1.1 New challenges and new responses
In face of the new needs of youth, the shortcomings of the
present institutional forms for providing an adequate response become clear. There is a
growing gap between the adult world and that of the young; a human, cultural and religious
partition, which renders difficult any real dialogue and communication between their
fundamental terms of reference and those of adults. Despite the substantial organizational
efficiency of structures and the practical commitment of educators, there is a certain
inability to cope with this new situation.
In our present complex and pluralist society we are witnessing the
advent of new sites for the education of the young, of new models and life-styles
which attract young people in general: one may think of the parallel school of the
mass-media, the large numbers that gather in the interests of music and sport, tourism,
the new forms of social and ecclesial commitment, the vital area of spare time, and new
opportunities for personal identification.
Throughout the Salesian world new environments, services and works have
been developed to meet these requirements and the need for contact and presence in the
world of youth. This need includes the following, though the list is not exhaustive:
- associations and services in the field of spare time, e.g.: sport, tourism, music,
theatre, etc.;
- the various expressions of the Salesian Youth Movement and the big youth gatherings;
- the volunteer movement in its various forms;
- specialized services in the area of Christian formation and spiritual animation (retreat
houses and centers of spirituality);
- programs for vocational animation (guidance communities and programs, vocational camps,
etc.);
- work among university students (university hostels, pastoral care of students, etc.).
All these are examples of flexible works and services, capable
of adaptation to changing needs with greater freedom of action and initiative; they make
greater use of the possibility of communication with the natural environment of
the young, rather than the stability of a fixed setting; they give priority to
spontaneity and freedom of participation, to the centrality of the person rather
than to structures and projects; it is relatively easier to involve young people in them,
because they know that what they are doing is in their own hands; they develop a bond
between various realities and work in mutual interaction with other institutions and
services in the environment, trying to offer a global response to situations. They are,
therefore, expressions of a new kind of effective presence in the world of youth, and
efficacious instruments of response to the new educative and evangelizing needs.
But at the same time these new educative opportunities are exposed to
certain dangers, which can lessen their educative and evangelizing efficacy as, for
example, a certain individualism in their management, a weak and ill-defined identity, a
vagueness about relationships and projects which makes continuity of the educative process
difficult to maintain over a long period.
The presentation is desirable, therefore, of some elements and criteria
which can help in the orientation of these new forms of work and to link them positively
with traditional forms within the provincial project.
1.2 Criteria of Salesian identity
For this purpose we would do well to recall certain criteria of
Salesian activity:
- clarity about the Salesian educative and pastoral objectives;
- openness to the permanent criterion of discernment and renewal: every activity and work
is "for the youngsters a home that welcomes, a parish that evangelizes,
a school that prepares them for life, and a playground where friends can
meet and enjoy themselves" (C 40);
- realization by the community, to whom the mission is entrusted (C 44);
- integration in the provincial project
through permanent interaction and
collaboration between the different educative and pastoral works and services of the
Province (C 58).
One of our broadest and most comprehensive forms of presence among
young people is the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM).
This is formed, implicitly or explicitly, by youth groups and
associations which, while maintaining their organizational autonomy, share the same
Salesian elements of spirituality and pedagogy.
2.1 Characteristics of the SYM
It is a movement of an educative character offered to all youngsters,
to make them subjects and protagonists of their own human and Christian growth with a
missionary slant, open also to non- members, with the will to play an effective part in
the environment and to be positively inserted into the local Church.
2.1.1 Elements of identity of
the SYM
The identity of the SYM is characterized by two elements: reference to
Salesian youth spirituality (SYS) and Salesian pedagogy: the person of Don Bosco,
initiator in the Church of a concrete form of Christian life (the SYS) and of an educative
praxis (the preventive System), is the unifying reference point for
all the groups and associations; linkage between the groups: this reference is expressed
in the sharing of certain values and leading ideas through the coordination of common
initiatives, which become effective occasions for dialogue, comparison, Christian
formation and youthful self-expression (cf. GC 23, 275-277).
