SYM-FAM 2018 en


SYM-FAM 2018 en

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YOUTH
MINISTRY
and FAMILY
ACTS
OF THE INTERNATIONAL
CONGRESS
MADRID, 27th November - 1st December, 2017
SALESIAN
YOUTH MINISTRY
DEPARTMENT

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Diseño gráfico: ARTIA COMUNICACIÓN
Ilustraciones: JAVIER CARABAÑO
Propiedad reservada al SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY DEPARTMENT
SEDE CENTRALE SALESIANA
Via Marsala, 42
00185 Roma

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YOUTH
MINISTRY
and FAMILY

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PRESENTATION
FR. ÁNGEL FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME
X Successor of Don Bosco.
I am pleased to present the Acts of the International Congress on Youth Ministry
and Family that was held in Madrid from 27th November to 1st December, 2017.
The reflection on Youth Ministry and the Family has been part of our journey as
a Congregation in the preceding General Chapters. The idea of an International
Congress was born in 2014, in response to the two Synods of Bishops convened
by Pope Francis on the pastoral challenges of the family (2014 -2015), and the
General Chapter 27 of the Salesians of Don Bosco (2014).
Therefore, in 2014, the Department for Salesian Youth Ministry initiated a pro-
gram of study and continuous reflection with a vision of the future, which con-
sisted of a series of stages in view of the Congress: the study of family contexts
in the seven Regions of the world in which the Salesian Congregation is present,
the creation of an internal study group, the analysis of the provincial and local
context through a questionnaire.
In this Congress, through the presence of some 300 participants from around
the Salesian world, the gift of the Salesian charism was deepened in the four
conferences that were offered, in the various workshops and in the presentation
of 21 good practices; all this offered us a ‘photography’ of the commitment of
the Congregation in favor of the family in the various educative and pastoral
processes.
I found a true family atmosphere, and a great willingness to learn and share.
I trust that this spirit and this experience will be repeated in the different local
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contexts so that the richness lived and shared in this Congress will come alive
at the local level.
I also take this opportunity to thank Father Fabio Attard, General Councilor for
Youth Ministry, who has guided this journey. A special word of thanks to the
members of the Department for Youth Ministry in Rome and to the members
of the General Council of the Salesians of Don Bosco who participated.
I also thank the Provincial and the members of the Salesian Provincial Council
of the Province of Madrid, Spain, ‘Santiago el Mayor’ for all the availability
and facilities given. I am grateful for the representation of the Province of the
Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Spain, and the participation of members
of the Salesian Family and many others, favoring the success of the Congress.
I would like to conclude by reminding you that the Congress is not the culminat-
ing event of this journey. In fact, it is part of a long journey and process in which
we will continue to open spaces for discernment on Youth Ministry and the
Family. To this end, common strategies will be established in order to increase
the impact of our actions, and the construction of an educative-pastoral action
with families will be materialized, in more incisive and fruitful ways, always
within the framework of Salesian Youth Ministry. I am sure that these ‘Acts of
Congress’ will be an effective instrument in our journey of Youth Ministry and
Family.
With my affection and desire for all blessings from the Lord.
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INTRODUCTION
YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
REFLECT, SHARE, BUILD
FABIO ATTARD SDB
General Councillor for Youth Ministry of Salesians
of Don Bosco
THE HEART OF THE MATTER:
the family, a rich and complex reality
The Salesians of Don Bosco, through their Youth Ministry Department, have
chosen to focus their efforts in the 2015-2018 triennial session to the
theme of the family, in keeping with the Church’s two recent Synods on this
topic. In its 27th General Chapter, held in 2014, the Salesian Congregation
insisted on the family’s key role in society and in the education of the next gen-
eration. The fundamental physiognomy of the family, because of the numerous
economic, social, juridical and political transformations it has undergone, has
been dramatically changed. At the root of all these changes is the emergence
of a new culture of family, and with it, the need to develop a new approach to
the pastoral accompaniment of families. For Salesians, the family is an active
protagonist in our pastoral outreach, a subject with its own identity and unique
mission, actively involved in the building up of the Church and society. In fact,
it can rightly be said that the family is a unifying focus of our pastoral work.
For this reason, the Youth Ministry Department wishes this reflection to be a
process that is collaborative, a process that proceeds in stages and which offers
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concrete action steps, a process which brings together the various contexts of
the world-wide reality. In order for this process to be truly collaborative, a num-
ber of phases have been set forth, which will be addressed in turn.
In each of the phases, various experts with different areas of competence
will be invited to address the theme of the family. In so doing, we hope
this process will produce concrete results which will be useful to each Provincial
and Local community in making their own choices on how to approach family
ministry, but which will also support the decisions we must all take by providing
a useful framework built on the thorough analysis of this multifaceted question.
The first three phases represent the premises and the foundations on which the
International Congress will stand, with the goal of making it a conclusion of
sorts to this extended process of reflection.
eeA multifaceted international snapshot (September2015 - February
2016)
eeTowards a realistic and detailed synthesis of the world of the family
(March 2016)
eeStudy of the local Salesian context to prepare an action plan (June
2016 – February 2017)
eeFacing the facts and planning for the future (November 2017)
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PHASE 01
A multifaceted international
snapshot
From September 2015 to February 2016, the family was examined through a
sociological and educative lens at the regional level (Table 1). These study days
examined, under the leadership of qualified experts from the various geograph-
ical regions around which our Congregation is organized, the multiple dimen-
sions of the reality of the family. Six speakers presented their documented field
research, offering us valuable insights from the perspective of sociology and
politics, with their implications on pastoral ministry and pedagogy, thus laying
the foundation for an attentive reflection on the constitutive elements of the
modern family and on the challenges to be addressed.
Drawing conclusions from such a multifaceted snapshot of the family in the
world today is no easy task. Nonetheless, the conclusions from this encounter
allowed us to identify a number of assumptions which provide a robust platform
for further study, as well as a positive balance sheet regarding the substantive
importance of the family. Among the most urgent observations are the following:
eeon the one hand, the threats which destabilize the family are not
only of an economic nature, but are above all of a symbolic nature,
namely, cultural and anthropological, as they call into question the
family’s very identity and function (the threat of gender ideology, the
portrayal of the family in some media, the increased instability of
spousal commitment and the fragility of the family as an institution,
and issues of a sociocultural nature);
eeon the other hand, there is a heightened value attached to personal
freedom, and greater importance attached to the quality of inter-
personal relationships within marriage, the promotion of the role
of women, responsible procreation, and child-raising.
The participants of these six encounters where the provincial delegates for
youth ministry from all the regions worldwide. From their observations and the
reflections we shared with them, a double challenge emerged:
eeto create and promote a new culture of the family, with both
social and educative implications. Where the family is perceived and
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valued as it truly is, namely, a social entity in its own right, with an
extraordinary function that is not only economic and nurturing, but
also cultural and educative, the family can be a life-giving source
of solidarity between one generation and the next, and a source of
various forms of community life;
eeat the same time, it is necessary to promote effective pasto-
ral-educative strategies to support the family in its role as the
fundamental building block of society and as the primary educator
of each new generation.
PHASE 02
Towards a realistic and detailed
synthesis of the world of the family
On March 19 and 20, 2016, a study group was convened. Participants were:
Marcelo Faran (Equator), Alberto Martelli (Italy), Hubert Pinto (India), Miquel An-
gel Garcia (Youth Ministry Department Team), Fabio Attard (General Councillor
and Youth Ministry Department Team leader), Gustavo Cavagnari (Argentina),
Rossano Sala (Italia), Mario Olmos (Youth Ministry Department Team), Renato
Cursi (Youth Ministry Department Team), Daniel Garcia (Youth Ministry Depart-
ment Team) and Virginia Cagigal (Spain).
This international team, having studied the reality on the family in various con-
texts outlined in Phase I, identified the major questions currently challenging
the family. The group’s reflection was guided by structural and cultural criteria:
eethe first dealt with the critical issues and with the dimensions
of the crisis – economic, demographic and socio-cultural (on this
point, the presenters revisited some of the themes that had been
proposed at the world level in Phase I, in particular, the socio-cultural
context, the educative and anthropological question, the lengths to
which families must go to nurture into their own children the desire
to establish their own families, the family as portrayed in the media,
the delicate and pressing question of education in affectivity and
sexuality);
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eethe second dealt with the need to develop and implement new
resources to support more effective family ministry, including how
to welcome and accompany people in their lived reality, realizing
that the family is not a separate category but an integral dimension
of youth ministry.
The next step was to identify and prioritize some operative educative and pas-
toral choices. Among the top priorities were:
eeaccompanying couples in their affective life;
eeeducating parents to their duty as educators;
eedeveloping in educators a holistic view of the young, which must
include their families;
eetending to the entire cycle of family life, that is, educating to the
transitions of adult life and to the relationship between parents and
their adolescent children;
eethe urgency of a specific formation (on the family and not only on
marriage) that is specialized (because the perspective of a theologian
is not the same as the perspective of a psychologist, and each disci-
pline can make a valid contribution), integrated (because the different
perspectives cannot proceed on parallel tracks) and shared (including
consecrated persons and laity to promote reciprocal appreciation of
all vocations);
eeharmonize the remote, proximate and immediate preparation for
marriage.
PHASE 03
Study of the local Salesian context
to prepare an action plan
In June 2016, every Salesian Province was asked to complete a survey. This
research tool required all 86 provincial councils to document their observa-
tions on the reality of the family within their Province by responding to three
questions:
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eeWhat challenges does the family present to youth ministry in your
Province?
eeIn the various provincial plans, what choices has the Province made
or what choices does the Province intend to make in regards to youth
ministry and family?
eeWhat are the Province’s best practices in terms of innovation and po-
sitive impact on the new challenges facing youth and family ministry?
The compilation of this research (Table 2), will indicate the diverse educative-pas-
toral approaches currently practiced in the local realities throughout the Con-
gregation in response to the need to accompany families and to educate them
as protagonists. Therefore, this third phase will lay out our field research results,
creating a profile of those families who come within the pastoral care of the
Salesians world-wide. The abundant data from this research will have a direct
impact on identifying, describing and understanding the Salesian mission today.
PHASE 04
Facing the facts and planning for the
future
Having concluded this process of sharing and of active listening to the Congre-
gation by means of the Regional consultations and Provincial reflections, this
fourth phase is tasked with the following three goals: deepening our response
to the current guidelines of the Church and the Congregation on the family,
sharing the pastoral-educative challenges and opportunities regarding the family
and creating experiences for reflection and action within the Educative-Pastoral
Community. The Youth Ministry Department, in response to these priorities,
proposes an International Congress on Youth Ministry and Family, which
will be held from November 27 to December 1, 2017, in Madrid.
This international gathering will offer three specific components:
eeA proactive reading on the family today: starting from the current
experience of the Congregation, we will gather the challenges and
the opportunities which this moment in history offers us.
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eeAn ecclesial and spiritual reading on the family: in the light of
the Church’s recent synodal journey and the Apostolic Exhortation,
“Amoris Laetitia”. This will surface ideas and inspiration for perso-
nal and community reflection: family and evangelization; youth and
the vocation of marriage; education to love; formative itineraries for
engaged and married couples; particular situations faced by couples
and families; family and youth.
eeA Salesian pastoral-educative reading: propose, strengthen and
integrate Salesian pastoral work in regards to the family within the
Salesian Educative-Pastoral Plan.
The Congress’ methodology will be a series of exchanges aimed at promot-
ing and sharing our efforts to reach out to families. Each day, participants will
be involved in the following activities:
eeIntroductory reflection, elaborated and presented by an expert, which
sets the parameters for the day’s work.
eeTestimonials and best practices in the area of Salesian Youth and
Family Ministry, which are tried and true, from various parts of the
world, to encourage experiential learning and small group sharing.
eeGroup work by continent, for more contextualized listening and sha-
ring.
eeWorkshops: practical and experiential activities on specific themes
guided by international experts, to help develop strategies for pastoral
accompaniment of youth at various ages, by acquiring new learning,
skills and attitudes around different aspects of family life.
The Congress will welcome 400 active participants, lay and consecrated,
representing the 89 Provinces of the Congregation of the Salesians of Don Bo-
sco, which is present in 132 countries around the world. Each Province will be
asked to form a delegation of experts or persons engaged in pastoral ministry
to families.
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LOGO
«“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life”.
Proverbs 4:23
The icon presents the multi-faceted joy of
families: “To grow from the heart” (this
speaks of welcoming, encountering, fra-
gility, mercy, confidence…).
ILLUSTRATION
“And Jesus grew in wisdom, stature and grace before God and man.” (Lk 2:52)
In “Amoris Laetitia”, Pope Francis recog-
nizes that “the Synodal process proved
both impressive and illuminating.” (AL4)
and “the various interventions of the Syn-
od Fathers, to which I paid close heed,
made up, as it were, a multifaceted gem
reflecting many legitimate concerns and
honest questions.” (AL 4).
On the first level: a family, in its intimacy, in
their daily efforts (“the toil of your hands”,
says the Pope), that builds a united family,
without individualism. Each member has
a role: it’s about removing pieces without
the structure collapsing. The members
have happy and realistic outlooks, avoid-
ing viewing things as only black and white,
in order to see a wide range of shades of
grey, possibilities and nuances. (behind
each family, joys, tragedies, and dreams).
On the second level: youth ministry. Chil-
dren and youths have a special color, it is
not an idealized or naive image. It is an
image of play that is passionate and dy-
namic because to develop this, it requires
attention and effort. Children are the
hope that build and open to the future.
The same happens with the family, each
member has a place in the building of the
structure, from those who form the struc-
ture to those who help to create it.
On the third level: the image of the envi-
ronment that is quiet and peaceful. It de-
velops and is built with finesse and beau-
ty. Those who look for clear and decisive
rules will be disappointed. Creation has its
rhythm, process, gradualness, a reflexion
of the divine Glory and the light of the
resurrection. The heart of Jesus surrounds
us, inspires us and enables our encounter
and dialogue. In a moving and simple way,
he invites us to look to heaven.
Illustration: Javier Carabaño
Commentary: Miguel Angel García
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27th November 2017
THE FAMILY IN THE
CHURCH’S SYNOD:
PROSPECTS AND
OPPORTUNITIES
BRUNO FORTE
Arch-bishop of Chieti-Vasto

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Family and youth ministry is vitally important for the whole Church, and par-
ticularly so for the followers of Don Bosco. In his dream at the age of nine, Mary
indicated youth as the field in which he ought to work, or, more likely, in the
language of the peasant culture to which young John belonged, as the field to
be “ploughed”. With this mandate, perceived as the source and inspiration of
every future choice in his life, Don Bosco did not hesitate to say: “In matters
which are for the benefit of young people at risk, or which serve to gain souls
for God, I go forward to the point of temerity.”1 I will structure my reflection
around these words. I would like first to examine the reality of the family today
as a living environment in which there are challenges, opportunities and dangers
for the new generation. Then I would like to outline the fundamental features
of the Church’s approach to the family that has been developing in recent years
in order to draw “benefit” from it for the young and to “earn souls for God”.
Finally, I want to indicate some priority lines for pastoral action, especially from
a Salesian perspective.
For this latter part, I will refer to the directives drawn from the two synodal
assemblies of the Bishops dedicated to the family, presented to the whole peo-
ple of God in the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis “Amoris Laetitia”, in
order to clarify which points I feel it is necessary to “go forward to the point of
temerity” in the spirit of Don Bosco. In this context, I will also try to answer the
question of how the Church is now inviting believers engaged in education to
live their call as a gift for young people, trying to put together the indications
that could enlighten and accompany the charismatic experience of the Salesian
family and make it ever more ecclesial. At the same time, I will try to highlight
the fundamental aspects that should be studied to encourage an experience of
Church where the family finds a welcoming space and a reason to strengthen
its identity, not only as the recipient of pastoral activity but also and especially as
its subject and agent. I also want to emphasize how this attention to the family
and to young people is in harmony with the decision made by Pope Francis to
devote the next Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held in 2018, to the
theme of “Young people, Faith and Vocation Discernment”.2
1 Memorie biografiche XIV, Cap. XXVIII, 662.
2 This is the title of the Preparatory Document for the Fifteenth Ordinary General
Assembly. It was published 13 January 2017 and sent to all the Bishops’
Conferences of the world, with a large questionnaire attached. The answers are
expected to contextualize the reflections of the synod in the present and in the
concrete situation. The Third Part of the Document is dedicated to Pastoral Action.
After a section titled “Walking with Young People”, developed around three verbs
“Go out”, “See” and “Call”, it presents the subjects, places, and tools of youth
ministry with insights and stimuli in close harmony with what is proposed in
these reflections.
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This choice of theme is presented in the Preparatory Document of the forthcom-
ing Synod as follows: “The Church has decided to examine herself on how she
can lead young people to recognize and accept the call to the fullness of life
and love, and to ask young people to help her in identifying the most effective
ways to announce the Good News today. By listening to young people, the
Church will once again hear the Lord speaking in today’s world. As in the days
of Samuel (cf. 1 Sam 3:1-21) and Jeremiah (cf. Jer 1:4-10), young people know
how to discern the signs of our times, indicated by the Spirit. Listening to their
aspirations, the Church can glimpse the world which lies ahead and the paths
the Church is called to follow.”3 It is significant that the Pope wanted to involve
young people from the outset. They are not only the subject of reflection on
how to deepen the ways of transmitting the gift of faith, and helping them to
discern their response to the Lord’s personal call to each one. They must be pro-
tagonists and important participants capable of helping pastors and the entire
Church to recognize and interpret better the signs of the times and to respond
to them with faith and love. This is a decision and a method that seems to me
in complete harmony with the words of Don Bosco I quoted and in general
with the Salesian charism.
1 THE REALITY OF THE FAMILY
TODAY
In Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution of the Second Vatican Council
on the Church in the Modern World, among the challenges that require more
attention and commitment, the first one identified is the family which is the
basis of human beings living together: “Thus the family, in which the various
generations come together and help one another grow wiser and harmonize
personal rights with the other requirements of social life, is the foundation of
society.”4 This attention to the family was particularly evident in the magiste-
rium of John Paul II, who chose the Christian Family as the theme of the Fifth
Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (26 September - 25 October 1980)
and dedicated Familiaris Consortio, the Apostolic Exhortation which followed
3 Preparatory Document Introduction.
4 Second Vatican Council: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World Gaudium et Spes, 52.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
it, to the family.5 Among other things, it states: “The future of humanity passes
by way of the family!… Christians also have the mission of proclaiming with joy
and conviction the Good News about the family, for the family absolutely needs
to hear ever anew and to understand ever more deeply the authentic words
that reveal its identity, its inner resources and the importance of its mission in
the City of God and in that of man.”6
The reasons for this importance of the family are recognizable in their very
nature and mission, according to the divine plan for mankind: “The family
finds in the plan of God the Creator and Redeemer not only its identity, what
it is, but also its mission, what it can and should do. The role that God calls the
family to perform in history derives from what the family is; its role represents
the dynamic and existential development of what it is. Each family finds within
itself a summons that cannot be ignored, and that specifies both its dignity and
its responsibility: family, become what you are.”7
In this light, we can understand why the family should be at the centre of the
pastoral activity of the Church and, therefore, at the centre of the projects and
initiatives taken at all levels by different ecclesial agents in the field of evan-
gelization and catechesis. For this combined effort to be realized, we have to
start with a clear and absolutely realistic look at the real situation of the family
today, in the variety and complexity of the cultural contexts in which it is found.
In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis writes: “The fam-
ily is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all communities and social
bonds. In the case of the family, the weakening of these bonds is particularly
serious because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn
to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it
is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children. Marriage
now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be
constructed in any way or modified at will.”8 At the root of these negative
phenomena there frequently lies a corruption of the idea and the experience
of freedom, conceived not as a capacity for realizing the truth of God’s plan
for marriage and the family, but as an autonomous power of self-affirmation,
5 John Paol II, Familiaris Consortio. Apostolic Exhortation, the Role of the Christian Family
in the Modern World, 22 November 1981.
6 Ib. 86.
7 Ib. 17.
8 Evangelii Gaudium (24 November 2013), 66.
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often against others, for one’s own selfish well-being.9 The conditioning that
weighs upon the family situation in different contexts must also be considered:
Worthy of our attention also is the fact that, in the countries of the so-called
Third World, families often lack both the means necessary for survival, such as
food, work, housing and medicine, and the most elementary freedoms. In the
richer countries, on the contrary, excessive prosperity and the consumer mental-
ity, paradoxically joined to a certain anguish and uncertainty about the future,
deprive married couples of the generosity and courage needed for raising up
new human life: thus life is often perceived not as a blessing, but as a danger
from which to defend oneself.”10
There are, of course, positive aspects in the current situation of the family.
The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia was signed by Pope
Francis on 19 March 2016 and published on 8 April. In the second chapter
dedicated to “The Experiences and Challenges of Families”, Pope Francis notes
the growing appreciation of the dignity and active participation of each of the
components of family life, with due attention to the changed socio-cultural
contexts where “individuals, in personal and family life… receive less support
from social structures than in the past.”11 On the one hand individualism and
the fear of permanent commitment are on the increase in a widespread ‘culture
of the provisory’. On the other hand, there is also a desire for greater authen-
ticity in interpersonal relations, challenging believers to a more responsible and
generous effort to present the reasons and motivations for choosing marriage
and the family, and in this way to help men and women better to respond to
the grace that God offers them.”12
With realism and concreteness, the Exhortation recalls the objective condition-
ing that affects the formation and life of families, due to the lack of work or the
demands of work, housing problems, the phenomenon of migration, the needs
of the elderly and the disabled, difficulties related to poverty, both material and
moral, which often have a strong impact on the family and on its real possi-
bilities of life. In such difficult situations “the Church must be particularly con-
cerned to offer understanding, comfort and acceptance, rather than imposing
straightaway a set of rules that only lead people to feel judged and abandoned
by the very Mother called to show them God’s mercy.”13 With great sincerity, the
9 Cf. Familiaris Consortio, cit., 6.
10 Ib.
11 Amoris Laetitia 32.
12 Ivi 35.
13 Ib. 49.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Pope observes that “no union that is temporary or closed to the transmission of
life can ensure the future of society.” He goes on to ask: “But nowadays who
is making an effort to strengthen marriages, to help married couples overcome
their problems, to assist them in the work of raising children and, in general,
to encourage the stability of the marriage bond?”14 In particular, Pope Francis
defends the role and dignity of women which are fundamental to the life of
family and society but are often devalued or trampled upon.
THE CENTRAL POINTS OF THE
2 CHURCH’S TEACHING ON THE
FAMILY
The third chapter of Amoris Laetitia presents the vocation of the family in the
light of the Gospel message. Pope Francis says: “The mystery of the Christian
family can be fully understood only in the light of the Father’s infinite love re-
vealed in Christ, who gave himself up for our sake and who continues to dwell
in our midst. I now wish to turn my gaze to the living Christ, who is at the
heart of so many love stories, and to invoke the fire of the Spirit upon all the
world’s families.”15 The Pope gives a rapid presentation of the Church’s teaching
on marriage and the family. Indissolubility “should not be viewed as a ‘yoke’
imposed on humanity, but as a ‘gift’ granted to those who are joined in mar-
riage.”16 Pope Francis also points out that “the sacrament of marriage is not a
social convention, an empty ritual or merely the outward sign of a commitment.
The sacrament is a gift given for the sanctification and salvation of the spouses,
since “their mutual belonging is a real representation, through the sacramental
sign, of the relationship between Christ and the Church. The married couple
are therefore a permanent reminder for the Church of what took place on the
cross; they are for one another and for their children witnesses of the salvation
in which they share through the sacrament”. Marriage is a vocation, inasmuch
as it is a response to a specific call to experience conjugal love as an imperfect
sign of the love between Christ and the Church. Consequently, the decision
14 Ib. 52.
15 Ib. 59.
16 Ib. 62.
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to marry and to have a family ought to be the fruit of a process of vocational
discernment.17 This discernment is illuminated by the conviction that “Chris-
tian marriage is a sign of how much Christ loved his Church in the covenant
sealed on the cross, yet it also makes that love present in the communion of
the spouses. By becoming one flesh, they embody the espousal of our human
nature by the Son of God.”18
We can therefore speak of a “gospel of the family” to be proclaimed. This
good news, according to the faith and the experience of the Church, embrac-
es four key aspects which should always be present and proposed as a unity.
The family is the school of mankind, of social life, of the life of the Church and
holiness. The family is first of all a school of humanity, that is, a school of love
for the life and growth of the person.19 This happens especially in the relation-
ship that marriage demands and establishes between spouses: “This love is an
eminently human one since it is directed from one person to another through
an affection of the will; it involves the good of the whole person, and therefore
can enrich the expressions of body and mind with a unique dignity, ennobling
these expressions as special ingredients and signs of the friendship distinctive of
marriage. This love God has judged worthy of special gifts, healing, perfecting
and exalting gifts of grace and of charity.”20 Familiaris Consortio rightly placed
the bond of love at the centre of family life: “Love is therefore the fundamental
and innate vocation of every human being… The institution of marriage is not
an undue interference by society or authority, nor the extrinsic imposition of a
form. Rather it is an interior requirement of the covenant of conjugal love which
is publicly affirmed as unique and exclusive, in order to live in complete fidelity
to the plan of God, the Creator.”21
It is an essential task of believers to recognize the value of conjugal love and
to insist continually on its necessity: “To bear witness to the inestimable value
of the indissolubility and fidelity of marriage is one of the most precious and
most urgent tasks of Christian couples in our time.”22 Benedict XVI devoted his
Encyclical Deus caritas est to the love that is born from above and is at the basis
of every true love, especially that of the family. In the distinction that he makes
between ‘eros’ and ‘agape’, between passionate love and love of self-giving,
17 Ib. 72.
18 Ib. 73.
19 Cf. Gaudium et Spes, 52: “The family is a kind of school of deeper humanity.”
20 Ib. 49.
21 Familiaris Consortio, 11.
22 Ib. 20.
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there is an echo of the twentieth-century debate which started in the research
done by Anders Nygren.23 Pope Benedict states that Christian love “far from
rejecting or ‘poisoning’ eros,… heals it and restores its true grandeur.”24 This
happens through a greater love given from above. It is the experience of God
who is Love that makes possible the completely gratuitous gift of self to one
other and to others. “Love is indeed ‘ecstasy’, not in the sense of a moment
of intoxication, but rather as a journey, an ongoing exodus out of the closed
inward-looking self towards its liberation through self-giving, and thus towards
authentic self-discovery and indeed the discovery of God.”25 This is an inescapa-
ble programme if family life is to be authentic and humanizing, moulded by the
model of eternal love: “Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love becomes
the icon of the relationship between God and his people and vice versa. God’s
way of loving becomes the measure of human love.”26 Through love, enlight-
ened and nourished by faith, the family can thus become a genuine, healthy,
happy school of humanity.27
Because it is a unique school of love, the family is also a school of social living.
It enables the person to grow in his or her capacity for the skills of socialization
and in building society. Familiaris Consortio says: “The family is the first and
fundamental school of social living: as a community of love, it finds in self-giving
the law that guides it and makes it grow. The self-giving that inspires the love
of husband and wife for each other is the model and norm for the self-giving
that must be practised in the relationships between brothers and sisters and
the different generations living together in the family. And the communion and
sharing that are part of everyday life in the home at times of joy and at times of
difficulty are the most concrete and effective pedagogy for the active, respon-
sible and fruitful inclusion of the children in the wider horizon of society.”28
Thus, “In matrimony and in the family a complex of interpersonal relationships
is set up —married life, fatherhood and motherhood, filiation and fraternity—
through which each human person is introduced into the “human family” and
23 Cf. A. Nygren, Eros e agape. La nozione cristiana dell’amore e le sue trasformazioni,
Bologna, Il Mulino, 1971 (Original Swedish Edition Stockholm 1930).
24 Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus caritas est (25 Dicembre 2005), 5.
