a life of following Christ for the young. I pray through this simple ritual, of offering the petition for vows, will help the students in our school to open their hearts and minds to the possibility of a religious vocation follow-ing Christ through Don Bosco’s charism. Da Mihi Aminas, Cetera Tolle.

Novice Quang Nguyen


Walk-A-ThonSt. Mary's Elementary School and theparents' organization under the direction offirst year principal, Mr. Jonathan Medina, tookto the playground to raise funds forscholarships and other needs of the school.St. Mary' Elementary school has been inoperation for over a hundred years. It is in theprocess of replacing its entire intercomsystem and installing a video securitysystem. The safety of the students has beena priority. The Walk-a-thon was a resoundingsuccess. Next year's Walk is already in theplanning. Hopefully, the parents will also beincluded in the activity. The faculty and staffalso walked.

After months of preparation for thereception of their First Communion,twenty-six students from St. Mary'sElementary school received the Bodyand Blood of Christ. Ms. JocelynKamura prepared them well.Fr. Jesse Montes, pastor, exhorted theparents to encourage their children toreceive Jesus often.

First Eucharist


SMS Alumna Breakfast Up

Ernie DelgadoIn the mid 1980's a retired couple, Ernie and Patsie Delgado volunteered, with the then associatepastor, Fr. Jesse Montes, SDB, as Youth Group leaders. As long time parishioners they weretotally embued with Salesian charism. So much so that as the youth group grew in number, theirhome, across from Roosevelt High School, became the daily local hangout for group members.Ernie joined Patsie in the Salesian Garden on the twenty-ninth of April after a touching ceremonyby his bedside. Fr. Jesse Montes emparted a papal plenary indulgence.

After just a month of beginning a communitybuilding breakfast every Wednesday morningafter mass, the gathering had to move. fromthe rectory to the church hall. From about10-15 parishioners, the morning numbers grewto 20-50. Now it has turned into a Pot-lucktype breakfast. Members have brought foodsranging from delicious tamales to refried beanswith chorizo. Everyone is welcomed. Homelesshave also been treated to these piping hotmeals.

Ms. Lluvia Devora has been elected as StudentBody President at Holy Family High School inGlendale. Lluvia was also Student BodyPresident at St. Mary's three years ago.Pictured are Esai, student at SMS, Lluvia, andMother and Father, Roxanne and FlorencioDevora. St. Mary's staff and faculty wish toextend their congratulation to Lluvia and herfamily on her prestigious accomplishment. Theparish community equally congratulates Lluvia.


Fatima 100th Anniversary Celebration at St. Joseph, Rosemead, CA.


3 different groups united in Faith and Devotion to our Lady. On May 24th, I had my last final on campus and I wasn’t available to take part of the Eucharistic Celebration at Salesian College Preparatory in Richmond, to honor Mary Help of Christians. During the mass, the novices would also be turning in their letter of application for First Profession. However, when I came back to the community, I drove with Fr. Tom Juarez to Watsonville to take part of the festivities there honoring Mary in our Salesian Parish; “Our Lady Help of Christians." I was so happy that, as a good Salesian son, I would not end up missing honoring our Mother. Mass was celebrated at 6 pm and the church was packed with people who have a strong devotion to our Lady, especially under the tittle of Help of Christians, who always assists those in need. What really struck me was how well organized the Celebration was, which was presided by Fr. Tom Juarez and con-celebrated by Fr. Joseph Paradayil and Fr. Luis Oyarzo. Mass was celebrated in both English and Spanish, but the music alternated between English, Spanish and even Portuguese. Fr. Tom remarked to the faithful, “Mary is our Help because it comes from God. He, Christ, gave her to us as Mother while on the cross, and also as in the wedding of Cana, she is always interceding for us to her son.” After Mass we processed around the parish praying the rosary and singing songs. Everything ended at the Hall with a big dinner celebration where different groups brought food to be shared. May Mary Our Help continue blessing the parish community and school in Watsonville, but also continue guiding our Province to transform each one of us in being better witnesses of God'slove for others.

Bro. Jhoni Chamorro, SDB.

WATSONVILLE, CA MAY 24, 2017

Feast of Mary Help of Christians


Sunday, May 28, 2017, Fr. John Roche, Fr. Itchan Laygo, and Sr. Dolores Riojas met with three young men from St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in downtown Los Ange-les. Two of the men are very excited about becoming Cooperators and their pastor and the Salesian Sisters are supporting their efforts. Jorge Salvador Ruiz is original-ly from Oaxaca and is very interested in beginning a lo-cal chapter at the parish. Jose Alberto Melgar Martinez, originally from El Salvador, wants to become part of that chapter and has been involved in the youth work of the

parish. Kevin Ceron has been in prayerful discernment since he met with us last year at Don Bosco Hall. Itchan and John met with him at the parish office and he is very excited and ready to become a Candidate for Salesian life. On Memorial Day, John and Itchan will meet with Arvin and Leo and initiate the process for an entry into the prenovitiate phase of formation. Continue to pray daily for these young men and continue to “shake the bushes!”

