We have come to the end of our experience of the GC25, which we have lived as a gift of the Holy Spirit for ourselves and for our Congregation.  The Spirit of Christ has poured out on us the rich variety of his gifts, which have filled us with joy and pointed to the way we must travel in the future.  Our first thought therefore is humbly and gratefully addressed to God, who through his Spirit has animated our assembly to live in the unity of communion and to seek to respond to what he is asking of us.

At this concluding moment there are many people I want to thank:  in the first place the Vicar of the Rector Major Fr Luc Van Looy, the Moderator of the Chapter Fr Antonio Domenech, Fr Antonio Martinelli, the members of the precapitular commission, the chairmen and secretaries of the Assembly, Bishop Alois Kothgasser, Fr Anthony Mc Sweeney, who with various degrees of responsibility have guided the Assembly’s life and work.

I thank also the capitular Assembly itself, which was always readily available and willing at every stage of the Chapter’s development, helped by its Commissions and internal arrangements. I thank too the secretaries of the Chapter, the translators, ANS and its team, the confreres of the Generalate and the auxiliary personnel, who by their discreet and assiduous work made the carrying out of this important event possible.

Finally I thank the members of the outgoing General Council, who have carried out their task with true competence and dedication, and in particular those who have now finished their mandate;  and I offer my sincere good wishes to the Vicar and General Councillors who have accepted the indication of the capitular assembly to be my collaborators for the coming six-year period.

Prominent in our minds throughout the Chapter has been our concern for the Holy Land.  The drama of the war has never been far from our thoughts;  we have followed the rapid sequence of news items; we have united our prayers with the worried appeal of John Paul II.  The carnage, the acts of retaliation, the occupations and acts of destruction have opened up a wide gulf between the inhabitants.  We have been seriously worried about the fate of our confreres and sisters in Bethlehem and Cremisan, and we are still keenly following the situation as it continues to develop with our prayers and our close support.

We have also been badly affected by the scandal widely echoed by the mass media concerning priests and religious of the Church of the USA accused of the abuse of juveniles.  All this calls for particular care on the part of us who are educators.  And similarly we have not failed to follow the situations of wars and social conflicts which are afflicting countries in which we are working.

Following the example of the apostolic community, sent out by Jesus first to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom and then make disciples of all nations, “in the joy of the Holy Spirit” our assembly is now ready to go out into all the world, so that each one may continue to follow the pathways of history, to live with young people, to animate communities, to walk with the Church.

1. The salesian community at the present day

The GC25 has developed the main theme of the “salesian community today” and the secondary theme of the “Verification of the functioning of the structures of central government”.  The greater part of its time has been dedicated to reflection on the theme of the community, which had already been begun by the two preceding General Chapters; they had shown the local community to be the strategic place for the education of young people to the faith and for the involvement of the laity.

The GC23 had tackled the challenge of the education of the young to the faith.  This was becoming an ever more complex undertaking, because of an emerging culture which made a rethinking of both method and content necessary.  Starting from the challenges posed by the youth situation in its various contexts, the capitulars drew up a process for the education of young people to the faith, by offering them a suggested form of meaningful Christian life and of salesian youth spirituality.

What was needed was a renewal of the quality of our educative and pastoral approach.  It was not a matter of creating new works, but of starting up a new presence, a new way of being present in those places where we are already working.  Once again the Congregation felt itself called upon to relaunch the attitude of  “da mihi animas”, by converting the community into a “sign and school of faith and a centre of communion”.

The GC24 centred its reflections on the challenge of creating a new synergy between SDBs and laity, in other words on the challenge of increasing the number of people who want to live their baptism in the educational field, bringing Salesians and lay people together in a new paradigm of relationships, of bringing the Salesians face to face with their priority task of pastoral and pedagogical animation.

The conviction became ever more deeply rooted that the new evangelization and the new education could not be realized without the organized and competent collaboration of the laity.  And the salesian communities would need to be ever better adapted for becoming animators of the educative and pastoral communities and of the Salesian Family.

