Word from the relics road crew

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Words from the road crew

Day 4 of our pilgrimage... the excitement is growing each day, as more and more people come and join the fun! We've just arrived in Liverpool, ready to go to the Cathedral and set up for another day of sharing the joy! The Don Bosco vans overtook us on the motorway (again!) and for a while we were in a Don Bosco sandwich! Bring it on! #DBRelics (Jessica)

Just arrived in Liverpool and the excitement is growing through the team, after 2 amazing days already I can't wait to start today and meet all the people that will be joining us over the next 2 days in my home diocese to share this amazing experience we are having. (Polly)

It's great to bring Don Bosco to Liverpool. Everyone is on a high after the experience in Glasgow. Now we wait in excitement to see to what his Spirit will do here. How his personality, deep faith and love of the young has changed so many people through the years. On this, the feast of the Epiphany, we're going to let his star lead us to Christ! (Kevin)

The days are long and the journeys are tiring, however I am loving every single minute of working alongside the relics, it's such an incredible experience and I'm meeting so many people along the way who keep telling me how much the Salesians have affected them over the years (Josie)

relics at Liverpool Jan 6th quotes

As a a married couple it is good to see our relationship as a school, a playground a church and a home. That four fold balance could help us to live a better life together.

(Andy and Bernadette Cahil Chester)

The pilgrim experience was a creative and reflective way to lead us into prayer and an encounter with Don Bosco. The whole event was a wonderful way to bring the Salesian Family together.

Rachel Chadwick Liverpool

This was a unique opportunity to reflection the Salesian Charism through the symbolism of the relics.

Ian Biddle

I hope I will be able to share our unique salesian spirituality with the young.

Mary Biddle

This is not a theoretical, up in the air spirituality, it is real and it is about the inner strength to be cheerful.

Francisca Wheeler Salford

I loved Don Bosco's words to young people, his care for them and the confidence he had in their goodness.

Daniel Navarro Liverpool Universtity (Sao Paulo)

It was great to see young people at home in church and being able to sing and dance with such energy. It did me good!

Patricia Martin - Crosby

Young people are having a hard time right now, especially with unemployment. They need new reasons to get out of bed and this spirituality can do that.

Catherine Silkern Liverpool

I loved the energy of the new hymn to Don Bosco, it gives me energy and especially the emphasis on a ne tomorrow which gives me hope.

Ted Carless South Manchester

It has been a beautiful time to stop, take stock and reflect and to re-value what I am doing with life. |It has challenged me to be less anxious especially about the things I am not good at.

Anne Cunliffe Bolton

I love the humour and playfulness of this spirituality. It has made me think about relaxation as an act of faith.

Margaret Russel Bolton

I am delighted that our young people from Savio High Bootle can be involved in such an historic moment. Don Bosco promised to come to England over a hundred and fifty years ago and today he has kept his promise!

Fr. Gerry Briody SDB Head teacher Savio High School

This is a fantastic experience for the school to revisit and renew its salesian spirituality.

Mrs Anne Pontifex Head Teacher St John Bosco School Croxteth.

Relics at Liverpool January 6th report

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Liverpool Sunday 6^th January

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ The King is hosting the pilgrimage of Don Bosco's relics over two days. Sunday gave an opportunity for parish groups from all over the North of England to make their pilgrimage to this great saint of youth.

The relic, displayed in a glass casket, lies at the heart of the experience but the real spirit of the saint was expressed by the team of young people from the salesian network that changed the relic into a lived reality for the pilgrims.

This is the second stop of the pilgrimage which began in Scotland where almost 3,000 people shared the pilgrim experience. The experience involved walking through a dream of Don Bosco and engaging with the story of this man who was able to touch the hearts of young people, parents and teachers with a simple spirituality that transforms lives.

In the pilgrim experience people were invited to find their “inner playground” to check their level of optimism and to recognise cheerfulness as a pathway to wholeness and holiness. Don Bosco wanted no long faced saints and presented a balanced and gentle approach to the mystery and meaning of each life. Commenting on the experience Catherine Silkern from Liverpool said “Young people are having a hard time right now, especially with unemployment. They need new reasons to get out of bed and this spirituality can do that”.”