Vocation Ministry Is on the Rise!

Fr. Itchan, Jose Alberto, Jorge Salvador, Kevin Ceron with Fr. Itchan. Kevin is

Sr. Dolores, Kevin Ceron ready to come!


I am approaching the subject of weight gingerly. Why? I

don’t want people to think that I am critical of you just

because you might be on the “heavy” side. I want to

have a deeper understanding of weight and how that

affects your health. For the coming weeks, we will

unravel how our weight could change our health and

more importantly what can we do about it. I dare not

offend you by making broad statements about weight

or obesity. Hence I was extremely happy to come across

this website “Weight Matters” in their introductory

statement about why weight matters. It begins with an

opening statement which reflects my belief and my

motivation to begin our conversation on weight.

The issue of weight matters to people in many different

ways. It evokes many different emotions and can often

be difficult to talk about with your healthcare provider,

spouse, friend, loved one or others.

The most important reason why weight matters is

because of your health.

There are many health implications that accompany

excess weight, such as diabetes, hypertension, sleep

apnea and others. Sometimes weight can even affect

emotional health as well. It is not uncommon for some-

one dealing with weight issues to be affected by

depression or a lack of self-confidence.

Gaining excess weight and realizing the health implica-

tions is not always the easiest thing to recognize. In fact,

most Americans do not realize that they are affected by

Weigh In OnYour HealthBy Sheila Kun RN, BA, BSN, MS(Salesian Cooperator)

excess weight or obesity, or even at risk for weight-

related conditions. This is why it is so important for you

to realize that YOUR WEIGHT DOES MATTER!

Let me begin by going into the physiological compo-

nent of a fat cell this week. From Wikipedia in its defini-

tion of Adipocyte: Adipocytes, also known as lipocytes

and fat cells, are the cells that primarily compose

adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat.

Your homework assignment from the Care Ministry this

week: get your weight and height ready. Next week we

will need these measurements to know your BMI (Body

Mass Index).

The Care Ministry welcomes your

comments/suggestions: [email protected]

I saw Mary in Her

May is the month when we choose a special way to hon-or our moms; Mother’s Day is celebrated and revered so that we would not forget the love, the hardship, the sacri-fice of our wonderful moms in raising us. For us Catho-lics, we found all the good qualities of a mom in Mary. From our Bible reading, we heard of Mary’s devotion to her family, her perseverance in all the hardships and her accompaniment of her son until the very end. Imagine the picture of Mary embracing her dead son after He was taken down from the cross; it was a picture of courage to accept pain, hardship and an expression of absolute obedience to whatever she was asked to do. Mary’s life story, though repeated many times in our religious or formation class, might at times seem so far away. From a learning theory perspective, we human beings want something more tangible; something that we can touch and feel. We want to see Mary in the flesh.

Here at St. Joseph, while celebrating our Sunday Mass at the Grotto, I saw Mary. I am going to use her initial A.F. to protect her privacy. This is an elderly lady approach-ing her eighties. She shuffled her feet and leaned on her husband with every step. A.F. jokingly described her husband as her “human walking cane”. Afflicted by se-vere rheumatoid arthritis, A.F. has not been able to sleep in her own bed for many years; she has to position her-self in a reclining sofa chair to alleviate the pain. She has rheumatoid arthritis for over twenty years. Yet, with her arthritic hands, she managed to grow beautiful orchids from her garden. On Mother’s Day, and this has gone on for over twenty years, A.F. makes an orchid corsage for all the mothers in our little parish. (Please see the pictures). Her super hero, she said, is Our Blessed Moth-er. She took the lessons learned from Mary and applied them in her daily life. A.F. accepts her pain with dignity.

By Sheila Kun, Cooperator


She never imposes on people. She never complains. You can read pain from the grimace of her face when it is a bad day. However, pain does not stop her to get involved in all the activities in our chapel. Today, she is showing off her culinary skill by making the best-tasting flan for us on Mother’s Day.

Her veneration of Mary is obvious. She prays the rosary many times a day. If we have special intentions for our families or friends who are sick, we will let A.F. know. She would include these special intentions and ask our Lord for His mercy through the intercession of Mary. A.F. remains optimistic and joyful all her life. I have not seen anyone who can carry the cross as well as A.F. Per-haps having Mary as the role model, she is able to deal with hardships in life. Her pain is real, but her persever-ance transcends the physical pain.

We are going to wear our corsage today with pride. It symbolizes not only the love from A.F., but it is a true re-minder of what Mary is about: the giver of unconditional love, a person of faith, and a true fighter in life’s adversi-ties. We are so lucky to have a “Mary” in our parish.

Your homework assignment from the Care Ministry this week: Do the penny experiment and share it with a kid.

The Care Ministry welcomes your comments/suggestions: [email protected]


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