These two last General Chapters developed a new pastoral model, in which the salesian community has an animating task, as the charismatic point of reference for all who share Don Bosco’s spirit and mission.  The quality of its consecrated life, the depth of its spiritual experience, the effectiveness of its witness and the impact of its suggestions, are all indispensable factors for giving evangelical life and strength to the animation of the EPC and of the Salesian Family. 

With the GC25 the salesian community takes centre stage and is seen in all its dynamic characteristics. It is not so much the community dimension that has been considered, but the local community as the subject, or in other words as regards its ability for planning and involving numerous other forces, for evangelical prophecy, for communion and for effective evangelization.  In this way the GC25 delves more deeply into what the Congregation has already done and gives new importance to the realization of the full “personal involvement” of the community.  The model that emerges from the GC25 is one linked with our apostolic consecration as expressed in art. 3 of the Constitutions.  The community lives the grace of unity, which brings about a vital synthesis between fraternal life, the radical following of Christ, spiritual experience and dedication to the mission to the young.

The capitular text concerning the community appears as a collection of five working guidelines  or schemes of work, and is directed to the salesian community as the principal subject.  By taking it on, the latter is invited to give willing acceptance to the call of God that comes through historical and ecclesial events, the indications of the Word of God and of our Rule of life, the appeals of young people and the needs of the laity and of the Salesian Family.  The community then examines more deeply its own situation and discovers its own availability and resistances, its resources and lack of them, its possibilities and limitations.  It learns moreover to recognize fundamental challenges and face them with hope and courage;  it can put to itself appropriate questions that demand a reply.  Finally, the community considers the practical guidelines that have been given, and decides on the conditions needed for putting them into effect.

The fundamental content concerns fraternal life, evangelical witness and the animating presence among the young.   The fraternal life  of the community aims at fostering processes of the human and vocational growth of the confreres, at overcoming the inertia of formal or functional relationships, at strengthening the sense of belonging and the fraternal atmosphere, at facilitating communication, and at helping in the building of a shared vision.  Useful for this purpose can be a personal plan of life, the practice of community discernment, the good use of the occasions for community meetings, and the project of the salesian community.

Evangelical witness requires us to make visibly perceptible the primacy of God in the community’s life, to live the grace of unity in spiritual experience and its community expressions, to make our community witness to the following of Christ radically prophetic and attractive, and to share the motivations and commitments of our vocations.  The central place given to the Word of God, fostered by the practice of the “lectio divina”, the quality of community prayer, the daily Eucharist, communication and the sharing of life help to deepen our spiritual experience and the manifestation of the primacy of God.  The witness of the community is rendered more transparent by concentration on joyful obedience in the mission, the practical application of an austere poverty of solidarity, and the splendour of a serene and watchful chastity.

Wherever there is a salesian community, there is an experience of faith, a network of relationships is built up and many forms of service for the young are made available.  The community makes visibly perceptible the salesian presence among the young, to which it gives animation and growth.  A first requirement is to get back among the young and be not only a community for young people but also with young people.  To this end the salesian community builds up a presence of communion and participation, it gets the laity and the Salesian Family involved and becomes inserted in the local neighbourhood.  It becomes a presence that educates and evangelizes, creating environments with a strong spiritual ethos, working with full awareness in situations of poverty, and realizing projects and processes of growth for the young.  Finally, it promotes the vocational choice every young person must make, it animates the educative and pastoral community so that the latter may be a place of vocational growth through a method of personal follow-up and vocational suggestion.

To be a community that makes fraternity come alive, that provides a strong gospel witness and is an animating presence among the young, the community itself needs to be animated, updated, motivated, encouraged, directed and guided.  Animation of the community  takes place mainly through ongoing formation.  It can provide moments for spiritual renewal, for discussion, for educative and pastoral updating; but the evaluation and quality of daily life are the first resource for formation in the community.  The Rector has a fundamental role to play in the animation process, but with the involvement and shared responsibility of all the confreres; his attention is concentrated on the charism, on the mission and on fraternity.  Together with the confreres he animates the community.