25 Ib. 6.
26 Ib. 11.
27 For a further study of the motive of love that makes life fruitful, see the fourth
chapter of Amoris Laetitia, which offers a wonderful application to family life
of the exhortation to charity of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 13:
especially vv 4-7).
28 Familiaris Consortio, 37.
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into the “family of God,” which is the Church”29 and learns to establish fruitful
relationships with parents and grandparents, as well as with brothers and sisters.
Similarly, the family becomes the womb of ecclesial life, where the members
learn to live in communion with the Church: “Christian marriage and the Chris-
tian family build up the Church: for in the family the human person is not only
brought into being and progressively introduced by means of education into the
human community, but by means of the rebirth of baptism and education in the
faith the child is also introduced into God’s family, which is the Church”30 Here
we find the idea of ​t​he family as a ‘small-scale church’: In Familiaris Consortio
we read: “Insofar as it is a ‘small-scale Church’, the Christian family is called
upon, like the ‘large-scale Church’, to be a sign of unity for the world and in
this way to exercise its prophetic role by bearing witness to the Kingdom and
peace of Christ, towards which the whole world is journeying.”31 In this way,
the active participation of the family in the life of the Church is highlighted:
“The Christian family is called upon to take part actively and responsibly in the
mission of the Church in a way that is original and specific, by placing itself, in
what it is and what it does ‘as an intimate community of life and love’, at the
service of the Church and of society.”32 On the other hand, the Church can look
to the family as a model from which to draw inspiration: “Thanks to love within
the family, the Church can and ought to take on a more homelike or family
dimension, developing a more human and fraternal style of relationships.”33
The family is also called to be a school of faith and holiness in which the path
of holiness of spouses and children is lived and nourished: “Christian spouses
have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of con-
secration in the duties and dignity of their state. By virtue of this sacrament, as
spouses fulfil their conjugal and family obligation, they are penetrated with the
spirit of Christ, which suffuses their whole lives with faith, hope and charity.
Thus they increasingly advance the perfection of their own personalities, as
well as their mutual sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the glory of
God.34 The sacrament of marriage is the specific source and original means of
sanctification for Christian married couples and families.35 The realization of
29 Ib. 15.
30 Ib.
31 Ib. 48.
32 Ib. 50.
33 Ib. 64.
34 Gaudium et Spes, 48.
35 Cf. Familiaris consortio, 56.
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this call to marital and family holiness is nourished by the sacramental gifts of
the Lord and by docile and prayerful correspondence to them: “The baptismal
priesthood of the faithful, exercised in the sacrament of marriage, constitutes
the basis of a priestly vocation and mission for the spouses and family by which
their daily lives are transformed into “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.” This transformation is achieved not only by celebrating
the Eucharist and the other sacraments and through offering themselves to the
glory of God, but also through a life of prayer, through prayerful dialogue with
the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit.”36
LINES OF ACTION IN THE
EDUCATIONAL FIELD,
3in relation to the Salesian charism
and the growth of ecclesial life
In the light of this, we understand the centrality of the family in the life of
the Church, and thus also in the apostolic service of the Salesian family. This
centrality has two aspects. Firstly, the family is a privileged agent in the trans-
mission of faith, and therefore in the education of children and young people
to Christian life and in the aid to be offered to them in vocational discernment.
Secondly, the family has prior place in the pastoral care of the Church and of
the followers of Don Bosco.
A) As the Frame of Reference of Salesian Youth Ministry observes: “hu-
man life falls under the sign of vocation, which calls for great open-
ness of spirit and responsibility in taking on a faithful commitment:
responsibility means literally taking on the beauty of responding”.37
Thus the question arises as to how the Church today is inviting believ-
ers involved in education to accept their call as a gift for the younger
generation, their growth in faith, and their vocational discernment.
The answer proposed in the preparation for the Synod on the Fam-
36 Ib. 59.
37 Salesian Youth Ministry Frame of Reference, Rome, 2014.
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ily and in the subsequent Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia can
be summarized in the notion of ​t​he decisive role of the family in
education to faith:38 “In the view of the Christian community, the
family remains the first and indispensable educative community. For
parents, education is an essential task because it is connected to the
transmission of life. Their task is original and primary compared to the
educational task of other subjects. It is irreplaceable and inalienable,
in the sense that it cannot be delegated or replaced.”39 This task must
be undertaken with courage and foresight: “It is more important
to start processes than to dominate spaces. If parents are obsessed
with always knowing where their children are and controlling all their
movements, they will seek only to dominate space. But this is no way
to educate, strengthen and prepare their children to face challenges.
What is most important is the ability lovingly to help them grow in
freedom, maturity, overall discipline and real autonomy.”40 A prudent
gradual approach is recommended here: “In proposing values, we
have to proceed slowly, taking into consideration the child’s age and
abilities, without presuming to apply rigid and inflexible methods. The
valuable contributions of psychology and the educational sciences
have shown that changing a child’s behaviour involves a gradual pro-
cess, but also that freedom needs to be channelled and stimulated,
since by itself it does not ensure growth in maturity.”41
The family is valued as a primary and fundamental agent of education: “The
family is the primary setting for socialization, since it is where we first learn to
relate to others, to listen and share, to be patient and show respect, to help
one another and live as one. The task of education is to make us sense that the
world and society are also our home; it trains us how to live together in this
greater home. In the family, we learn closeness, care and respect for others.
We break out of our fatal self-absorption and come to realize that we are living
with and alongside others who are worthy of our concern, our kindness and our
affection. 42 This conviction cannot ignore the difficulties the family encounters
in meeting its educational responsibility: “Family education is a very difficult art
today. Many parents suffer, in fact, a sense of solitude, inadequacy, and even
38 This is one of the central aspects of the statement of the Italian Bishops in the
document Educare alla vita buona del Vangelo (2010), which affirms clearly the
primacy of the family in the field of education.
39 Educare alla vita buona del Vangelo cit. n. 36.
40 Amoris Laetitia, n. 261.
41 Ib., n.273.
42 Ib., n. 276.
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impotence. It is a social isolation first, because society privileges individuals and
does not consider the family as its core cell. Fathers and mothers struggle to
propose with passion deep reasons to live and, above all, to say ‘no’ with the
necessary authority. The bond with the children is likely to oscillate between
poor care and possessive attitudes that tend to suffocate creativity and perpet-
uate dependence.”43
Faced with their educational responsibilities and the difficulties confronting it to-
day, the family is endowed at one and the same time with strength and fragility:
“The family, is at one and the same time, both strong and fragile. Its weakness
does not derive only from the internal motivation of the spouses and the rela-
tionship between parents and children. External influences are of far greater
significance. These include inadequate support for the desire of parents to have
children, despite the serious demographic problem; the difficulty of balancing
the demands of work with family life; insufficient care for the weaker members
of society; and difficulty in building happy relationships due to unfavourable
housing in urban environments. To these can be added the growing number
of those who live together without being married as well as the number of
marital separations and divorces, together with the economic, fiscal and social
obstacles that make it hard for parents to have children.”44 Among the desta-
bilizing factors, particular attention should be given to the diffusion of lifestyles
inspired by the culture of the provisional and the reluctance to establish stable
ties. Despite these aspects of fragility, the family remains the primary subject for
the transmission of faith and education in vocational discernment. The many
educational agencies operating in the Church, beginning with Salesian works,
need to bear in mind that the family is not only an agent of education but that
it has unique quality and influence that it alone can bring. It is incumbent on
the Christian community to assist parents in their role as educators, offering
formation and mutual support.
The original and natural environment for education to faith is the family be-
cause it is there that it can be accomplished in a concrete and continuous way
within the context of everyday relationships, which, especially in the first years
of life, make the greatest impact on the formation of personality. Hence the
importance of encouraging parents to reflect on their educational responsibil-
ity in terms of faith. Every pastoral effort therefore needs to be made in order
to enhance the role of the family as the principal agent in the transmission of
faith and catechesis of its members, and in particular of the children. Priests,
43 Ib.
44 Educare alla vita buona del Vangelo, cit.
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catechists and pastoral animators must always refer to the family with a view
to close collaboration, particularly in the journey of Christian initiation and
the vocational journey of young people. It is, however, the duty of the whole
Christian community to educate the family and to support it in carrying out its
task of education and catechesis. To this end, preparation for marriage must
be offered as a journey of rediscovery of faith and inclusion in the life of the
ecclesial community. The care of young couples is also important. This means
accompanying them in the initial stages of married life and laying the founda-
tions for a journey of lifelong learning.
B) The family is to be recognized as the primary recipient of the pas-
toral care of the Christian community: “The family must be loved,
supported and enabled to become an active agent of education not
only for their children, but for the whole community. There needs
to be a growing awareness of the ministerial role that comes from
the sacrament of marriage and the calling of man and woman to
be a sign of the love of God who takes care of all his children. It is
the task of the entire community to support the family, with appro-
priate political and economic choices, paying particular attention to
individual families.45 How then do we accompany families so that
they become fully agents of evangelization and catechesis for their
children and for the entire Christian community? “To evangelize does
not mean simply to teach a doctrine, but to proclaim Jesus Christ by
one’s words and actions, that is, to make oneself an instrument of
his presence and action in the world.”46 Evangelizing families means
accompanying them in the living experience of ecclesial faith, know-
ing that “evangelization is the result of a combined journey, a mission
where consecrated and lay people are active subjects, agents of the
evangelization of individuals and cultures.”47
What are the fundamental aspects that need to be studied in order
to promote an experience of Church in which the family feels accept-
ed and finds a reason to strengthen its identity and its mission as a
Christian family? The sixth chapter of the Exhortation Amoris Laetitia
—dealing with “Some Pastoral Perspectives”— examines exactly how
to “proclaim the Gospel of the Family today”. Among other things, it
says: “Pastoral care for families needs to make it clear that the Gospel
45 Ib., n. 38.
46 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Doctrinal note on some aspects of
evangelization, 3 December 2007, No.2.
47 Cf. Christifideles Laici 55-56; 24th General Chapter of Salesians of Don Bosco n.96.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
of the family responds to the deepest expectations of the human
person: a response to each one’s dignity and fulfilment in reciprocity,
communion and fruitfulness. This consists not merely in presenting
a set of rules, but in proposing values that are clearly needed to-
day, even in the most secularized of countries. The Synod Fathers
also highlighted the fact that evangelization needs unambiguously
to denounce cultural, social, political and economic factors —such
as the excessive importance given to market logic— that prevent au-
thentic family life and lead to discrimination, poverty, exclusion, and
violence.”48 To get families involved in pastoral activity, they must be
trained for it even before they prepare for marriage. “Both short-term
and long-term marriage preparation should ensure that the couple
do not view the wedding ceremony as the end of the road, but in-
stead embark upon marriage as a lifelong calling based on a firm and
realistic decision to face all trials and difficult moments together.”49
An examination of the various causes of crisis in family life enriches this re-
flection on family ministry by highlighting that even in the most critical times
there are positive developments to be valued: “ When crises come, they are
unafraid to get to the root of it, to renegotiate basic terms, to achieve a new
equilibrium and to move forward together to a new stage.”50 The attitude of
pastors towards families in crisis or those whose marriage has broken down
must always be welcoming and accepting: “It is important that the divorced
who have entered a new union should be made to feel part of the Church.
They are not excommunicated and they should not be treated as such, since
they remain part of the ecclesial community. These situations require careful
discernment and respectful accompaniment. Language or conduct that might
lead them to feel discriminated against should be avoided, and they should
be encouraged to participate in the life of the community. The Christian com-
munity’s care of such persons is not to be considered a weakening of its faith
and testimony to the indissolubility of marriage; rather, such care is a particular
expression of its charity.” (n. 243) Welcoming, accompanying, discerning, and
integrating are four words that summarize the pastoral attitude required by
the Exhortation Amoris Laetitia towards all families, especially those wounded
by failure in love.51
48 Amoris Laetitia, n. 201.
49 Ib., n. 211.
50 Ib., n. 238.
51 Cf. ib., nn. 247 ff. Chapter 8 is entitled precisely: “Accompanying, discerning and
integrating weakness”.
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Pope Francis says: “The Church must accompany with attention and care the
weakest of her children, who show signs of a wounded and troubled love,
by restoring in them hope and confidence, like the beacon of a lighthouse
in a port or a torch carried among the people to enlighten those who have
lost their way or who are in the midst of a storm. Let us not forget that the
Church’s task is often like that of a field hospital.”52 Referring to cohabitation
and de facto unions, the Exhortation clearly reaffirms Christ’s call upon married
couples to be firmly united in the marriage bond. “All these situations require
a constructive response seeking to transform them into opportunities that can
lead to the full reality of marriage and family in conformity with the Gospel.
These couples need to be welcomed and guided patiently and discreetly”.53
In this line, Pope Francis relies on St John Paul II’s teaching about the “Law of
Gradualness”, which “is not a “gradualness of law” but rather a gradualness
in the prudential exercise of free acts on the part of subjects who are not in a
position to understand, appreciate, or fully carry out the objective demands of
the law.54 Concerning the discernment of these “irregular” situations, the Ex-
hortation proposes a choice between the logic of marginalization and the logic
of integration, the only one that conforms to the mercy revealed in Christ: “It is
a matter of reaching out to everyone, of needing to help each person find his or
her proper way of participating in the ecclesial community and thus to experi-
ence being touched by an “unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous” mercy. No
one can be condemned for ever, because that is not the logic of the Gospel!”55
And this —Pope Francis insists— applies not only to divorced people who are
in a new union, but to everyone, in whatever situation they find themselves.
Welcoming, accompanying and discerning in view of the appropriate integra-
tion of each one in the life of the ecclesial community is the pastoral choice
that the Exhortation proposes for the whole Church. Rather than offering a
new general canonical norm —which would be impossible in the face of the
variety and complexity of situations— Pope Francis encourages a responsible
personal and pastoral discernment of special cases inspired by mercy. There is
here a singular correspondence between what Francis tells the Church and what
Don Bosco recommended to his Salesians: “The preventive system is really ours.
No hurtful punishments! No humiliating words! No serious correction in the
presence of others! Rather kindness, charity, and patience… Make sure that
those who are corrected become our friends more than they were before, and
52 Ib., n. 291.
53 Ib., n. 294.
54 Ib., n. 295.
55 Ib., n. 297.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
never let them leave us feeling hurt.”56 This kind of pastoral approach will also
be careful to recognize that the degree of responsibility is not the same in all
cases, and the consequences or effects of a rule do not necessarily have to be
the same for all. Discernment is especially the task of pastors. It must combine
fidelity to the Church’s doctrine and attention to the concrete situations and the
weight of the attenuating circumstances: “Discernment must help to find pos-
sible ways of responding to God and growing in the midst of limits. By thinking
that everything is black and white, we sometimes close off the way of grace and
of growth, and discourage paths of sanctification which give glory to God. Let
us remember that “a small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be
more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order, but moves
through the day without confronting great difficulties”. The practical pastoral
care of ministers and of communities must not fail to embrace this reality.”57
CONCLUSION
This talk is a good occasion to highlight three characteristics that sum up the
fundamental inspiration of the pastoral action of Pope Francis, as expressed in
particular in the two synodal assemblies on the family: first of all, marked atten-
tion to pluralism and inculturation of the faith, with a view to overcoming any
form of Eurocentrism or “Roman centralism”. Right from the beginning of the
Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia, Francis affirms: “ Unity of teaching and
practice is certainly necessary in the Church, but this does not preclude various
ways of interpreting some aspects of that teaching or drawing certain conse-
quences from it. This will always be the case as the Spirit guides us towards the
entire truth (cf. Jn 16:13), until he leads us fully into the mystery of Christ and
enables us to see all things as he does. Each country or region, moreover, can
seek solutions better suited to its culture and sensitive to its traditions and local
needs.”58 Secondly, in the whole journey of the synod and in the indications
offered by the Apostolic Exhortation that followed it, we are struck by the con-
stant combining of realism in the understanding of problems and of mercy in
the directives for dealing with them and overcoming them: “Our contemplation
56 Letter of Don Bosco to Don Giacomo Costamagna, 10 August 1885.
57 Amoris Laetitia, n. 305.
58 Ib. n. 3.
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of the fulfilment which we have yet to attain also allows us to see in proper
perspective the historical journey which we make as families, and in this way
to stop demanding of our interpersonal relationships a perfection, a purity of
intentions and a consistency which we will only encounter in the Kingdom to
come. It also keeps us from judging harshly those who live in situations of frailty.
All of us are called to keep striving towards something greater than ourselves
and our families, and every family must feel this constant impulse.”59
Finally, I think it is right to draw attention to the language used by Pope Francis.
It is concrete and colloquial, and can also be evocative and poetic, as in the
words he uses to speak about love. He uses literary quotes such as those of
Jorge Luis Borges,60 and Mario Benedetti.61
In Amoris Laetitia we find a mixture of realism and imagination, concreteness
and evocation. We get a sense of Francis as the pastor who has been speaking
for years about love and with love to people who needed to love and be loved.
“Here let me say a word to fiancés. Have the courage to be different. Don’t let
yourselves get swallowed up by a society of consumption and empty appear-
ances. What is important is the love you share, strengthened and sanctified by
grace.”62
The word of the Pastor is interspersed with examples from daily life, which is
the only place where love is properly expressed: “Young married couples should
be encouraged to develop a routine that gives a healthy sense of closeness
and stability through shared daily rituals. These could include a morning kiss,
an evening blessing, waiting at the door to welcome each other home, taking
trips together and sharing household chores.”63 The voice that is speaking here
is one of great experience, illuminated by living faith and tender caring love for
young people and for families, the womb where they are formed and grow.
This is the kind of charity that inspired Don Bosco to devote himself entirely to
59 Ib., n. 325.
60 In n. 8 of the Exhortation: “every home is a lampstand”: in “Calle desconocida”,
Fervor de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 2011, 23: tr. it. Fervore di Buenos Aires, Adelphi,
Milano 2010, 29.
61 In n. 181 of Amoris Laetitia: “Te quiero”, in Poemas de otros, Buenos Aires 1993, 316:
“Your hands are my caress, The harmony that fills my days. I love you because
your hands Work for justice. If I love you, it is because you are My love, my
companion and my all, And on the street, side by side, We are much more than
just two”.
62 Amoris Laetitia, n. 212.
63 Ib., 226.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
young people as summarized in the words: “It is enough that you are young
for me to love you very much… It would be hard to find anyone who loves you
more than I do in Jesus Christ and who desires your happiness more.”64
In family ministry, from marriage preparation to support for families in difficulty,
we seek to have this kind of love alive and working in us.
I conclude my reflection by asking the whole Salesian family some questions
that will help in reviewing their life in the footsteps of Don Bosco. In our pasto-
ral ministry to the young and to families, do we pay proper attention to their ex-
perience of faith and to cultural sensitivity to the context in which we operate?
Do we try to combine realism in understanding the problems with mercy in the
way we face them, following the example of charity that burned in the heart
of the Saint of the Young? Is our language such that the young can understand
us and they and their families can feel touched by our sympathy and our love?
May Don Bosco intercede for us, that we may respond to these questions with
eloquence of life and ardour of charity. May Mary Help of Christians accompany
us on our journey. May she obtain for us an increase in enthusiasm in serving
families and young people wherever we meet them, spending ourselves totally
in love for them and, together with them, building the city of God among men,
the sign and foretaste of the new Jerusalem in heaven.
64 Il giovane provveduto, (Companion of Youth) Introduction “To the Young” first edition
Paravia, Torino 1847, 7.
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28th November 2017
YOUTH MINISTRY
AND FAMILY
THE JOURNEY
OF THE SALESIAN
CONGREGATION
FABIO ATTARD SDB
General Councillor for Youth Ministry of Salesians
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Youth Ministry and Family is at the centre of our reflection as it is at the
heart of our Salesian charism. From this statement we let ourselves be guided in
the following reflection that has as its main purpose to make a reading of the
journey that the Salesian Congregation has embarked on over the last decades
around this theme. A reflection that finds its starting point in the experience of
Vatican Council II that has given the whole Church the opportunity to deepen its
mission in today’s world. In the light of the mystery and the Word, we contem-
plate our calling to be a Church today, that is to be a mirror of Christ’s light for
humanity, in the contemporary world with its joys and hopes.
That the family is at the heart of our Salesian mission is clearly and simply stated
within our Constitutions and Regulations. There are two articles that are like
two solid and eloquent indicators:
Constitutions, article 47
The educative community and lay people associated with
our work.We bring about in our works the educative and
pastoral community which involves young people and
adults, parents and educators, in a family atmosphere,
so that it can become a living experience of Church and a
revelation of God’s plan for us.
In this community lay people associated with our work
make a contribution all their own, because of their
experience and pattern of life.
We welcome and encourage their collaboration, and we
give them the opportunity to get a deeper knowledge of the
Salesian spirit and the practice of the preventive system.
We foster the spiritual growth of each of them, and to those
who may be so inclined we suggest a closer sharing of our
mission in the Salesian Family.
Regulations, article 5
The application of the plan requires that in all our works
and settings we establish the educative and pastoral
community, whose animating nucleus is the Salesian
community.
Let all the Salesians play an active part in the drawing up,
realization and subsequent revision of the plan, and let
them see to it that in a family spirit the young people, their
parents and other collaborators also take part, according to
their different roles.
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At the end of this paper, I hope that the scope of what these two articles
contain will be clearer. That we discover that behind these few lines we have a
wealth that confirms the protagonism of the family – the subject and object of
the Salesian Youth Ministry.
POST-CONCILIAR JOURNEY
1 OF THE SALESIAN
CONGREGATION
In this first part we take a look at the firm points that emerge within the
Congregation’s journey in the immediate post-Council period. But to do this
we have to start from a central point we need as a compass. It is the compass
around the theme of the family that the Conciliar Constitution Gaudium et Spes
(GS, 1965) left us. The two parts of GS are, first, the Church and the vocation
of the human person (Part I), while the second addresses some urgent problems
(Part II). At this point it is helpful to grasp the prophetic scope of the first theme
covered in Part II since it bears the title: Fostering the nobility of marriage and
the family.
At a distance of more than 50 years, we realize that the Council Fathers had
foreseen the ground where the Church would be called upon to invest much
of its pastoral energies. The post-Conciliar Church’s journey is nourished and
strengthened by all the freshness we find in the GS, how it presents the family
and the marriage: the family that is not perceived as a patient to be cured, but
an active subject; the family who has a mission to accomplish; the family being
helped and promoted by all the members of society.
A THE GENERAL CHAPTERS
This very brief statement is obligatory, as already in the first instance of reflec-
tion that the Congregation had, the Special General Chapter (SGC 20, Rome,
10 June 1971 - 5 January 1972), the theme of the family emerges with the
same force and vision.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
It begins with a first affirmation on the family as the place where the first
education takes place, convinced of the fact that responsibility for younger
generations needs to be largely assumed by a wider group: that of the
adult educators in the first place, but not only. The SGC indicates a responsibility
that goes beyond the walls of the family as well as beyond the buildings where
the pastoral proposal takes place:
Since education begins in the family and in many cases the
human development of the child depends on this initial
education, Salesians will do everything possible, by writing
and lectures, to help parents in the Christian and human
education of their children. Lay people who are directly
responsible for the young have also a great influence
of the evolution of youth. Hence we should increase our
contact with them. We may also have the care of many
other people who are on a higher socio-cultural plane. With
their social and political responsibilities and their scientific
and pastoral skill, they can have a great influence on the
education of youth (SGC n.55).
From this premise, that time has largely confirmed its relevance, we meet two
focal points around the family. The first point is offered from the perspective of
a sound setting of the educative-pastoral project, where the family as a subject
within the educative and pastoral community and together with it there is a
sound collaboration together in the service of youth growth.
The second statement addresses the theme of evangelization and catechesis,
paths of education to faith, within the parish. A first reference is found in Doc-
ument no. 4 that carries the title Pastoral Renewal of Salesian Action among
Youth. Within this document we find a paragraph about the characteristics of
our pastoral service where “relationships with the family” are considered and
lived in relation to the fact that youth are at the main concern:
Salesian activity should take the young in relation to the
family, in order to integrate, supplement and rectify its
educative influence. It is the task of the communities to
maintain collaboration and a deep understanding with
parents in their shared responsibility and action. There are
various forms of this collaboration. The importance of this
union between the family and ourselves in the formation
of the young should spur us on to a renewal. (SGC n. 356).
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That these relationships do not only remain simply on the level of good inten-
tions, they are further commented and deepened when it comes to the edu-
cative and pastoral project that the Educative and Pastoral Community (EPC)
assumes (it should be noted here that the SGC refers to the EPC with the term
educative community):
The renewal of pastoral work in the Congregation and in
each province will be obtained, in the opinion of the Special
General Chapter, if the following points in the doctrine of
an EDUCATIVE COMMUNITY are put into practice: a) co-
responsibility in the running of affairs on the part of the
religious and lay educators, of the pupils, and their families; b) the
programming and periodic revision of all the educative work
of the community; c) the creation of a real family atmosphere
in which the active and fraternal presence of the educator is
indispensable; d) the division of the boys into groups according
to age and degree of preparation (SGC n. 395).
This is the language that immediately after the Council the Congregation has
matured in the SGC. Collaboration with the family is an indispensable
choice, a solid and central choice towards a genuine pastoral renewal.
A path of pastoral renewal that is based on co-responsibility, planning, family
atmosphere, and proposals for age groups overcoming the model of a unique
proposal for everyone without paying attention to a diversified pastoral proposal
for children and youth.
A second reference, found in Document no. 5, Salesian work in parishes, deals
with the theme of the family in relation to evangelization and catechesis, but
this time within the experience of the parish. The SGC in a very clear and pro-
phetic way primarily emphasizes the need to be aware that the scenario we
are living in is constantly changing. In this context, the family has a unique
role as a protagonist:
We are in touch with the child throughout the whole period
of his education till he reaches maturity, and at the same
time we have a direct and continuous relationship with
his family. Such a relationship is all the more necessary at
the present day, because when young people live in a de-
Christianized social milieu, education is of little avail unless
at the same time we try to re-evangelize the family and the
society of which they form part (SGC n.401).
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Evangelization cannot be said to be complete if one does not assume
the relationship with the family as an irreplaceable partner: for its need
to be evangelized, and also for its importance, capacity, and opportunity to
strengthen long-term processes. In this manner the danger of ‘educating with
little avail’ is averted.
From the awareness of this clear pastoral vision, there follows an invitation we
often encounter today in the documents of the Church’s Magisterium, and also
that of the Congregation. I think it is useful to find out that already in the
SGC we reached the understanding that “the family is not only subject
but subject of pastoral action”:
The renewed role of catechetics and its effective
organization in the adult and youth sectors must converge
and meet in the family, considered not only as the object
but more especially as the subject of pastoral action. The
family must be brought to fulfil its Christian duties as a
means of educating the young in the faith, since it is
precisely through the family that the young are brought into
civic partnership with their fellow men and into the people
of God (SGC n.422).
In addition, the SGC suggests concrete steps that, after decades, they still re-
tain their pastoral validity and timeliness. Realizing that the family is the object
and the subject of pastoral action, the EPC needs to engage in pastoral planning
so as to render this belief operational. The concrete steps offered by the SGC
have a double binary:
a) the first is that of the couple, that is, how to help and accompany
her. Offering ways to promote a journey of mutual support and mu-
tual growth, human and spiritual, within the same couple;
b) the second is the logical pastoral consequence of the first: to of-
fer the opportunity of family spirituality groups, groups where
the growth is outward-looking, thus avoiding the trap of a group
centered on itself. Let these groups be a space where real spirituality
become courage and dynamism in order to assume pastoral commit-
ment, in other words, to become prophets:
Parents should be the first preachers of the faith to
their children, and the first catechists. Similarly each
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married person will become an educator and help for
the other partner in the course of their Christian life.
Finally, if the Christian family is the place where the
faith really accepted, it follows that the whole family
will bear witness to the Gospel. To this end, groups
to intensify family spirituality should be encouraged.