The casket of Don Bosco was lit in a pool of light in the middle of the Cathedral. During the mass girls from St John Bosco School Croxteth and from Savio High School danced in front of the relics and presented a wonderful interpretation for the offertory and the communion.

Bishop Thomas Williams presided at the mass and Fr Martin Coyle, provincial of the Salesians in Great Britain preached on Don Bosco as one of the wise men who had much to say to us today about how to live and work together. The message, said Fr Coyle, spoke especially to young people and his words were to be tested a few minutes later when the event picked up some “passing trade”. One of the youth crew found a lad outside having a splif and got talking to him. He eventually decided to come in to have a look and found the experience interesting and helpful, much to his surprise. Another two lads, playing on scooters outside also came in to have a look and one of them found it really good, his name was Joe. The other lad thought it was rubbish and gave his name as “82”!

The number of pilgrims on Sunday afternoon numbered over 1,200, more are expected on Monday.

On Tuesday the pilgrimage moves on to Birmingham and then into Wales.

The detailed timetable of the event can be found on the website www.donboscorelics.co.uk

Don Bosco relics at Carfin Quotes

Helen Border Glasgow University Chaplaincy

The experience was deeply spiritual, it seeps into you right on the spot and it's easy to understand.

Helen Gilmore

I found my soul in the words and in the experience.

John, Glasgow University

It seemed to give me a way to link soul to life. I work in accounting and I found ways in this experience to link my work to spirituality.

Susan Smith Stonyburn

The whole life story of this man reads as an incredible and brilliant experience. It inspires me and gives me hope that my own life has some meaning.

Gerald Reynolds Motherwell

Friendship seems to be the key to this saintly life. As a teacher myself I recognise Don Bosco's challenge to be a friend to the young. The quote that sticks with me is this “ a teacher who only appears in the classroom remains just a teacher. A teacher who spends time in the playground becomes a friend.”

Marie McGuire Uddingstone

The spirituality we experienced today is so down to earth and I can see it all happening in the story of my family life.

Agnes from Blantyre

There is a warmth and presence of God radiated by the young people who accompany the relic. There was an almost magical sense of presence throughout the day.

“The ladies of Carfin” ( Mary, Anne Marie, Kathleen and Margaret)

The relic pilgrimage reminds us that we all need to be more child-like and not take ourselves so seriously.

Children brought up with Don Bosco's method would grow into strong and balanced young adults.

We need to delight in young people and recognise their energy and gifts.

The idea of a goodnight thought in families is a brilliant way to close the day with peace and a positive thought for young people.

Elizabeth and Laurence Murphy

You don't need to go into extraordinary places to find God. Don Bosco helps us find God in the ordinary things of life, in what happens and in our relationships.

We liked the emphasis on a gentle approach to other people and ourselves, especially when things were going badly. Focussing on a gentle personal care for others gives us deeper spiritual motives for working with other people.

Margaret Kelly Easterhouse

This experience has made me look at myself more clearly. It touches my life in ways I can't explain but it gives me more reasons to stay connected with the church. Through salesian spirituality small things become more meaningful and feed the soul.

Don Bosco Relics LIverpool January 7th report

Liverpool January 7^th Report.

This was the first day back at school for many students so it was fantastic for a number of schools to get large numbers to Liverpool Cathedral. Students visited from St John Bosco Croxteth, Thornleigh College Bolton, Savio High School Bootle, All Saints Primary Bootle, St Anselm's Birkenhead, Blessed Trinity Burnley. During the day over 3,500 people visited Don Bosco's relics.

The morning was filled with a buzz of anticipation as people waited to visit the relic. The pilgrim experience became a youthful mixture of conversation, spinning plates, magic tricks and story telling all of which helped younger visitors to understand something about Don Bosco and how they wanted to pray at his relic. Jessica Wilkinson told stories about Don Bosco's dreams, a whole team helped young people to put their thoughts into words as prayers and others were teaching plate spinning. Plate spinning in church? It was a way to introduce the idea of balanced living in a memorable way. Many students had prepared by watching the Don Bosco film and had answers ready for all our questions. Some lucky youngsters went away with multi coloured “Don Bosco hats.”