Finally the GC25 suggests some conditions which make it possible to be a salesian community at the present day;  it is a matter of helping the community to work in line with a common project, of ensuring that the community be made up of the right number of confreres with the necessary qualities, of deepening the rapport between the community and the work, and of giving effect to the organic provincial project.  Some of these conditions apply to the local level, but for the most part they require the responsibility and decisions of the provincial community.

To every community the Chapter consigns these five processes for study, deeper analysis and practical application, with a view to its becoming an effective charismatic community.

2. Verification of the functioning of the central structures of government

The second element in the theme for the Chapter’s reflection concerned the verification of the functioning of the structures of central government.  This was a point specifically requested by the GC24;  it was begun by the General Council and the results were passed on to this GC25.  The General Council began the work of review through contributions from external consulters, and the study by a group of Provincials led by the Vicar of the Rector Major.  Questions were then addressed to the Provincial Chapters concerning the Departmental Councillors, the Regional Councillors  and the Extraordinary Visitations.  The GC25, finally, has considered all this work and developed its own reflections for the purpose of making the functioning of the structures of central government  more smooth running and effective.

The verification has led the GC25 to make certain modifications to the Constitutions; they concern the temporary nature of the period of office of the Rector Major and members of the General Council, the entrusting of the animation of the Salesian Family to the Vicar of the Rector Major and the consequent assignment to one of the Councillors of the social communications sector by itself.   This has enabled an internal change to be made in the General Council which has been under study for some time and offers a new possibility for the animation of the Salesian Family, and the giving of greater importance to social communication in the service of education and evangelization.

The group of Provinces formerly known as Australia–Asia has been divided into two distinct groups named South Asia and East Asia–Oceania respectively.  This decision will permit a better animation of the two new Regions on the part of the respective Councillors;  more suitable forms of coordination will need to be found within the Regions themselves.

The need is felt to study a different manner of realization of the working of the General Chapter, to enable it to better respond to the needs of planning and clarity of expression.  We are all aware that the General Chapters dedicated to a re-reading of the charism have now ended, and we are back to ‘ordinary’ General Chapters.  Analogous reflections can be applied to the functioning of the provincial chapters.

The point is emphasized that the Rector Major with the General Council should work in a more organic and coordinated way, starting from the six-year programming, but also in the subsequent implementation.  In particular it is hoped that sectorialism may be overcome and especially that the so-called sectors of the “salesian mission”, i.e. youth pastoral work, social communication and missions, can work together in a more coordinated way.  The urgent need is recognized for working by way of projects and of fostering an animation that can initiate processes.  Also noted is the importance of exploiting the resources existing in the Regions, Conferences and Provinces, and linking them together in a network.  In this connection too the Generalate can make its specific contribution to improving the manner of working with the whole Congregation.

With the growth of the Provinces, the contribution made by the realization of decentralization and subsidiarity has been appreciable; but there is still need for a solidarity extending beyond the province or the region, and the need for much greater interprovincial coordination. At a time of globalization moderation is needed to balance global effects and local initiatives;  it will be well to reflect on what Provinces can do through their own resources and what they can more usefully do together.  There are in fact certain urgent needs and priorities that extend beyond the capacity of the Regions.  Mission frontiers require a combination of subsidiarity and solidarity. 

The process of discernment for the election of the Rector Major and the General Councillors was an occasion for living and experiencing a procedure, a method and a spiritual experience which still need further study but are already giving appreciable results.  Discernment carried out in common in important matters (C 66) is a way open to us to use in moments of government and pastoral life at different levels.  The exercise of such a practice will help us to reach a unity of outlook.

The need for the verification of the structures of central government remains open to the effective realization of better methods of functioning and requires an analogous commitment at different levels in the Congregation.  A better method of working will lead to working together, and to a work which is not only good but more effective.

3. The era through which we are living

We are living through exciting and dramatic times;  they both provide new opportunities and impose certain restrictions; they open up possibilities previously unthought of and arduous new and challenging perspectives.  The practical guidelines of the GC25 are placed in broader frames of reference we do well to keep in mind.  The communities in fact operate within situations of society and culture, of the Church and of religious life.  The implementation of the GC25 requires us to know our own particular contexts, but also to be able to situate them in the great changes now taking place.