Parents who are willing to be trained to undertake
pastoral action in the community, especially by
preparing those who are engaged (and young people
in general) to be married. In this way the family will
become a ‘domestic church’, a ‘first seminary’, an
‘open community’, and will thereby rediscover in
the faith a new dimension of love, of liberty, and of
service with and for others (SGC n.422).
We note the language used by the SGC in the quotations: it captures the
foresight of how in the immediate aftermath of the Council the Congregation
had intuited:
eefamily, considered not only as an object, but especially as a subject
of pastoral action;
eeparents are therefore prepared to be the first to announce faith, the
first catechists for their children;
eethe Christian family… the place where faith is welcomed… gives
witness to the Gospel;
eethe spouses are willing to engage in pastoral commitment in the
community;
eethe family becomes a domestic Church, the first seminary, an open
community.
At this point we realize that by studying the journey of the Congregation, we are
endowed with a heritage that avoids the unnecessary fatigue of inventing new
formulas. Instead, we do well to renew our memory, to keep alive this rich and
hope-filled process that this Special General Chapter has transmitted to us.
For various reasons, the prospects and the lines generated by the SGC had not
generated similar reflections in the following General Chapters. We know that
the efforts of the Congregation in the General Chapters 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25
have been very focused on the subject of education and evangelization, the
renewal of the Constitutions, the education of young people to faith, Sale-
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
sians and lay people, communion and sharing in the spirit and mission of Don
Bosco, and the Salesian community today. This focus somehow left no room
to deal more specifically with the family, even though at this time the Church
was engaged in the Synod on the family which gave the Apostolic Exhortation
Familiaris Consortio.
We note that the theme of the family within these General Chapters is always
in relation to the central themes the Congregation was studying. Let’s review
these references that have been quoted several times in various publications
and writings:
In times past “piety” was expressed in forms pedagogically
suited to the conditions of contemporary youth. Today there
is an urgent need for a rethinking of the best times and
forms of initiation to it, beginning from the family itself
(GC 23, n. 139).
In this family situation, the question put by Fr Egidio
Viganò makes us think: “We have to ask ourselves: can
an educator at the present day form the person of his
youngsters without the deepening, clarifying and reliving
of family values?” (Letter published in AGC n. 349, Rome,
10th June 1994, quoted in GC 24, n. 10).
Collaboration with youngsters’ families should be
intensified, since parents are the primary educators of their
sons and daughters. To this end they should be offered in
our works an educative climate rich in family values, and
in particular an educational team with a harmonious
integration of men and women components. (GC 24, n. 177).
In recent years action and reflection have given rise to
vocational planning at both local and provincial levels;
greater attention has been given to methods of formation;
there has been a greater involvement of young people in
groups and in the Salesian Youth Movement. We have not
always known how to involve the family as the primary
setting for vocational growth (GC 25, n. 41).
General Chapter 26 (CG 26, 2008): there is a clear and forceful reappearance
of the theme of the family into a General Chapter whose intention was starting
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afresh from Don Bosco. During this General Chapter there are two particular
moments where the theme of the family is explicitly dealt with: the first, within
the same Chapter’s scheme; the second is within the two interventions of Pope
Benedict XVI – one at the beginning of GC 26, through the letter written to
the Salesians of Don Bosco by Pope Benedict XVI65, and the other is the speech
towards the end of the General Chapter.66
It is important to refer to the aforementioned letter before commenting on how
GC 26 reflected on the family theme. It is a letter that enlightens and highlights
the already proposed agenda for the General Chapter. It is a letter that must be
read in the light of the Pope’s commitment, as is also the case today of Pope
Francis, on the theme of the family and its educational mission. Some key points
serve as indicators for the future:
eethe family as a domestic church,
eethe family is the first educational hearth of faith,
eethe invitation to the Salesians of Don Bosco has a dual importance:
eewithin the journey of the same Congregation because of our
mission, that of being educators and evangelizers of young
people with special attention to the family;
eeecclesial importance since the Salesian charism and the family
are a gift to be shared with the Church;
eefinally, an invitation to deepen this singular convergence: youth mi-
nistry and family.
Pope Benedict XVI writes:
It is indispensable to help the young to make the most
of their inner resources, such as dynamism and positive
aspirations; to put before them proposals that are rich in
humanity and Gospel values; to urge them to integrate
themselves into society as an active part of it through work
and participation and commitment to the common good.
This requires those who guide them to expand the areas of
educational commitment with attention to the new forms
65 Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI on the occasion of the General Chapter of the Salesians
of Don Bosco, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/letters/2008/documents/
hf_ben-xvi_let_20080301_capitolo-salesiani.html
66 Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to Members of the 26th General Chapter of the
Salesian Congregation, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2008/
march/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080331_salesiani.html
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
of poverty among young people, to advanced education and
to immigration; it also requires attention to the family and
its involvement. I reflected on this most important aspect
in the Letter on the educational emergency that I recently
addressed to the faithful of Rome, and that I now present
in spirit to all Salesians.67
A keyword all along is the word “involvement”. Pope Benedict puts together
“attention to the family” and the focus on the “involvement” of the family,
namely the family as the object and subject of pastoral action. For, this is a call
to shared responsibility, to an overall project within our educative and pastoral
communities, but also a call who hold ecclesial, political and social responsi-
bilities which Pope Benedict expresses in the terms in the letter Urgent Task of
Educating Young People:
Responsibility is in the first place personal, but there is also
a responsibility which we share as citizens in the same city
and of one nation, as members of the human family and, if
we are believers, as children of the one God and members
of the Church.68
Following this Letter, CG 26 as anticipated in the preparatory work, offers a
renewed vigour to some New Frontiers: Family, Social Communication, Europe.
On the theme of the family we encounter a language that has now become
common heritage: ours and the Church:
Special attention needs to be given to the current situation
of the family, originally responsible for education and the
first place for evangelisation. The entire Church has become
aware of the serious difficulties the family finds itself in and
warns of the need to offer extraordinary assistance for its
formation, development and the responsible exercising of
its educative role. This is why we are also called to act in
such a way that youth ministry is ever more open to family
ministry. (GC 26, n. 99).
67 Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI on the occasion of the General Chapter of the Salesians
of Don Bosco.
68 Letter of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the Faithful of the Diocese and City of Rome on the
Urgent Task of Educating Young People, 21st January 2008.
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GC 26 is open about the fact that there is still a long way to
go: “attention has grown in provinces to the family which is
the essential point of reference for education, but the efforts
we have made so far are still insufficient” (GC 26, n. 102). For
this reason, it affirms and encourages a pastoral direction
that has given positive signs of hope in these last years.
We need to strengthen our attention to the family which
goes beyond considering it only as object of our pastoral
concern, as if it was a “patient” in need of our sympathy. We
are called to move on from “a youth ministry insufficiently
attentive to family contexts, to one of greater investment of
energies on behalf of the family” (GC 26, n. 104), taking on
board the commitment “to give privileged attention to the
family in youth ministry (GC 26, n. 108).
In a more specific manner GC 26 offers some lines of action that are very much
in line with the pastoral vision proposed in SGC:
Let the community:
ee involve and form parents in the educative and evangelising
activity they carry out for their children;
ee develop curricula for affective education especially during
adolescence and accompany young people during their time of
engagement for marriage, making good use of the contribution
of parents, lay people who share this responsibility and
members of the Salesian Family;
ee foster new forms of evangelisation and catechesis of families
and by means of families (CG 26, n. 109).
A summary note: I believe that GC 26 in this field has offered a platform that
leaves two positive consequences: the first is that of strengthening the theme
of the family not only as a proposal enclosed in our walls, but as an ecclesial
journey. In fact, the two Synods on the family that followed are a confirma-
tion of this pastoral choice. It is also to be noted that in recent years the theme
of the family as subject of the educative and pastoral community is gathering
interest, reflection and concrete proposals in several Salesian Provinces. These
two aspects, the ecclesial and the congregational ones, offer hope for the future
as we can see later.
In General Chapter 27 (CG 27) we witness the continuation and strengthening
of the process launched by the GC 26. Here we have an even more focused
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
reflection on the family theme together with Pope Francis’s intervention towards
the end of the General Chapter. The two strengths on which this General
Chapter insists are the following: a) the involvement of the family; and b)
formation: the pastoral journey and formation. Here too, we see the con-
vergence of the Church’s journey: the preparation for the two Synods on the
family and the work of the General Chapter.
As already mentioned, GC 27 insists on the protagonism of the family. The
terms used have a clarity that enlightens, guides, and strengthens our journeys
of pastoral planning. In the part that has as a title Available for planning and
cooperation, we read:
An emerging apostolic front that we have begun to take
better care of is family ministry, and not only in parish or
adult formation contexts. It needs to be reconsidered in
close connection with youth ministry (GC 27, n. 20).
This statement in its brevity should be taken as a light and as an indispensable
indication for our pastoral and educative communities. Family ministry, first
of all, is not just a call for certain environments, it is not exclusive and much
less excluding. Here we have a danger, a trap that we must be pastorally alert
in avoiding. The family is a subject in all the places where we are called to be
servants and pilgrims for the young. The family is there to the extent that we
accept to meet young people with all their history, in its complexity, but also
in its potential.
Family ministry is not a separate sector. Family ministry is not a responsibility of
somebody who organizes activities, whatever these activities may be. “Family
ministry (is) to be reconsidered in close association with youth ministry.” This is
a belief that makes us reflect. It is a perspective that helps us to avoid the frag-
mentation of small personal pastoral realms. It is a call that has to strengthen a
community that educates the family through involvement, offers the chance to
the family to become an educative and pastoral active agent and protagonist.
Again, this point is taken up by GC 27 in the section entitled Experiencing fra-
ternal life, as at Valdocco, available for planning and cooperation:
In the Church, which is the People of God on the march and
a communion of individuals with different charisms and
roles, we share the service of building the Kingdom of God
with the laity. It is charismatic to see to the involvement
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and shared responsibility of all the members of the
animating core of the EPC (cf. C 47), Salesians and lay people,
foster a planning mentality and common action on behalf
of the young, families and adults amongst the ordinary
people (GC 27, n. 20).
GC 27 provides us with the processes and concrete steps that while giving
weight to this pastoral insistence can put together a) the involvement of the
family and b) the formation, that is, the pastoral journey and formation:
Integrating family ministry into the Provincial and local
SEPP, providing for the formation and involvement of lay
leadership [CG 26, 99, 102, 104] (GC 27, n. 71, 5);
Ensuring attention is given to family ministry and lay
formation at all levels and encouraging coordination of
reflection and intervention by the Sectors for the Salesian
Mission and for Formation (GC 27, n. 71, 7).
Pope Francis in his speech to members of the GC 27, reiterated the theme
of the family with the same insistence of the discussions during the Chapter.
The Pope, starting from the vocational perspective, insists on the fundamental
choice of involving the family within the vocational youth ministry:
Apostolic vocations are ordinarily the result of good youth
ministry. Caring for vocations requires specific attention:
first prayer, then activities, personalized programmes,
courage in making the proposal, guidance and family
involvement.69
B LETTERS OF THE RECTOR MAJORS
This presentation of the Congregation’s journey through the General Chapters
obviously needs to be completed with a reference to the three letters written
by our Rector Majors, Don Egidio Viganò, Don Pascual Chávez and Don Angel
Fernandez Artime on the theme of the Family.
69 Address of Pope Francis to Participants in the General Chapter of the Salesian Society
of Saint John Bosco (Salesians), 31st March 2014; https://w2.vatican.va/content/
francesco/en/speeches/2014/march/ documents/papa-francesco_20140331_
capitolo-generale-salesiani.html
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
The letter by Fr Egidio Viganò, In the Year of the Family (1994), addresses
the pastoral challenges regarding the family from the standpoint of the new
evangelization. Then he continues to widen the horizon, social, political and
cultural, pointing out some pastoral orientation that connect with the Congre-
gation’s journey at the time: the involvement of lay people that was going to
be the theme of GC 24.
Fr Viganò starts with a statement that touches on the heart of the challenge
that remains valid even for us today:
It is opportune therefore that we consider seriously how
this theme of the family impinges deeply on our process
of renewal. It will help us to feel ourselves more deeply «at
the heart of the Church» and more solidly united «with
the world and its history». The Holy Spirit has raised us up
among the People of God with a specific task of pastoral
work for the young. We know very well, and we have said
it on several occasions, that no authentic pastoral work for
the young is possible without a practical and interrelated
pastoral work for the family.
Fr Viganò was convinced that “the family is certainly one of the new frontiers
of evangelization and is deeply linked (…) with the mission to the young and
the poor inherent in our charism.” And for this he insists that “the theme of
the family is of the greatest importance for all, and is so in a particular way for
educators in the faith.”
Passing on to offer a broad theological and anthropological reading, Fr Viganò
points out “on three aspects linked with pastoral work for the family,” which
reflect the same ones matured during the previous General Chapters: pastoral
protagonism, formation and accompaniment. We note that the understand-
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ing left by Fr Viganò is that of a synthesis between youth ministry and family,
that is a path that needs to be strengthened, never fragmented:70
The point on which we need to insist, for a practical
renewal in a greater exchange between pastoral work for
youth and for the family, is to place firmly at the centre of
educational planning a program for continued initiatives for
the development and strengthening of self-donation, linked
with the demands of sexual and vocational differences.
Hence once again the urgent need to incorporate in all
educative activity an authentic youth spirituality, including
also an adequate ascetical pedagogy and a practical sense
of personal resilience and of reconciliation with God.
Fr Pascual Chávez’s letter, And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in
favour with God and man (Lk 2,52) (2006), begins with a reading of the risks
and threats weighing on the family today. He then offers a very rich theological
and charismatic reflection, giving space to the figure of Mamma Margherita.
Finally he focuses on renewing the mission of the family by pointing out some
pastoral and pedagogical applications.
We pause for a moment to focus on this latter part to emphasize those lines
that are in full accord with the journey of the General Chapters. As a prelude
to these lines, Fr Pascual Chávez writes:
For us, members of the Salesian Family, living as a family
is not just a pastoral option so urgently needed nowadays,
but a way of living our charism and an objective to be given
70 Here are the texts that may serve for further insight:
• Formation and animation of the marriage covenant: to be concerned with the
evangelization of various groups of married couples;
• Sexual education: experience shows that this will not be effective without
a youth spirituality: love, sexuality, spirituality are all intimately united in
the process of education to the faith. And here must necessarily be included
education to vocation which, in whatever state of life, is precisely a concrete
formation to love as self-giving;
• Preparation for marriage: the formation of the person to love, which is the
essence of all education, should be a guiding factor in the educative plan for a
good preparation for marriage. Since marriage is the ordinary vocation of the
majority of our young people, this is an aspect of vocational pastoral work to be
considered alongside vocation to the consecrated life, even though in a different
way and with different emphasis.
• And so in youth pastoral work there are specific values to be developed by
intensifying the daily spirituality so much recommended by the GC23.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
preference in our apostolic mission. As a characteristic
charismatic trait we Salesians and members of the Salesian
Family live the family spirit; as a primary objective we
share with the families who entrust their children to us the
task of educating and evangelising them; as an educative
and methodological option, we work to recreate in our
environments the family spirit.
It is within this logic of “sharing the educational and evangelizing task” that the
following pastoral and pedagogical applications need to be read:
eeguarantee a special commitment to education to love within
Salesian educational practice and in the journey of education to the
faith proposed to our young people;
eefollow-up and support of parents in their educational responsi-
bilities, by fully involving them in the implementation of the Salesian
pastoral and educational plan.
eefoster and prepare the Salesian style of the family: in individual
families, in the Salesian community, in the educative and pastoral
community.
eeinvolve the families in the process of education and evangelisation.
The vocabulary of Fr Pascual Chávez enriches and focuses more and more on
those key points that are getting clearer in these years.
In the letter of Fr Angel Fernandez Artime, this year’s Strenna 2017, We are
Family! Every home, a School of Life and Love, we encounter the theme of the
family against the background of Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia (AL), by
Pope Francis. After a Salesian reading of the 9 chapters of AL, the Rector Major
reads the family situation in the light of the Salesian charism and the qualities of
empathy and accompaniment that are the signs of our specific pastoral
educational contribution.
And it is the theme of the accompaniment that serves as the silver thread
that links the various proposals contained in the letter. Three key questions follow:
eeHow to accompany parents, spouses, and those who have the res-
ponsibility of the family?
eeHow to accompany the children, especially those in the Salesian en-
vironments, so many boys and girls around the world?
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eeHow to accompany through our youth ministry, family and parish mi-
nistry our young people who are maturing a project of life in marriage
and the formation of a family?
The various indications that follow, which are not meant only as a response
but also as operational lines, can be summed up in the following synthesis.
These are points that open a wide network of actions and processes for all the
protagonists of the Salesian mission:
I. to risk on the family, attention to families as an educational
and pastoral priority. We need to convince ourselves that it is not
enough for us to have as a priority young people as recipients of our
mission. Today, more than ever, this educational and evangelizing task
is inseparable from the family;
II. to make a priority the choice of accompaniment:
eeaccompaniment as a way that aims at a proposal for
spirituality and faith;
eevocational accompaniment of young people aimed at hel-
ping them towards maturing their life project;
eeaccompaniment and support to parents in their educati-
ve mission, involving them as much as possible.
SYNTHESIS
At the end of this journey, one should begin by recalling, first of all, the pro-
phetic force of the Special General Chapter. In the light of Vatican Council
II, the SGC has captured the Council’s right spirit and laid the foundations for
a pastoral vision. It is a gift we do well to keep alive. The study and reflection
of all that happened at this particular moment is a heritage for all of us who
cannot and should not miss.
Second, we note that for some decades the theme of the family has been
recalled in other topics that the Congregation was dealing with at this par-
ticular time: how to educate and evangelize young people, the Constitutions,
reflection on the journeys of faith with young people, as well as the effort still
in place to strengthen the shared educative and pastoral experience with lay
people. As we have seen the theme of the family was not entirely forgotten, but
treated within a broader vision. Although the letter by Fr Viganò in 1994 is not
reflected in the GCs at that time, we can say that if we are facing and working
on the theme of the family today as it deserves, we also owe it to this reflection.
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Third, we note a path that is being strengthened in its attention to the
family: the family as an educative and pastoral subject, in keeping with the
path of the Synods; the family in the light of the new evangelization (Evangelii
Gaudium) and in the light of the invitation for the next Synod on Young People,
Faith and Vocational Discernment.
Fourth: The theme of the family asks from us a continuous effort of reflec-
tion, study and sharing. The effort is growing in rethinking the theme of the
educative and pastoral community in the light of the family’s involvement. As
we have seen both in the GGs and in the letters of the Rector Majors, as well as
in letters and speeches of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis to the Salesians,
there is a clear sign that does not allow superficial or mediocre attitudes.
Fifth: I believe that a synthesis of the main nuclei that results from this study
is the following:
I. Involvement: this term has appeared several times as a primary
necessity, as a call we must follow not at a mechanical level, but as a
response to a silent and hidden cry by the family that is inviting us to
a response that expresses a sense of welcome, of ‘feeling at home’;
II. Protagonism: family as a subject. This is a recurring phrase that as
time goes on is making itself more present. It is not enough to offer
a space for involvement unless it goes on to be a true and real shared
experience. Here we are challenged on our pastoral ability and crea-
tivity, regarding how are we proposing, living and accompanying the
EPC and how does all this matures into the Salesian Educative and
Pastoral Project (SEPP);
III. Accompaniment: Chapter 8 of AL is a synthesis and a map. Syn-
thesis of some of the suggestions made during our GCs and in the
letters of the Rector Majors. It is also a map in situations that socially
and culturally are presenting us with new pastoral challenges. Here
the family is asking more and more to be helped through accompa-
niment, discernment and integration. Our presences and educative
and pastoral experiences are an extraordinary opportunity where con-
vergence can happen together with holistic proposals;
IV. Formation: finally, we note in these decades the frequent call for
formation. The family is seen as a resource in the processes of evan-
gelisation. Today more than ever, faced with such big challenges, this
call has a strong prophetic value added to it.
The part that follows is a snapshot on how the Congregation is at this historic
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moment dealing with the theme of the family. At the beginning of 2016, the
Rector Major sent a letter to all the Provinces of the Congregation inviting them
to make an educative and pastoral reading about the family. Here we offer the
synthesis of this work that has been studied in the various regional meetings
of Youth Ministry Delegates in the last two years.
2 ANATOMY OF THE CHALLENGE
The first question that was given to every Province was to identify the challenges
that the family presents to Salesian Youth Ministry in the Province. We collect
the responses into five categories; the reality we encounter, the understand-
ing of marriage and the family, the challenge of faith, pedagogical processes,
the proposal of Youth Ministry, and ultimately the urgency and the need for
accompaniment.
A REALTY
In this field, we recognize the call to be more willing to know the situation of
young people and the environment of their families. There is a certain distance
between the family and our surroundings. Families can greatly benefit from
what we profess to offer: proximity to their children who feel alone and not
well accompanied, support to materially poor families and people who are poor
in their ability to offer their children the necessary attention. We also notice a
marginal growth in solidarity as an antidote to the culture of waste.
Another aspect of this reality speaks of cultural, religious, social, ethnic and
sexual pluralism that most of the time we are unable to decipher, and much less
manage. In this area there are also the challenges of the various family models
we necessarily encounter in our various educational and pastoral courtyards:
single-parent families, families with same-sex parents, parents and children who
are experiencing a new family situation.
In this scenario we hear the call to assess the growing participation of women
in various pastoral processes, their specific contribution as women, and many
times as mothers at all levels in all sectors of society.
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Finally, we realize that we need to deepen the theme of family protagonism
in the integral development of the child, teenager, and young person. We see
the need to deepen this call within our educative and pastoral model, as it is
assumed and proposed in the experience of the educative and pastoral commu-
nity, and translated into the dynamics of our projects and processes.
B MARRIAGE – FAMILY
A second theme that came out very strongly from the replies of the Provinces
is how the subject of marriage and family is perceived. The dimension of the
sacredness of marriage and the family is heavily put into crisis. In the era of
the global village, strongly marked by the digital culture, the values that have
brought us so far, the so-called ‘traditional values’, values transmitted from
one generation to the other, suffer from the shock of the change, fast and
aggressive.
The increase in the rates of divorce, the exchange, sometimes continuous, in the
family structure are signs that must be read from within a very complex social
framework. The issue of migration that affects so many families moving from
country to city brings with it a change in social and family relationships that
makes the various subjects, foreign to each other within the same family. In light
of these changes that lead to a real relational earthquake, there is the awareness
that often the school, the oratory or the parish are the only example and place of
belonging, stability, ‘family’ in the life of children, teenagers and young people.
C FAITH
The theme of faith and religious practice is suffering a significant blow. We
recognize that we are at a crossroads – even if there is a risk of losing the
connection with our recipients, there is also the conviction that in this historic
moment we also have a great and new opportunity.
While on the one hand we notice a diminished participation in the various pro-
posals, along with a weakening of the practice of faith, and a life less marked
by moral values, on the other we realize that young people are looking for new
reference points, significant adults.
The theme of the processes of faith, catechesis, human and spiritual formation
must be taken seriously, that is, they must be revisited, since ‘today’s’ the con-
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text is not ‘yesterday’s’. We note the temptation of repeating the same pattern
processes in what we say and do: ‘we have always done so’. We realize that the
itineraries of faith, the group proposals many times are not connecting with the
new language, they look like old answers to new questions.
The perception and image of the Church in society in general, what is commu-
nicated through our presences —school, oratory, parish, reception centers— we
generally recognize that these perceptions and images have drastically changed.
If the family is no longer close to our proposal, we must have the courage to
check if we are away from the family, and not vice versa.
D PEDAGOGY
If for us the combination of evangelization and education is fundamental, we
must say that the symptoms we have presented in the field of faith (evangeli-
zation) have a relapse on the dimension of pedagogy (education).
The transition to postmodern and globalized culture challenges us to find new
pedagogical languages. We are called to discover those convergent spaces that
are typical of our educational proposal. These presuppose the family spirit as an
integral existential category: human, pedagogical, and spiritual. We directly feel
that this challenge asks us to examine ourselves whether the relationship with
the family has simply and gradually been reduced to a ‘supply and demand’
relationship, a ‘provider and a consumer’.
Generally speaking, it is clear from the Provinces that we are questioned by
the challenge that brings with it the loss of the father and mother figures in
our young people’s lives. The same applies to the theme of the real crisis of
authority, the absence of significant figures because of their authenticity. This
is very evident in those moments where we are pilgrims to our youth. When
they open their hearts in search of landmarks, experiences, and listening spaces.
The same search that young people are going through is present also in their
parents. In their own way, the latter respond well when we take the initiative to
offer spaces of belonging, they are grateful when they see educators wanting
the good of their children. This attitude invites us to strengthen our availability,
to be more present and open.
Here we meet families that are experiencing moments of crisis and permanent
poverty. Family ministry, and so many Provinces express it, cannot be limited
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to an activity that is performed. It needs to be a witness that becomes visible
and permanent within a pastoral project that reaches those who are seeking
support and accompaniment.
A theme that came out very often is that of marriage preparation, together
with love education. Here too we recognize that the path ahead is as big as
much as it is demanding.
E SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY
There is an increasing insistence and awareness on the part of the Provinces
is that the theme of the family cannot be considered as a work or a separate
activity. We must reflect on the family within the Provincial Salesian Educational
and Pastoral Project (Province SEPP). If this step is not done, the family will never
be integrated neither as an object nor as a subject of pastoral care.
For this reason, we realize that our work with and for the family, will be based
on number of criteria: overcome a ministry which is solely based on activities,
follow a long-term project and as a result of this get committed to create a
pastoral culture for the family.
A disturbing point is the following: from the responses of the Provinces one can
notice that this challenge at times meets resistance, whether desired or not, by
those who have pastoral responsibility in the various environments and sectors.
Some are burdened with a responsibility that frequently puts them in a situation
that renders tedious the culture of encounter and engagement in listening.
F ACCOMPANIMENT
Lastly, the theme of accompaniment has been mentioned very frequently. The
configuration of family models is changing and with this change, must also
follow a change in the way we communicate our pastoral proposals. Here the
reference is directly made to children, teenagers and young people living in a
single-parent family, a new union, parents of the same sex. This involves the
challenge of a new set of values d​​ erived from a reality other than the dominant
one of the traditional family that we have known so far. In this reality, accom-
panying people and their stories asks us to explore new frontiers with new
languages. It necessarily requires some preparation.
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In the responses received, one can see the conviction that even within this new
scenario, the ‘family spirit’, our way of communicating with everyone, without
distinction, without prejudice, remains the most appreciated experience of the
people we meet.
That is why the theme of accompaniment, as a clear proposition of compassion,
welcome, and proposal, is a unique pastoral opportunity that has wide-ranging
consequences. It is a proposal that helps people discern their personal choices.
Accompaniment is a path that opens a window on those values ​t​hat the edu-
cational and pastoral presence promotes, while at the same time encouraging
adults to participate in various educational processes.
Accompanying is also offered to young people who are preparing to take their
life project: preparation for marriage, discernment of their vocation. In this area
we have a call that, with the passage of time, gains ever greater clarity within
the youth ministry processes. In the wake of a poor preparation for the sacra-
ment of marriage, in various provinces we are questioning what opportunities
are to be considered and explored.
Finally, another point mentioned in the various answers is that of the formation
and preparation of pastoral agents. The theme of formation, which has been
present in recent years both in the CGs and in the letters of the Rector Majors,
has come out many times in this reflection. Here we reconfirm the urgency of
a formation plan that many Provinces are taking very seriously: the accompani-
ment and formation of the educative and pastoral community.
3 THE CURRENT RESPONSE TO
THE FAMILY
As Provinces, we have also wondered what are those experiences and choices
in the field of Youth Ministry and Family that are currently present within the
projects of the Province, such as the Overall Provincial Project (OPP), the Sale-
sian Educative and Pastoral Project of the Province (Province SEPP) and other
pastoral orientations?
