Madrid, Spain, Feb 2, 2011 / 14:02 pm
The Superior General of the Salesian Order, Fr. Pascual Chavez, has announced that the six Salesian provinces in Spain will be combined in 2014 to form two large provinces. He said the change will optimize the work of the order, revitalize its charism and boost evangelization among young people.
One of the new provinces will be the Mediterranean Province, noted a statement from the order. The province will include the current Salesian regions of Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, which oversee 79 Salesian communities and 556 religious.
The Mediterranean Province will extend to the autonomous communities of Catalonia, Baleares, Aragon, Valencia, Albacete, Murcia, Andalucia, Extremadura, Canarias and Andorra.
The other province will be the Northeastern Central Province, which will bring together the regions of Bilbao, Leon and Madrid. It will extend to the communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarre, La Rioja, Castilla y Leon, Madrid and Castilla La Mancha. The new province will oversee 686 religious from 64 different houses.
The restructuring will help optimize the work of the Salesians in a land “rich in Christian and Salesian expressions,” Fr. Chavez said.
He exhorted Salesians to actively participate in the process in order to “renew our consecrated life and reinvigorate the Salesian charism in Spain, especially in the area of vocations.”
There are some 16,000 Salesians worldwide with 1,200 working in Spain.