3.1  The social and cultural context of secularization, globalization and fragmentation 

Deep and rapid transformations are taking place in society and culture which challenge the commitment to education and evangelization, the testimony of religious life, and the model of man and woman that we put forward.

There exists an accentuated ethnic, cultural and religious pluralism, fostered also by mass emigration.  Tolerance and cultural integration often become difficult; various forms of religious syncretism arise;  sometimes tensions, conflicts and wars break out for ethnic, nationalistic and religious motives.  In the religious field the process of secularization is very strong;  it is aimed prevalently at the Christian faith but involves other religions as well.  Greater prominence is also given to movements that seek spiritual experiences, interior well-being and deep emotions.

Globalization, moreover, is a reality that becomes ever more prominent and is manifested especially in economic planning on a worldwide scale, in the growing awareness of solidarity, in the protection of the environment, in the need for a more just sharing and distribution of goods, in social communication and in the development of information technology. But it can also produce social exclusion and injustice to the detriment of weaker populations.  Economic well-being, which takes on ever more arrogant aspects in the privileged classes of humanity, leads to consumerism and hedonism in them.  At the same time the challenges of hunger, poverty, sickness and social exclusion, which affect millions of persons, are becoming ever more acute.

Complexity and fragmentation  finally create instability and diversity between points of reference, values and interests.  Together with a healthy pluralism and the seeking of new criteria, challenges are multiplied and relativism and pragmatism become widespread.  While on the one hand emphasis is laid on the value of the individual and his rights, the dignity of women is progressively recognized in practice, and there is a more objective view of the body, the affections and sexuality, on the other hand new forms of exploitation of the individual and especially of juveniles have arisen, and there has been an accelerated flight from firm commitment.  The post-modern era accentuates attention to interpersonal relationships and the cultivation of the affections, but also individualism and subjectivism.

The GC25 encourages the communities to face the challenges presented by the present culture to education and evangelization; to live fraternity with special attention to the vocational maturing of every confrere and the fostering of interpersonal relationships; to provide an evangelical witness that is positive and an alternative to the prevailing climate.  In this way every community will seek to deepen its knowledge of the context in which it is living and acting, and will provide effective responses.

3.2   The ecclesial context of  “Novo Millennio Ineunte”

At the end of the Jubilee Year and the beginning of the new millennium John Paul II urged the Church to “launch out into the deep”, to “keep its eyes on the Lord Jesus”, to “begin again from Christ”, and to be “witnesses of love” by building communion.

The first standpoint  from which we must identify pastoral approaches suited to every community is that of “starting again from Christ”.  “I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness”:  the time has come to put forward again to all this high standard of the Christian life  which is holiness and to adopt a pedagogy of sanctity. “This training in holiness calls for a Christian life distinguished above all in the art of prayer”: our communities are urged to become authentic schools of prayer;  education to prayer must become an essential requirement in any pastoral program. “There is no doubt that this primacy of holiness and prayer is inconceivable without a renewed listening to the word of God”. Holiness, prayer and listening to God’s word are the fundamental paths for pastoral work after the Jubilee.

The second standpoint from which a decisive commitment must be made when programming is that of communion.  “To make the Church the home and the school of communion: that is the great challenge facing us in the millennium which is now beginning, if we wish to be faithful to God's plan and respond to the world's deepest yearnings”. The prophetic nature of communion presupposes the cultivation of its spirituality, which is expressed in fostering the different types of vocation, promoting the commitment to ecumenism, basing everything on charity, encouraging interreligious dialogue and the mission “ad gentes”, and facing up to the challenges of modern culture.

With the GC25 the Congregation intends to respond to the appeal of John Paul II to work in the outposts of the new evangelization and exploit the gifts and results of the Jubilee: “Duc in altum”. Every community is called upon to begin again from Christ and build communion.  This will lead to new fruits of spiritual life and evangelization.

