Our project of education and evangelization has at its center the
person in the uniqueness of his existence, and aims at helping him to realize his own life
project according to God’s call (vocation). For this reason the choice of vocation is
a dimension which is always present in every moment, activity and phase of our educative
and pastoral work (cf. C 28; 37).
3.3.1 Its specific nature
Through this dimension Salesian Youth Ministry aims at helping young
people to face their own future in an attitude of availability and generosity, at
predisposing them to hear the voice of God, and at accompanying them as they formulate
their own life project. This contribution is to be understood in two complementary senses:
In the vocation dimension, we give priority to the following
aspects:
the service of orientation addressed to all young people
as part of the educational process;
constant care to identify and follow up, with different and
appropriate initiatives, vocations of a particular kind of commitment in
society and in the Church;
a particular responsibility with regard to the Salesian charism in
its many forms, through the discernment and care of seeds of Salesian
vocation, lay or consecrated, that may be present among young people.
These three concerns mutually support and complete each other and
constitute the field of Salesian pastoral work for vocations (cf. GC 21, 110).
3.3.2 The challenges we want to meet
The situation of our young people with regard to the Christian planning
of their own future is marked by certain important phenomena:
The social and cultural transformations which now invest traditional
manifestations, values, symbols and religious practices. Among them are the following, by
way of example:
a pluralist culture with a great quantity and disparity of messages
and life-models, which make it difficult to make an option for a life-project;
the dominant secularism and materialism in culture which create a
critical mentality, more concerned about values which are immediate and useful and less
sensitive to those which are transcendent and gratuitous, a relativism which impairs the
moral sense and renders fragile the experience and life of faith;
the re-establishment of the social sphere without reference to
religious motivations;
the prolonging of the period of youth and the delay in reaching the
age of social responsibility.
• The psychological and religious attitude of young people when
it comes to making choices: here the following factors come into play:
the exploitation of the person as an absolute value and the search
for meaning in daily life;
the need for personal experimentation, the desire for shared
responsibility and participation, the need for immediate satisfaction;
the strong community sense evident in the search for group life and
communication, with an acute sensitivity for justice and for solidarity with and service
for society’s outcasts;
a widespread nostalgia for depth and silence, for prayer and diverse
forms of religious observance, frequently marked however by subjectivism and
disconnectedness;
a psychological tendency to change criteria of judgement, which leads
to difficulty in persevering to the end with long-term commitments.
Significant models for the identification of some specific vocations
in the Church, such as the religious and priestly vocation:
their identity is not clear, i.e. the specific contributions offered
to the human community by these life-choices;
the form in which these are lived in a practical context (their human
realization, the kind of relationship they demand and produce, their serenity and security
in times of trial, etc.) do not seem very credible, i.e. they are not life models which
encourage similar choices.
For these reasons, pastoral work for vocations not infrequently shifts
between two extremes in face of a world of youth which is complex and contradictory : it
either ignores the dynamics of psychology with proposals which are neither interesting nor
challenging, or timidly lets pass serious opportunities of vocational perspectives, at the
cost of putting forward only experiences without decisions for life.
3.3.3 The specific options to be developed
The situation calls for a pastoral work for vocations:
Based on the quality of the vocation of educators and of the
educative and religious community. Their witness of life and the dynamism with which they
live their own vocation will be the most efficacious mediation for helping the young in a
generous and conscientious planning of their own future. The tendency, therefore, will be
to:
place the communities in an attitude of confidence
and openness to the gift of God, nourished by assiduous prayer for vocations;
bring about a deep renewal in the Christian life of
the community and their capacity for welcoming acceptance, dialogue, presence
among young people, so as to make the vocational possibility perceptible through valid
models of identification;
sensitize all the confreres and Salesian communities in the first
place, and then the Salesian Family and educative communities, so that vocational
orientation and promotion may be a ministry and responsibility of all the community and
not only of a local or provincial delegate in-charge;
profit by the charism of confreres and laity particularly well
skilled in this field to "call" and follow up the
development of vocations.
Inserted in the journey of education to the faith, as the
convergence of all the efforts at education and evangelization, this journey supposes:
a vocational orientation offered to all young people, through:
the pedagogical and professional orientation, according to age and
situation, which helps every young person to discover his own resources and to put to good
use the talents he has received;
an educative environment with effective witnesses who live life as a
vocation;
information on the different vocations in society and in the Church
(encounters, testimonies, experiences, etc.);
the offer of experiences of gratuitous service towards those most in
need, as formation to generosity and availability;
formative personal contact offered to all young people who want it.
a clear and explicit proposal, through:
the presence and contact with significant personal and community
witnesses of yesterday and today;
a spiritual formation in depth through initiation to prayer, to
listening to the word of God, to frequenting the sacraments and the liturgy, and to Marian
devotion;
active participation in the life of the ecclesial community through
apostolic groups and movements, considered as privileged settings for Christian and
vocational maturing;
deepening of the vocational theme in the various phases of the
process of education to the faith, and especially in the phases of adolescence and youth;
personal invitation to follow a vocation;
the possibility of direct contact with some community of vocational
reference.
a careful and gradual discernment shared with the community of
an apostolic commitment, and made in community using agreed criteria, through direct
knowledge, dialogue and frequent communication, prayer and meditation, which foster
availability to God’s call.
