Salesian Cooperators of St Philip the Apostle Province at Eastern United States, Eastern United States 00000 - Home

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The Salesian Cooperators are a Public Association of the Faithful in the Catholic Church dedicated to the holiness of its members who give of themselves for the good of young people in the Salesian spirit of St. John Bosco (Don Bosco), the Father and Teacher of Young People.

From the inception in 1841 of his work for poor and abandoned young people, Don Bosco called upon apostolic-minded men and women for help.  In time he organized his helpers into a congregation of brothers and priests (Salesians of Don Bosco, 1859), an institute of sisters (Daughters of Mary Help of Christians – Salesian Sisters, 1872), and the Salesian Cooperators, 1876.

Following Don Bosco’s Preventive Method, Cooperators can be found on teams running youth and prison retreats, supervising youth center activities, teaching religious education classes, ministering in their local parishes as lectors, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, and as permanent deacons, and in helping to organize a parish passion play.  In their family, social, and professional life Cooperators become signs and bearers of God’s love, especially for young people, by the witness of their life and by advocating for respect for human life and the Christian transformation of society.

Today, Cooperators number 35,000, meet monthly in local centers, and follow a course of initial and ongoing Christian formation.

by Fr. John Puntino, SDB