3.3  The religious context of the charismatic re-foundation

In these years that have followed Vatican II consecrated life has been strongly urged to renew itself, and become eloquent and meaningful;  in particular the Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata gathers together the elements of re-foundation which have been realized in the past thirty years and constitute the point of reference for “a great history still to be accomplished”.

To the delicate process of renewal desired by the Church, our Congregation has dedicated three “extraordinary” General Chapters, which have specified the salesian identity.  It is useful to recall the path we have followed.  While the GC19, which took place during the Council, “took note of the situation and made preparations”, the Special GC20 “put the process into the Council’s orbit”, the GC21 “revised, rectified, confirmed and made some points more explicit”, the GC22 was called to “reexamine, make more precise, complete, perfect and conclude”.

The Special GC20 carried out the revision and acceptable renewal of the Congregation according to the spirit of the Founder and in line with the indications of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium and the Decree Perfectae Caritatis.  The Chapter set out not only to implement the guidelines and directives of Vatican II in a merely formal manner, but took the opportunity to make a better response to God and to the young.  For this reason it was preceded by a very careful preparation with the involvement of all the Provinces, and sought to reformulate a global project.  The fundamental point at issue was how to make visible and relevant in the Church the particular testimony of salesian religious life.  It was also a matter of writing a renewed text of the Constitutions and Regulations.  In brief, the identity of the Congregation had to be re-founded.

After seven months of work the Chapter produced 22 documents of doctrinal and practical guidance.  A more charismatic reformulation of the text of the Constitutions was then made, and the Regulations  were written to provide a universal method for the practice of the Constitutions, leaving it to the Provinces to legislate on specifically local matters through the Provincial Directories.

The GC21 aimed at verifying whether and to what extent the renewal had been achieved.  The rapidity and depth of change  after Vatican II led the Church and the Congregation to a state of unease, which needed clarity of formulation and wisdom in solutions.  The deep renewal brought about in the Congregation by the Special General Chapter needed revision, rectification in places, still deeper study and reconfirmation.

In the GC21 some substantial themes of the Congregation were studied: the preventive system, formation to salesian life, the Salesian Brother and the Pontifical Salesian University.  This work of clarification of the identity, reinforced by the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi of Paul VI, gave greater depth to the specifically salesian mission.  In his closing address to the Chapter the Rector Major Fr Egidio Viganò summarized the three objectives which had been clarified during the Chapter’s work:  the priority task of taking the Gospel to the young, which implied an educative and pastoral project; the religious spirit; and the new statute of the salesian community as the animator of the educative and pastoral community.  The GC21 certainly marked a radical pastoral renewal.

The GC22, taking place after an intense period of experimentation and in-depth examination of the salesian identity, set about concluding the project of renewal with the definitive revision of the Rule of Life.  The final result of the Chapter’s work was, in the words of the Rector Major: “an organic text, improved, profound and permeated by the Gospel, rich in the authentic nature of its origins, universally open and forward-looking, sober and dignified in expression, richly endowed with well-balanced realism and the assimilation of conciliar principles”. The definitive text of the Rule of Life, brought with it, among other things, the revision of the Ratio;  the central idea was that all salesian formation should be linked with the nature of the vocation and the specific mission of educators and pastors of the young.

In this way our Congregation committed itself to the foundational re-reading of its charisma and to its “re-foundation”.  The “extraordinary” General Chapters have been followed by three “ordinary” Chapters, concerned with topics of a practical nature: the education of young people to the faith, involvement of the laity in the salesian spirit and mission, and the salesian community at the present day.  The charismatic re-reading of the identity has been concluded, but its translation into practice is still taking place.

4. The goal of the GC25

The phases of the preparation and the celebration of the GC25 having been completed, the time has come for its implementation. Now is the time, with all the confreres, to assimilate the Chapter, to make it a program for the government of the province, to put it into practice in the communities. To identify the steps that need to be taken, we shall briefly look at the objectives for the future and the goal to be reached.   

