Don Bosco was a very holy man. During his lifetime he worked for the betterment of the youth. The name Don Bosco is known all around the globe especially in the matter of imparting education. The schools and educational centers run in the name of Don Bosco are doing great job for the promotion of education and discipline to the students. In Goa and in Mumbai the Don Bosco schools are very much in demand for the qualitative education and discipline it imparts and thus makes the youth better and disciplined members of the society. For example, the Don Bosco Schools at Matunga in Mumbai and at Panjim in Goa are two marvelous schools shining in every field.
The students of Panjim Don Bosco School are admired for their discipline as it was once for students of St. Joseph’s High School Arpora, Bardez, Goa when the great Goan priest Fr. Mendonca was its principal. The students of this school were recognized by their sheer discipline only more than anything else. Arpora School was the best in Goa in every field of the sports and its students were top in every discipline of the sports. Even if any injustice was done to its student rightly or wrongly, its principal Fr. Medonca never disputed the decision of the organizers nor protested but gracefully accepted with the statement “accept the defeat with sporting spirit “. He once said, by protesting and opposing the decision, we as priests are creating rebellious youth who later on will turn out to be rebels thereby endangering the peace in society. The duty of the Catholic and Christian Schools is not to fight, not to rebel and not to bring about splits but to accept the defeat gracefully.
Once I went to Bombay taking my young son to Fr. Mascio at Don Bosco Matunga. Before blessing my son, my wife told Fr. Mascio “Fr., please pray over him because he is doing lot of mischief”. For this Fr. Mascio replied saying “When he was young, Don Bosco was also mischievous”. Don Bosco was mischievous no doubt but surely not rebellious creating disorder in the smooth functioning of the society. Don Bosco never disturbed peace anywhere and never disturbed discipline. Don Bosco never aligned with rebellious people and never helped ‘splittist’ movement. For this reason, students and people involved in the promotion of Don Bosco’s name are known to perform good discipline.
When Don Bosco’s students and people associated with Don Bosco act as rebels, then the image of Don Bosco affects negatively. Those priests and teachers imparting education and discipline in the name of Don Bosco in their institutions must advise their students and soccer teams not to act as rebels which will give much distorted image of Holy name of Don Bosco. It is not enough for priests to preach from the pulpits in the Churches and teach from the platforms in the Schools about morality and education, these priests in line with the tradition of Don Bosco must also tell their students to be obedient even if it is detrimental to their cause. Christianity does not tell us to rebel. Rebellion is against the principle of Christianity.
The holy image of Don Bosco is getting soiled when its students and people promoting sports and soccer in particular are involved in promoting non co-operation instead of cooperation, disunity instead of unity. We at this critical hour need elements supporting unity amongs us in true Christian principle. This also leads to damaging the reputation of Don Bosco’s school. If no corrective steps are taken immediately, disciplined parents will stop sending their children to this school in the future.
A. Veronica Fertnandes,
Kuwait.