As the young people went away more adults arrived after having seen the coverage on BBC Northwest. Two sisters came because they wanted to know why their now deceased aunt took the name Don Bosco when professed as a Franciscan in the mid 1930s. A retired university professor came and waited alongside a Nigerian family and shared their concerns about young people. The conversations flowed around the pool of light within which the relic rested.

A farewell mass for the relics was celebrated by Bishop Tom Williams and Bishop Terry Drainey from Middlesbrough Diocese. In the homily Bishop Drainey praised the relics team for the joy and energy that had surrounded the event which he described as a moment of grace for the whole of the northern dioceses. At the end of the mass the 30 concelebrants and the road crew accompanied the relic out of the cathedral and cheered and sang as it was taken back to the specialised vans designed for this world tour. Just as the doors of the van closed a distraught family arrived from Birkenhead and were disappointed to have missed the opportunity. The Italian members of the road crew opened the van for them and helped them climb up as a family to spend some time alone with Don Bosco.

The team and relics left for Birmingham St Chad's Cathedral where Don Bosco's relics will remain for two days before moving on to Cardiff.

Quotes from Liverpool January 7th

From youth groups:

Strange but interesting

James Deane

The body thing was weird but the team were great and helpful

Liam Bladon

It was actually quite cool that a person from so long ago wanted people to have fun and enjoy their lives as young people.

Courtney Buchanan

It was interesting to see the person we had learnt so much about in school

Georgie Turner

This was a totally unusual experience. I liked the spinning plates and the tricks from the crew.

Abbee Hurst.

It has been quite an experience finding out about Don Bosco and the way he made cheerfulness a holy thing.

Anisa Haji

What would I ask if I met Don Bosco? I'd ask Don Bosco if he likes roses and then if he would like to come and play with my games.

Thomas Proctor (age 4) Norris Green.

Adults

The most moving thing for me was the simplicity of the words on the pilgrim experience. They revealed something of Don Bosco but more about where I am on the bigger journey of life. It was very helpful!

Paul Crumpton Birkenhead

The energy and singing of the team was a great moment at the end of the mass and the way that the congregation all clapped Don Bosco as he left the Cathedral was quite emotional for me.

Agnes Clark St Helens

I loved the way that hundreds of young people gathered and waited with great patience around Don Bosco before saying a prayer with him. It was good to see that church can still hold young people and give them a good experience.

Trevor Cunliffe Burnley

It was brilliant to see the relic crew working so well with young people. They were telling stories, doing tricks and talking about Don Bosco. The cathedral was filled with the cheerful noise of young people. Long may it last.

Anne Dawson North Manchester

The saint and the splif

He was hiding away, having a splif on Hope St. Just one of thousands of Liverpool lads needing to escape from home on Sunday afternoon.  He was minding his own business but he was still spotted by a young woman who asked him for a light. She didn't seem to notice the smell of his splif and he began to relax into a conversation.
Seems she is from Derby and she was fun despite her weird accent. It turns out that Jess is part of a crew working in the cathedral and helping with the world tour of the relics of a dead saint.
At first he thought it was the splif talking but no, Jess and her friend Emily were on tour with a dead body! This was beyond wierd!
Jess told him he was called Don Bosco and he spent his life working for young people setting up places for them in Turin, his home town.
As he listened to the story what started as weird turned into something fascinating. After a while he asked Jess if he could have a look. So they took the steps up to the cathedral together and Jess introduced him to a 200 year old saint in a glass coffin. On the way he learnt how Don Bosco had lost his Dad as a kid, had fights with his brother that forced him out of home and didn't have a great start at school. It sounded like it could be his story as he stared at the relic.
What was really impressive was that Don Bosco had used these set backs to help others. He wanted young people to feel safe, to belong because he hadn't when he was young. Maybe be could use some of his problems to sort his life out.
Jess told him he could be a saint too, but he didn't fancy the glass coffin!