Looking at the path the Congregation has followed in these last thirty years, it can be seen that changes have not always been along a straight line. I think that the greatest difficulty was not the renewal of the Constitutions or of the structures of government or of pastoral practice, but the spiritual renewal, which involves a deep interior conversion.  

In these years of change a new form of Salesian religious life has been taking shape. Already we have the “new wineskins”: a new evangelization, a new educational method, a new pastoral model, a new formation. Little by little there has also been the development of the “new wine”: the new evangelizer, the new educator, the new pastoral subject, the new Salesian. 

Sometimes we feel ill at ease with the use of the adjective “new” to qualify situations that we think we are already familiar with, especially with regard to the practical consequences that it leads to: the need to renew ourselves spiritually, to update ourselves professionally, to prepare ourselves pedagogically. The novelty comes from the situations, the contexts, the changes in the circumstances, from the way of looking at the human person.

Today the concern about religious life in general and of the Congregation in particular, cannot be about survival, but rather about creating a significant and effective presence. It is a question about prophecy. “That means,” Fr Vecchi wrote, “ giving life to a work that raises questions, gives motives for hope, brings people together, prompts collaborations, and gives rise to an ever more fruitful communion for the realization together of a plan of life  and action in line with the Gospel.”12 What is needed is a form of life that is fascinating and attractive, that puts the prophetic aspect in the first place rather than the organizational, that emphasises persons rather than structures.       

Paraphrasing Karl Rahner in his spiritual testament, we can say that the future of religious life depends on its mystical force, its solid experience and clear witness of God, overcoming every form of “bourgeois attitudes,”  vagueness and mediocrity. Religious life arose and only makes sense as a search for God and his primacy. Its mission is that of being sacramental: being “signs and bearers of the love of God” (C 2), especially on behalf of those most in need, so that they may have the experience that God exists and loves them.       

When the Superior Generals decided to reflect on the theme of the re-founding of religious life,13 they were  moved by the knowledge that there was need for “new wine in new wineskins” (cf Mt. 2, 22); one source of the novelty is the call to return to the origins of the charism.  For us this is a matter of expressing the original character of the Congregation, of going to the essentials, of re-writing the letter from Rome of 1884.  Let us return to Don Bosco and let us return to young people!

The images of  “light”, of “salt” and of “yeast”, used by Jesus in the Gospel to describe the identity and the mission of the disciples, are revealing and demanding. In simple terms, it is necessary to “be” in order to have significance and relevance; but if the salt loses its savour, or if the light is put under a bushel, or if the yeast does not ferment they are of no use. They have lost the reason for their “being”.        

The strength of the religious life is based in its prophetic nature in the face of culture, its subversive nature with regard to “bourgeois attitudes” its alternative approach to progress that is without limit but also without transcendence. The problem is that of identity and of identification; that which marks us out and distinguishes us is a strong experience of God, who changes our life profoundly, and a community in which we begin to live in a new way. “Do not be conformed to this world,” Paul writes to the Romans, “but be transformed by the renewal of your mind , that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom 12, 2).

Along these lines I want to indicate five objectives for the future, which have been the subject of reflection and study by Fr Egidio Viganò and Fr Juan Vecchi in their letters, but which are also areas that still need to be renewed in order to lead us decisively into the new millennium with vigour and clarity of approach.

4.1 The spiritual renewal of every Salesian

 Spiritual renewal implies a return to the foundations of our vocation: God and his Kingdom.  God ought to be our primary “occupation”.  It is he who invites us and entrusts young people to us, to help them to the maturity of reaching the stature of Christ, the perfect man. For us the recovery of spirituality cannot be separated from the mission, if we don’t want to run the risk of compromise.  God is waiting for us in the young in order to give us the grace of an encounter with himself (cf. C 95; GC23, 95). Therefore it is inconceivable and unjustifiable to maintain that the “mission” is an obstacle to our meeting God and cultivating an intimate relationship with him. 

4.2 The consistency of the community.

The quality of the life of communion and of educational and pastoral action require that the Salesian community be made up of the right number of confreres and those of the necessary quality.

