150th Anniversary of the Foundation of Salesian Cooperators

The 150th anniversary will be celebrated on 9 May 2026. The Council has proposed a three-year journey of preparation for this event, focusing on fundamental elements that concern our vocation and our history of the Salesian Family. The three-year path includes remembering the origins, renewing the promise, and relaunching the Association towards the challenges of the coming years. The defined path has this theme:

 “A dream, a promise and the future”

✓ A dream, that of Don Bosco, which traces his entire life and from which the entire Salesian Family takes shape over time. We too were born from that dream as “external Salesians”. To “dream of the future” it is necessary to go to our origins.
✓ A promise, made because we have freely chosen to live our vocation as lay people within the Church and the Salesian Family in the mission towards young people, bearing witness to and safeguarding the Salesian charism.
✓ And the future, which must be exciting to face the times and be that “good leaven” in all those situations of life in which the Lord calls us to operate.

These generating themes will have three dynamism verbs that will shape this three-year period.

✓ First year (2023-2024): REMEMBER, look at our origins, retracing concrete facts that we have experienced. All: Cooperators, Coordinators, Councilors, Delegates;
✓ Second year (2024-2025): RENEW our being Salesian Cooperators, drawing on the innovations introduced by the PVA, strengthening the sense of belonging;
✓ Third year (2025-2026): RELAUNCH our Association towards the challenges of the coming years by making our identity emerge more.