2.1.2 Fundamental options of the
SYM
The following elements are made concrete through certain important
choices:
- The educative option, which puts the emphasis on the process of growth of each
individual, a process it offers to all youngsters, especially the poor and those who
remain at a distance, with the intention of accompanying them to the fullness of Christian
life (holiness). The attention of the educators is directed to the person of the youngster
rather than to the structures of the group.
- The ecclesial and group option, which opens up to group experience and the wider
experience of communication, sharing and collaboration, and transforming them into an
experience of Church.
- The formative option, which always gives priority to the process of integral and ongoing
growth of those to whose service the various initiatives and activities are directed.
- The apostolic option, which commits the young people to form themselves for the
gratuitous service of others, by sharing, deeper acquaintanceship, and celebration
together.
- The civil option, for becoming an instrument of social experience and formation, and an
efficacious presence in society at a level at which youth policies are decided.
These choices become translated into some practical elements which
guide the lives of the groups forming the movement:
- the variety of groups and associations in line with the interests of the young, with
particular attention to those more suited to poorer youngsters; without basic groups there
can be no SYM;
- a process of community experience around the person of Don Bosco and the values of the
SYM; this reference to Don Bosco and to the values of his spirituality are the point of
convergence and source of inspiration qualifying all the groups and associations which
have the SYM as their point of reference;
- the apostolic commitment of young people among the youngsters themselves; SDB, FMA and
the youngsters together, in the service of the Church and society;
- the animators, who live and make their own the Salesian proposal in groups and
associations;
- meetings and festivities, as moments of communication, formation and life experience.
2.1.3 Elements for the animation
of the SYM
Although specific circumstances may differ widely, some aspects of
animation are fundamental:
- Consider the delegate for youth ministry with his team as the overall promoter of the
SYM,
- Promote a provincial and interprovincial structure of coordination with the
participation of the young;
- Plan a formative proposal offered to the different groups and associations as a point of
reference for their own formation plans;
- Consider the formation of animators and educators the trump card of the movement;
- Create a network of information and linkage between the different groups and
associations, and also between them and other groups and associations in the Church and in
the locality (meetings, news- sheets, combined initiatives, etc.);
- Salesian centers as places for spiritual encounters and meetings of a Christian
character.
2.2 Some expressions of the SYM
2.2.1 Associations and services
in the field of spare time
a. The Salesian educative and
pastoral value of spare time
The spare-time activities of sport, tourism, culture, music, theatre,
etc. are realities which bring together many youngsters, even those normally aloof, who
want to satisfy their typical interests. They are to be found in all our works.
This kind of educative intervention is considered nowadays of great
social value and preventive importance; it is a new way of recreating the oratorian
environment brought about by Don Bosco at Valdocco: for him the playground was the place
he liked most for educative and pastoral activity
b. Characteristics of the
animation of spare time activity
In the Salesian world there is a great variety of initiatives, groups
and associations which develop the Salesian educative and pastoral plans in these settings
with a plurality of styles of action, forms of organization, and numbers of participants.
But in all of them there are some common elements which characterize their identity:
- the central place of the young person in the work of education and in all the activities
and projects;
- group experience as a primary educative option essential for integral human development;
- spare time as a period free from the conditioning of consumerism and available for the
expression, pursuit and development of youthful interests;
- integral personal and social formation of boys and young people, using the development
of their interests as a means to fulfilling their educative requirements;
- educative style of animation;
- participation and leadership by the laity, especially of the youngsters themselves;
- active presence in the locality, to offer a project for persons and for society inspired
explicitly by the Christian vision and educative system of Don Bosco.
c. Criteria and practical
guidelines
- Integrate all these groups and associations for spare-time activity (sport, tourism,
etc.) into the educative and pastoral process which fosters:
- the discovery and development of the positive forces, values and resources which the
youngster has within him;
- the provision of positive experiences of educative quality, e.g. friendly
- meeting, joy of sharing, effort to attain an objective, self-discipline, ability
- to be creative, etc.;
- deeper demand and interests of greater human and Christian quality, with involvement
eventually in an explicit process of human and Christian growth.