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A PROPOSALS
The synthesis of the answers received indicates, first of all, a remarkable com-
mitment in this field, Youth Ministry and Family. But it also highlights some of
the limitations that can serve as indicators for a clearer pastoral engagement
and more solid processes. The various pastoral proposals in this field can be
presented in three categories: spiritual proposal, formative proposal and
pastoral collaboration.
The first, spiritual proposal: consists in offering days of retreats, camps, or oth-
er moments and events of a spiritual nature devoted to families, such as family
lectio divina and family catechesis. In this proposal, there are also experiences
that are inspired by Salesian spirituality.
A second category is that of the formative proposal: a formative proposal
around the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia to the Salesians, organization
of seminars and study conferences on the theme of family.
In many Provinces there are experiences for teenagers on the theme of edu-
cation to love. This is a very common proposal within the local SEPPs. Close
to this proposal is also the preparation of young couples for the sacrament of
marriage and the possibility of various accompaniment experiences for couples.
An experience that is growing is that of the school for parents in various Salesian
presences and that is not limited to the school sector. The same growth is noted in
the number of counselling centres, listening and spiritual accompaniment centres.
A third category is that of a genuine pastoral collaboration structured be-
tween families and Salesians in youth ministry. Here we notice, how in some
Provinces for some years there is a good and solid reflection together with
pastoral processes that are giving good results. The growing involvement of
the family in animating various youth ministry proposals is becoming more and
more present and strong: for example, accompanying youth in faith groups,
marriage formation groups, missionary animation groups, attention, accompa-
niment and welcome to unaccompanied boys, unwedded mothers.
B LIMITS
The limits we find in this field can be seen on the level of preparation —of the
Salesians and lay collaborators—, pastoral projects and pastoral structures.
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We note how the growth of pastoral engagement around the family is not re-
flected in a similar focus on the preparation of properly prepared staff. We
all recognize that the family is asking us for more attention and more energy,
but we have not yet come to the point of preparing enough and sufficiently pas-
toral agents for these new frontiers. In the absence of prepared people, some
pastoral resistances have more strength in stopping or preventing innovative
pastoral processes of which importance and opportunity are clearly perceived.
We also note the need to clearly take on the theme of the family, subject and
object of Salesian Youth Ministry, within our pastoral projects. This is a call to
strengthen a pastoral mentality that avoids pastoral fragmentation on the one
hand, and pastoral individualism on the other. In this fragmented scenario any
pastoral response to the family is likely to walk on a parallel track.
A third level is that of pastoral structures. Basically here the Provinces have
indicated that there needs to be protagonism of the family in the EPC. In
the light of the Salesian Youth Ministry. Frame of Reference (FoR), “the EPC
is a centre that welcomes the greatest possible number of people interested
in the human and religious aspects of the area. One clearly identified pastoral
challenge is to achieve a fuller sharing with the family, which is the primary and
indispensable educational community” (FoR, p.119). in the light of this goal,
a limit is recognized which has to be recognized and dealt with. The following
point seeks to suggest lines that avoid the danger of being stuck with an atti-
tude that looks at the family just as an object, as a patient who needs our care.
C OPPORTUNITIES – POSITIVE POINTS
Along with the pastoral proposals and the limits already mentioned by the
Provinces, there follow a set of goals that serve as guidelines for the future.
First of all, the importance of being clear and explicit in our pastoral programs:
SEPP of the Province, local SEPP and the EPC of each presence. The pos-
itive experiences in some Provinces indicate the way forward. They are experi-
ences that have a common thread: this is a serious reflection that overcomes
the danger of a Salesian Youth Ministry parallel to a family ministry.
A second opportunity is to accompany the young couples who have been
part of our pastoral experiences. In some Provinces there is collaboration with
various groups of the Salesian Family in offering accompaniment journeys to-
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wards marriage to young couples who have lived the experience of animators
in the Salesian Youth Movement.
A third experience is that of many Provinces that strengthen the commitment
of the local EPC in being close to families, especially those who are living
in discomfort and poverty. The visits to the families of our students, listening
and counselling centres, parents’ programs, are all experiences that open up
a very urgent frontier to a world that is very close, yet it can be very far away
because it is not known.
Finally, there are also projects for the formation of pastoral agents for the
family, for Salesians and lay people. There are some formative proposals that
need to be known because they are the result of a collective pastoral effort of
the whole of the Province, the Provincial Council, the Youth Ministry Commis-
sion, groups of the Salesian Family Groups and the Families themselves.
HORIZONS FOR A STRONG
4DON BOSCO’S CHARISMATIC
RESPONSE TODAY
At this point we offer some insights that serve as indicators for a stronger and
significant alliance between Salesian Youth Ministry and Family.
A YOUNG PEOPLE AT THE CENTRE OF SALESIAN
YOUTH MINISTRY
In the first article of the Salesian Constitutions we find the reason of the at-
tention to young people and the central place they have within the Salesian
mission:
With a feeling of humble gratitude we believe that the Society of St
Francis de Sales came into being not as a merely human venture
but by the initiative of God. Through the motherly intervention
of Mary, the Holy Spirit raised up St John Bosco to contribute to
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the salvation of youth, “that part of human society which is so
exposed and yet so rich in promise.” The Spirit formed within him
the heart of a father and teacher, capable of total self-giving: “I
have promised God that 1 would give of myself to my last breath
for my poor boys” (Cost. 1).
Starting from this root, we grasp the true meaning of the Salesian mis-
sion. In the first chapter of the Salesian Youth Ministry. Frame of Reference
(FoR), we have a very clear narrative of how Don Bosco lived through transmit-
ting this centrality of youth into the Salesian mission:
Don Bosco was the first Saint to found a Congregation not
only for young people but with young people. He valued,
in a way previously unheard of, the unique part that
young people could play and involved them actively in the
adventure of their religious and human development. This
is why Salesian ministry is essentially youthful, not only
because we see young people as the beneficiaries of our
ministry, but because they play an active part in it (FoR, p.
33).
In this perspective, it becomes clear that this is not a populist choice, a blind
protagonism without any objective. we are not dealing with an unhealthy way
of looking at youth. Here we are called to grasp how the ‘family spirit’ to-
gether with the educational responsibility of all the subjects present on
this journey are invited to give each one his/her part in this wonderful story of
our young people.
Salesian Youth Ministry è youthful because at the centre of its action we find
the person of the young, especially those most in need. We meet the young
where they are to be found:
Imitating God’s patience, we encounter the young at their
present stage of freedom. We then accompany them, so that
they may de­velop solid convictions and gradually assume
the responsibility for the delicate process of their growth as
human beings and as men of faith (Cost. 38).
The goal proposed by the Salesian Youth Ministry for every young person is to
achieve the integral development of one’s own personality, where Christ is the
fundamental point of reference.
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In the light of this charismatic foundation, the family is called to be sub-
ject, that is, the pastoral protagonist; protagonist in living personal moments
of growth, protagonist in witnessing one’s own personal choices, protagonist
in accompanying young people together with all pastoral agents of the EPC. In
the Salesian Youth Ministry. Frame of Reference (FoR) we have a synthesis that
serves as light in this path that we have ahead of us:
We recognise that the family is the basic cell of society and
the Church. Despite all its difficulties, the family is esteemed
by the children because there they receive the affection
they need and cannot do without. For parents, education
is an essential duty, connected to the transmission of life.
The role of the family is irreplaceable and inalienable and
comes before the educational role of anyone else. It cannot
be delegated or substituted [cf. Familiaris Consortio, 36] (FoR
p.119).
Only in the light of the charism as experienced and transmitted to us by Don
Bosco, only in the light of the pastoral lines the Salesian Congregation propos-
es to us, we can live and share an educative and pastoral proposal that is
holistic and promotes wholeness. In keeping alive the organic unity of the
SEPP, provincial and local, in allowing our SEPP be a living experience of EPC,
only then do we avoid the real risk that any pastoral proposal in favour of the
family becomes an independent, separate, autonomous experience parallel to
the journey of the province.
B JOURNEYS AND PROCESSES
With great satisfaction, one can notice several experiences in various Provinces
that are seriously treating the theme of the family within Salesian Youth Min-
istry. If there is a common criterion, if we have a constant choice, we can
say that it is the following: a path enriched by a reflection shared by all
subjects of the EPC.
There are no projects thought out in a detached manner. The family is the pro-
tagonist of its own growth. The family becomes the protagonist of the growth
of the young by walking along with EPC members: a path enriched by the
‘family spirit’, a path backed by the spirit and the word of the Gospel, a path
lit by the spiritual and pedagogical experience of Don Bosco:
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The EPC is committed to making parents aware of their educational
responsibility, in the face of new emerging patterns of education. It pays par-
ticular attention to accompanying young couples and actively involving them in
the EPC. It is necessary for Salesians and lay people together to make a careful
community discernment, in order to identify and respond to the most urgent
problems of the family, making use of all the resources available. A greater
involvement of the family in the SEPP is needed (FoR p.119).
The involvement of the family within the processes of Salesian Youth Ministry
is not willing it enough. It is necessary that this goal find persons, spaces, and
proposals that encourage greater involvement and participation of parents and
their families. Our presence, our environments, must promote an educative
and pastoral ‘ecosystem’ where the theme of the family and the cli-
mate of the ‘family spirit’ can grow and can also generate a force of
attraction.
A reflection by the Rector Major Fr Juan Edmundo Vecchi is very appropriate
in this regard: “(Don Bosco has created) a community, which was not only
visible, but indeed quite unique, almost like a lantern in the darkness of night:
Valdocco, the home of a novel community and a pastoral setting that was
widely known, extensive and open.”71 Today, on the steps of our Father and
Teacher Don Bosco, we are called to keep alive this pastoral culture, marked
by a renewed relationships between family and educators, young people and
educators, young people and families, a relationship so necessary as much as
it is appreciated.
C GOVERNMENT AND ANIMATION
Finally, at this historic moment, the urgency of making intelligent and cre-
ative pastoral choices by those responsible for the government and
animation at all levels is increasingly evident. Pastoral processes that mark
the life of a Congregation or institution, even the processes of the same Church,
do not fall from the clouds. Enough to read and meditate carefully on the
post-conciliar journey of the Church through the experience of the various
Synods of Bishops.
The processes that really leave an imprint on a Province are the result
of a serious reflection, based on prayer, enlightened by the charism of
71 Fr Juan Edmundo Vecchi, Now is the Acceptable Time, AGC 373 (2000).
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Don Bosco, and shared with all the members of the Provincial EPC. The
true government, so founded and rooted on the Gospel, on the charism and on
the pastoral life as experienced by the various members, is able to listen where
the Spirit of God is blowing.
Here it is not just a sociological reading and proposal, however indispensable
all that is. Here it is not about offering experiences that can sell. Here it is about
listening to the cry of young people, a hidden but deep cry. Here we have to
read carefully and seriously and honestly contemplate the social, cultural and
spiritual implications of our young people’s lives: the lost hope, the lack of trust,
the absence of horizons.
In the light of these challenges, the family is not another resource, but
an indispensable protagonist: that needs accompaniment, that is seeking
support, but that it also has a unique, unrepeatable, indispensable vocation.
The government has the call to “recognize”, “interpret”, and “choose” those
ways the Lord is providentially pointing to us. The beauty of this historic mo-
ment is that we are already seeing them in some parts. What we want to
happen is already taking place. All of us have to take Jesus’ words seriously:
Get up and walk!
CONCLUSION
In these pages we have tried to present and read the path of the Salesian Con-
gregation in recent decades. A journey that contains a remarkable commitment
on the part of the Congregation. Within the general process of spiritual, char-
ismatic and pastoral renewal it has also been able to assess the theme of the
family in the wake of the attention given by the Pastoral Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes (GS).
It is a choice that in the light of the experience proved to be pastorally prophet-
ic. The Synods on the Family, with the two apostolic exhortations —Familiaris
Consortio and Amoris Laetitia— testify to the consequences on the whole jour-
ney of the Church.
The hope is that this journey can grow in strength and courage. A journey
backed by a healthy synergy between Salesian Youth Ministry and Family and
a pastoral proposal that will truly be a gift for the family today.
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REFLECTIONS AT THE
REGIONAL LEVEL
AFRICA – MADAGASCAR
ANGLOPHONE GROUP
Challenges from the journey of the Congregation so far:
eeFormation of the SDBs and the Lay collaborator to a clear understan-
ding and incarnation of Salesian Charism is yet to be realized in most
of our communities and provinces.
eeInvolvement of families: there is need to strengthen the synergy be-
tween the SDBs and the laity especially for greater impact in the
society; keeping in mind non Catholic families.
eeSalesian communities receive a lot of documents. Most of these do-
cuments are not read and assimilated by many of the confreres which
need to be translated into activities and pastoral projects.
eeNeed to reach out to the parents of many children who come to our
schools and Centres keeping in mind that they are more than those
who are in the parishes.
eeMany of our lay collaborators are not adequately prepared to work on
their own without constant reference to SDBs; they take instruction
each time they undertake any activities.
eeUsually the priests are perceived as experts; but they are few in com-
parism with the number of Young people in need, however, they
can reach only few young people. This calls for the need to get more
lay people involved so as to reach more young people. How can we
involve lay people in proclaiming the gospel? This is the question we
should be asking ourselves.
eeWhere there are proper lay empowerment, a lot could be done espe-
cially in the proclamation of the gospel.
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eeThere is need to overcome the doubt that spiritual inputs are not
attractive to the young people and their families among the SDBs
and our lay collaborators.
eeWhen we reintegrate young people to their families and the families
are not properly accompanied, the rescued, run the risk of going back
to the streets. The accompaniment should be done till the person is
responsible enough to take care of himself.
eeOn the issue of the continuity of missions to young people and the
families; there is a need to ensure that projects and missions are not
driven by individuals but community as it is the community that sus-
tains each mission. For this reason, the preparation of the Educative
Pastoral Plan is important.
eeCollaboration is an important approach to sustain missions today. To
achieve this, we need to understand whose mission? In God’s plan,
communion is collaborating together to achieve God’s work. The
challenge is to overcome monopolization of the mission.
eeIn this discussion, it seems that the lay people and the Salesians have
different understanding of the terminologies, especially in words like
collaboration, autonomy, etc.
eeIn all these, we have to keep in mind the Salesian Charism and the
identity. Because in it we have the methodology. In our mission in co-
llaboration with lay people, our platform should be co-responsibility.
Our aim is young people and their families.
eeOvercoming the challenges of clericalism: clericalism not necessarily
seen as the problem of the clergy but lay people who constantly see
the priests and religious as the main point of reference for the mission.
This is very strong where the clergy hold revered positions in the society.
eeYoung people and families are bombarded with all sorts of infor-
mation in such a way that they no longer distinguish between the
Christian and secular values.
AFRIQUE ET MADAGASCAR
GROUPE FRANCOPHONE
Quels sont les défis qui émergent du chemin fait jusqu´à ce moment par la
Congrégation?
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eeMettre en application les réflexions et conclusions du magistère de
la Congrégation à tous les niveaux. Et surtout mettre en marche des
mécanismes et dynamismes pour favoriser l´application des réflexions
(concrétiser les grandes lignes d´interpellation)
eeSe convertir, changer de mentalité et croire en nos potentialités.
eeChercher à contextualiser notre pastorale des jeunes : offrir une
originalité de notre continent pour enrichir la réflexion de la
Congrégation
eeAccorder plus d´importance aux familles et ne pas se limiter aux
jeunes : considérer la pastorale des jeunes et de la famille comme un
même moment de l´agir pastoral
eeProfiter des opportunités que nous offrent les jeunes (désirs de trouver
des espaces pour s´exprimer, de chercher des modèles) pour mieux les
écouter et les accompagner
eeCultiver l´esprit missionnaire au niveau local dans l´intention de
découvrir cette vocation chrétienne et de rompre avec la vision
traditionnelle du missionnaire
eeOpter pour des itinéraires de formation qui impliquent la réalité
familiale et surtout veiller à la continuité des initiatives : réflexion-
programmation-évaluation
eeVeiller à ce que la réalité de la famille soit transversale dans nos
œuvres
eeCréer des espaces et des structures d´échange autour de la famille et
les accompagner avec les moyens nécessaires
eeRester ouverts et apprendre des autres, tout en cultivant notre
intelligence pastorale qui capte les signes des temps
eeChercher à récupérer certaines valeurs en perte de vitesse
INTERAMÉRICA 1
¿Cuáles son los DESAFÍOS que emergen del camino realizado hasta ahora por
la Congregación?
Después de realizar la socialización de las respuestas de las Inspectorías
presentes, destaco estas respuestas según cantidad de resonancias:
1. Ofrecer respuestas de acompañamiento y formación sistemática,
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atrayentes y que estén acordes con las diferentes realidades que
vive la familia en la región: situación económica, perspectiva de paz
y también situaciones de violencia, surgimiento de otros modelos
de familia, realidad religiosa – devocional (en muchas ocasiones
desconectada de la realidad), distanciamiento entre padres e hijos,
crisis de fe, migraciones. Las respuestas de acompañamiento, que
incluyan no solo a los padres, sino también a los hijos. Prácticas
articuladas con la vida.
2. Buscar estrategias para vincular a la familia a los procesos pastorales
de una manera más decidida, dirigir la mirada más a ellos y
procurar su protagonismo en estos procesos; pasar de convocar a
comprometer.
3. Formar – capacitar a quienes apoyan los procesos pastorales y de
intervención con las familias. No estamos capacitados para ello.
4. Llevar la espiritualidad Salesiana y sus características al ambiente
de la familia – acogida, espíritu de familia. Hacer uso del Sistema
Preventivo, una propuesta perfecta para ser asunta al trabajo con la
familia.
5. Proponer modelos atractivos a las familias de hoy.
INTERAMÉRICA 2
¿Cuáles son los desafíos que emergen del camino realizado hasta ahora en la
Congregación?
eeEl primer desafío es precisamente el conocer ese camino que ha he-
cho la congregación. Queda en evidencia la necesidad de formarnos
en el acompañamiento de las familias y generar procesos donde las
familias no sólo sean objeto de la pastoral, sino sujetos y protago-
nistas.
eeOtro desafío es atender y acompañar a los jóvenes para asumir voca-
cionalmente el matrimonio y también acompañar a los matrimonios
jóvenes.
eeEl desafío de retomar auténticamente el carisma, pues el carisma
salesiano tiene en su origen la experiencia familiar de Don Bosco, el
Espíritu de Familia y la dimensión vocacional.
eeDesafío de intervenir sistémicamente, de hacer una pastoral integrada
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e integradora que asume la realidad en su totalidad, que no separa
al joven de su familia, que no separa la formación del joven de su
discernimiento vocacional, que no separa la Pastoral Juvenil de la
Pastoral Familiar o Vocacional.
AMÉRICA CONE SUL - CISBRASIL
Quais são os desafios que emergem do caminho feito até hoje na Congregação?
Desafios para: SDB, CONGREGAÇÃO SDB
eeDistância (dos SDB) afetiva e efetiva dos jovens.
eeAbrir-se e preparar-se para refletir e agir o tema “jovens e famílias”.
eeAproveitar o fato da Congregação estar presente em 132 países:
variedades de jovens e famílias; grandes possibilidades de trabalho.
Desafios para: SDB, FAMÍLIA SALESIANA, LEIGAS/LEIGOS; OBRAS SALESIANAS
eeEntender que trabalhar com/para os jovens significa trabalhar com/a
família dele: não é mais possível olhar apenas para o jovem, pois ele
vem de uma família e ele vai constituir uma família.
eeEstudar profundamente a realidade e os contextos em que estão
inseridas as obras salesianas e onde as famílias, de fato, vivem.
eeEnvolver a Família Salesiana no acompanhamento dos jovens e das
famílias.
eeAproximação e parceria entre a obra salesiana e as famílias.
eeAbertura e a acolhida: acolher e jovem e a família como são.
eeAcompanhamento:
MMdisponibilidade;
MMtempo;
MMfoco: jovens namorados/noivos e recém-casados; novos
arranjos familiares
eeReforçar a ideia da CEP e ativar seu Conselho.
eeFazer, de fato, pastoral de conjunto e orgânica (eficaz e sistêmica).
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AMERICA CONO SUR SEPSUR
DESAFÍOS
ARTICULACIÓN. La articulación y la mirada orgánica es un desafío en nuestra
acción pastoral desde estas tres dimensiones:
eeArticulación entre las diferentes propuestas pastorales para la familia,
notamos que existen actividades muy significativas pero que funcio-
nan de manera aislada.
eeArticulación entre estas propuestas para las familias con la Pastoral
Juvenil para que las acciones que se lleven a cabo apunten a un mis-
mo objetivo global.
eeArticulación entre los diferentes grupos de la Familia Salesiana, el
acompañamiento a las familias es un desafío que atraviesa a todos
los grupos y necesitamos articular fuerzas porque somos conscientes
que solo no podemos
ACOMPAÑAMIENTO. Esta es la manera más adecuada de responder a las
necesidades de los jóvenes y sus familias asumiendo de manera cada vez más
comprometida el acompañamiento salesiano. Este acompañamiento debe ser
ofrecido a…
eeLos animadores y los novios para que puedan transitar un proceso
vocacional (antes)
eeLos matrimonios jóvenes (durante)
eeLas familias que atraviesan situaciones difíciles (pobreza, vulnera-
bilidad) o donde ya se ha producido un quiebre: Divorciados, etc.
(después)
eeAcoger a las familias reforzando nuestra capacidad de empatía para
acoger a las familias siendo creativos en generar nuevos espacios de
participación.
MIRADA DE PROYECTO PEPS: asumir dentro del PEPS la atención a las fa-
milias de manera más propositiva.
eedesde procesos de reflexión carismática sobre las nuevas realidades
emergentes.
eeFavoreciendo la presencia de los padres en los diferentes organismos
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de animación de las obras salesianas: consejo de la obra, equipos
pastorales, etc.
SUJETOS. Favorecer el cambio de paradigma: pasar de la visión de la familia
como objeto y sujeto de la acción pastoral en las obras.
EAST ASIA - OCEANIA 1
What are the challenges that result from the journey that the Congregation
made so far?
eeMINIMAL CONTACT WITH FAMILIES. As Salesians, we see that when we
do our work, it is always a direct contact with the young people. We
seldom deal directly with the families of our young people and thus we
lack the awareness of the reality of their families. The parents are also busy.
eeDISTANCE. One specific situation may also be shared by many others:
in Papua New Guinea--geographical distance of the young from the
families and thus, the distance of the Salesians also from the families
such that family ministry would be difficult to practice. There is also
the cultural distance of the Salesians from the families of the young
since many of the Salesians are missionaries and therefore can be out
of touch with the context of the family. The parents also entrust their
children to the Salesians that they do not anymore mind how their
sons are. There is little collaboration.
eeWHEN TO BECOME A PROPHET. There is also the challenge to strike
the balance between being tolerant and being a prophet. When do
we correct what is wrong?
eeTO MOVE FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE. We have a lot of ideas about
families from the documents of the Church and the Congregation.
Are all these practicable?
eeDESIRE OF THE YOUNG TO STAY MORE IN THE SCHOOL (OR WITH
FRIENDS) RATHER THAN AT HOME. Many times, the home becomes
the place in which the young people like staying the least. They prefer
the school and friends.
eeTHE HETEROGENEITY OF FAMILIES. Do we define “family” in the
same way? There are different concepts around the world. We have
to be clear about our definitions of “family.” As a Congregation, we
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
cannot dictate what the nature of family should be. In family ministry,
we have to bring the charismatic heritage to each local setting. One
help would be: how does one feel about his family?
EAST ASIA - OCEANIA 2
What are the challenges that result from the journey that the Congregation
made so far?
eeThe provinces need to have paradigm-shift particularly in involving
the families as active subjects in the youth ministry of the province.
eeThe provinces need to strengthen the existing EPC in the education
of the young people.
eeIn carrying out the family ministry, we need to prepare personnels in
the area of counseling in order to have a better accompaniment of
the families and young people.
eeThere is a need to have synergy with other groups or sectors or
professionals in carrying out the family ministry.
eeThe family model being presented in the ministry most of the time
is for christian family, which most of the time is not so ideal in non-
christian context.
eeAt times some Salesians might think that ministering to the families
is the task of the parish priest. Hence, in the province, the family
ministry do not recieve much attention in the SEPP of the province.
eeSome families in the post-conflict countries are still fragile. The
struggle for survival is more important than the education of their
children. Therefore, it is difficult to involve families in the youth
ministry of the province.
SOUTH ASIA 1
The presentation by Fr. Fabio Attard was very well appreciated by all the
participants. The clarity of thought right through the presentation of the Map
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of the Congregation made our understanding of the Salesian Charism clearer
with reference to Youth Ministry and Family.
1. The participants were able to understand that Youth Ministry and Family
are not two separate ministries, but rather a single ministry! A few lay
collaborators would have found the presentation a bit heavy because of
the Salesian and ecclesial vocabulary that they are not used too.
2. Our Salesian formation would need to be redefined in terms of our
Youth Ministry and Family. For many, our Youth Ministry and Family
Ministry are seen as separate ministries. Family is still not seen as an
active subject and protagonist in our Youth Ministry.
3. We realise that when Family ministry is neglected or weak, our Youth
Ministry is also weak. When we get the Family in the youth ministry
we get in touch with the reality of the youth. Accompaniment of the
young right from early days is essential. It got to be done systematically.
Accompaniment of the young must change with the passage of time.
4. Our Congregation is still ‘clerical heavy’. The laity are backward. The
laity are not involved in the care of the young. They are dependent
on the priests and religious. We cannot function in isolation. We need
to level the gap and stop promoting clericalism.
5. Role of Family in the Vocational journey of the young. Family play
important role in advocacy of the young and their rights. In the formation
of the Salesians, parents are called to interact with their children. Parents
visit the families of the confreres or invite them for the celebration.
6. In families, faith life is weak. Departures from the church life and its
liturgy is becoming common. The presence of fringe groups with extreme
right views pose a severe danger to the faith of the youth and families.
7. We fail badly in the Formation of EPC. We have not yet understood
the power of the EPC and its animating role in the Salesian mission.
8. We need to appreciate the Salesian Map of our Educative and Pastoral
journey so far and be better involved in processes that enhance
effective Youth Ministry and Family.
SOUTH ASIA 2
Challenges that result from the journey that the Congregation has taken so far?
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1. An explicit Educative Pastoral Plan for family ministry is to begin.
2. We have to educate the Salesians to change their mindset about
divorced parents or broken families regarding vocation to Salesian life.
3. To give attention to family as educational pastoral priority.
4. Educative Pastoral Community is to be revamped and ensure that
families are involved in the process of implementation.
5. We have no plans for accompanying the spouses, parents and those
who have responsibility for the family.
6. Preparing Salesians to take up the family ministry at the formation
level.
7. Involvement of women in the ministry as equal partners is also
important.
8. Working for the girls too is important in our ministry.
9. We can help with the vocational discernment in preparation for
marriage.
10.Pastoral accompaniment of the families has been neglected and it is
time to take it up.
11.We are not qualified to work with families or as animators at the
Diocesan Pastoral centres and we Salesians need to be prepared.
12.We need to have continual reflection with regard to the changes
taking place in our societies.
EUROPE CENTRE NORTH
What are the challenges that result from the journey that the Congregation
made so far?
eeDB’s journey started with children who had no family. For DB,
starting the journey meant keeping in mind the young who were
disadvantaged.
eeToday, it is important to consider if the parents are themselves
searching for a journey and ways to connect with their faith. Grand
parents are precious. Parents are stressed as in Belgium they often
feel inadequate. Interfaith dialogue is crucial.
eeThe context of Germany, goes beyond the Salesians, it involves the
whole church. It is a case where children are bringing their parents to
Church and inspire them to ask about their faith journey.
