INTRODUCTION

 

Over the last thirty years the Congregation has been engaged in a process of development of Youth Ministry in harmony with the evolution of the world and of the Church, especially in the period following Vatican II.

The five General Chapters which have taken place since 1971 have guided this process of deeper study. The SGC 20 (1971) clarified the Salesian mission and those to whom it is directed in the light of the conciliar renewal and in the context of the new historical circumstances. The GC 21 (1978) did a rethinking of the content of Salesian pastoral work with an adaptation of Don Bosco’s preventive system to modern conditions. It presented the Salesian community as being itself evangelized and as the animator of numerous apostolic forces. The same Chapter asked every province to draw up the Salesian Educative and Pastoral Project (SEPP). It also defined the Salesian identity of some of the settings for education and evangelization: the Oratory and Youth Center, the school, parish and new Salesian foundations.

The GC 23 (1990), in the face of the challenges posed by the new situations of young people in their own contexts, defined the SEPP as a process of education to the faith, inspired, guided and fine- tuned by Salesian Youth Spirituality. The GC 24 (1996) placed the whole of this mission, expressed in the SEPP and animated by Salesian Youth Spirituality, within the broad horizons of a vast movement of persons who, in various ways, shared the spirit and mission of Don Bosco. The Chapter studied more deeply some of the themes, namely, the central part played by lay people, the new animating function of the Salesian community, the Educative and Pastoral Community (EPC) in which this communion and sharing in the spirit and mission of Don Bosco are manifested and realized.

To the general indications offered by the General Chapters have been added the more detailed reflections made by the Youth Ministry Department, the Pastoral Centers and the Provinces themselves in an effort to provide an adequate pastoral program. These efforts have produced three major results: the elaboration of the Salesian Educative and Pastoral Project (SEPP) on the part of the Provinces and local communities; Salesian Youth Spirituality (SYS) spread and deepened among the young as a unifying content of the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM); and, the processes of human and Christian formation drawn up in various parts of the Congregation as a modern practical synthesis of evangelization of youth.

In the course of these years the Youth Ministry Department has accompanied this process by providing summaries for the use of collaborators, formation personnel and youth workers in the field. Of special significance are the documents giving guidelines for the elaboration of the SEPP in the Provinces and in the various works.

The many documents of the Rector Major, Fr. Egidio Vigaṇ, have stimulated and guided this reflection and process of assimilation, by analyzing more deeply the four fundamental dimensions of the Salesian Educative and Pastoral Project.

The Congregation, the various Provinces and communities, under the influence of all these stimuli, have made notable efforts at assimilation, clarification and realization in providing an ever better response to the needs of the young. But at the same time they met with certain difficulties as, for instance, the gap between the number of proposals and the possibilities for their realization, the different degrees of assimilation of the new pastoral mentality, the multiplicity of propositions and needs which lead to dispersion and little attention to reflection and especially to proper planning. The result was that the provinces managed to assimilate the guidelines of the Congregation and especially put them into practice only with great difficulty and in a very limited form.

We have a Salesian pastoral heritage which is extraordinarily rich and consistent, and the need is felt to make available a complete and composite view of it, and to gather its fundamental points into a complete and shared synthesis so as to facilitate its personal assimilation and provide guidelines for action.

This is precisely the purpose of this manual: to offer a systematic collection, in the first place, to provincial delegates for youth ministry and their teams, and then to all confreres and communities especially those with the responsibility for animation and government. This will promote a greater organic unity among people in the field and in the handling of educative processes.

Salesian Youth Ministry involves to an ever greater extent the Salesian Family and the many lay collaborators. This manual can also be a guide and help in their formation, as well as in the elaboration and realization together of the Salesian Educative and Pastoral Project (SEPP).

It has been drawn up, therefore, as an instrument for study and a guide for reflection and verification. It makes no pretence at developing and analyzing every topic, but intends to offer a unified frame of reference and some practical criteria which can guide the work of pastoral animation.

At the beginning there is a synthesis of the documents of the Congregation which inspired and guided the selection of the contents, and at the end of each chapter a bibliography is provided for further study of the more important topics.

In the light of experience it is hoped to add some more help for the study and presentation of the various parts and chapters, so as to facilitate the presentation of the whole manual and the study and assimilation of the contents of the various chapters.