- Allow youngsters to take leadership roles (which always remains central) with the
active and effective presence of the educators in their midst, so as to create together a
family atmosphere which will produce personal relationships, a sign in themselves of the
Gospel and a witness to it.
- Develop the organization needed for the educative and pastoral process and for an
effective presence in social life. These activities need structures and organization which
are efficacious and challenging, and also an important source of funding; this gives them
a certain confidence and power, but is also a temptation. For this reason great attention
must be given to:
- the selection of those responsible and their formation, making sure they share the
criteria and objectives of the SEPP which are integrated in the EPC;
- the criteria for the distribution of money, with priority to the more educative aspects
at the service of youngsters in most need;
- the choice of projects for collaboration and of partners.
- Facilitate in the various groups and associations the sense of belonging to a
broader and more integral project and educative environment, to overcome the danger of
narrow-mindedness. This supposes:
- getting the animators and those in charge of the various groups and associations which
form part of a Salesian work to become members of a single EPC, and feel solidly
responsible as a group for the educative environment;
- promoting experiences of sharing, collaboration and openness to other groups through
mutual exchange of information, occasional meetings and celebrations together,
collaboration in common initiatives and activities, shared formation, etc.;
- fostering a certain communication of goods for the common service of the needy.
2.2.2 The Salesian volunteer
movement
In recent years a multiplicity of volunteer groups and associations has
developed in the provinces, and especially of volunteer youth groups in the SYM. The GC 24
recognized the reality of the volunteer movement as a new style of openness to
one’s neighbor, especially in the fields of poverty and emargination, as a challenge
to injustice and rampant selfishness, a significant vocational option and a valid
confirmation of the educative process of the young with the SDBs (cf. GC 24, 26).
The Salesian volunteer movement of the young is also an important
indication of the richness and prodigious expansion of Don Bosco’s charism and
youthful eagerness in the dedication and commitment to pastoral work and human
advancement.
There exists a great plurality of ways of working as a Salesian
volunteer: in the province or in mission territories; voluntary social work among the
poor; educative work as animators, or by direct evangelization; long-term (a year or more)
or short-term; social service in place of military service (for conscientious objectors,
where the law permits), etc.
Many Provinces are studying the volunteer movement, with a view to
adopting a plan for including it in the overall pastoral plan of the province. Through the
Departments for Youth Ministry, the Salesian Family, and the Missions, the Congregation
has prepared a general frame of reference for the animation of this experience.
a. Identity of the Salesian
volunteer movement:
In the light of this document and of recent experiences, we can refer
to the following characteristics:
- The lay and youth characteristic: the Salesian volunteer is a lay person, man or woman
of legal age, who after adequate preparation places himself/herself at the disinterested
service of the young and the working classes, giving more attention to the very poor in
line with the Salesian mission, and for a specified time.
- The educative characteristic: it promotes a competent, creative and ongoing response to
emerging needs, with initiatives of education and human advancement.
- The social and political characteristic: in collaboration with civil and ecclesial
institutions, it proposes an action with a view to the transformation of society and the
removal of the causes of injustice.
- The gospel characteristic: it involves commitment to a lifestyle inspired by the Gospel;
it accepts the Christian option of educating by evangelizing and evangelizing by
educating, and fosters the missionary possibility.
- The Salesian community characteristic: it involves team work in community within an
organized structure, practicing Don Bosco’s preventive system with an oratorian
heart, and drawing inspiration from Salesian youth spirituality.
b. The Salesian volunteer
movement in pastoral work for the young
The volunteer movement provides youth ministry with a way for
rediscovering the values of the Salesian origins, for starting new pastoral initiatives,
and for giving specialized attention to young adults open to solidarity, even though their
motivations of faith may still be weak. It offers the possibility of dialogue and
collaboration with other educative agencies with a view to the social advancement of the
very poor.