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eeIn schools (UK) we might have missed opportunities to involve the
parents in their faith journey. We often have stopped to formal
encounters related to academic stuff only.
eeA negative past, like abuse cases from the Church, leave persons
feeling discouraged to engage with the Church ‘which provides
services’. Conversely, it is our witness and our readiness for authentic
relationships which will make the difference.
eeOne of the difficulties, due to the nature of our work, is the fact that
we focus too much on what we are doing at a local level. One can
easily invest all the energy in his/her work without opening enough
up at a Provincial and Congregational level.
eeWe are not sure if the “journey” has really invested its focus on the
family as protagonist. The Synod and Amoris Laetitia have helped us
to move out of the old schemes. We do not really see the journey.
ee23 years ago, Fr. Vigano had already perceived the need and we still
talk of new frontiers. We need to move forward with courage.
eeThe presence of parents is at times seen as intrusive and we make
ourselves believe this to be something negative; we can work with
the young without parents: reality shows us how this is not the case.
DB himself brought significant others in the lives of his young.
eeSalesian formation puts emphasis on youth ministry. A paradigm
shift is needed in the formation whereby working with families as
complement to youth ministry, is not perceived as a threat but as an
enrichment in our ministry.
eeAre there any studies about the relation of DB with the significant
adults/role models and how it worked at Valdocco?
eeWe perceive a clear challenge put forward by a fluid society,
which very often promotes virtual connectivity rather than familiar
connectedness. How to change this challenge into an opportunity?
eeWe are used to have young people coming to us: do we go to them?
Reaching out is important. It is good to enter the houses and meet
them at home. It helps us encounter the background and meet them
where they feel comfortable and at home.
eeECP should consider the families as an integral part of our
mission as educators. What does it mean to involve parents in the
implementation of this process?
eeWorking with families is wider than working only with “parents”.
We need to include the social area and widen our understanding of
a system. We are invited to look at the wider system.
eeWe need to deconstruct the meaning of “family”, different meanings
and forms of families that are found in different places.
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eeReview our ministries in such a way that new contexts and
relationships are fostered, starting from what they understand by
“family”.
eeThe young who live in residential care, still feel the need to connect
with their families, irrespective of the fragmentation of their
families. Let us turn this existential challenge into an opportunity.
eeAt times we equate family ministry with dysfunctional families. Let
us look at the beauty of good families who yearn to be accompanied
and share in our mission.
eeBesides looking at families ad extra, (what to do for others),
let us also foster a deep connection ad intra (between SDB’s as
consecrated and parents as married Christians).
eeUniversities and SDB centers should also include family and system
studies in the initial formation of SDB’s. This should complement
philosophical and theological studies.
eeBe also aware that some new SDB’s are coming from dysfunctional
b a c k g ro u n d s : h o w d o e s t h i s e ff e c t t h e C o n g re g a t i o n ’s
understanding of “family”?
eeShare good practice with parents, inform them what their children
are receiving from us and enable them to enter in dialogue with us,
instilling trust and an openness to journey.
eeRelationships should come before sacramentality. For the SDB
Family, working with families should go beyond social work.
eeHow to create a balance between human and religious formation?
We need to be more sensible.
eeSense of ownership expressed by our young refer to the beauty of a
faith school, a faith based journey. Often we fail to appreciate that
diversity does not mean confusion.
eeMuslim families present an urgent need to establish good
relationships and build bridges whereby communication and
dialogue are respected.
eeWe need to get involved in marriage preparation and support
people who want to love according to the Gospel values. We need
to look out for partners.
eeWork between SDB’s and FMA’s: very often it is a counter witness
of a family spirit which we are putting forward.
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MEDITERRANEA 1
ITALIA & PORTOGALLO
Emerge con chiarezza una fatica a mettersi realmente in ascolto e poi in
cammino rispetto alle indicazioni magisteriali (attuazione di CGS, CG 21 e CG
24). Non è detto che il pensiero riguardo alle CEP alla corresponsabilità laicale
e al coinvolgimento della famiglia sia stato recepito.
La sfida è quella di dare continuità ai processi avviati
La centralità della CEP come luogo di incontro tra l’attenzione ai giovani e le
famiglie. Noi ribadiamo la necessità di mantenere al centro il ragazzo sia nella
riflessione che nella messa in pratica del progetto educativo pastorale.
La sfida è quella di pensare e di attuare il legame tra la pastorale giovanile e le
famiglie in modo approfondito e coerente con i fondamenti del nostro carisma.
Il rapporto con le famiglie a volte è strumentale: ci “serviamo di loro” quando
le pensiamo. Di solito ci riferiamo solamente ai genitori: formare una famiglia
si identifica con cure la loro genitorialità
Urge
eeuna reciproca conversione: che loro ci percepiscano come alleati
educativi, e che noi li percepiamo come principali soggetti educativi;
eerilegittimare i genitori nel loro compito educativo
MEDITERRANEA 2 _ ITALIA & MEDIO
ORIENTE
Domanda: quali sono le sfide che emergono dal cammino fatto finora nella
Congregazione?
Risposte:
1. Sfida di nomi e parole. Chiarire la terminologia che utilizziamo: pastorale
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
famiglie o animazione delle famiglie? Per non perdere il focus sui giovani,
non “diocesanizzare” la nostra organizzazione pastorale e di uffici
ispettoriali, e non dare adito a parallelismi o pastorali non collegate.
Provare a far sì che la Congregazione abbia un modo unico di parlare
2. Sfida teologica: approfondire cosa intendiamo come famiglia e animazione
delle famiglie e stile famigliare o ambiente di famiglia, perché la cultura
contemporanea non ci aiuta a definire chiaramente la questione
3. Sfida della formazione, sia dei Salesiani sia delle famiglie: come
formarci per rendere meglio conto della ragione che è in noi e delle
nostre convinzioni viste le spinte avverse della cultura contemporanea
4. Sfida di come rendere protagoniste le famiglie: in modo graduale
e con la possibilità di coinvolgere non solo le famiglie perfette, ma
anche quelle in difficoltà.
5. Sfida della rete. Non dobbiamo fare tutto noi Salesiani, nella
formazione e nelle alleanze, ci si può anche aprire all’esterno (diocesi
o altro) per fare delle bune alleanza.
6. Sfida di tenere insieme famiglie e MGS: per fare dei veri percorsi di
formazione per i giovani verso la famiglia e per non perdere di vista
il focus giovanile della nostra pastorale.
7. La famiglia come luogo, soggetto, oggetto, percorso per unificare
più parti dell’opera salesiana in un unico progetto pastorale, senza la
separazione: famiglie del parroco e giovani dell’oratorio.
8. Passare dalla famiglia per coinvolgere la famiglia, innescando percorsi
e occasioni di accoglienza e di relazione.
9. L’animazione delle famiglie come cambio di mentalità: non solo
Salesiani e laici, ma Salesiani e famiglie; non solo formazioni dei
giovani, ma formazione della famiglia e con la famiglia
10.Sfida del coinvolgimento delle famiglie con difficoltà e ferite
P.S. Don Najib segnala la situazione limite e diversa per noi del Sudan, dove la
famiglia non existe, e di Aleppo, dove l’oratorio Salesiano è rimasto come unico
centro in cui si è continuato ad offrire un luogo di incontro durante la guerra.
MEDITERRANEA 3 _ SPAGNA &
PORTOGALLO
Desafíos desde el camino realizado por la congregación.
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eeTenemos la necesidad de partir de la realidad actual de la familia para
después iluminarla con los criterios del evangelio, tal como hizo el
Concilio Vat II (GS).
eeEstamos en un momento crucial para superar la desconexión secular
de la PJ con la Familia. Los acentos teóricos están claros desde el
CG21; en la práctica falta aplicarlos. La Pastoral con las familias no es
novedad, la congregación ha reflexionado sobre ello, ¿por qué esta
desconexión con el pensamiento de la congregación?
eeEl momento actual es de redescubrimiento de la familia como sujeto
pastoral. En parte nuestro camino se parece al de Emaús: ahora se
nos empiezan a abrir los ojos y a entenderlo todo de manera clara. La
familia pide tener su lugar como protagonista de nuestra PJ.
eeNecesitamos impostar un nuevo modo de hacer pastoral desde las
claves de la “acogida” “acompañamiento”, “discernimiento”, “in-
tegración”: cómo favorecer este trabajo en nuestras estructuras (go-
bierno) ; quién lo debe hacer (formación).
eeEl trabajo con las familias debe integrarse por medio de procesos, no
de acciones aisladas. El PEPS y la CEP son el lugar para hacerlo. En
este sentido conviene tener presentes tres claves propias del trabajo
pastoral : “la Paciencia con los tiempos”, la “Pasión por lo que se
hace” y la “Creatividad” para recrear esta nueva cultura.
eeAdemás de educar y evangelizar con las familias, debemos educar
para vivir en familia.
eeEste camino pastoral con la familia solo se puede hacer en el contexto
de una comunidad que se siente comunidad de fe : importancia de
la experiencia creyente de los adultos de la CEP.
MEDITERRANEA 4 _ SPAGNA &
PORTOGALLO
¿Cuáles son los DESAFÍOS que emergen del camino realizado hasta ahora en
la Congregación?
La Congregación ha aportado mucho en la reflexión sobre la Pastoral Juvenil.
En ese discurso, siempre ha estado presente la familia de un modo implícito.
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Falta, quizás una aplicación concreta de todo el pensamiento pastoral. Hemos
de creernos y asimilar, toda la reflexión que está escrita.
Quizás se ha entendido mal la concepción de que nuestra pastoral esta centrada
exclusivamente en los jóvenes. Hoy explicitamos mejor: La familia y los educa-
dores no encontramos para prestar un mejor servicio a los jóvenes.
Constatamos que Las familias están muy desorientadas, pero son receptivas,
a las propuestas de participación y de trabajo conjunto con los educadores y
salesianos.
Es necesario enfocar desde la perspectiva familiar todos los proyectos pastorales,
elaborando procesos e itinerarios bien diseñados en los diferentes ambientes
pastorales.
Concretamos los siguientes desafíos:
eeIncorporar de modo explicito en toda la reflexión pastoral a las fa-
milias y a los jóvenes, que aporta criterios de realismo. Han de estar
presentes en la reflexión, en el diseño de los proyectos, en la realiza-
ción y en la revisión.
eeCrecer en la reflexión y formación conjunta, salesianos, familias, jóve-
nes, familia salesiana. Todos nos encontramos en la misión.
eeAfrontar los itinerarios y procesos desde la perspectiva vocacional,
respetando los ritmos de vida de las familias. Estar atentos a no abu-
sar de los seglares, implicándolos excesivamente en nuestros ritmos
pastorales.
eeAcogida incondicional desde la misericordia. Acoger la realidad. Hacer
sentir al otro que es amado y aceptado en su situación.
eeCuidar nuestros ambientes sanos, de fiesta y de familiaridad, don-
de se puedan dar las necesarias condiciones en las que las familias
puedan sentirse a gusto y se les puedan hacer diferentes propuestas.
eeProponer, sin miedo, nuestro modelo antropológico cristiano. No de-
jarnos comer terreno por la ideología de género. Proponer el modelo
de familia cristiana. No renunciar a proponer el modelo de persona
y de familia creyente.
eeEducar a nuestros jóvenes en el sentido cristiano de la vida, de las
relaciones, de la sexualidad. Educar en la apertura a la vida.
eeEl futuro para la pastoral juvenil pasa por la familia Salesiana. Es nece-
sario articular bien la reflexión de Pastoral Juvenil y familia salesiana.
Cuanto más familia salesiana seamos, mejor pastoral juvenil haremos.
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29th November 2017
AMORIS LAETITIA:
SOME
CHALLENGES AND
PROPOSALS FOR
YOUTH MINISTRY
IN FAMILY SPIRIT
CARMEN PEÑA GARCÍA
Faculty of Cannon Law, P.U. Comillas

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
One of the relevant events in our recent time, at an ecclesial level, has been
Pope Francis’ convocation of the Synod of the Family, celebrated in two-session
meetings: the Extraordinary Assembly, October 5 -19, 2014 and the Ordinary As-
sembly, October 4-21, 201572.This Bishops’ convocation opened, what someone
called the “Trienio de la Familia”73, (Family Trienium) which was “concluded”
with the publication of Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Leatitia, on
March 19, 2016. After having listened to the Synod Fathers, the Pope set out the
most adequate magisterial principles and pastoral guidelines to respond to the
challenges and needs the family is facing in the current context.
Throughout the last years, a fruitful intra-ecclesial reflection has developed not
only to raise awareness of the situation of the family institution in the world
and different geographical places, but especially to provide a revision of the
Church’s pastoral activity in this sector. The Synod’s work does not have as
its priority that of judging analytically and in some way externally the situation
or status of the family, but rather to assess and revise on how and in what
ways the Church, through all her agents can better carry out her evangelizing
activity - with the families as central pastoral subjects. In searching for ways by
which the Church can help people grow in love, contribute in building solid
and happy marriages and families, and accompany people in their concrete
family situations.
This is why the Church’s work for the good of the families cannot be consid-
ered concluded with the pubblication of Amoris Laetitia. On the contrary, it is
now, after this intense period of reflection throughout the universal Church,
that, starting from the various ecclesial realities and always maintaining their
charism, renewed pastoral care initiatives must be concretized and put in place
to integrate and take into account also the family dimension. This was clearly
expressed at the 27th General Chapter of the Salesian Congregation in 2014,
by proposing a work, analysis and reflection itinerary, from the concrete geo-
72 Among the documents used during this synodal process- all available on the
Vatican web- the ones of interest Instrumentum laboris of the Extraordinary
Assembly, June 26, 2014, on The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context
of Evangelization; Relatio post disceptationem, October 13, 2014 (11th General
Congregation); Relatio Synodi, October 18, 2014; Instrumentum laboris on The Vocation
and Mission of the Family in the Church and the Contemporary World, June 23, 2015,
as a result of the integration of the Lineamenta of replies to the questionnaire
added to the Relatio Synodi, 2014; and lastly the Relatio Finalis of the Bishops Synod,
October 24, 2015. There is a deep connection and progression in the work of both
synodal assemblies, even if the comparison among the successive documents
show how some relevant themes where left aside in the second part of the works.
73 F. Vidal, El valor de la familia en la sociedad de los cuidados, Inaugural lesson of the
2016-2017 course at the Pontifical University Comillas.
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graphical presence, on the topic of Youth Ministry and Family. This long journey
that ends in the present Congress, begins and manifests the importance of
integrating the family dimension in working with young people, specific of the
Salesian charsim.
Indeed, the family is a relevant dimension, a challenge in the field of youth
ministry from a two-fold perspective: on the one hand, because in working with
young people one cannot neglect the context and environment where they live.
The family is a fundamental integrating part of this vital context. On the other,
where it takes on more of the “challenge” aspect, because the families of the
next decades will be made up by today’s young people and children, whose
human, affective and spiritual formation will significantly influence the solidity
of their future. How, in what ways and to what extent can the Salesian family
contribute, with its work for and with the young, in building stable and happy
families, in giving life to many young people to the evangelical call to love and
a life of fullness? These are some of the core questions of this Congress, with
all the group work of these days, to which I would like to contribute, despite
being fully aware of my limitations, with the following reflections highlighting
some notable elements of Amoris Laetitia.
CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT ON
1 MATRIMONIAL AND FAMILY
REALITY IN TODAY’S WORLD
Important challenges in providing pastoral support have been posed by the
rapid changes to the concept of the family identified in the modern world in
the last decades, as well as the different traditions and noticeable differences
in conjugal and family relationships in cultural and geographical environments.
The tension emerged quite clearly during the Extraordinary Synod of 2014,
acknowledging the multifaceted reality of the family in different regions of the
world. It has also been highlighted —related to Salesian Youth ministry— in
this Congress preparatory activity, as illustrated in Table I. Map of the social and
ecclesial reality of the family in the regions and continents (September 2015-
February 2016).
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
One must not forget, however, that this multifaceted reality is portraying pre-
cisely the universality of the Church, that is present and acts in contexts and
cultures which are profoundly different, with different issues, emergencies, and
paces. It, therefore, is a sign of her richness and plurality as well as a challenge
in trying to combine the Gospel’s universality respecting local cultures and lan-
guages. In this sense, Pope Francis at the beginning of the apostolic exhortation
sets as a criterium the need to inculturate the Church’s responses, following
the Conference of Bishops and local Bishops, because the general principles
must be applied in very diverse contexts and traditions (AL 3).
Within this vast variety of anthropological and cultural traits and sociological
situations that differently affect the families, it is interesting to note the synodal
concern that any pastoral initiative should be based on a proper diagnosis of the
situation. Based on “a very grounded” reality description, family issues and chal-
lenges will significantly vary according to different cultures and geographical are-
as. In this respect, one can say that the overview of reality can provide a twofold
key: on the one hand, the one we could call prophetical, denouncing those social
and cultural dehumanizing elements and a call to a more significant commitment
to justice. But also, a hopeful and constructive viewpoint, that from the divine
pedagogy and a merciful and loving vision of God, that values the positive as-
pects in those less perfect realities and accompanies people in their vital concrete
situations encouraging them towards a broader human and Christian fullness.
In the first prophetical dimension, the Synod focused on the socio-economic
injustice, abuses and exploitation of people (situations of poverty, war, forced
migration, sexual exploitation of women and children, machismo violence,
unjust labour laws, persisting polygamy or fixed marriages in some cultures,
etc.), which profoundly wounded families and society. It also denounced those
cultural traits —hedonistic and individualistic— dangerous for family stability
(uncommomitted sexual relationships, abandoning the elderly, maternity refusal,
addiction to pornography, fear of compromise, etc.). In the second chapter of
the exhortation also the Pope denounces these situations, of extreme individ-
ualism and culture of the provisional or as he often repeats in his speeches the
“culture of the throwaway”.
One can also see a deep concern for the promotion of woman dignity, that in
some culturally adverse contexts still needs to be defended. Distancing himself
both from a patriarchal and machismo attitude as well as some forms of inade-
quate feminism, the Pope clearly stands in favour of the promotion of women
in society, who he calls the “work of the Holy Spirit”. Calling for the removal of
unjust discrimination and all sorts of violence, defending the effective promotion
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of women in society, equal job opportunities and access to managerial posi-
tions, areas where, as Pope Francis highlights there “is still a lot to be done”.
Meaningfully in line with some opinions that were discussed in the synodal hall,
the pope expressedly says that blaming today’s family problems to feminine
emancipation is itself a form of male chauvinism (AL 54). Directly related to
the matrimonial and family field —that is (should be) a reflection of this equal
dignity of men and women, expressed in conjugal equality or reciprocity— the
Pope repeatedly warns against any form of submission, verbal, physical and
sexual violence to women by men, and criticizes certain male chauvinistic in-
terpretations of the Pauline texts (AL 156) and reminds that intra-matrimonial
violence “contradicts the very nature of conjugal union” (AL 54).
This must also include a reformulation and appreciation of the role man and
woman have in family life. Alongside the woman’s fundamental role in the
family, the involvement of man in family life and education of the children and
the evangelical call to conjugal reciprocity, mutual self-bestowal, in a respectful
and reciprocal love (AL28). Establishing new relationships with the couple on
an equal basis, stronger emotional ties and involvement of men in children’s
education poses a challenge but is also one of the strengths of today’s family.
These critical assessments on specific family realities in the different socio-cultur-
al contexts are not, as previously mentioned, mere external judgments, related
to distant realities, but according to me, they bear a direct call to our formation
and educational work with young people and our action. How can we convey in
the work we carry out the importance of refusing machismo and any violence?
How can we form young people to the value of commitment and long-term
self-giving? How can we prevent the throwaway culture from permeating our
daily choices?
However, the Church’s closeness to the family’s multifaceted reality in different
contexts cannot be limited to a denunciation, nor a cold and analytical uncom-
mitted glance, but will always be a hopeful and constructive approach.
Based on the certainty that the Christian proposal responds to the desires and
the profound good of the person, it will also be a merciful glance, the glance
of the Mother Church who loves and welcomes all of her children, especially
the weakest and most fragile ones. The Church tries to discover and value all
the positive aspects that can occur in situations that are objectively not the ide-
al ones. The beauty and truth of the ecclesial doctrine on the matrimony and
family are not at odds with the mercy towards fragile and wounded families.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Mercy is not in contrast with justice or evangelical truth or intends to reduce it,
but the core itself of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.74
In this sense, the Pope in his apostolic exhortation does not shy away from ad-
dressing situations of complex marriages or families, such as the faithful joined
in civil marriages or cohabitation or broken marriages75. In chapter 8 of Amoris
Laetitia he calls for accompaniment and welcoming people in these situations,
carrying out a careful discernment of the situation of each believer, always in
the logic of ecclesial community integration and mercy, “to avoid judgments
which do not take into account the complexity of various situations” and “to
God’s unconditional, gratuitous and unmerited mercy” for all (AL 296-297).
The meaningful positive and constructive tenor with which the document ad-
dresses possible complex situations that might emerge, without justifying them
or pretend to convert them into elements of the Christian ideal, but repeat-
edly encouraging to discover and value positive aspects and transform them
into opportunities in the conversion journey towards a marriage and family of
fullness. From the divine pedagogy in the history of Salvation, that allows to
affirm a bond between the order of nature and the order of grace and gradual
development, in following stages, of the creation of all in and for Christ, the
apostolic exhortation encourages to discover the seeds of the Word latent in all
the reality of human marriage, without neglecting the profound transformation
produced in them by divine grace (AL 76-79).
In this sense, there is a notable synodal stress in pointing, as a way for a re-
newed family pastoral activity, the need to look with love, accompany and
welcome with patience and tenderness people who live less perfect marital
situations. They are encouraged to make a proper discernment trying to dis-
cover and value as seeds of the Word, those positive elements that can be
found in civil marriages or cohabitation (stability, legally recognized unions,
deep affection, responsibility for their offspring, mutual forgiveness and search
for the good of the other, etc.). That carry out, in a similar and partial way, the
ideal marriage, to accompany them on a path to fully reach the matrimonial
74 Francis, Misericordiae Vultus. Bull of the Jubilee of Mercy, April 11, 2015. 25.
75 Chapter 6, also includes in these complex situations mixed marriages, that
present great potentials for ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue, but also
specific difficulties, since they must be respectful of the religious freedom of each
spouse and care for religious education of the offspring (AL 247-249, RS 72-74);
single-parent families (AL 252) or homosexual persons (AL250-251).
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sacrament, identifying those elements that favour evangelization and human
and spiritual growth (AL 292-294) 76.
In the same way, another increasing cultural element is the fragility of mat-
rimonial unions, due to the quite relevant and practically universal increase
in number of divorces or conjugal breakdowns, that not only influence the
personal situation of the spouses but also the entire family life: children of di-
vorced parents, who live alternatively with one parent or the other, or in newly
created families etc. The Synod, as well as the apostolic exhortation, have firmly
focused on the pastoral care of separated and divorced people, even if we have
to stress that the Church’s preoccupation for divorced people is by no means a
resignation to the very high and increasing numbers of conjugal breakdowns, as
something necessary and unavoidable. The primary concern of any pastoral
care activity in favour of the family is to contribute to help prevent con-
jugal breakdowns, assisting in building sound and happy marriages and
families: ultimately foster the growth of love. In the words of the pope,
“today, more important than the pastoral care of failures is the pastoral effort
to strengthen marriages and thus prevent their breakdown” (AL 307). In this
regard, the apostolic exhortation insists on the importance of integral support to
marriages and families, that will apply different strategies and distinct moments,
many of which directly imply youth ministry.
76 In AL 295, Francis, quoting John Paul II, rememebered that he proposed the so-
called “law of gradualness” in the knowledge that the human being “knows, loves
and accomplishes moral good by different stages of growth”. This is not a “gradualness of
law”, but rather a gradualness in the prudential exercise of free acts on the part
of the subjects who are not in a position to understand, appreciate or fully carry
out the objectve demands of the law”.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
A VOCATIONAL AND
“POSITIVE” PRESENTATION OF
THE CHRISTIAN PROPOSAL:
2 the marriage vocation and the family
as a vocation to love
The Pope, in chapter 2 of the apostolic exhortation, calls us to rethink our
way of proposing marriage and family vocation, encouraging us to do so in a
vocational context open to the grace without having a defensive attitude (AL
35-38). In pastoral care, priority must not so much be centred in defending or
comparing abstract family models, but on caring for a concrete person, in his/
her specific situation and in presenting the evangelical proposal in an enlight-
ening way, convinced that it responds to the human being’s desires and is for
his/her good.
An essential input from the Synod, also mentioned by the Pope is the impor-
tance of showing the beauty of marriage and family vocation. In facing
the individualistic temptations of today’s society, a fundamental pastoral chal-
lenge is to render visible the beauty of the matrimonial and family vocation, that
responds to the human being’s deepest desires. More than elaborate doctrinal
speeches, this calls for the testimony and missionary commitments of Christian
families themselves, who with their own life, manifest simply and credibly this
beauty, because as a Synod Father graphically explained, “Love cannot be ex-
plained, it shows.”
In this sense, the Catholic theology presents a very solid anthropological foun-
dation on marriage, highlighting the value of the natural reality of marriage,
wanted by God from the very beginning. In a vision that firmly joins the natural
and super-national plan, through incarnation, it is the natural and rich human
reality itself of marriage, with its specific structure, to be elevated as a sacra-
ment among the baptized (being source of sacramental grace for the spouses
and inserted in the same constitutional structure of the Church, leading to the
domestic church). This elevation to the order of grace does not substantially
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modify its essence, thus conferring to the matrimonial sacrament a notable
specific feature compared to that of the other sacraments77.
Notwithstanding, it will be important to use a renewed language, allowing
to develop a way to announce a meaningful evangelical message of family and
matrimonial love for the people, and especially for the young people of today.
The synodal documents consistently expressed how this would need creativity
and a grounded and brave presentation of the Gospel’s message. Therefore,
avoid presenting the indissolubility of marriage as a “yoke imposed on human-
ity” or as life sentence but highlighting it as a gift granted by God irrevocably
faithful to the spouses, to support and enable the profound human desire of a
love that endures forever (RS 40,48); also, the importance of a language capable
of conveying the beauty of conjugal love and sexuality. (RS 56) etc.
On a theological ground, a significant input is provided by referring to the
Trinity and Trinitarian love as a basic element for the theology of the
family. From Jesus’ perspective, the matrimonial and family vocation is a voca-
tion of love and tenderness. (AL 59). The focus is on the core element of love
in family and martial life, in the image of God the Trinity, the family as an icon
of God’s love, of God the Trinity endless source of mutual love.
If man and woman, themselves and in the reciprocal relationship are God’s im-
age, the family, communion of love, is the excellent image of the Trinity. In this
theological evaluation of the family —and not only of marriage— one can claim
that despite its weaknesses and difficulties, the entire family in itself —always
called to a higher fullness— as an image of God is a privileged place of love and
mutual care with a sacred and inviolable feature. From a theologian perspective,
this Trinitarian family foundation correctly completes the concept of family as
domestic church and puts into perspective love’s central role in the family reality.
77 SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Const. ap. Gaudium et spes, n.48: “The intimate
partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and
qualified by His laws, and is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable
personal consent. Hence by that human act whereby spouses mutually bestow
and accept each other a relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes
of society too is a lasting one. For the good spouses and their off-springs as well
as society, the existence of the sacred bond no longer depends on human decision
alone. For, God Himself is the author of matrimony, endowed as it is the various
benefits, endowed as it is with various benefits ad purposes. All of these have a
very decisive bearing on the continuation of the human race, on the personal
development and eternal destiny of the individual members of a family, and
on the dignity, stability, peace and prosperity of the family itself and of human
society as a whole”.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
In the same line, Amoris Laetitia strongly stresses the importance of conjugal
love, but also other manifestations of family love, the role of extended families,
grandparents, uncles, brothers…The special beauty of numbers 27-29 of the
apostolic exhortation, dedicated to “the tenderness of an embrace”, where
the Pope alludes to the tenderness and conscientious intimacy produced by
the embrace between a mother and her weaned son (gamul), or the father for
his sons, to exemplify this radical vocation to love and tenderness that goes
beyond the spousal one.
