PRESENTATION OF THE NEW COUNCIL

My dear friends,

It is with great emotion, sense of commitment and responsibility that I address you for the first time, as the new Council of the Primary ADMA takes office and I begin my mandate as president of the Association of Mary Help of Christians. My membership and that of my wife Daniela to ADMA eight years ago, was a graceful gift and a happy journey towards Mary and Jesus, in the company of many friends and families. Perhaps, this is why, Mary organised everything so that we could now give back a part of all that we have received.

All of us councillors wish, first of all, to thank our mother Mary for having chosen us in the Council, giving us the opportunity to respond to the many gifts we have received, in a spirit of service and gratitude. We entrust ourselves to Her, the ‘true President’ of ADMA, so that She may guide all the actions and choices for the journey of our great family towards Jesus. In the year of the Jubilee dedicated to Hope, we want to interpret the commitment in the Council with a valuable quote recalled in the Strenna of the Rector Major for this year: ‘Hope is the ability of each one of us to work for something because it is right to do it, not because that something will guarantee success.... Doing something because it makes sense: this is where hope consists, and it presupposes values and it presupposes faith'. Faith is the reason for the participation of all of us in ADMA. Believing in Eucharistic Jesus and maternal Mary Help of Christians is what unites us in whichever country we are in or whatever language we speak.

We want to thank all the members of the outgoing Council for their commitment, the attention and the quality they have put in helping ADMA grow, carrying out the passion and the intention of Don Bosco who founded it: Chiara Audasso with Alberto, Maria Pia Gallo with Massimo, Giovanni Scavino with Barbara, Tullio Lucca with Simonetta, Paolo Peirone with Monica, Luciana Bianchetti. A special, and also personal, thanks goes to President Renato Valera with Barbara. Your presence and service have been a precious gift for the Association, and your example of faith, love and care will remain a cornerstone for the path of the new Team.

I am sure that everyone's commitment will continue in the future with different roles but with the same fervour to give their time and talents. Today, more than ever, the Council needs this, and I hope that all the members of the Primary and all local Associations will feel guided by Mary to offer their contribution in simplicity and humility and above all in serene offering of their time. The mode will continue to be the one Don Bosco wanted, a style of familiarity and cheerfulness, simplicity and practicality.

Thanks again to Beppe Sardella and Monica who have renewed their availability and to all our animators: Fr. Gabriel Cruz, Sr. Lucrezia Uribe, Fr. Roberto Carelli, and Sr. Marilena Balcet who will continue to accompany us with love and patience in this ‘itinerary of sanctification and Salesian apostolate’.

Finally, I would like to share a thought with all the members of ADMA groups around the world, especially lay people. Our Association is growing a lot in every continent: today, we have more than 800 groups in 50 different countries. A special commitment of the new Council will therefore be aimed at enhancing the worldwide role of Primary animation. In order to make it even more relevant and effective, it will be important to add to this initiative, your support with prayer and your active collaboration: we would like you to be an active part of this journey which, with the help of Mary and Jesus, will soon lead us to organise the World ADMA Council and the next Congress of Mary Help of Christians, fundamental stages of coordination and animation in particular with our SDB and FMA spiritual animators.

We entrust our journey to Mary Help of Christians, our Mother and Teacher. May she always guide and protect us.

Giuseppe Tufano

New president of ADMA

Here we give a brief presentation by the new ADMA Primary councillors:

Aldo

For me and my family, joining ADMA stems from the desire to grow spiritually together, as a family and as a community. The Association offers us opportunities for prayer, meditation and reflection that can be shared by all the members of the family;it provides us an environment to participate in spiritual retreats, helps to strengthen family ties, sharing faith with other families experiencing similar situations. This sense of belonging is one of the important aspects for those seeking support and friendship in their faith journey. Family life may present challenges and moments of crisis. ADMA offers a supportive environment where families can share their concerns and receive spiritual and practical help. The community becomes a safe reference point where comfort and encouragement can be found in difficult times. Joining ADMA means embracing and promoting Marian spirituality. Families are encouraged to develop a personal devotion to Mary, recognising her role as guide and intercessor in the Christian life, inviting us to place ourselves at her service.

Elisabetta

A warm greeting to all the members of the Association from Valdocco, Turin! I am Elisabetta Seno. This year, I am celebrating 10th year as a member of ADMA. I thank the Lord for the gift of having known the Association and grown up in a big family of families who welcomed me 10 years ago. These have been years full of many graces received on a personal level and as a primary ADMA. As a Council member, I now wish to give back some of the many graces I have received. I wish to place myself at the service of helping the worldwide dimension of our association grow more and more. There are so many groups present in so many nations in diverse precious realities, blossoming through the mediation of Mary Help of Christians, following Don Bosco's charism. I dream of an Association that is more and more united, more and more enriched by the different cultural sensitivities from all over the world and that the link with the ‘two columns’ and the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, our House, from which everything originated, grows deeper and deeper. A prayer from Valdocco in the hope of meeting you soon!

Dedo

My name is Manfredo and I have been married to Alessandra for 22 years and we have 3 children. We have known ADMA since 2017 when a couple of friends, who now no longer walk in ADMA, proposed to us the monthly retreats and then the spiritual exercises in Pracharbon. For us, being part of the great Salesian Family, as member of ADMA, is the confirmation of the foundations of our call to marriage, because the charisma of the ADMA is based on the two pillars dreamt by Don Bosco: the Eucharist and Mary Help of Christians. Our journey has been a crescendo of love for people and of joy in seeing how many graces Mary Help of Christians and Don Bosco continue to bestow on all the members and their surroundings. So, I accepted the request to be available to serve the ADMA in the Council and in particular in the Secretariat and Communication, a very demanding task, but I trust in the help of many associates of good will and in Mary Help of Christians to do well as a council member.

Beppe

My name is Beppe. I have been married to Monica for 30 years. We have two children aged 24 and 27. We have been Salesian Cooperators since 1993. For us joining ADMA was the natural consequence of realising the incredible amount of graces Mary has given us over the years. We have discovered that Mary's ‘being’ is not only being beside Jesus, but above all being beside us, in good times and in times of trials. Mother Mary leads us to Jesus. She loves us with compassion and generosity and shows us the way to heaven. In the ADMA Council, I take care of the activities that take place in Valdocco, the initiatives aimed at young people and the organisation of monthly and summer retreats. To accept the invitation to be part of the Council was, for me, to recognise Don Bosco's call to listen to Mary's voice, to follow her gaze, to accept her guidance.

Antonio

Entrust, confide and smile: this is a motto that the Association has made its own, and it is the one we wanted to embrace when we made ourselves available to be part of the Council. We have entrusted to Mary our doubts and our fears concerning our inadequacy for the role to play. We trust in Mary’s continuous guidance and protection so that we will say one day ‘She has done everything’. We will try with greater fervour to joyfully bear witness to our belonging to this great family, part of the larger Salesian family, not just by talking about God but being his witness. Let us pray for one another so that the Devotion to Mary Help of Christians may grow and spread.