Personalized, which seeks to reach the individual indifferent
ways in line with his internal experience, the situation in which he lives and the just
demands of the community, through:
the concrete offering of educative and pastoral orientation animated
by the EPC within the compass of the SEPP;
different possibilities and moments of encounter and personal
dialogue for individuals, groups and families; special occasions for interiorization and
personalization (retreats, etc.); systematic spiritual direction.
Shared especially with the family, with the local Church, and
with the component groups of the Salesian Family. Insertion of this kind is brought
about through:
unity of theoretical and practical criteria; attention to the general
good of the Church without restrictions or reservations;
the offering of our experience and specific charism in the work of
orientation and promoting of vocations;
the integration of all our efforts and possibilities in the work and
practical commitment for vocations;
the vocational animation and sensitizing of families.
The process of education and evangelization in Salesian YPM has in
group experience one of its more important pedagogical intuitions.
The preventive system requires an intense and enlightened environment
of participation and of friendly and fraternal relationships; a communal method of human
and Christian growth, enlivened by the close and loving presence of the educators who
animate and promote initiatives; it fosters, therefore, all constructive forms of activity
and group life, not least as a practical initiation to community, civil and ecclesial
commitment (C 35; R 8).
The group dimension, therefore, is a fundamental characteristic of our
education and evangelization, its characteristic way of reaching large environments, small
groups, and even individuals; of developing processes of education and evangelization, of
promoting the leadership of the young people themselves in the commitment for their own
formation.
3.4.1 Its specific nature
Through the group proposal we intend:
to develop the ability for perceiving and living in depth the value
of other people and of the community, as a network of interpersonal relationships;
to mature in the availability for participation and active
intervention in the particular environment;
to initiate to social commitment, by educating to responsibility for
the common good; to deepen the experience of Church as communion and service; to
discover and bring to maturity the particular vocational decision in the combined
social and ecclesial context.
It is not only to make a group but also to enter into a society to
transform it.
3.4.2 The challenges we want to meet
Young people look for a group in which to satisfy their desire for
personal communication, and their need for autonomy and participation. Sociological
analyses reveal the importance of the variables involved for a deeper understanding of the
behavior and options of the young.
Our society is complex in its relationships, pluralistic in its
concepts and life options, fragmented in its messages and proposals of values. This
situation accounts for certain characteristics which are present in the group phenomenon
of the present day. For example, the great diversity of groups, sometimes contradictory in
the way they are conceived , their frequent break-up betrays this trend. At the same time
these groups create a living space for the young person, a kind of ‘vital world’
where he/she can recover the sense of his/her own growth, mature his/her personal
identity, and develop an effective Christian and ecclesial experience.
3.4.3 The specific options to be developed
The development of this dimension in the
situation described means that certain choices must be made.
Group experience is offered to all young people.
They are in fact its real leaders. This criterion implies:
- creating a situation where there are many choices of groups and
environments are available according to the different interests and levels of the
youngsters;
- starting from the reality of the situation in which they are found, and
from the desires they show, respecting the rhythm of development possible for them;
- Promoting in the life of the group the qualities and contributions which
each one is able to provide, animating them through the leadership which emerges among
them.
With an educative purpose
Education is not only one of the fundamental dimensions
of the project, but is also the manner in which all the others are realized. This choice
of education implies in practical terms:
- proposing groups for different age-levels, corresponding to specific
needs and linked together through progressive ongoing programs (boys/girls adolescents,
young men/women);
- taking particular care of groups under formation and those of Christian
commitment, considered as the crown of group experience;
- ensuring the continual ongoing formation of educators and animators;
- offering periodically more intense experiences of living together
(retreats, camping periods, etc.) as moments for checking up on the associative and
Christian aspect of the group and re-launching it;
- having a revision of life on the way the group functions, its efficacy
and the part played by the young .
With the style of animation
Within this educative goal we choose the style of
animation, which implies:
- a way of understanding the human person who, through his/her interior
resources, is able to be committed and be also responsible for the processes that are
involved therein;
- a method which takes into account all the rich potentialities of every
youngster so that they can be used to promote his/her growth;
- a style of walking with the young: suggesting, motivating, helping them
to grow. This accompaniment of the young person does not restrict him/her in her daily
living. However the educator makes sure that this is helps him/her.
A final and overall objective is to restore to every
young person the joy of living life to the full, full of courage and hope.
