III. THE PARISH ENTRUSTED TO THE SALESIANS

1. THE ORIGINALITY OF THE SALESIAN PARISH

Don Bosco’s apostolic concern, which is always alive in Salesian hearts, the renewed aspect of the parish as the ultimate local setting of the Church, and the pastoral needs of local Churches, have led the Congregation to a much greater involvement in parish ministry. In the Regulations the parish is explicitly included among the works in which our mission ‘is realized, "responding to the pastoral needs of the particular Churches in those areas which offer us adequate scope for service to the young and to the poor" (R 25; cf. C 42). The Salesian commitment in the parish sector is expressed through the parishes entrusted to the Congregation and through the missionary parishes.

1.1 The parish, the presence of the Church in a specified territory

The Second Vatican Council presents the Church as:

• the sign and instrument of communion of a group of people brought together and united by the initiative of the Spirit; united through faith in Christ and through the sacraments; it shares in the gift of Trinitarian life in love, and in service in community life.
• service, the leaven of the Kingdom in human history; it is sent to the world to proclaim Jesus Christ as its salvation, and to render him present by words and work;
• enriched by the Spirit’s gifts, in so far as its members, individuals and groups, have been enriched by the Holy Spirit with different vocations, charisms and ministries, all at the service of the growth of the Body of Christ in history and for its mission in the world (cf. GC 24, 61-68).

The parish, as a visible expression of this Church, has the following characteristics:

• diocesan character: it is a cell of the local Church, presided over by priests in the name of the Bishop, in communion with the other parishes of the diocese;
• territoriality: it renders the Church present in a specifically defined territory;
• global nature of its mission: it accompanies the faithful in the education and growth of their faith throughout their lives;
• community character: it is a communion of different communities, expressed and realized in a special way in the Sunday Eucharist;
• openness: it welcomes all the people of God, for the reason that they have all been baptized;
• missionary: it is open to the evangelization of those who are at a distance, and collaborates in the proclamation of the Gospel "ad gentes".

1.2 The Salesian parish, the presence of the Church in a territory with the Salesian charisma.

The Congregation with its charisma for the young and the poor brings to the local Church its own charismatic style of parish. The documents of the SGC and the GC 21 concentrate this contribution in some specific traits:

• it is animated by a religious community committed to the building of a Christian community which is closely united, welcoming, available, and open to human and Christian growth;
• it chooses by preference the young and the poor as a dynamic option in all manifestations of the parish community;
• it is situated in a working-class area with an adequate field of service (R 25; GC21,141. 407);
• it has a pastoral project with the characteristic style of evangelizing by educating and educating by evangelizing, in line with a particular spirituality and pedagogical method (the preventive system) (cf. R 26).

When Salesians are called by the Bishop to the pastoral care of a particular zone ( ... ), they take up before the Church the responsibility of sharing with the laity the creation of a community of brethren, united in love, to listen to the Word, celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and proclaim the message of salvation. (SGC 416)

This is also one of the fundamental characteristics of Salesian pastoral work, shared community responsibility and the building up of the community (cf. C 35. 44. 47).

2.1 Some criteria

• Make the life of the parish more like a setting for meeting and dialogue than a structure for religious services.
• Plan its organization by promoting a shared responsibility among all who have accepted the faith, for the service of those to whom the ministry is directed.
• Give effect to the various initiatives by aiming at communion among persons.
• Live this communion in the world as a sign and leaven for the human community.

2.2 Process of this community option

• The experience and testimony of the fraternal life of the Salesian religious community as a meaningful sign of the Gospel is extraordinarily effective for the building of parish community.
• The Salesian community as the animating nucleus of the parish Christian community: for building, encouraging, and for making visible the community of the faithful in the proclamation of the word, in the celebration of the sacraments, and in service to the parish community. In this effort of animation of the Christian community the formation of the laity is fundamental, even to the extent of the parish becoming a center of Christian formation for lay people.
• The organization of the parish community in groups and subgroups in which there can be greater communication, more intense commitment, more realistic participation, and a visible relationship between all the groups and the community: for promoting ecclesial brotherhood, with special attention to the Salesian Family and the Salesian Youth Movement.
• A community programming and realization of the mission, through: a unified and organic pastoral project (the "parish project");drawn up, realized and verified with the active participation of all, through councils and assemblies.
• Openness to all and insertion in the locality to strengthen communion in the human community of the area.

2.3 Responsibilities and structures

2.3.1 Some Criteria

a. Integral unity of parish ministry

The parish gathers together the People of God with its rich variety of vocations, charisms and ministries. It promotes the development and communion of all these in the service of the mission.