In the same way, there has been a sort of shift produced by the Synod on the
marriage focus, gradually going from a sometimes- exaggerated concept of
almost unlimited right (ius connubii) to the promotion of a more vocational
approach to the matrimonial and family option. Thus the Pope encourages
to rediscover its sacramental value and insert it in a life of faith and ecclesial
experience: “Marriage is a vocation, in as much as it is a response to a specific
call to experience conjugal love as an imperfect sign of the love between Christ
and the Church. Consequently, the decision to marry and to have a family ought
to be the fruit of a process of vocational discernment (AL72).
In fact, already in the Synod, many proposed, in different ways, a greater in-
volvement in the course of Christian Initiation and preparing couples for mar-
riage, (RS,39), a sort of “catechumenate option of life” starting from confir-
mation, a catechetic process put into practice as guiding lines of the youth
ministry78. It has to do with proposals that need to be deepened, and in this
case, structured, but that are however heading towards a stimulating path.
Proposals that Pope Francis successively repeated, in claiming the need to “de-
sign ever more effective itineraries for preparation courses to the Sacrament
of Marriage, enabling the couple to grow as human beings and in their faith.”
Calling for the creation of a “new catechumenate in marriage preparation that
should become an integral part of the whole process of the Sacrament of Mar-
riage as an antidote that would stop the multiplication of marriages that are
null or inconsistent”79. In short, a clear perceived need for a deep and creative
renewed formation of the marriage sacrament and its preparation, with
an active involvement of the married couples and the entire Church community.
Within this vocational perspective of the matrimonial and family option, the
78 Francis, Misericordiae Vultus. Bull of the Jubilee of Mercy, April 11, 2015. 25.
79 Current marriage preparation courses appear to be insufficient: as a Synod Father
pointed out during the Synod, it is noteworthy how all-important choices in our
life are prepared carefully with the exception of marriage.
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Christian marriage seems to be a true call from God for a careful discernment,
thus the need to insert this decision in a life of faith and ecclesial experience,
and in an adequate formation and vocational path- both personal and as a cou-
ple, to allow a mature human and religious decision 80. This will demand
creativity in developing formation paths for a better ecclesial preparation to the
marriage option and the creation of synergies with other pastoral fields, where
the Youth Ministry perfectly fits.
Matrimonial vocation, like all the other ones, is a wonderful and enriching vo-
cation, but also a serious and demanding one, which includes the complexity
of involving two people, with their different experiences of faith, and vital mo-
ments, different paces, emotional conditions, etc. In the apostolic exhortation
(Al 205-211), the Pope stresses on the need to accompany and guide the young
in their engagement process, so that they can discern well the decision to marry;
even if for “every person marriage preparation begins at birth”. It is here that
the role of the family is irreplaceable. It is also important to shape a pedagogy
of love, since “learning to love someone does not happen automatically, nor
can it be taught in a workshop just prior to the celebration of marriage (AL208).
Conversely any preparation or accompaniment should ensure that the young
couple do not view the wedding ceremony as the end of the road, but instead
embark upon marriage as a life-long calling based on a firm and realistic deci-
sion to overcome problems and difficulties” (AL 211).
In this vocational approach, it is however convenient to eliminate some confu-
sion on the sacred bond of marriage and subject of vocational discernment in
deciding to commit one’s entire life to this option. In line with renewed ecclesial
understanding, expressed in Vatican Council II (Gaudium et Spes) and taken up
in the Code of Canon Law, matrimony —that between baptized is sacramen-
tal— is the institution of love, defined by the Council as “intimate conjugal
community of life and love.” Marriage, in its sacred and natural form, does not
primarily depend on the liturgical celebration (even if the latter is necessary, in
the normal circumstances of Catholics), but that the bride and groom present
a valid matrimonial consent, and it is precisely the mutual will to be joined in
marriage that establishes it.
Matrimonial consent, the decision to marry, is an essential act of the will, by
which a man and a woman mutually give and accept one another other through
80 This vocational perspective, of discernment and choice is present in the
preparatory document of the XV Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of
Bishops, scheduled for 2018, titled “Young People, The Faith and Vocational
Discernment”.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
an irrevocable covenant to establish marriage (c. 1057): what the couple mutu-
ally gives and receives is not a series of rights and duties distant from their new
matrimonial status, but, correctly, they give and receive one another, totally, to
establish together the matrimonial essence, the irrevocable consent, transform-
ing, therefore the relationship in the essential object of consent. What the cou-
ple should want in giving their consent, is not a marriage as a juridical contract,
nor a matrimony as an irrevocable covenant or sacrament: they should want
the other person in conjugality. The consent is not the object- nor is directly
aimed at the matrimonial institution, but to the other as the spouse, to give
and receive the other as spouse to establish the life-long covenant of marriage.
This is already centred on the importance of adequately knowing one another-
the other as well as oneself and one’s own capacities- when deciding to marry.
This consent requires the couple’s specific psychological ability, an ability that
does not end in understanding and wanting marriage or being aware of what is
being said, but due to its importance, it calls for adequate pondering and appre-
ciation of the step that is being taken. Sufficient freedom to marital self-giving
without external pressure nor internal conditionings, just like the ability to be
spouses, the ability to take on and fulfil conjugal obligations, to establish the
covenant of conjugal life. In facing the broad idea that matrimony is for every-
body (or for which there is no need for a more elevated vocational option) one
must stress —without going to the extreme of making marriage accessible only
to a few chosen ones or people especially mature or with incredible self-sacrific-
ing abilities— that marriage demands the couple to have the necessary personal
abilities and attitudes to build and allow the intimate community of conjugal life
and love that makes up marriage. If matrimony is a life-long covenant for the
good of the spouses, this will at least demand a certain ability to interpersonal
relationships, self-giving and giving oneself to one another in a deep way.
Additionally, considering the dense content that the Church ascribes to matri-
mony (with its indissolubility, fidelity, openness to offspring, order to the good
of the spouses…notes that, according to the context, could become really coun-
tercultural), not all people who externally declare “they want to get married”
in the Church, really have the intention of accepting a matrimony proposed by
the Church, constituting grounds for consent annulment. In fact, due to the
centrality of love in the matrimony and the origin that leads to take the decision,
one must not forget the features and consequences of true love: as reminded
by the Pope: “it is important that marriage be seen as a matter of love, that
only those who freely choose and love one another may marry” (AL 217). This
love is not merely physical attraction or a vague affection, and it is important
to develop and deepen the conscious and free decision to belong and love one
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another forever. True love is aimed at definitive self-giving, forever, fruitful and
also open towards others and not enclosed in itself. Pope Francis highlights in
chapters 4 and 5 of the apostolic exhortation, core chapters dedicated to con-
jugal love in all its forms and dimensions and to family life in its fullest meaning.
In contemplating the fruitfulness as well as the openness of this love the Pope
repeatedly calls the extended family81.
However, often, people formally contract canonical matrimony —for traditions,
families matters, etc.— refusing, to have children or the indissolubility of their
marriage or to commit to conjugal fidelity. They are consenting to a different
reality from the main essence of matrimony. In other even more clear cases,
what is being produced is an exploitation of the matrimonial institution, that is
chosen only as a formal juridical contract, perhaps with other aims or benefits,
but without accepting its intimate reality of community life and love for the
good of the spouses, that invalidates the bases of the consent given.
How can we avoid this? How can we accompany and form our young people so
that they can fulfil God’s invitation to love, this total and definite, unconditional
mutual self-bestowal, and bring to life to real matrimony and family?
To do this, it will be fundamental on one hand to offer an integral formation
—human, emotional, affective and spiritual—, not only for those engaged,
but to all the young people, in line with the known scheme of Familiaris Con-
sortio, remote, proximate and immediate preparation. Related to the remote
preparation, it is necessary to highlight the importance of an affective and
emotional development in the formation of the young and the cou-
ples, to avoid fostering egoistic individualism or an experience that is poorly
integrated and dehumanized from affections and sexuality. The deep call of all
people to love, self-giving, to love and be loved, is experienced, learned and
lived preferably in one’s own family, main pedagogical space. There is also a
vast educational and formation work to be done on affectivity and values to
help youngsters grow as people related to others; the role of those involved in
Youth Ministry —feature of the Salesian charism— in this integral formation
81 They are largely original chapters with regards to the Final Synod Report,
that well reflect this Pope’s personality, his concerns and even his spirituality:
especially noteworthy are number 90-119 AL, a commentary to 1Cor.13. In
them Francis, in line with the catechesis to the new marriages during 2015, he
encourages the couple, with great realism, to care for mutual love, and grow in
it, to share “quality time” suggesting ways to overcome crisis, etc. One can say
that in some parts of the apostolic exhortation the Pope appears, rather than a
Teacher as a grandfather who gives wise, simple and realistic advice to his sons
and grandsons.
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of children and young people will be very important for their growth as people
and for a future creation of emtionally healthy family relationships.
In the same way, in accessing the canonical matrimony, it will be important
to accompany the discernment process on the ability and intention of the
spouses, without rigidity or exaggerated requests, but helping the couple to
acknowledge the importance of the step they are going to take and seriousness
of the commitments taken. This calls for a thorough revision of pastoral care in
marriage preparation, because during the discernment, in acknowledging the
obligations, duties and commitments taken on in getting married, a couple of
chats or meetings or a weekend are not sufficient. Even less so when the date
of the matrimony is set and everything is ready for the wedding celebration,
because when you reach this point it will be very difficult for the fiancés – even
worse for one of them, to be free to take a step back despite serious and strong
doubts might have emerged. In this sense, it would be better to anticipate this
preparation allowing the couple to ponder more freely their decision to marry
and the implication it entails.
In this sense, it will be important to creatively develop new formation
paths, fostering a more continued and personalized accompaniment of the
couple, mindful of the personal situation rather than carrying out the more
standardized red taped requirements. In a nutshell, it is not a matter of abu-
sively or arbitrarily limiting marital rights (ius connubii), but to be aware that
exercising this right demands previous requirements of ability and will (aptitude
and attitude), if we don’t want its celebration to turn into something without
any content82.
Lastly, even if it might seem something distant from the specific Youth Minis-
try- especially in those socio-geographical contexts where the matrimonial age
is being postponed- the apostolic exhortation encourages also the care for
the liturgical celebration (AL 212-216), exhorting the couple’s active and
fruitful participation during the ceremony and appreciating the meaning of the
signs, focus on the Word of God, the richness of the spouses blessing etc. it
82 In this context, already Benedict XVI had mentioned in his speech in 2011,
that the right to marry is not the “right to a nuptial ceremony” but the right to
celebrate an authentic marriage. The ius connubii would not, therefore be denied
where it was evident that the fundamental requirements for its exercise were
lacking, namely, if the required capacity for marriage were patently lacking or the
person intended to choose something which was incompatible with the natural
reality of marriage”.
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is, therefore, essential to care for the celebration and feast dimension of this
vocational option for love.
Likewise, there is a stress on the importance of the accompaniment of young
marriages, encouraging the spouses in discovering and developing their voca-
tion and love. “The challenge of marriage pastoral care is to help discover that
the matrimony is not something that happens once and for all. The union is real
and irrevocable, confirmed and consecrated by the sacrament of matrimony.
In getting married the spouses are the protagonists, the owners of the story…
neither can expect the other to be perfect…but must accept the other as she
or he is: “an unfinished product, needing to grow, a work in progress.” One
must care and allow love to mature, accepting the other and not replacing the
loving glance with criticism (AL 218). In the task of assuming matrimony as a
maturity journey, where each spouse will be a source of grace and growth for
the other (AL221), an important role will be played by the Christian community
by accompaniment, “family of families”, journeying with the couple, in sharing
their discovery of the matrimonial vocation’s beauty, helping them to overcome
a possible “self-absorption” dangerous for the couple and family and support-
ing them in troublesome moments.
Here we have a vast educative-pastoral area where we can carry out this ac-
companiment to prevent conjugal breakdowns and protect the stability of
the marriage and families, fostering paths of reconciliation, mediation and con-
flict resolution in the couple and family before the breakdown is irreversible;
fostering action of reconciliation, focused on discovering the healing value of
forgiveness, forgiving and being forgiven, etc.
3 FACING CONJUGAL
BREAKDOWN
Notwithstanding all the efforts made, there will be cases when conjugal separa-
tions become inevitable or even appear as morally necessary- acknowledges the
Pope- for the good of the children and of one’s dignity (AL 241). The accompa-
niment of the couple and children in these moments of crisis and during
their future relations entails a crucial important pastoral challenge for all those
involved in working with young people and families. The patient and loving ac-
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companiment – that Pope Francis calls “the art of accompaniment” which teach-
es us to remove our sandals before the sacred ground of the others’ intimacy83
- will call for a “wisely differentiated attitude” according to the situations and
circumstances: sometimes, accompaniment calls for silence; others for respectful,
active and healing listening; directions, advice, support encouragement…
From an ecclesial perspective, it is fundamental to remember the inappropri-
ateness of identifying conjugal breakup, divorce as an irregular situa-
tion. The exhortation (AL 242) refers back to the synodal warnings —already
mention in Familiaris Consortio by John Paul (FC 83)— on the need to avoid
discriminating in any way divorced people who have not remarried, acknowl-
edging that they are frequently “excellent witnesses of conjugal fidelity” and
prevent these people from participating and receiving the sacraments, including
the Eucharist, to actively participate in the catechesis and the Church’s life and
take on ecclesial responsibilities… It would be a serious injustice to unfairly
burden the conscience of these people merely because they are divorced.
The exhortation also stresses the need of the divorced who have entered a new
union (AL 243) to be welcomed and accompanied. They are not excommuni-
cated and remain part of the ecclesial community. Chapter 8 of the exhortation
calls for a careful discernment of the different situations, accompanying
the person to an awareness of his condition before God since responsibilities of
some actions or decisions are not the same in all cases.The Pope stresses that
the negative judgement about an objective situation does not imply a
decision of imputability or culpability of the person involved, since the
moral responsibility can be mitigated or diminished by psychological, social
and other factors, that can condition or even determine some decisions, which
should be carefully assessed (AL302).
Going back to the principles already present in Saint Thomas, the Pope men-
tions accountability of action, with the possible form of conditioning and mit-
igating factors that prevent the person from acting differently or diminish his
responsibility (AL 301-302). The Pope urges to better incorporate the person’s
conscience in judging certain situations that do not objectively embody our
understanding of marriage. He stresses the importance of a well-formed con-
science, but also that “the conscience can do more than recognizing a given
situation that does not correspond objectively to the overall demands of the
Gospel. It can also recognize with sincerity and honesty what for now is the
most generous response which can be given to God, and come to see with
83 Evangelium Gaudium 169.
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certain moral security that it is what God himself is asking amid the concrete
complexity of one’s limits, while yet not fully the objective ideal” (AL 303)84.
Even if it is impossible to develop here all the richness of chapter 8 of Amoris La-
etitia, I would like, faithful to the pope’s teachings, to highlight the importance
of not interpreting this doctrine of the discernment of particular situations,
already present in Saint Thomas’ teachings, in a relativistic key. Pope Francis
himself stresses that fidelity to the Gospel prevents any lukewarm attitude or
an undue reticence in proposing that ideal:”to show understanding in the face
of exceptional situations never implies dimming the light of the fuller ideal or
proposing less than what Jesus offers to the human being.” And neither from
a subjectivist key, as if the assessment “of the internal forum” or forum of
conscience, despite its undeniable importance, were the only one to be take
into consideration. The Church is a community, an assembly of the faithful,
communion, and, therefore divergences between the external forum and the
internal forum should be avoided as much as possible.
In this sense, it is meaningful that in the case of divorcees who remarried, both
the Synodal documents and the exhortation, consider possible nullity of the
first marriage: in fact, it is the way or ordinary remedy offered by the Church
to her faithful, even if clearly not all broken-up marriages as null, often, un-
fortunately, they can be. Marriage is a beautiful but very demanding vocation,
which involves “two people”.
Thus, the canonical processes of marriage annulment appear as a fully ecclesial
solution, a remedy that, regardless of the good faith with which the parties may
have contracted it, responds to the deep truth of a marriage that lacked some
of the requirements for validity and can become a deeply healing moment for
the person, reconciliation with his/her past and the experience of marital failure.
In this sense, it is noteworthy that already during the inter-synodal period, Pope
Francis modified the procedure of matrimonial nullity to simplify and make it
more accessible, encouraging a missionary conversion of the pastoral structures-
including ecclesial tribunals- so that divorcees who are remarried can present
84 The exhortation also highlights the dynamic aspect of discernment, always open
and looking for ways to enable to fully realize the ideal (AL 303), and the limits
of general rules (certainly necessary), that must provide information for the
decision, but cannot include all particular situations, that should be the object of
specific discernment (Al 304).
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
their case (to shed light on the validity or nullity of their previous marriage) and
wait for the Church’s decision85.
4CONCLUDING REMARKS
Pope Francis’s apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia provides a positive outlook
of reality, stressing more on the possibilities and challenges of the current situ-
ations of the family and marriage than on its dangers, even if aware of them. It
is an optimistic call to continue working and revising our pastoral activity, also
in working with and for young people, in opening broad and varied ways of
working for the good of the families. Paths that include the educational field,
formation of values and affectivity, directions and family mediation in its broad-
est meaning. Preparing young people for marriage and the family, to a careful
discernment of situations, etc. Developing with creativity, evangelical audacity
and Church context courses of action that help to enact and implement synodal
suggestions in our real pastoral care activity is a significant challenge, in this
post-synodal period, while we wait for the next Synod of the Young in 2018.
85 Francisco, Motu Proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus, August 15, 2015: AAS 107 (2015)
958-970. In another motu proprio on the same day, Mitis et misericors Iesus, the
Pope modifies, in similar terms, the canons that ruled the matrimonial nullity
procedure in the Code of Cannon law of the Oriental Churches.
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REFLECTIONS AT THE
REGIONAL LEVEL
AFRICA & MADAGASCAR
ANGLOPHONE GROUP
PASTORAL FRONTIERS WE NEED TO REFLECT ON
Scope: We need to widen the scope of formation and preparation for marriage
and family life. Starting from early childhood till the young people get engaged
and married and even continue long after marriage. This process need to be a
lifelong process; covering all the stages of human development.
There is need to create stages of formation in the pastoral and catechetical plan
of the Church that will cover the life cycle of a every person.
Sexual education: education to love is one of the topics that are hardly covered
in most of our institutions and most of the young people grow up with wrong
or distorted notion of sexuality.
There is need for accompaniment, especially the young people and their
families. The Church must serve as main point of reference protagonist in this
process.
There is a period we need to pay particular attention to; that is the period after
confirmation to the time the young people are engaged or in courtship. In most
instances, this is a forgotten stage.
We need to empower the parents through training to help to speak openly
about the issues of marriage and family to their children. The culture of
openness regarding the issues of marriage and sexuality need to be improved
in many parts of our continent.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Pastoral agents need to be trained about sexuality so that they will be better
prepared to form the younger generations.
Rediscovering of many of the African values that sustained marriages in the
past, and repackage them to suit the concrete reality of our time. This process
must be championed by African confreres in collaboration with the lay people.
Social teachings of the church need to be adequately presented to the young
people and their families as a follow up and continuation of catechetical
ongoing formation.
Pre-marriage preparation and post-marriage preparation need to be created to
cater for different stages of the family life.
Some harmful cultural practices that taint the dignity of marriages, such as
cohabitation, costly dowries, abductions, child marriages, etc., need to be
addressed.
Issues of single parenthood that is gradually becoming a norm in many African
countries need to be looked into, especially on how to accompany them
towards full integration and restoration to sacramental life without any form
of discrimination.
In all these we have to seek for creative ways to work with the local church
to ensure that we are pulling in the same direction; bringing our unique
charismatic identity to enrich the local church in which we work.
There are several opposing diversities in the practices in many of African cultures
in issues of marriages and families. Africa has very diverse cultures and we need
to keep this in mind.
We need to challenge the mindset that create disparity in the equal dignity of
man and woman in most of the African families and marriages.
Overcoming some of the cultural barriers that affect marriage and families
through evangelization of culture; for instance, some rituals and initiation for
girls at the age of 10 or 11 which all the families are required to bring their
daughters. After this rite, girls are taught that they are adult and such, are ready
to marry. Some of the young people die while giving birth and it hinders their
education etc.
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In most cultures, special grooming and preparations are given to the girl child,
but the man is neglected in many places. The church need to have proper care
and preparation for the boys and empower the families to prepare equally the
boys and the girls.
Abortion: teenage abortion is high due to early engagement to sex and
pregnancy; this calls for sexual education for teenager.
We need to educate our families especially catholic families to overcome family
managed abortion as a cover up to tarnishing family’s image, especially among
some staunch Catholics.
When a girl is pregnant, she is not allowed to receive communion, but the boy
is not even considered in that.
Teenage abortion is one of the factors that cause breaking of marriages in Africa
and need to be given proper attention through proper sexuality education. The
point is that many teenagers engage in an unsafe abortion that destroy their
uterus. So when they marry and cannot have children, the marriage collapses.
AFRICA & MADAGASCAR
GROUPE FRANCOPHONE
LES FRONTIÈRES PASTORALES
Frontières pastorales comme horizons qui nous interpellent dans notre être et
agir pastoraux:
eeL´éducation intégrale des jeunes
eeLa réalité même de la famille aux prises avec les nouvelles idéologies
eeLe poids de la tradition et les nouvelles connotations de la dot
eeLes déviations sexuelles
eeLes familles monoparentales
eeLes pauvretés anthropologiques, économiques
eeLa formation et l´éveil des consciences
eeL´accompagnement des jeunes mariés et des couples de fait
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
eeLa récupération des valeurs traditionnelles à partir de la perspective
de l´inculturation
eeLa formation des parents à base d’itinéraire : considérer la fondation
des familles comme une vocation
eeL´influence des sectes ésotériques
eeLes TIC (technologies de l’information et de la communication, “ICT”
en anglais) et leurs défis
eeL´accueil et l´accompagnement des situations douloureuses
eeLa polygamie
INTERAMÉRICA 1
¿Cuáles son las FRONTERAS PASTORALES acerca de las cuales debemos reflex-
ionar en nuestras Comunidades Educativo-Pastorales?
Varias de las respuestas a esta pregunta, se repiten respecto de la pregunta an-
terior por los DESAFÍOS. Elenco la respuesta en dos ítems, uno el de DESAFÍOS
y el otro de NUEVAS FRONTERAS, para no perder información:
DESAFÍOS
1. Vinculación de los padres y de todos nuestros grupos a los procesos
pastorales, al apostolado.
2. Acompañamiento y acogida de las familias y sus situaciones con equi-
pos capacitados para hacerlo (capacitados en psicología, doctrina
eclesial, acompañamiento, vida cristiana).
3. Preparación para el matrimonio previa, durante y posterior; entendi-
endo la familia – matrimonio como opción vocacional, plan de Dios
para la vida.
4. El trabajo a modo de preparación con los jóvenes del MJS.
5. Apoyarse en testimonios de familias que sirvan de modelos vocacion-
ales para los jóvenes y para familias cercanas a conformarse o que ya
han hecho camino.
6. Cambiar el chip en nuestras maneras de pensar y de responder a las
realidades: con Don Bosco y con los tiempos. Esto implica cambio de
estereotipos, de lenguaje, cultivo de una cultura del encuentro – ir
no esperar.
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7. Se requiere asegurar procesos y no tanto actividades.
NUEVAS FRONTERAS
1. Las familias de los migrantes, constituyen un desafío para la misión
en la Región, pues varios de los países que la integran, padecen este
flagelo.
2. Trabajo con familias que viven situaciones como el homosexualismo:
padres o hijos.
3. Trabajo con familias o jóvenes en condición de vulnerabilidad: po-
breza, pandillismo, drogas.
4. La utilización de los Medios de comunicación como herramienta ed-
ucativa y evangelizadora, de una manera tal que impacte, llame la
atención.
5. Florecimiento de sectas, iglesias protestantes y otras opciones reli-
giosas que hacen que las familias, incluso al interno, vivan diferentes
perspectivas de fe.
6. Trabajo con familias en unión libre, pues ha sido una opción de mu-
chos en la Región.
7. Generar propuestas que permitan acompañar a los creyentes en esa
brecha de tiempo que existe entre los sacramentos como la Confir-
mación y el Matrimonio.
INTERAMÉRICA 2
¿Cuáles son las fronteras pastorales acerca de las cuales debemos reflexionar
en nuestras Comunidades Educativo-pastorales?
eeUna frontera es la de los mismos destinatarios, muchos atendemos
principalmente a niños y adolescentes, no a jóvenes en edad de tomar
de decisiones.
eeEn general los contenidos de los programas formativos no preparan
para el noviazgo ni para matrimonio. Esos temas se ven por separado
u ocasionalmente.
eePoner en el corazón de la pastoral juvenil la pastoral familiar, no verla
como algo ajeno.
eeSuperar la pastoral de actividades y ofrecer procesos pastorales, eso
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
es acompañamiento formativo.
eeNuestra pastoral está muchas veces fragmentada, dividida
eeNecesitamos una formación multidisciplinaria para atender todas las
realidades de la familia. Trabajo interdisciplinar, en red, requiere inter-
venciones profesionales para atender familias en dificultad. Abrirnos
a la frontera, a la posibilidad de auxiliarse de las ciencias humanas.
eeEn nuestra región una frontera es la realidad de la migración y la de
la pobreza material y espiritual.
eeUn reto entre gestión (hacer cosas) y el liderazgo (se tiene una visión
y unas estrategias)
Superar la frontera de la sacramentalidad y el clericalismo.
AMÉRICA CONE SUL - CISBRASIL
Quais são as fronteiras pastorais em que deveria refletir as nossas Comunidades
Educativo-Pastorais?
ee“Mundo” da educação superior: jovens universitários e suas famílias,
educadores e suas famílias.
eeCEP como “sujeito” da Pastoral Juvenil Salesiana.
eeNovos “arranjos familiares” e “arranjos pastorais” (casais separados
e divorciados, segunda união, uniões homoafetivas, etc.)
eeInserção da família nas ações da CEP.
eeEducação dos jovens e das famílias: para o amor, à afetividade e à
sexualidade; para a cidadania e a política; para a tolerância.
eeUma pastoral vocacional (vocação à vida religiosa e/ou sacerdotal)
adequada aos jovens e às famílias destes tempos.
eeAtenção às famílias migrantes: crianças exploradas, mulheres
violentadas, famílias separadas, tráfico humano, trabalho escravo.
eePotencializar a reflexão e a ação da RSB sobre a juventude e a família
nas suas áreas: escolas, obras sociais, paróquias, comunicação.
eeFormação dos agentes de pastoral: SDB e Família Salesiana, leigas/
leigos.
eeBom uso das redes sociais.
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AMERICA CONO SUR - SEPSUR
Nuevas Fronteras Pastorales que debemos guardar en nuestras comunidades.
Las Nuevas Fronteras de la cultura. Respetar los contextos culturales, para acom-
pañar necesitamos asumir las NF de la inculturación del Evangelio en las culturas
donde se desarrolla la vida de las familias conociendo su realidad.
Las Nuevas Fronteras: las situaciones complejas de las familias. Estas nuevas
realidades nos desafían para tener más cercanía y animarnos a acompañar,
perder el miedo, aprender y prepararnos y asumir estos nuevos desafíos desde
una perspectiva del acompañamiento.
eeFamilias que vivan en pobreza, que no saben cómo ser padres, que
no tienen posibilidades y poco acceso a la educación…
eeJóvenes con experiencias negativas en el propio ceno familiar que
perdieron el sueño de formar su propia familia.
eePersonas divorciadas. cambiar el concepto negativo que se tenemos
sobre las personas divorciadas, comprender y acompañar esta realidad
desde las orientaciones de las AL.