All the proposals to make every-day experience formative, and to improve the quality of the method, the contents and the activities come up against what is actually possible for the community. For us fraternal life in community is an aspect of our apostolic consecration and  therefore of our religious profession (cf. C 3 and 24), together with the following of Christ, obedient, poor and chaste, and the mission.  It is also the context in which we are called to live the spiritual experience, the mission and the evangelical counsels. We cannot therefore continue with the pretext that  we want to solve all the problems at the cost of the charism and of community life.

4.3  Presence with fresh significance

The significant  effectiveness of the presence is a requirement of both the community and the mission; it is a question of quality in both cases. In the past when one spoke of “reorganization” the emphasis was placed  on closing houses or handing them over to lay people. Today, on the other hand, while one continues to insist that reorganization is an unavoidable task if we do not want to weaken the community and overburden the confreres, the emphasis has to be placed on the “significant effectiveness” of the salesian presence in the locality. This cannot be reduced to the work or the activity; it is rather a way of being, of working and of organizing that is concerned not only with efficiency but rather with giving meaning, opening prospects, gathering people together, promoting new responses. It is a question of relocating the province where the needs of young people are most urgent and where our presence is most fruitful. Our consecrated life will not be everywhere, and not always even be socially relevant, but it will continue to be the essential point of reference, in so far as it is a sign of the Kingdom. 

4.4   The quality of the educative and pastoral proposal

The course followed so far, at least in many places, has been the multiplication of the works, compromising in not a few cases the quality of our activity. Sometimes the organizational aspects have been emphasised rather than the pastoral ones, or the maintenance and the construction of buildings rather than the clarity and the seriousness of the educative and pastoral project. Today we are required to develop more focused forms of evangelization, to concentrate on fostering human maturity and on the education to the faith of young people, on the formation of the laity, the animation of the educative and pastoral community, and together to draw up a project. This undertaking is itself already the bringing about of significant effectiveness.    

4.5 The formation of the salesian

The complexity of the current situation nowadays, the challenges of young people, the requirements of the new evangelization, the task of inculturation require a formation that is capable of preparing the salesian to live his vocation in a dynamic and sound way, to carry out  the mission in a professional and competent manner, and to personally assimilate the charismatic identity. For us, Don Bosco is not only a constant point of reference, but a way of life, and formation is nothing else than the personal assimilation on our part of the gift that God gave us when he called us. The document on formation to the Consecrated Life clearly states: “The renewal of religious institutes depends mainly on the formation of the members.”14 This is the greatest challenge that the Congregation has today, and to which it has wished to respond with the new edition of the Ratio.15      

The Church and the world need people who make it their profession to incarnate their concern for God, who are a reserve source of humanism, who become a power, an eloquent and radical sign of the “sequela Christi”. This is what the Vatican Council II wanted and expected from religious life. This has been the aim of the Congregation during these last 30 years. Now the GC25 has determined to give its specific support to the achievement of this aim, a contribution on the practical level, that as we have seen, aims at strengthening the salesian community in all its facets. 

5. The gift of the beatifications

“Dear Salesians, (…) be saints! As you well know, holiness is your principal task.” With this exhortation, John Paul II addressed the members of the General Chapter as we were received in audience on the morning of 12 April. Holiness is also what this Chapter hands on, when it concluded with the gift of three new beati for the Salesian Family: the priest Luigi Variara, the Brother Artemide Zatti and Sister Maria Romero Meneses. 

These Beati, who are joined to the numerous array of holiness in our charismatic Family, are united by the joyful giving of themselves and  their generous dedication to the very poor. There is nothing that attracts like the witness of total dedication without reserve, without limit, without condition; there is nothing so fascinating as service to the poorest, to the humblest, to those most in need. The lepers of Fr Variara, the sick of Brother Zatti, the abandoned girls of Sister Romero immediately recall the totally free offering of the lives of these three persons, who are proposed to us as models. Care for the poorest and the total gift of oneself link together the three new beati, in this way bearing witness to their heroic charity.  

