“From an ecclesial point of view, we are a fundamental point of reference especially for the youth ministry of the city and the diocese. We are the only oratory in the city that offers an educational service on a daily basis involving animators, adults, families and Salesians,” explains the Director and Parish Priest, Don Emidio Laterza. Civil society also recognizes the Salesian presence as a pastoral, educational, cultural and recreational center of excellence. The parish, the oratory, the youth centre, the university boarding school, the cinema theater and the equipped courtyards form a high quality educational and pastoral centre. The most effective confirmation of this work is the large presence of families, adults, but above all many children and young people.
Potenza is the regional capital of Basilicata as well as the highest in Italy, geographically located in the heart of the South. It was 1964 when the Salesians they come back in Potenza to create a parish and oratory, after having previously held the diocesan seminary for a two-year period at the beginning of the 20th century.
From this moment the history of the Salesian presence in the Lucanian capital is a history of development and constant growth. In 1966 the oratory was inaugurated and the foundation stone of the new Church was laid, consecrated in 1973. Between the end of the 70s and the 80s the house grew with the construction of the oratory complex, the chapel of San Domenico Savio, the Cinetheatre , the clinic and other functional environments. The 1990s saw the growth of the parish’s flock with the entry of many districts into the original nucleus of the Rione Risorgimento. They are also years of intense educational activity: the group of altar servers is formed and fundamental experiences for contact with the city reality are sown, such as the “Savio Estate” and “Festinsieme” ones.
It was precisely in those years that many vocations to consecrated and non-consecrated life began to flourish, offering an important contribution to the Southern Province, in a wake that continues to the present day. Currently the Salesian work in Potenza is made up of the Parish, the Youth Center Oratory and the university boarding school.
Over the years, the Salesian Youth Center Oratory in Potenza has hosted thousands of boys and girls, helping them to grow in faith and life: around 800 are enrolled every year. From June to July the Savio Estate takes place, which brings 400 children and pre-adolescents in addition to 100 animators to the oratory courtyard, while catechesis involves more than 500 boys and girls. These are young people from all social backgrounds, coming in a fairly heterogeneous manner from all areas of the city. The many associations formed over the years travel within the orbit of the Parish and the Oratory, including the Salesian Cooperators, the parish Caritas, the Don Bosco Families, the Association of Mary Help of Christians, the Witnesses of the Risen 2000, the Past Pupils, the Mamma Margherita laboratory, or – among the most dynamic – the Salesian Youth Sports Clubs (PGS) and the Sociocultural Youth Film Clubs (CGS).
Another interesting experience, which has now become traditional, is that of the “Gospel in the Family”. During Advent and Lent, one evening a week, a priest, an animator and a couple of lay people are hosted by some families of the parish. On these occasions the Sunday Gospel is presented, moments of prayer are shared and it ends with moments of conviviality.
The attention at the Salesian house is on the entire range of human life but with a particular eye on the life of young people. For this reason, a new meeting point for young people was recently created in one of the premises of the Salesian Opera: the 40° 15′ centre. It takes up the geographical coordinates of the city of Potenza and presents itself as a place of meeting and growth open to all.
Finally, in Potenza, the testimonies of some people who gave so much for the Salesian work, but who left this life prematurely, continue to bear fruit even today. This is the case of figures such as Domenico Lorusso, Maurizio Ciriello, Linda Catalano, who became animators from Heaven of groups who found, after the pain, the desire to continue doing good. The PGS “Don Bosco” was named after Domenico Lorusso, while another important initiative that inaugurates the Salesian summer in Potenza has now reached its tenth edition: the “StradonBosco with Domenico”. Then, thanks to the contribution of the “Con gli Occhi di Maurizio” association, brand new multipurpose pitches were donated to the oratory, and to make his memory come alive, “Happy Days” were dedicated to him, days in which to the city the oratory activities carried out during the year. “Sunflower Seeds” is the association that will come to life in the coming months, an important tool for the growth of the community, which will be dedicated to Linda Catalano, educator and entertainer who passed away a few months ago.
“The lives of these young people become part of the pillars of the house of Potenza, to make Don Bosco’s dream even more tangible, exciting, to be continued” concludes Don Laterza.