Youth ministry provides the volunteer movement with an overall maturing
process and specific formative programs. It offers the possibility of living Salesian
youth spirituality and criteria for the effectiveness of apostolic activity.
It puts the volunteer in contact with a rich educative and preventive
tradition (the oratorian heart) and in communication with other youth experiences of an
ecclesial and civil nature. In this way it helps the volunteer to live his/her baptismal
vocation and accompanies him/her in his/her discernment and specific vocational option in
the Church or in the Salesian Family.
c. Animation of the Salesian
volunteer movement
For its orientation the movement needs a concrete and systematic
animation, which in turn requires:
- Promoting the sensitization of the SDBs and community:
- knowledge of and openness to the values of the volunteer movement and its importance in
the Salesian mission;
- cordial acceptance of the volunteer in his own project, respecting his lay identity;
- collaboration for the drawing up and practice of the provincial plan of promotion and
animation of the movement inserted in the educative and pastoral project (cf. GC 24, 126).
- Fostering the community experience of the volunteers:
- by promoting their experience of the Salesian family spirit with the SDBs and other
collaborators;
- through the daily education to the acceptance of other people, of working together, of
the communication of life and the sharing of faith;
- by offering daily moments of communication, of prayer, of relaxation, and also for
opportunities for participation in areas of responsibility within the educative and
pastoral community or the Salesian community;
- in different ways in line with the kind of volunteer work, its duration, the state of
life of the volunteers, their number, and the presence or otherwise of a Salesian or other
member of the Salesian Family.
- Caring for their formation through:
- systematic contact with a Salesian community to learn to live and act in line with the
criteria of the Salesian educative system;
- direct knowledge of the reality, sharing and reflection with regard to situations,
deepening of motivations, and programming and realization in common;
- personal follow-up which guides each volunteer in his maturing process;
- the group to which they belong, with a concrete program of general and specific
formation;
- some specialized formative experiences (work camps, committed vacation periods, brief
foreign experiences, etc.);
- a clear vocational perspective, either as a committed lay person in the Church or the
Salesian Family, or in the religious or priestly life.
- Developing some instruments of animation in the local and provincial community.
The responsibility for animation and coordination at provincial level
lies with the Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry and his team, through a person in
charge of this particular sector.
This person:
- promotes the volunteer movement, sensitizing the confreres and laity in its regard;
- sees to the formation of the volunteers according to a provincial plan;
- coordinates, in agreement with the delegate, the different initiatives of the volunteer
movement in the province;
- maintains communication with the provincial delegates for the missions and for the
Salesian family;
- preserves links with other provinces , and with civil and ecclesiastical structures;
- supports those who come back to the province after experience of volunteer work abroad.
The person responsible for the volunteer movement at local level,
in agreement with his counterpart for pastoral work, animates and coordinates the
promotion and formation of volunteers in every Salesian work.
He also promotes a form of coordination at interprovincial, national
or regional level by organizing (if possible) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
which, in collaboration with other institutions of the Church and society, support the
formation of volunteers, the development of projects of human advancement by the inserting
of volunteers, and the search for public or private funding.
2.2.3 The great youth gatherings
Youth encounters are an important element of the SYM, as being
effective occasions for communication between different groups, and the circulation of
messages and values of the Salesian youth spirituality. In recent years these large
gatherings have been increasing in number. Over the period of a year many provinces live
days in which dialogue between all the youthful components of the SYM is intensified.
A festive atmosphere is a characteristic of these meetings, but the
educator must give attention also to their content; overall they should be a proclamation
and powerful re-launching of the educative and pastoral project. For this reason it is
well:
- to see to it that in the variety of items and expressions there is a real convergence
of the contents on what concerns the quality and effectiveness of the educative and
evangelizing project;
- to make the encounter part of the overall educative process of the groups, with a
suitable preparation and subsequent follow-up which adds experience to everyday life;
- to ensure the preparation and participation of a proportionate number of animators,
especially young ones, who are aware of the objectives being aimed at.
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