The animator make his/her animation very real and
precise. He/she has a precise and indispensable role to play. Although the role varies in
its particulars according to the kind of group, we can express it in general as follows:
- he/she encourages the formation and the progress of research, activities
and ideals of every group;
- through his/her skills and experience, the animator helps to overcome
group crises and helps to build up personal relationships among the members;
- together with the young people he/she looks for suitable opportunities
for new perspectives for reflection and activity;
- he/she provides the youngsters with helps for critical and deeper
assessment with which they can judge their proposals, desires and searches;
- he/she fosters communication between groups, and among themselves; he/she
guides individuals in the process of their human and Christian growth;
- he/she constantly brings before the group the perspective of Christ on
problems and proposals presented by the youngsters themselves.
Towards insertion in society and the Church.
The youth groups provide a context where a young person
is able to open himself/herself. This in turn helps the young person, totally inserted
into his/her reality, to build an educative and/or the Christian community. We foster
therefore:
- communication and linkage between groups and their animators within the
Salesian Youth Movement;
- their participation in the various groups of the educative community;
- the participation of adults, and especially the interested parents, for
their enriching contributions and exchanges.
The youth group should take care of the chance they have
for social and ecclesial involvement according to the particular vocational option they
have chosen.
Salesian group experience should promote:
- a preparation and follow-up which renders the young person capable of
participating in the life of society, accepting his/her proper moral, professional and
social responsibilities, and co-operating with those who are building a society more
worthy of a human being;
- an active insertion in civil life through the promotion of various groups
for the service of the common good in a democratic society;
- an insertion in the ecclesial community so that the young person is able
to live the vocation which his formation process has helped to him/her identify and
accept;
- a definitive choice of Salesian spirituality with the maturing of a
possible "lay, consecrated or priestly vocation for the benefit of the whole Church
and of the Salesian Family" (C 28).
Promoting the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM)
The youth groups and associations which, while retaining
their organizational autonomy, have the same Salesian spirituality and pedagogy, form
implicitly or explicitly the Salesian Youth Movement.
The groups are linked and work with each other in the
local educative community, where they interact for their mutual enrichment and for the
creation of a climate which is lively from a cultural standpoint and committed in a
Christian sense. This first setting will have a broader basis at provincial and
interprovincial levels where exchange and communication between groups will be fostered,
ensuring their influence in the combined area and their insertion and contribution in the
local Church (GC 23, 275-277).
Giving attention to the new forms of youth group activity, especially
the two typical experiences which are very much alive at the present day and close to
youthful sensitivity : volunteer work and conscientious objection. These provide a
positive option for peace and the service of others; they enhance efficacious presence in
the locality.
3.5 Unity of the YPM Dimensions in the Plan
These four dimensions together constitute the internal dynamic of
Salesian YPM. For this reason it is fundamental to recall once again their structural
unity within the SEPP:
- They are aspects of the same process tending towards one and the same objective;
elements which are equally necessary, even though in a certain order from a pastoral
aspect; they constitute the identity of the entire process.
- Their unity and relationship must be spelled out in the SEPP of all the works of
the province, in line with the needs of the young. In every pastoral service attention
must be given to some specific choices in each dimension which are present in all our
educative and pastoral activity, e.g. the critical and creative assimilation of culture,
attention given to the education of the disadvantaged youth, a systematic process of
education to the faith, vocational guidance and discernment, promotion of the SYM, etc.
- In this process, the various dimensions need to be prioritized. This will be determined
by the specific need of the service/work and the needs of those for whom the service is
offered. Thus, in a school, the dimension of education and culture will be prominent,
while in a parish the dimension of evangelization and catechesis will take prominence.
However, when doing this, we must not upset the unity and integration of the whole.
VECCHI J., Pastorale giovanile una sfida
per la comunità ecclesiale, LDC Leumann, (Torino) 1992, Parte quarta: "Le
dimensioni fondamentali del progetto educativo", ch. 1-7, pp. 201-314.
VECCHI J., - PRELLEZO J.M. (a cura di), Progetto
educativo pastorale. Elementi modulari, LAS, Roma, 1984. In particular, a look at
these is recommended:
Parte Prima:
Cap.2: NANNI C. (ed.),
"Educazione", o.c., pp.26-37.
Cap.3: GROPPO G. (ed.),
"Evangelizzazione e educazione", o.c., pp.38-49.
Parte Terza:
Cap.20: VECCH I J., (ed.),
"Orientamento e pastorale vocazionale", o.c., pp.242-256.
ISTITUTO DI TEOLOGIA PASTORALE - UPS, Dizionario
di Pastorale Giovanile, LDC, Leumann (Torino) 1989. Several entries are especially
useful:
TONELLI R. (ed.),
"Associazionismo", o.c., pp.79-87.
TONELLI R. (ed.), "Educazione
Pastorale", o.c., pp. 290-297.
TONELLI R. (ed.), "Gruppo", o.c.,
pp. 415-418.
DE PIERI S., (ed.), "Vocazione", o.c., pp.
1132-1144.
DICASTERO PER LA PASTORALE GIOVANILE SALESIANA, Il
progetto educativo-pastorale delle ispettorie Salesiane. Raccolta antologica di testi.
Dossier PG. Esperienze a confronto 9, Roma 1995, pp. 11 - 158.
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