The Salesian parish enriches this communion with its own charisma. The Salesian Youth Spirituality and Don Bosco’s preventive system must orient and characterize the convergence of the various charisms and services present in it.

b. A community sharing responsibility

The structures must facilitate and advance the shared responsibility of all the faithful in the common mission expressed in the pastoral project;

They must also strengthen the practical communion of all concerned, and the convergence and complementary nature of the individuals, interventions and structures around this same pastoral project.

c. Unity of the Salesian project in the area and in the local Church

When the Salesian parish is in an area with other Salesian works (oratory or youth center, school, hostel, etc.), it promotes with them a special kind of sharing, collaboration and dialogue, for the realization together of a unified pastoral work in the area which develops the one Salesian mission.

d. Openness to the local Church and to the Province

The Salesian parish lives its pastoral activity in the Church on the basis of its own charisma. The parish service helps the Salesians to experience with greater intensity their membership of the local Church and their links with it; but at the same time it offers a specific collaboration enriched by the Salesian charism and by a predilection for the young.

For this reason the Salesian parish must have as reference points both the pastoral indications of the diocese and the SEPP of the Province.

2.3.2 Main responsibilities and structures

a. The Salesian religious community, as the animating nucleus of the Salesian mission in a place, in all its expressions.

"The responsible agent of the Salesian parish, that which gives it life, is the religious community" (GC 21, 138). The latter, therefore, recognizing the responsibility which the Code of Canon Law places on the parish priest:

• follows the pastoral indications of the diocese, inserting in them the rich characteristics of our own pastoral charism;
• promotes the elaboration of the SEPP in the parish and gives effect to it;
• accepts responsibility, with the parish priest, for the formation and spiritual animation of the faithful and of the laity with a pastoral mission;
• guides members of the Salesian Family, and in particular the Cooperators, in being the first collaborators of the parish priest.

b. The Rector of the Salesian community

The Rector has a specific obligation as the one bearing the first responsibility for the apostolic activities of the community; he fosters the unity and Salesian identity of the community and encourages the confreres to share the responsibility for giving effect to the parochial pastoral project (R 29). For this reason he is a member of the pastoral council of the parish.

c. The Parish Priest

The Parish Priest is the one immediately responsible for the parochial mission entrusted by the Bishop to the Salesian Congregation. For his people he represents the Bishop, but at the same time represents the Congregation.

He fosters the formation of the parish community, presides over it and has direct responsibility for it.

In collaboration with his Salesian community he promotes the Salesian characteristics in the pastoral project of the parish.

d. The Parish Council

The Parish Council is the expressive sign of communion and participation in the parish. It takes up in accordance with the prescriptions of the Code of Canon Law and the guidelines of the local Church, the functions assigned by the GC 24 to the Council of the EPC or of the work (GC 24, 160. 171).

e. Committees and Groups

Various committees and consulting groups animate the different areas of activity in line with the parochial SEPP. Among these, special importance attaches to the team or committee for the animation of youth ministry, which is usually coordinated by the assistant priest who directs the oratory or youth center (SGC 432).

f. The parish assembly

The parish assembly is the expression of the meaning of Christian community and shared responsibility; it realizes the EPC in the parochial environment.

3.1 The Salesian Parish: center of evangelization and of education to the faith

To develop a pastoral work of evangelization means giving the parish missionary slant, not being satisfied with simple welcoming and celebration the sacraments but making it a center for the spreading of the Gospel.

3.1.1 Its significance

In the effort to evangelize an area, the Salesian parish follows a criterion and takes its inspiration from a fundamental option: the existential fusing evangelization, advancement and education; it proclaims the Gospel and presents the person of Jesus from within man and human problems, as an element of transformation and change of less human situations into the fullness of man in God. This fundamental choice operates through the project (SEPP) which be comes the working instrument of the parish.