Holiness is the demanding way that together we want to follow in our communities; it is “the most precious gift we can offer to the young” (C 25); it is the highest goal that, with courage, we can set for all. Only in an atmosphere of holiness that is lived and experienced will the young people have the possibility of making courageous life choices, of discovering God’s plan for their future, of appreciating and welcoming the gift of vocations of special consecration.  

In particular the beatification of Brother Artemide Zatti underlines the relevance and the validity of the vocation of the salesian Brother. The salesian charism would not be what it is meant to be without such a figure. His presence in the life of the salesian community is not the addition of a type of person extraneous  to it, but is an indispensable part of its very nature. This requires from us a more convinced vocational proposal, and a more visible presence of this figure in the educative and pastoral community.  

Running through the whole of Brother Zatti’s life was the following of Jesus, with Don Bosco and in Don Bosco’s manner, always and everywhere16 This indicates that Don Bosco fascinated and attracted him;  following Don Bosco’s example he lived the total donation of himself; like Don Bosco he chose to be an educator: Zatti was an infirmarian educator. To the extent of becoming a reflection of God with the radicality of the Gospel, he lived in profound union a spiritual experience, professional work, joyful brotherhood. The shining figure of this Blessed salesian Brother teaches us the way to help youngsters discover the beauty of this vocation.   

6. Launching into the deep at his word

The episode in the gospel of the miraculous draught of fishes, presented in “Novo Millennio Ineunte” and taken up again in Fr Vecchi’s last strenna,  is a symbol of the return to our journey at the conclusion of the 25th General  Chapter.

We too sometimes may have experienced the fruitless labour of our work. The Lord Jesus is again inviting us today to “launch into the deep” to renew our determination to cast the net,  to try once again, if on  several occasions we have experienced lack of success. This is the time for courage!  We need to go out into the open sea, facing today’s challenges, and we need to go to the deep waters, cultivating an intense spiritual experience and developing the quality of our activity.

What is urging us on to try again is trust in the Lord Jesus: at his word we will once again cast our nets. This is the time for hope! The time we are living in is moving us towards the great responsibilities that await us, towards the joyful adventure of once again lowering the nets for the catch and experiencing the power of the Word of God. We are sure that the Lord Jesus still knows how to amaze us with his fidelity and his surprises.

Where there are great challenges the courage and the hope of the community are needed. The new ways and the difficult tasks of evangelization can be faced by communities that undertake a radical pastoral conversion and live a profound spiritual experience. Courage and hope are the most eloquent expressions of the prophecy of our communities.

It has not escaped us that in the gospel episode the gratuitous gesture of the surprising catch of fish has no other purpose than that of arousing faith and leading to a sequela. Faced with the overgenerous gesture of Jesus and after the invitation: “Do not be afraid: from now on you will be fishers of men”, the first disciples drawing their boat to land, left all and followed him (cf. Lk 5, 1-11) In this way they will be involved in the same mission and in the same destiny as Jesus: the definitive call to everyone to welcome the Kingdom. May the surprising gestures and the abundance of courage and of hope of all our communities provoke a vocational response from the young; may the prophetic witness of the communities be such as will still today be capable of attracting  youngsters ready to share Don Bosco’s life project “Da mihi animas; coetera tolle”.           

7. With Mary our help.

As with the apostolic community at the beginning, so in our communities Mary is present. She is at  prayer with her Son’s disciples; lives with us who became her sons at the foot of the cross. From that moment Mary is in the Church with a praying presence; she prays that the disciples may overcome the closed-in consequences of fear, be attentive and ready for the breath of the Spirit, go out onto the highways of evangelization.

Don Bosco left us as a precious heritage entrustment to Mary; she is our Help and the Mother of the Church, the help of young people and of the poor; the Mother of all. Like the beloved disciple we too welcome her into our homes, into our communities. She will make us attentive to the needs of the present time. “They have no wine”, and she will make us sensitive to the requirements of the  gospel: “Do what he tells you “ (cf. Jn 2, 3-5).

Mary with your maternal intervention

help us to return to Don Bosco and to the young!

Mary our help,