Tony D’Souza sdb
MUMBAI, JULY 21, 2008: It has been said that in life we meet many great people, but the really great person is one who makes others feel great. That’s precisely how I remember Don Mauro – a great optimist who saw greatness in every youngster! On the occasion of the first death anniversary of Fr. Casarotti, I wish to contribute a few “memorettes” of his life which spell out his genuine greatness. Don Mauro was a great “Vocation Caretaker”. He not only recruited, but diligently nurtured our tender vocation during our aspirantate in Tirupattur way back in the Fifties, when the transition from “jam and bread” to “uppama and iddlis” was a big challenge to the “Bombaywallas”. Though very busy as the Rector of Don Bosco, Matunga, Fr. Casa kept in touch with us, aspirants, through letters and his personal visits all the way from Mumbai and always with packets of “halwa and pedas”. During the summer holidays, when we were back home in Mumbai, he organized weekly outings and picnics just to keep in touch with us and perhaps, also to safeguard our vocations. His keen interest in our welfare did encourage many of us to stay with Don Bosco. I was 13 when I first stood in his office and recall his kindness to my parents 
which I think was the most convincing reason why they agreed to let me go down south. Fr. Casa believed that Vocation work has much to do with winning over the parents first. He himself maintained cordial relations with our families. Don Mauro’s fatherly rapport with young clerics even through his later years is what I am sure many young Salesians experienced and will always remember. As our Rector during our Novitiate and Philosophy studies in Yercaud, he built up in us very strong convictions, one of which still drives me on: Either a good Salesian or no Salesian at all. During examinations, to deflate the tension and anxiety, he had another phrase: Better a live donkey than a dead horse. His heart was bigger than his head and full of empathy for those in crises of all kinds. As always, he was our “Vocation Caretaker”. The Aspirantate of Don Bosco, Lonavla where he has chosen to rest, may rightly be considered a memorial of Fr. Casa’s great love for his own Salesian Vocation which he promoted by fostering vocations in the Mumbai province. I dare to predict now on, a surge in vocations from Lonavla, thanks to our “underground” vocation caretaker. Many pleasant and nostalgic ‘memorettes” of the “amorevolezza” of Don Mauro still flood my mind on this first death anniversary. He remains an unforgettable memory and an inspiring model to emulate. I do hope our Mumbai province will enter Don Mauro into the annals of our history not merely in gratitude but in the hope that his testimony of fidelity to Don Bosco will ignite afresh in each of us, love and fidelity to our precious Salesian Vocation expressed in a revived effort to be like him, “Vocation Caretakers” that live on, beyond the grave.
MUMBAI, JULY 21, 2008: It has been said that in life we meet many great people, but the really great person is one who makes others feel great. That’s precisely how I remember Don Mauro – a great optimist who saw greatness in every youngster! On the occasion of the first death anniversary of Fr. Casarotti, I wish to contribute a few “memorettes” of his life which spell out his genuine greatness. Don Mauro was a great “Vocation Caretaker”. He not only recruited, but diligently nurtured our tender vocation during our aspirantate in Tirupattur way back in the Fifties, when the transition from “jam and bread” to “uppama and iddlis” was a big challenge to the “Bombaywallas”. Though very busy as the Rector of Don Bosco, Matunga, Fr. Casa kept in touch with us, aspirants, through letters and his personal visits all the way from Mumbai and always with packets of “halwa and pedas”. During the summer holidays, when we were back home in Mumbai, he organized weekly outings and picnics just to keep in touch with us and perhaps, also to safeguard our vocations. His keen interest in our welfare did encourage many of us to stay with Don Bosco. I was 13 when I first stood in his office and recall his kindness to my parents 
which I think was the most convincing reason why they agreed to let me go down south. Fr. Casa believed that Vocation work has much to do with winning over the parents first. He himself maintained cordial relations with our families. Don Mauro’s fatherly rapport with young clerics even through his later years is what I am sure many young Salesians experienced and will always remember. As our Rector during our Novitiate and Philosophy studies in Yercaud, he built up in us very strong convictions, one of which still drives me on: Either a good Salesian or no Salesian at all. During examinations, to deflate the tension and anxiety, he had another phrase: Better a live donkey than a dead horse. His heart was bigger than his head and full of empathy for those in crises of all kinds. As always, he was our “Vocation Caretaker”. The Aspirantate of Don Bosco, Lonavla where he has chosen to rest, may rightly be considered a memorial of Fr. Casa’s great love for his own Salesian Vocation which he promoted by fostering vocations in the Mumbai province. I dare to predict now on, a surge in vocations from Lonavla, thanks to our “underground” vocation caretaker. Many pleasant and nostalgic ‘memorettes” of the “amorevolezza” of Don Mauro still flood my mind on this first death anniversary. He remains an unforgettable memory and an inspiring model to emulate. I do hope our Mumbai province will enter Don Mauro into the annals of our history not merely in gratitude but in the hope that his testimony of fidelity to Don Bosco will ignite afresh in each of us, love and fidelity to our precious Salesian Vocation expressed in a revived effort to be like him, “Vocation Caretakers” that live on, beyond the grave.