3.1.2 Qualifying traits of the evangelizing work of the Salesian parish

• It fosters the process of humanizing and advancement of individuals and environment:
  • it shares the preoccupations and concerns of the parishioners and throws Christian light on the daily life and temporal affairs of the community and the area;
  • it establishes a close dialogue and collaboration with the realities and educative institutions present in the area;
  • it has a special concern for the proclamation of the Gospel to those at a distance from the faith;
  • it promotes the Christian formation of conscience and develops in the Christian community an attitude of solidarity and commitment in face of situations of poverty and emargination.
• It offers a method of catechesis which is:
  • continuous and systematic, with a process of education to the faith at different levels, but pays particular attention to post-adolescents and adults (cf. GC 23, 116-157);
  • embodied in daily life: it enlightens with the Gospel the various situations of life (profession, family, social life, political, etc.);
  • it initiates families to the Christian education of children, beginning with baptismal catechesis.
• It promotes a liturgical and sacramental life which leads to and deepens a personal and community contact with Jesus Christ:
  • by fostering a process of education to prayer and Christian celebration;
  • with special attention to the elements which favor a true experience of God;
  • centered on the sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation;
  • encouraging the full participation of the faithful;
  • tailored to the life of the human community and youthful sensitivity.
• It develops the values of Salesian Spirituality, emphasizing its lay and youthful dimension (GC 23, 158-161; GC 24, 89-100).
• It fosters the vocational orientation of the faithful, and especially of the young, by:
  • orienting and accompanying the development of Christian life, with special attention to the preparation of parents as educators of their children;
  • presenting to everyone the various vocations in the Church, with special mention of the Salesian vocation;
  • taking special care of animators and those responsible for associations and movements, young adults and engaged couples, in the process of the maturing of their vocations;
  • suggesting a specific vocation to those of the young who seem more disposed to the religious and priestly life and to the lay ministry.
• It promotes the formation of the Christian community:
  • through proposals of group activity to all the faithful and especially to the young adults,
  • with many different possibilities,
  • encouraging them to play their part,
  • and the quality of the group-life and openness to the locality.

3.2 The Parish with a prior option for the young

The parish embraces the sum total of the people of God who live in a specific territory.

Keeping in mind that it is a complete community of persons interdependent in their human and Christian growth, the Salesian parish opts primarily for the young, and especially the poorest of them.

3.2.1 Its significance

The options for the young is in the first place an aspect and perspective of interest to the whole parish community and its pastoral work; it is expressed in various sectorial initiatives. It is a pastoral work which:

• chooses the line of education, keeping in mind in all its activities and programs the integral maturing of the person;
• promotes an attitude of close attention to the world of youth, and mingles with it;
• leaves space for the active participation of the young people themselves, and promotes their contact and dialogue with adults.

3.2.2 Perspectives

• To develop in the parish Christian community a special attention to the world of the young, a positive attitude and interest and a better knowledge of their concrete problems in life.
• To make the parish a meeting-place for dialogue between the different generations and a point of reference for religious questions and the search for meaning.
• To offer the young the possibility of education to a truly missionary faith:
  • which gives pride of place to the poor and those at a distance;
  • matches the rate of progress of the young;
  • is realized in community;
  • towards the discovery of personal vocation and Christian maturity (cf. GC 23, 102-111).

3.2.3 Lines of intervention

What resources can be put forward in a Salesian parish to approach these objectives? In what direction should efforts be made? What elements should be promoted and developed?

• A Salesian community with a youthful vocational outlook: a Salesian parish is not a place of retirement from the world of the young, but another form of being present among young people. To live this kind of life supposes in the SDBs of the parish community:
  • a positive and cordial presence in the world of youth;
  • a systematic and deeper understanding and pastoral concern for the youth of today;
  • the will and stamina to be present and engage in dialogue in occasional or systematic encounters.
• A parish community with the ability to be open to the young and to educate them. This implies:
  • fostering a climate of joy and optimism;
  • developing a systematic Christian formation of adults so that they can be models of reference for the young;
  • providing places, occasions and initiatives for meetings and dialogue between young and older adults;
  • giving special attention to young adults and promoting their formation and sharing of responsibility in parish life;
  • motivating, supporting and rendering, parents and other educators in the community competent for their educative mission.
• A youthful environment of education and evangelization: the Oratory or Youth Center (cf. R 26):
  • as a place of meeting with a concrete formative program (cf. Oratory and Youth Center environment);
  • as a center of fostering in the locality missionary initiatives of research, meetings and dialogue with those far from the faith;
  • organically linked with the parish pastoral program.
• Ecclesial groups and movements and youth communities, especially those suggested by the SYM:
  • plurality of possibilities within the SEPP;
  • formative concern for evangelization;
  • special attention to the animators.
• Openness to the locality and its various possibilities for education and evangelization (schools, large youth gatherings, social projects etc.), and to the new places for youthful social gatherings, through collaboration with other educative and social institutions.

Additional Reading:

VIGAN̉ E., "La Parrocchia Salesiana come collaborazione alla pastorale della Chiesa particolare con la ricchezza di una vocazione specifica", in: La Parrocchia Salesiana come collaborazione alla pastorale della Chiesa particolare con la ricchezza di una vocazione specifica. Atti Convegno dei Parroci (Rome-Pisana 14-18 October 1991; Como Salesianum 20-24 October 1991), Rome 1992, pp. 119-296.