Hajja Salesjana July-September 2019

H AJJA S ALESJANA 6 from Home”, which is focussed on children and young people from a disadvantaged background. On the 24th June 2009, the Salesian Sisters, for the first time ever, established their first small community in Malta. When Sr. Theresa Curmi was a member on the General Council of the FMAs, and when the Sisters in Gozo were part of the Naples Province, a proposal was made to try to have a community in Malta. The FMA Provincial Council of Naples met with the Provincial Delegate of Malta, Fr. Paul Formosa, to discuss the possibility, and the result was positive. When Sr. Theresa finished her second term of office on the General Council she came to Sliema together with Sr. Ines Bonello and a little time later with Sr. Georgina Grech. They do Oratory work in close collaboration with the Oratory SDB community. In 2012 Fr. Antoine Farrugia was appointed to the Board of Don Bosco International, a Brussels-based NGO representing the Salesians of Don Bosco to the European Institutions and later asamember of theExpert GrouponPoverty and Social Inclusion. In 2013 Fr Joe Portelli was the first Salesian to start helping out in the Chaplaincy at MCAST. At this time, this third- level College sported six campuses and was focused on academic recovery, professional education and specialization. In 2014 upon a request by Archbishop, the Salesians took over the MCAST Chaplaincy with Fr Antoine Farrugia being nominated as College Chaplain, opening the door for the Salesians to reach out to 7,000 students and 1,000 staff across six locations in Malta and Gozo. Today, there are five Salesians working in the Salesian Chaplaincy Team at MCAST, four from the Senglea Community and one stationed in Sliema, with a number of students doing practical placements directly at St Philip’s, in Senglea. Over the years Malta has been visited by nearly all of the Rector Majors of the Society. The attention thus received expresses the esteem in which the Delegation is held. On the 9th July 2018, a major milestone in Salesian Malta was achieved by God’s grace and certainly by Our Lady’s intercession: Malta became officially a Vice Province. All the Vice Province was then consecrated to Our Blessed Mother at the national shrine of Our Lady in Mellieha on the 15th August 2018. Fr. Paul Formosa was nominated as the first Maltese Provincial. As we thank God and Our Lady Help of Christians for what has been, we thank them too for what is and what will be as the story of Salesian Malta continues to unfurl and unfold through the incessant passage of time.