Las Nuevas Fronteras de pérdida de sentido del matrimonio. Frente a esto
necesitamos presentar en positivo la vocación matrimonial generando espacios
de discernimiento.
eeAnimarnos a ver las experiencias positivas que se presentan en la vida
de las parejas y familias que más se acercan a don del matrimonio…
eela importancia de la gradualidad, en tanto de acompañar a las fami-
lias desde su propia situación, para todos debe haber un horizonte…
aprender comprender la realidad desde los positivo de la acción de
Dios que ya están sus semillas desparramas en la realidad.
Las Nuevas Fronteras de la formación.
eeFormación de los agentes de pastoral y padres sobre desafíos de la
familia en la actualidad.
eeFormación sobre el acompañamiento salesiano y el discernimiento
pastoral.
eeCamino formativo para los jóvenes porque se percibe que en nuestras
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
comunidades no hay propuesta vocacional para acompañar, sobre
todo a los novios, jóvenes… brindando herramientas para el discer-
nimiento.
eeItinerarios de formación partiendo de la realidad de las personas. Es
en el camino que se va reconociendo cómo va viviendo su ser hijo de
Dios ayudando a integrar su vida desde la fe desde la acogida de las
personas y su situación.
eeTransformar nuestros lenguajes para hacer cercanas y sencillas nues-
tras propuestas para acompañar a la realidad juvenil. Formación de
formadores, implicar a las familias… acompañar a los que acompa-
ñan…
Revisar nuestra actuación pastoral en lo que hace a la propuesta vocacional de
matrimonio. Esta es una Nueva Frontera: revisar nuestras prácticas desde nuestra
realidad actual. Acompañamiento no solo sobre la crisis sino como procesos.
eeRevalorizar la preventividad en nuestra acción pastoral, no salir a tapar
incendios sino proyectar y acompañar las familias dentro de procesos
buscando actuar antes a través de propuestas concretas.. acompañar
a los jóvenes para tomar es decisión. Nuevos lenguajes, integración
de las familias.
Profundizar en la CEP. En camino más comunitarios y participativos para acom-
pañar a las familias donde todos estén involucrados (consagrados, laicos, do-
centes, animadores, etc)
EAST ASIA - OCEANIA 1
What are the Pastoral Frontiers on which the Educative and Pastoral Community
should reflect?
There is so much in Amoris Laetitia that could touch Youth Ministry. What is
important is to apply this in the context of our particular settings. In the EAO
region, there is a diversity of contexts and this should prove the richness of the
document.
NEEDS OF THE YOUTH MINISTERS (SALESIANS AND LAY)
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A question to ask is what are the skills needed, the values to be inculcated and
education and formation that are demanded of those who work with Youth
Ministry and Family.
SPECIAL SITUATIONS
Here are special situations that are present in the EAO Region:
1. Single Parent Families
There are many cases in which the young people in our works belong to single-
parent families.
2. Teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is becoming a reality fast in many of our settings.
3. Families from same sex relationships
A frontier that has come to the fore is that in many of our Provinces (though
not in all) some of our young people may actually belong to families with same
sex relationships. Some may even ask whether we should accept children from
these families. There are cases where even some of our lay mission partners
belong to such families. In some settings where this is not be acceptable, the
Salesians close one eye in accepting employees in these situations.
In our parish settings, how do we deal with such situations as when a gay
couple comes to have their child baptized? Are we going to say no?
4. A Different Definition of the Family
In PNG in particular, the dynamics of the family may be very confusing. This is a
challenge for us, especially the missionaries--to know the nature and dynamics
of the family in our context.
5. Young People from the same father but from different mothers.
6. Mixed Marriages in EAO
Many of the EAO settings have Catholics as the minority and the phenomenon
is more on mixed marriages. Marriage in the Catholic Church has become more
popular because of the solemnity that it offers. However, after the wedding,
the couples disappear. Strategies can be employed to bring them back to the
Church. (GIA gives an example that couples are invited for Christmas and play
the Holy Family.) There is a need to make the non-Catholic party to understand
Catholic marriage. Religion indeed becomes an issue.
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REMOTE PREPARATION: THE NEED TO EMPHASIZE THAT MARRIAGE IS
A SACRAMENT
Many times we are not understood when we talk about marriage as a
sacrament. This has a lot of implications: there will be no place for God and
marriage is not seen as a lasting commitment. Nowadays, there is a lack of
sense of the “sacrament.” Many couples do not get married in the Church
because, they say, they will break up anyway. The formation for married life thus
starts remotely, even in high school when we can instill in the young people the
sense of sacredness in marriage, when we teach them about the sacraments.
This may be done not only for Catholic settings but even in non-Catholic or
non-Christian settings.
POST-CANA AND OTHER FORMATION PROGRAMS
Many of our parishes do not offer Post-Cana programs (assisting newly married
couples). The structure of the Basic Ecclesial Communities can actually be a
good venue for the Post-Cana, for accompaniment of young married couples.
Marriage counseling becomes imperative. The priests who solemnize marriages
may help in this Post-Cana program, although it will be better if couples are
tapped to help couples and families help families. There is, however, a consistent
problem: when we give formation to families, many times, the men are not
present.
EAST ASIA - OCEANIA 2
What are the pastoral frontiers on which that the Educative and Pastoral
Community should reflect?
eeIn the youth ministry of the province at times the Salesians are
dealing directly only with the youngsters without involvement of
the family as protagonist of the education of young people. Hence,
the pastoral frontier on which the EPC should reflect on, is family
ministry particularly involving families as the important subject of
youh ministry.
eeAt times the Salesians are so focused on the school such that little
attention is given to newly formed families which are cohabited with
no regards to church wedding.
eeThe migration of people from remote areas or countrysides into
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the big cities to search for work and better opportunities at times
create difficulties such as being marginalized and therefore in need
of accompaniment.
eeThe prevalence of divorece or conjugal separation somehow affects
the value of forming a family.
eeSome christians who get married to somebody from non-christian
religion experience difficulty in preserving the value of christian
marriages.
eeFacilitate the involvement of the EPC or gathering different sectors
or group to think about how to put into practice the shaping of a
pedagogy of love as a long term preparation for marriage.
eeThere is a need to seriously consider the pre-wedding preparation as
a moment to prepare the couples to have well-formed consciences
and to be aware that marriage is not about the contract but as self-
giving in love.
eeIn our youth ministry there is a need to promote also vocation to
married life.
eeThere should be regular meeting and formation of EPC on how to
address post modern reality we are facing in our youth ministry such
as LGBT, broken families, single parents, etc.
eeThere is weakening of the values of family and matrimony due to the
post-modern people who are so occupied with their work than their
families. The most progressive country like Japan feels that there is
no sense of getting married in the Church.
eeThe desire for the better academic achievement of children leads
parents to focus more on the academic training of their children than
passing on to them Christian values.
SOUTH ASIA 1
Accompaniment of young couples
eeOur accompaniment of the young couples, the married couples that
are in crisis, tension,
eeThe young couples are under stress on account of globalization,
secularization, consumerist tendency. Accompaniment of the young
couples in the first five years of marriage.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
eeFamily counseling and couple retreats, Family counseling Centres,
Offer specialized helps to people in irregular unions, cohabitation,
live-in relations, mixed marriages; adult catechesis;
eePsychological helps to people living through extra-marital affairs.
eeOrganize occasions for the youngsters of marriageable age to find
their potential partners.
eeFocus on the re-evangelizing of the families, deepening of faith;
eeAdopt, promote and encourage peoples movement —Neo—
catechumnate, couples for Christ, Charismatic movements, BCC,
SMCs, Legion of Mary, Society of Vincent de Paul;
Marriage preparation
eeWell designed marriage preparation commensurate with age; syllabus
can be chalked out.
MMFirst communion
MMConfirmation
MMYouth and Marriage
eeTaking the vocation and guidance of Salesian Youth Ministry –
vocation work primarily as life preparation.
eeCourse on the theology of the body; this is a powerful tool for the
marriage preparation.
Conversion of pastoral approach
eeA change in Pastoral approach in the mix marriages; quick response
towards young people who are in difficulty with regard to marriage,
mixed marriage,
eeWork towards elimination of roadblocks in marriage, dowry, marriage
expense, mass marriages/single marriage, irrational values on virginity;
eeAttitude of AL towards polygamous unions; incompatibility of age
in marriage.
eeThe provinces should prepare confreres to help the families who are in
difficult situation through counselling; open centres in every province.
eeCreate a new wave of change of attitude towards the new trends
with regard to marriage in the mind of the people.
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SOUTH ASIA 2
Pastoral Frontiers which the Educative Pastoral Community Should Reflect
1. Economic Problems affecting the Families
a. Acute poverty.
b. The parents unable to support the children and so they are
abandoned.
c. Unemployment and change in job-culture and temporary Jobs.
d. Problems of marriage due to lack of educational qualification
and job.
2. Problems affecting women’s dignity and equality
a. Women’s dignity are not upheld before or after marriage.
b. Violence against women are high.
c. The girl often embraces the faith of the husband and choices
for the girls are less.
d. The sex ratio of girls in our catholic church is less and the
marriages take place late in life. Inequality of boys and girls
in our family.
e. Minors abused by their own family members especially the
girls.
3. Parent-Children Conflict
a. Young people wishing to get qualified but the family unable
to support.
b. Parental responsibilities versus young people’ choice of life-
partners.
c. Single parent problema.
d. Addressing the issue of parents of beneficiaries who are
separated.
e. Young people who are detached from families.
f. Lack of harmony in the families.
4. Socio-cultural problems
a. Marriage preparation for young people.
b. Young people to be followed up even as young couples.
c. Young people not willing to get married but are living together
(for reasons of economy etc.)
d. Too much of money is involved in marriage by way of dowry
and it becomes difficult for the poor to get married.
e. Domination by men is very much prevalent in families in India.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
f. Inter-caste or inter-religious marriages are huge challenges
in India. Many Catholics leave the religions easily (especially
about bringing children in our faith)
g. Problem of alcoholism and the burden of families fall on the
mother.
h. Irresponsible drinking by men in the families is a major cause
of dysfunctional families particularly in the rural areas and in
the slums.
i. Suicide in the families are also on the increase.
j. Abandonment of elders in our families.
k. Educating to Social media is a huge problema.
5. Formation of the young
a. Vocation to married life has very little formation.
b. Less importance to sacraments and importance given to
worldly ways.
c. We can use the various sodalities, associations we have to help
address families.
d. Young people have trial marriages and if they are not happy
they get easily separated.
e. We have unholy marriages (non-sacramental) and many
marriages are rectified later.
EUROPE CENTRE NORTH
What are the pastoral frontiers on which the educative and pastoral community
should reflect?
eeHow to understand and enter in dialogue with a common culture of
young people who are for cohabitation or entering partnership, afraid
of life long commitments who, nonetheless, are actively involved in
our salesian ministry.
eeWe welcome AL’s guidelines but on a Congregational level, diversity
is so evident that we perceive as impractical for one single, common
paradigm.
eeWhat the unit of a family is (understood), varies from one county to
another.
eeVery often we question about the commitment of our young. But we
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fail to question what our current (adult, formed) collaborators think.
Celibacy, for example, is usually linked with old age and elderly people.
eeThe desire for accompaniment is present in many people. Others
do not ask for it but still need it. How are we to give credit to these
people? How can we reach out to young people and not only
Catholic young people? How are be going to be optimistic and bring
people back to faith? How can we rediscover and redefine, in a a
post digital, fluid society, the beauty and the need for a faith journey?
eeThe category “marriage” seem to exclude people; young people are
in search and young people commit themselves in several ways which
do not necessarily regard marriage as a destination.
eeHow to focus our attention on those who are divorced. A call
for compassion and an invitation for meaningful liturgies which
accompany those who are at the periphery.
eeDeconstruct meanings from within, starting from the EPC, not to
assume that those who are already part of the process, are indeed in
touch and open for the AL language.
eeSDB communities can be regarded as one of the frontiers: The Good
Shepherd should have the smell of his sheep. Very often, protecting
institutions seems to be a priority. We need to ensure healthy SDB
communities where “living and working together” is fundamental.
Working from a different priority, we risk of killing the family spirit
which is crucial in setting up an EPC. Instill courage in the SDB’s
not to be afraid to risk and propose meaningful prayerful spaces,
processes and journeys for the young. Address the yearning of the
young and challenge, where needed, a superficial way of conducting
a consecrated life.
eeGay unions and heterosexual marriages out of church often ask for
a blessing. This puts the priest in an awkward position. How can we
cater for ‘minorities’? The Church seems to be running two parallel
ethical stances: a doctrinal and a pastoral one; how can we connect
and converge both stances?
eeYoung people who are turning towards a traditional Church, turning
back to old liturgies; a search for divinity —an elect— syndrome of
the few and the rest who got it wrong? Young people are searching
for an identity which risks stopping at the exterior form. A crisis of
identity and immediacy of connectedness seem to be another frontier.
eeHow to address the need of fellowship of the young in a fragmented
society.
eeCatholic politicians and stakeholders who are to be formed in our
value system to advocate in favor of families and young.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
eeMuslim radicalism vs Catholic radicalism: extremism in both cases.
How to foster unity, acceptance and openness. Openness and desire
to do good. Avoid closing down. Challenges to witness Christ.
MEDITERRANEA 1
ITALIA & PORTOGALLO
La sfida pastorale si gioca a livello locale nella CEP questa è la prima frontiera.
UNA FRONTIERA CULTURALE: l’idea di famiglia, di amore, di pieno
compimento di sé è fortemente messa in discussione dalla nostra cultura. Nella
CEP occorre:
eeriflettere su come rievangelizzare la nostra cultura su questo punto;
eefavorire la presenza di famiglie mature come testimonianza della
bellezza della vita reciprocamente data.
DUE FRONTIERE PRATICHE
eeformare e accompagnare i ragazzi nei processi di maturazione
affettiva e di discernimento vocazionale in vista della vocazione
matrimoniale.
eeLa presenza di nuovi orfani (orfani di genitori vivi) provoca le nostre
realtà su come instaurare un patto educativo con loro. Non sempre
le famiglie sono un alleato educativo, anzi a volte sono di ostacolo
MEDITERRANEA 2
ITALIA & MEDIO ORIENTE
Domanda: quali sono le frontiere pastorali sulle quali dobbiamo riflettere nelle
nostre CEP?
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Risposte:
1. La frontiera del linguaggio: come ricostruire un linguaggio e quindi
una realtà dicibile e bella per chi non ne ha fatto esperienza; non per
la nostalgia di usare termini vecchi, ma per non perdere la ricchezza di
termini e realtà che costruiscono l’uomo.
2. Come conciliare la accoglienza di tutti e la “difesa” della verità, non come
spada da brandire, ma come luogo per crescere ed essere uomini. Come
conciliare anche l’accoglienza di tutti senza scandalizzare quelli che ancora
cercano di portare avanti la loro vita in equilibrio e fedeltà.
3. Non solo progetti per recuperare e accogliere, ma anche progetti di
prevenzione, sia verso i giovani che faranno famiglia, sia verso le famiglie
che devono essere sostenute nella loro fedeltà al progetto cristiano di vita.
4. Sviluppare percorsi di formazione per i giovani specifici per il
matrimonio, perché spesso la formazione dà per scontato che poi
uno sappia essere marito e moglie, ma non è così vero.
5. Ripensare la formazione a partire dalla realtà del matrimonio come
forma antropologica di base dell’uomo e della donna. Ripensare
la realtà e la formazione all’adultità attraverso la vocazione del
matrimonio, come responsabilità di risposta a questa chiamata
fondamentale per la vita di ognuno.
6. Formarci meglio al sacramento del matrimonio, nella sua connessione
e differenza rispetto alla coppia, per saper rendere ragione di ciò che
esso dà in più alla vita della coppia e della famiglia.
7. Non basta aggiungere alla PG un capitolo sulla famiglia, occorre
studiare ed integrare le due cose nel focus unico della PG.
8. La CEP come l’ecosistema pastorale in grado di far respirare una forma-
zione, una vocazione, una meta, anche al di là e al di fuori dei cammini
“ufficiali”.
9. Fare rete con la Famiglia Salesiana per poter offrire alle famiglie un
luogo di formazione, di servizio e di vita cristiana, anche oltre l’MGS.
MEDITERRANEA 3 _ SPAGNA &
PORTOGALLO
Fronteras Pastorales desde la condición actual de la familia
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
eeDestacamos de la ponencia de Carmen la necesidad de descubrir
qué significa la vocación cristiana y cómo la familia es una vocación
específica; en medio de una cultura a-vocacional que vivimos.
eeInteresante destacar la vía de la belleza de la familia, como propuesta
luminosa, y nos preguntamos cómo visibilizar la belleza de la familia
eeAlgunos caminos para visibilizar la belleza de la familia pueden ser:
MMPresencia de los matrimonios al lado de los jóvenes trabajando
como agentes pastorales dentro de la PJ y en procesos especí-
ficos de formación para el noviazgo y matrimonio.
MMPresentar a familias auténticas, también con sus límites y pro-
blemas.
MMHacer discursos positivos, dando oportunidad al diálogo y a
despertar intereses y sueños vocacionales en los chicos/as.
MMIncluir en nuestros grupos a la pluralidad de familias que exis-
ten, visibilizando una Iglesia inclusiva, que no juzga sino que
es fuente de sanación.
eeSe necesita una formación de pastores y agentes con sensibilidad para
acompañar a esposos, novios.
eeReforzar el sentido comunitario de nuestras CEPs como comunidades
de referencia en donde se vive y se comparte la vida y la fe.
eeAlgunos proyectos de pastoral para la familia:
MMIntuir un proyecto integral para parejas, que aborde el “antes,
durante y después” del matrimonio (formación, acompaña-
miento, discernimiento), dando ocasión para un proyecto de
vida único y compartido por la pareja.
MMRenovación de la educación en la afectividad, con presencia
de matrimonios.
MMAlgún proyecto extra-eclesial para generar una cultura a favor
de la familia.
MEDITERRANEA 4 _ SPAGNA &
PORTOGALLO
¿Cuáles son las FRONTERAS PASTORALES acerca de las cuales debemos reflex-
ionar en nuestras Comunidades Educativo Pastorales?
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Es de agradecer una visión positiva del matrimonio sin reduccionismo. La Evan-
geli Gaudium un gran tesoro en el que profundizar. Encontramos las siguientes
fronteras que abordar:
eeLa frontera de la formación integral para la relación de pareja, para el
matrimonio desde los primeros años de la vida, con procesos largos.
Acompañar las relaciones prematrimoniales, los primeros años del
matrimonio y la educación de los hijos.
eeAplicar el Sistema Preventivo con toda su riqueza a los procesos de
crecimiento en la afectividad, en la relación, en la sexualidad, en la
educación para el amor. Prevenir las situaciones de fragilidad. Educar
en el amor en querer al otro es ya una propuesta “anticultural”. Ayu-
dar a madurar en la afectividad. Educar en el respeto, en la fidelidad.
Recuperar la frescura del evangelio como propuesta de vida feliz. El
desafío del evangelio no puede perjudicar, sino enriquecer.
eeNos jugamos mucho en la acogida, el respeto y cuidado a las perso-
nas en situación de especial dificultad. Dialogo constructivo con las
personas que viven situaciones especiales: crisis, divorcios, separa-
ciones, divorcios, parejas homosexuales. Compaginar la caridad y la
propuesta de la verdad.
eeEducar en el respeto al otro, en la confrontación, en el diálogo, en el
discernimiento. No todo vale según la propuesta cristiana. Respetar
los procesos.
eeArgumentar mejor toda la propuesta desde la antropología cristiana.
Definir con claridad y formar en lo que piensa la iglesia y la con-
gregación sobre todos los temas de fragilidad. Ser conscientes que
educamos en un tiempo de mucha pluralidad ideológica.
eeConvence y atrae el testimonio concreto, por lo tanto, proponer testi-
monios creíbles de personas y familias auténticas y felices con lo que
son. Hacer notar la calidad humana y de entrega al otro que nos hace
no mejores, pero si diferentes en nuestro modo de concebir la vida.
eeEn nuestra propias comunidades educativos pastorales hayamos si-
tuaciones familiares muy diversas. A cada una es hay que responder
de manera diversa. Escuchar a las familias en su realidad y en sus
situaciones concretas.
Pero cualquier respuesta tiene que contar con las familias, los educadores y los
jóvenes.
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30th November 2017
THE FAMILY
IN SALESIAN PASTORAL
CONTEXT
AN EDUCATIVE AND
EVANGELIZING
PERSPECTIVE
FR ROSSANO SALA, SDB
Editor of the magazine “Note di pastorale giovanile”
lecturer at the Salesian Pontifical University (Rome).

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
In the family, faith accompanies every age of life, beginning
with childhood: children learn to trust in the love of their
parents. This is why it is so important that within their
families parents encourage shared expressions of faith
which can help children gradually to mature in their own
faith. Young people in particular, who are going through a
period in their lives which is so complex, rich and important
for their faith, ought to feel the constant closeness and
support of their families and the Church in their journey
of faith.
(Francesco, Lumen fidei, n. 53)
INTRODUCTION
We are in the midst of a beautiful moment in the life of the Church, where
two important themes have come together in a life-giving way: the family and
youth. This is reason for great joy. Indeed, we are living a powerful, albeit un-
planned series of important synods of the universal Church: the “double Synod”
on the family, which culminated in the post-synodal Exhortation Amoris Laetitia,
and the upcoming Synod in October 2018 dealing with “Young people, the
Faith and Vocational Discernment”.
All of this speaks to the timeliness of the theme of this international congress –
“Youth Ministry and Family”. Youth and Family are at the heart of the Church’s
concern as we begin the third millennium. It is also timely because it assures us
that the Salesian congregation is in harmony with the Church’s current spiritual
itinerary when it says that “family ministry is an emerging appostolic front,
which we have begun to address more carefully, not only in the context of par-
ish or young adult formation, but also in close connection to youth ministry”. 86
What follows in my presentation is developed specifically in terms of the Sale-
sian charism.
86 Capitolo Generale 27, n. 20.
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From the outset, it is important to insist that our charism is and always will be
inextricably linked to young people. For this reason, we speak about the family as
an integral dimension of Youth Ministry and of “Youth Vocation Ministry”. This
aligns us perfectly with the perspective of the upcoming Synod. In taking up this
theme, we are dealing with the basic truth of every Christian family, because at
the heart of the family we find the Son, and with him, every son and daughter.
Christianity, even enormous as was its revolution, did not alter [the] ancient and
savage sanctity [of the family]; it merely reversed it. It did not deny the trinity
of father, mother, and child. It merely read it backwards, making it run child,
mother, father. This it called, not the family, but the Holy Family, for many things
are made holy by being turned upside down.87
My presentation is developed in three parts which are connected and interde-
pendent.
The first part will demonstrate how “Salesian Family Spirit”, both historically
and pastorally, is the original source of the Salesian charism as well as the guar-
antor of its educative and evangelizing efficacy.
The second part deals with the family as the object of explicit pastoral care in
the Salesian charism and therefore will suggest how our spirit might address the
vocational needs of youth, how it might implement a methodology for family
ministry, and address family needs from our charismatic framework.
The third and final part of this presentation addresses the family as a subject in
its own right within Salesian Youth Ministry. It will demonstrate how the family
could become an effective protagonist, working in communion with other in-
dividuals in the church, for the education and evangelization of the young, be-
cause of the privileged role reserved for the family within the salesian charism.
1 A FAMILY CHARISM
From the historical and pastoral perspective, it is clear and incontestable that from
87 G.K. Chesterton, Eretici, Lindau, Torino 2010, 145.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
the beginning, Don Bosco’s home was a “family for young people without a
family” and a “parish for young people without a parish”. At the founding of
Valdocco, Don Bosco’s priority was to create a family atmosphere and an authentic
experience of Church. In our salesian tradition, every thought and action which is
true to our charism flows from our “family spirit”, and finds its roots in Don Bosco
and the origins of his work in Valdocco88. This “family spirit” is not a compartmen-
talized priority reserved for a part of the work or to particular moments of the day;
it is a style of life that permeates every aspect of the very existence and concrete
manner of carrying out the daily reality of the entire Salesian work. “Family spirit”,
therefore, is not an optional element of our style of education; it is a dimension
that weaves transversely across every aspect of Salesian Youth Ministry.
Our charismatic identity as Salesians remains clear: we are “signs and bearers
of the love of God for the young” and our houses are places where we offer
an experience of family to all the young who come to us and to all of our col-
laborators.
1.1. THE FOUNDING EXPERIENCE: “FAMILY SPIRIT”
At the birth of the salesians charism was the “family spirit”, experienced as an
atmosphere of affection that was shared interactively, intergenerationally, and
with co-responsibility. In fact, the Oratory of Valdocco was a
veritable “workshop” where Don Bosco, together with
other priests, adult laymen, youngsters and some women,
with Mamma Margaret as the first among them, lived
the preventive system, that original and compelling style
of predilection for the young. This system, lived first at
Valdocco and then at Mornese and elsewhere, became
a true spirituality that united educators and pupils in a
shared movement towards holiness. […] As we revisit the
beginnings of Valdocco, we appreciate not only Don Bosco’s
pastoral heart but also his ability to involve others. The
contribution of clergy and lay people brought into being a
church, living quarters and playgrounds. 89
88 Cfr. A.J. Lenti, Don Bosco: storia e spirito. 1. Dai Becchi alla casa dell’Oratorio (1815-
1858), LAS, Roma 2017, 530-540.
89 Capitolo Generale 24, n. 3.87.
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The model, therefore, which inspires our salesian “family spirit, is the life of the
Oratory in Valdocco, where Don Bosco lived in the midst of his boys and his
collaborators, just as a father or mother lives surrounded by their own children.
In the Biographical Memoires we find this noteworthy description of this reality:
In those days, the Oratory was a real family. […] Don Bosco
managed and directed the Oratory just like a father would
run his own household, and the young ones who went there
felt as though it was just like their own home. […] At the
Oratory, no one lived in fear, but in peace and joy. Everyone
breathed the air of a happy family. Don Bosco gave the
young ones every possible freedom as long as it posed no
threat to discipline or morals.90
This was the style which imbued every houses established by Don Bosco, in-
cluding his religious community, because his family spirit touched every aspect
of the life and mission of the salesians.91 Therefore, we can affirm that the
family style was the golden rule of the oratory, because “ […] when Don Bosco
started a hospice at the Oratory he laid down no rules other than those which
regulate mutual relations in the family [emphasis added]. He drafted the first
house rules for each dormitory five years later. These dealt specifically with the
moral and religious conduct of the pupils, as well as with the work habits that
were expected of them”.92
This characteristic family spirit of the original experience of Valdocco provides
the blueprint and the foundation for three essential aspects of mission, all of
which can rightly be seen as fruits of the spirit: the Educative Pastoral Com-
munity (EPC), the Salesian Congregation itself, and the Salesian Family, in that
order. The ordering presented here is bold, but it is deliberately so, because I
believe it is accurate not only chronologically, but also, and more importantly,
qualitatively: Family Spirit EPC Salesian Congregation Salesian Family!
If we are not convinced of this, we do well to reread Constitution 16:
90 Cfr. Memorie biografiche di don Bosco III,353.360-361; IV,679; VI,592.
91 Il tema appare trasversalmente lungo tutte le Costituzioni salesiane: lo spirito
di famiglia nella comunità educativa (Cost. 37.38.47), nella comunità religiosa
(Cost. 49.51.53.56), nella pratica dei consigli evangelici (Cost. 61), nell’autorità
e nell’obbedienza (Cost. 65), nella vita di castità (Cost. 83) e nella comunità
formatrice (Cost. 103).
92 Cfr. Memorie biografiche di don Bosco IV,542. English translation, IV, 377.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Don Bosco’s desire was that in all of his houses everyone
would feel “at home”. The Salesian house becomes a family
when there is mutual affection among its members, and all,
confreres and youth alike, feel welcome and responsible for
the common good. In an atmosphere of mutual trust and
daily forgiveness one experiences the need and the joy of
sharing everything and relationships are governed not so
much by recourse to the law, but my the movement of the
heart and of faith. This kind of witness will inspire in the
young the desire to know and to follow the salesian vocation
Against this description of the “salesian house” we can measure the extent to
which Don Bosco’s family spirit has permeated our communities at every level:
local, provincial, and worldwide.
1.2 BRINGING IT TO LIFE: THE “SALESIAN FAMILY”
Today, the “Salesian family” refers to a vast movement in the church whose
purpose is to help the young live life abundantly and to the full. The very word
“family” confirms the spirit and style which unites the various groups who are
called to share our founder’s charism.
It is beyond the scope of this presentation to reread in its entirety the “Common
Identity Card of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco”, promulgated on January 31,
2012. For our present purposes, Article 5 of this document will suffice:
The term family is used in salesian tradition to indicate in
a generic manner the bonds existing between the various
groups and is applied in different ways according to the
nature of the relationship. This bond or relationship cannot
be reduced to mere friendly rapport. It is rather the external
expression of an internal and charismatic communion.
It helps therefore to understand the different titles to
membership of the Salesian Family.
Membership is fostered by a common spirit, which leads
to a vast and complementary mission to the young and
the common people; and by certain specific and original
characteristics which justify official recognition, which is
given through a specific title.
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This family exists because its members share the apostolic passion of Don Bos-
co: the passion of preparing young people to make choices that are conducive
to full and abundant life. This passion is expressed through three interwoven
dimensions:
1. A Mission to the young. It was Don Bosco’s explicit
intention that all the member groups of the Family he
founded be dedicated to youth who are poor, abandoned,
at risk or, in modern terms, young males and females
who are most in need because of the various situations
of poverty they face: economic, affective, cultural or
spiritual.
2. A Mission to common people. Under the guidance of the
Spirit, Don Bosco was also concerned for adults, always
showing preference for the poor and humble, for the
working class, for immigrants and those on the margins,
in short, for all who stand in need of material and
spiritual assistance. […] He gave particular attention to the
family because he saw it as the primary place to educate
the young to love and to be receptive to the gift of life.
The family was the first school of solidarity beween
persons and peoples. Every effort was made to protect
the dignity and strength of the family so that it might
always be more obviously a small “domestic church”.
3. A Missionary apostolate ad gentes. Don Bosco cultivated
missionary zeal and participated concretely in the
missionary work of the Church. He wanted the Salesian
Sociey and the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help
of Christians, to devote themselves to the missions;
and indeed, this is what both congregations have been
doing since their earliest days, which explains the
extraordinary expansion of their presence on every
continent.93
Ours is a family which lives its mission in a spirit of communion and collabora-
tion because
93 Cfr. Carta d’identità carismatica della Famiglia Salesiana, art. 16. English translation,
art. 13.
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In all his activity as an educator, pastor and founder, Don
Bosco showed a great ability for dialogue and for sharing
responsibility with even the youngest of his collaborators;
for harmonizing in apostolic and missionary work the
talents of the most widely differing persons for the good
of the whole enterprise; for finding each individual a work
suited to his character, his skills and his formation, in such
a way that each one felt happy in what he was doing.
Communion between the member groups of the Salesian
Family in and for the mission has become increasingly
necessary as we try to meet the missionary and educative
tasks before us. We are already seeing an urgent need to
network the various interveners, to propose new models
of Christian life, and to develop collaborative ministries.
If we work more collaboratively, our witness value will
be stronger, our proclamation of the Gospel will be more
convincing, our pastoral charity will be intensified, and the
characteristic identity of both the Salesian Family and each
of its groups will be clearer94.
Finally, then, our family members work co-responsibly in pursuit of commonly
shared objectives. These objectives are: passion for and educational attentive-
ness to the specific historical context where we find ourselves; the methodology
of the Preventive System, which is a spiritual and educative experience that finds
its efficacy in the rich interplay of reason, religion and loving kindness; and the
sharing of Salesian spirit.95
Certainly, there will be times when it will be difficult to keep the Salesian Family
alive, vibrant and desirable. But the creative tension which the family offers, and
our desire to live and to work together in this vast and varied movement that
was desired and created by Don Bosco himself, must always be safeguarded.
Our founder was deeply convinced that in order to educate properly it was
necessary to coordinate the energies of many like-minded people who are
committed to sharing common apostolic objectives.
94 Ivi, art. 19.
95 Cfr. ivi, art. 21.
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1.3 LOST AND FOUND: THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH AS
FAMILY
One of the most interesting observations that has emerged from the Church’s
recent focus on the theme of the family has been the rediscovery of a long-ne-
glected aspect of the Church, namely, its family style. The Apostolic Exhortation
Amoris Laetitia, n. 87, offers this definition of the Church:
The Church is a family of families, constantly enriched by
the lives of all those domestic churches. “In virtue of the
sacrament of matrimony, every family becomes, in effect,
a good for the Church. From this standpoint, reflecting on
the interplay between the family and the Church will prove
a precious gift for the Church in our time. The Church is
good for the family, and the family is good for the Church.
The safeguarding of the Lord’s gift in the sacrament of
matrimony is a concern not only of individual families but
of the entire Christian community”.
This passage expresses the unity, the reciprocity, and the complementarity of
family and Church which, if considered independently, would lose essential
aspects of their intimate relationship: on the one hand, the family without the
Church risks becoming a closed community defined by “self-referentialism”,
without any openness to, or enrichment from, the vast horizons offered by
the Church; on the other hand, the Church without families risks becoming
a dispenser of “religious services”, a cold bureaucracy incapable of inspiring
confidence, offering hospitality or affection, and stripped of its generative and
maternal capacity.
With regards to parishes —which are the living cells of the Church, capable of
bringing new members to life in the faith— the Exhortation offers this insight:
The main contribution to the pastoral care of families is
offered by the parish, which is the family of families, where
small communities, ecclesial movements and associations
live in harmony. Along with a pastoral outreach aimed
specifically at families, this shows the need for “a more
adequate formation… of priests, deacons, men and women
religious, catechists and other pastoral workers”. In the
replies given to the worldwide consultation, it became clear
that ordained ministers often lack the training needed to
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
deal with the complex problems currently facing families.
The experience of the broad oriental tradition of a married
clergy could also be drawn upon96.
To acknowledge that the Church and the parish are “a family of families” is
a powerful, programmatic affirmation of the style of relationships we need to
nurture, the models of formation we need to develop, the educational itiner-
aries we need to navigate, and the types of liturgical celebrations we need to
experience!
eeRelational styles. First and foremost, the family as such provides
the pattern for an experience of Church. This was the experience of
Jesus himself. His preparation for public ministry took place within
the family of Nazareth into which he was born, where he was raised,
and where he stayed until he was ready to bring his proclamation of
the Good News to the world, one family at a time.
eeModels of formation. Our formation cannot be based on business
models that pursue efficiency and productivity at all cost. Our models
strive for spiritual formation by touching the affective and converting
hearts, drawing on the resources that flow from our covenant rela-
tionship with the God of love.
eeEducative itineraries. We are not so much interested in “courses”
as we are in “processes”. Therefore, we need to engage in the di-
fficult but energizing art of accompanying the younger generations
and families as such, because they need travel companions on their
journey of faith, who are capable of guiding them and who are ready
to share their joys and struggles.
eeTypes of liturgical celebrations we need to experience. Liturgy
has its own strategic contribution to make. Because in and through
the liturgy, the Church —convoked by God to be a family— com-
municates a manner of relating. This contribution cannot be taken
for granted. Through sacred spaces and architecture, through the
quality of the music and singing, through the dignity with which the
celebration unfolds, so many possibilities lie before us!
Important benchmarks
a. The family as an educative context: because the family is intergener-
ational and matures through the co-responsibility of its members, it
96 Francesco, Amoris laetitia, n. 202.
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is a matrix for living the salesian charism and a paradigm for all the
ways our charism becomes incarnate in time and in history.
b. The Church as a subject in education: communion between the var-
ious states of life in the Church (lay, family, religious, clerical) can
rightly be considered as the most adequate subject of education.
c. Family spirit and Youth Ministry: it is imperative that we rethink youth
ministry from the starting point of family spirit, because this spirit
provides the necessary atmosphere for education and evangelization.
2 SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY
FOR THE FAMILY
As Salesians, we do not want a “Family Ministry” that is separate from “Youth
Ministry”. We are not asking, as a follow up to this international Salesian con-
gress, that every province create a new department dedicated to family ministry
that runs parallel to, or worse yet, in competition with, Youth Ministry.
What we want is, family spirit to be the hallmark of our works, vocational
attentiveness to be directed to all young people, deliberate attention to be
dedicated to the fragility of family life today, and finally, that these three as-
pects be present transversally in all of the ways we implement our educative
and pastoral processes.
2.1 THE EDUCATIVE-PASTORAL COMMUNITY: THE
EMBODIMENT OF “FAMILY SPIRIT”
From the outset, it is necessary to speak about the EPC and its animating nucle-
us, because we want to minister to families first of all by presenting ourselves
as a model of family and by making it obvious that we live and work together
as a family in our educative and pastoral works.
As a large family dedicated to the education and evangelization of youth in a
particular territory, the EPC is the embodiment today of that family spirit that
was so characteristic at the birth of our charism. In the latest Frame of Reference
for Youth Ministry, the EPC is defined as follows:
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ee Community: because it involves young people and adults,
parents and educators in a family atmosphere. The
thing that unites us is not work or efficiency, but a set
of values of life (educational, spiritual, Salesian…) that
form a shared identity willingly accepted by all;
ee Educative: because it gives first place, in all its projects,
relationships and organisations, to concern for the
integral development of young people. By this we
mean the development of their potential in all aspects:
physical, psychological, cultural, professional, social,
religious and spiritual;
ee Pastoral: because it is open to evangelisation, it walks
with young people on their journey to encounter Christ
and creates an experience of Church where young
people experience human and Christian values in
communion with God and with others97.
In summary, the EPC is our way of being Church and of living a concrete ex-
perience of the Salesian charism: to be and to live as one large family where
sharing, communion, and co-responsibility express our passion for the education
and evangelization of the younger generations is expressed through.
The decisive factor which brought us to this point is “the new season which
the Church is experiencing. There is a keen awareness of the Church as being
in communion with God and with all people; this communion is the primary
means for bringing about the salvation of humankind”98. The importance of
this affirmation cannot be overstated, because it reverses the traditional priority
between what we do and how we do it; top priority now goes to our how we
do what we do, because the way one walks already indicates the destination
one hopes to reach:
It has not been a short walk. The pre-conciliar groundwork,
the reflections of the Council, all the effort to rejuvenate
ecclesial and pastoral life following the Council, the
doctrinal synthesis and the praxis that evolved in the
years approaching the new millennium, the Synods on
the laity, on ordained ministers and on consecrated life
97 Dicastero per la Pastorale Giovanile, Quadro di riferimento della Pastorale Giovanile
Salesiana, Roma, 32014, 118.
98 Atti del Consiglio Generale 363 (1998), I.3.
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and the subsequent Apostolic Exhortations [on the family]
have shed much light on how the different vocations are
complementary, mutually enriching and interdependent; in
fact, they have no unique identity of their own if not their
mutual reinforcement within the ecclesial community99.
We can go deeper still. If the EPC is the body which unites all those who bring
the salesian reality to life, it is imperative to define, so to speak, the family nu-
cleus which animates this huge family. We speak of the “animating nucleus”,
that is, of a small group of people who are tasked with the responsibility of
gathering, motivating and involving all the members of the EPC. This nucleus
is the driving force of the entire project, and has been described as follows:
All components of the EPC, Salesians and lay people,
participate in its animation but some have the specific task
of promoting the contribution of all and the responsibility
of the largest possible number of members, taking care of
the quality and coordination of the animation and paying
particular attention to levels more immediately concerned
with the salesian identity and quality of education and
evangelisation. With their charismatic witness, these people
constitute the “animating nucleus” of the EPC.
The human heart is a small organ compared to the rest of
the body but it is capable of getting blood, and therefore
life, to all parts of the body, though only if all the “valves
are working in harmony to achieve this end. Similarly,
the animating nucleus is a group of people composed of
Salesians and lay people who identify themselves with the
mission, the educational system and salesian spirituality
and together assume the task of convening, motivating
and engaging all who are involved in the work, in order to
form with them the educational community and to realise
together the plan of evangelisation and education of the
young100.
What flows from all this is a pastoral trajectory that clearly assumes communion
among EPC members as the foundation for the mission, and builds everything
99 Ivi.
100 Quadro di riferimento della pastorale giovanile salesiana, 125-126.
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around the hub of “the prophecy of fraternity” which remains the true vehicle
for education and evangelization.
2.2 “YOUTH VOCATION MINISTRY”: FAMILY MINISTRY
FROM A PREVENTIVE PERSPECTIVE
What follows is the heart of my presentation.
We collaborate primarily in family ministry, through the charismatic Salesian ap-
proach, offering youth ministry in a way that is sound, coherent, and farsighted.
We are convinced that good Youth Ministry will contribute to the formation of
young people who are strong, who stand in solidarity with others, and who are
capable of love. Our goal is to lay the necessary foundations for future families
that are solid, faithful, and happy.
The Preparatory Document for the upcoming Synod speaks in many instances
of “youth vocation ministry” and asserts that vocational discernment is an
age-appropriate task of youth101. Therefore, what the Church expects of us is
youth ministry that is conducive to vocational discernment and that expands
the scope of vocation animation to embrace the vocation of family life as well.
This ministerial vision proceeds from the foundational conviction that marriage
(like all the other Christian vocations) is an authentic and unique vocation in
the church, and as such it has something particular and unique to offer that
the other vocational calls in the Church do not have:
Marriage is a vocation, inasmuch as it is a response to a
specific call to experience conjugal love as an imperfect sign of
the love between Christ and the Church [emphasis added].
Consequently, the decision to marry and to have a family
ought to be the fruit of a process of vocational discernment.
[…] Both short-term and long-term marriage preparation
should ensure that the couple do not view the wedding
ceremony as the end of the road, but instead embark upon
marriage as a life-long calling [emphasis added] based on
101 Cfr. R. Sala, Pastorale giovanile vocazionale. L’invito sinodale a qualificare
vocazionalmente il nostro impegno educativo-pastorale in «Note di pastorale giovanile»
3 (2017) 2-4.
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a firm and realistic decision to face all trials and difficult
moments together102.
In recent years, one of the Church’s strongest messages has been this rediscov-
ered appreciation of marriage as an authentic vocation that brings a unique
value to —and enriches— the other states of Christian life. There is no turning
back from this conviction. In the prolonged discussions on the vocation of
marriage at the last two Synods on the Family, much was said about prepara-
tion for marriage —remote preparation, proximate preparation and immediate
preparation— affirming that
the three stages indicated in Familiaris Consortio (cf. 66) need to be borne in
mind: remote preparation, which treats the transmission of the faith and Chris-
tian values within the family; proximate preparation, which coincides with the
various programmes of catechesis and the formative experiences lived within
the ecclesial community; and immediate preparation for marriage, which is part
of a broader programme, characterized by the vocation to marriage itself103.
It is very interesting to consider the three areas of attention identified here:
“remote” preparation seems to focus on the family of origin; “proximate”
preparation would appear connected to the Christian community and therefore
to the processes offered in youth ministry; finally, “immediate” preparation
is concerned with helping young adults who are preparing for sacramental
marriage to deepen their appreciation of marriage as a “vocational” choice,
recognizing the fact that “Christian marriage cannot be reduced to a cultural
tradition or to a simple juridical arrangement: Christian marriage is a genuine
call from God which demands careful discernment, constant prayer and ade-
quate growth and development104.
In fact, the connection between these three moments (remote, proximate and
immediate) provides the point of intersection, so to speak, of three distinct but
necessary and related areas of pastoral care: family ministry, youth ministry and
vocational ministry. All three are at the service of the person maturing through
the different phases of human developmental (infancy, childhood, adolescence,
youth, adulthood). Too often, however, we treat these like three separate fields
of ministry, whereas in reality they are grafted onto each other; they are either
mutually reinforcing or mutually disempowering, growing or diminishing in
102 Francesco, Amoris laetitia, n. 72.211.
103 Sinodo sulla famiglia, Relazione finale approvata dai padri sinodali, n. 57.
104 Ivi.
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direct proportion one to the other. Work done well in one area is the best
guarantee of success in the other two as well.
With respect to remote preparation,
the Synod unanimously restated that the primary school of
formation is the family and that the Christian community is
engaged in the support and integration of this irreplaceable
formative role. Places and times for families to meet need to
be determined to encourage the training of parents and the
sharing of experiences among families. Parents, as the first
teachers and witnesses of faith for their children, need to
be actively involved in their preparation for the Sacraments
of Christian Initiation105.
With regards to proximate preparation, it is unthinkable for youth ministry to be
so turned in on itself as to be disconnected from family ministry, or concerned
with plans and formative processes independently of those being considered
and implemented in family ministry.
There is no denying that youth ministry is a specific field
of ministry, but, in addition to incorporating vocational
ministry specific to the priesthood or consecrated life, it
must also take into account family ministry. This is so for
two reasons: because every young person comes from a
family of origin, and furthermore because many of them
in the future will establish new families of their own.
Unfortunately, an exaggerated specialization has led us to
develop “two worlds” – one of the young, and the other of
the family. Unity here must be restored 106.
Finally, with regards to immediate preparation, we must ask: what role and what
tasks do we assign to youth and family ministry if the desired outcome is to have
young people explore more deeply the vocational dimension of their Christian
life? A prerequisite for this exploration is an initial openness to the vocational
call, followed by a discernment experience and finally a commitment to pursue
105 Ivi, n. 67.
106 Duarte da Cuhna (Segretario Generale del Consiglio delle Conferenze Episcopali
Europee), La pastorale giovanile in Europa in un momento di nuova evangelizzazione,
relazione al XII Convegno Nazionale di Pastorale Giovanile della CEI, Roma, 10-13 ottobre
2011 (cfr. http://giovani.chiesacattolica.it).
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the preparation process for whatever Christian vocation was discerned: priest-
hood, consecrated life or marriage.
Pre-matrimonial programmes seem to require additional
topics to better form people in faith and love in the general
process of Christian initiation. In this regard, the importance
of the virtues needs to be recalled, especially chastity, which
is invaluable in the genuine growth of love between persons.
The formation programme should assume the structure
of a journey towards vocational discernment for both the
individual person and the couple, ensuring a better synergy
between the various pastoral areas [emphasis added]. The pre-
marital programme might also be given by married couples
who are capable of accompanying engaged couples before
their marriage and in the initial years of marriage, thereby
showing the value of the ministry of married couples. Giving
value to interpersonal relationships in the Church’s pastoral
activity will encourage the gradual opening of minds and
hearts to the fullness of God’s plan107.
Marriage preparation is an area in which many aspects must be brought to-
gether in synergy. It includes both vocation ministry —the scope of which must
be broader that simply the promoting the consecrated vocations— and youth
ministry - which cannot be limited to gathering large group of youths without
providing adequate attention to the specific vocational decision each young
person must make as they mature out of our pastoral itineraries.
In this sense, the pastoral processes we offer in marriage preparation need to
pass through three different levels of depth. We have offered courses at the
first level, competency, where the primary interveners are lawyers, psychologists,
clergy, doctors, counselors. We have also moved to the second level, courses
that focus on relationships, centred on the couple’s intimacy, family networks,
ancestry, conflict management and child raising. However, we have yet to offer
formation at the deepest level, which is vocational. Here the focus would be on
the call as gift, the necessity of faith and the sacraments, love, and responsibility.
What emerges as fundamental and non-negotiable is the recognition that any
pastoral “reboot” must have a strong connection with the family, both as its
point of departure and as its goal. As its point of departure because youth
107 Sinodo sulla famiglia, Relazione finale approvata dai padri sinodali, 58.
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ministry deals not only with youth in the strict sense, but also with infants,
children and adolescents. When dealing with infants and children, the primary,
if not absolute protagonist is their family and others who are in primary rela-
tionships with the youngster. With adolescence begins the period of rebellion
and breaking away from family life. The family, therefore, must also be a goal of
youth ministry because those who complete the rite of passage from youth to
adulthood are generally called to live their Christian vocation by establishing a
family of their own. Therefore, it stands to reason that one of the fundamental
objectives of youth ministry must be to prepare young people to embrace adult
responsibilities, with family responsibilities holding pride of place. This is why
the question of vocation animation is so pertinent to our reflection.
2.3 SALESIAN PASTORAL CARE OF THE FAMILY: A SIGN
OF THE TIMES
From the perspective of the Salesian charism, it is necessary to keep a specific
focus on the family because our young people, in addition to managing many
types of poverty (material, cultural, moral, spiritual), are also living serious forms
of “family poverty”. Even on this front, our charism, and specifically the preven-
tive system, has an important contribution to make towards a true, proper and
specific “family ministry”, because “today, more important than the pastoral
care of failures is the pastoral effort to strengthen marriages and thus to prevent
their breakdown” 108.
Pope Benedict XVI shed much light on this topic. During his audience with
the members of GC26 on March 31, 2008, he shared this deep insight on the
importance of family ministry in our Salesian mission:
In the education of youth it is extremely important that
the family plays an active role. Families frequently have
difficulty in facing the challenges of education; they are
often unable to make their own contribution or are absent.
The special tenderness and commitment to young people that are
characteristic of Don Bosco’s charism must be expressed in an
equal commitment to the involvement and formation of families.
Your youth ministry, therefore, must be decisively open to family
ministry [emphasis added]. Caring for families does not
mean taking people away from work for young people;
108 Amoris laetitia, n. 307.
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on the contrary, it means making it more permanent and
effective [GC26, p. 127].
In the final GC26 document, one of the three “new frontiers” which the Con-
gregation adopted for privileged attention was the family. Listed between “poor
young people” and seeking “new models for managing our works”, family
ministry is a top priority for the Congregation going forward109.
It is a fact that on the whole, the Church has recognized the need to focus
more attention on the question of the family than on youth. This is a valid and
even dutiful choice, because in doing so, the Church is not overlooking youth
but rather is trying to create the conditions that are most conducive to a lasting
and robust education to serve as the foundation for a renewal of society on the
whole. The Church remains convinced of this, not withstanding the difficulties
facing family life today:
The family in modern culture is experiencing a profound
crisis, as are all communities and social bonds. In the case
of the family, the weakening of these bonds is particularly
serious because the family is the fundamental cell of
society, where we learn to live with others despite our
differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place
where parents pass on the faith to their children. […] The
individualism of our postmodern and globalized era favours
a lifestyle which weakens the development and stability of
personal relationships and distorts family bonds. Pastoral
activity needs to bring out more clearly the fact that our
relationship with the Father demands and encourages
a communion which heals, promotes and reinforces
interpersonal bonds. 110
The essential reason for so much focus on the family is this: the family as such
is particularly fragile and undergoing serious trials and therefore needs greater
attention and pastoral care.
One of the distinguishing aspects of our charism is its missionary dimension:
we are called to greater awareness that “nowadays, pastoral care for families
109 Anche se sulla famiglia la prima parte del n. 99 (chiamata di Dio) e del n. 122
(situazione) offrivano più una direzione di marcia che delle proposte concrete.
110 Francesco, Amoris laetitia, n. 230.
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has to be fundamentally missionary, going out to where people are. We can no
longer be like a factory, churning out courses that for the most part are poorly
attended” 111. For us, “going out to where people are” means meeting families
in their real life situations, seeking to accompany them with patience and pru-
dence along the many twists and turns, ups and downs of their journey, being
an intelligent and wise presence in key moments of discernment and assuring
them of our accompaniment especially in their struggles and sorrows.
It is therefore necessary, in every aspect of our mission, to keep a privileged
and attentive gaze on the family. This means that in those typically charismatic
moments when we are directly involved with the young, we are called to of-
fer particular care to their families of origin by creating meaningful occasions
of encounter, formation, accompaniment and support. Fidelity to our charism
also requires us to implement pastoral activities which have a broad outreach,
especially in parishes entrusted to the Congregation. This would include, for
example, offering accompaniment and support to young married couples and
to individuals in difficulty. These are all specific areas of pastoral care which we
must not neglect.
Important benchmarks
a. The Educative Pastoral Community: living and working together in
a manner inspired by communion, sharing and co-responsibility is a
concrete expression of “prophets of fraternity” in action;
b. Youth vocational ministry: including a broad vocational dimension in
youth ministry is no longer an option. It is a historical, ecclesial and
charismatic imperative.
c. Family ministry: “the poverty of family life” which directly confronts
many of today’s youth demands a family ministry inspired by the
preventive system and guided by “reason, religion and kindness”.
111 Ivi, n. 89.
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THE FAMILY IS CO-
3 RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
SALESIAN MISSION
The Church’s post-Conciliar journey emphasises Christian baptism as the point
of access to all missionary and evangelizing initiatives. Consequently, the fam-
ily, as the founding nucleus and authentic expression of the Church, must be
intentionally included in this logic, as an active and enthusiastic subject in the
process of spreading the Good News.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the family does not —and neither should any
of the other states of Christian life— exist in isolation. The family is an integral
part of the church’s educative mission to which it brings its unique contribution
in a spirit of co-responsibility.
It stands to reason, therefore, that within the Salesian charism the family holds
pride of place as a subject of the educative and evangelizing mission to the
younger generations.
3.1 WHAT IS PROPER TO THE FAMILY?
As a point of departure, we can ask ourselves: what is proper to the family?
Wherein lies its originality? What unique role does the family play in relation to
other civic and ecclesial subjects?
In response to these questions, let us revisit some aspects of Amoris laetitia
and consider three important affirmations which summarize the document’s
three most programmatic chapters regarding the specific vocation of the family:
chapters four, five, and seven.
The first unique characteristic of the family is its vocation to love. Chapter four
clearly states that the family has the specific task of demonstrating what love
is and how it can be lived in everyday life.
Amoris laetitia uses St. Paul’s hymn to love from 1 Cor 13 —which Don Bosco
always used to express the essence of his educative system!— as a rich expres-
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
sion of what love is in concrete terms. Added to the canticle are the attitudes
which people who love need to nurture daily. These pages of the Exhortation
encourage us to ask our Heavenly Father not only for our daily bread, but also
our daily love. If we are to understand the gospel of the family, we must first
take time to speak of love.
All that has been said so far would be insufficient to express
the Gospel of marriage and the family, were we not also
to speak of love. For we cannot encourage a path of fidelity
and mutual self-giving without encouraging the growth,
strengthening and deepening of conjugal and family love.
Indeed, the grace of the sacrament of marriage is intended
before all else “to perfect to remove mountains, but have not
love, I am nothing. If I give all I have, and if I deliver my body
to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:2-
3). The word “love”, however, is commonly used and often
misused 112.
The second characteristic of the family is its vocation to generativity. Chapter
five is entirely dedicated to this topic, and acts as a continuation of the preced-
ing chapter, because love and generativity derive from the same verb in as
much as “love always gives life” 113. Love is always and absolutely fertile and
generative: the very biological configuration of man and woman declares that
the default position for humans is to be life-giving.
No other vocation in the Church is generative in the way a family is. Other forms
of generativity, such as spiritual paternity or maternity, find in the family their
privileged reference point. In Mary we see the perfect embodiment of this uni-
ty: in her, conceiving in faith and conceiving in the flesh, is one and the same.
In light of the foregoing, let us consider the genetic connectedness and dynamic
unity between flesh and spirit, between love and sexuality, between body and
affectivity. All of these are critical, hot-button contemporary topics: suffice it
to consider “gender theory”, which denies, with brazen superficiality, the con-
nection between objective physical embodiment and subjective self-perception
by appealing to a crude Cartesian view of the body as nothing more than res
extensa, undifferentiated matter, which is malleable to whatever likeness and
image one creates for oneself.
112 Ivi, n. 165.
113 Ivi, n. 188.
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Contrast this with a human pregnancy, considered as the creation of a physi-
cal and spiritual space for another who wishes to live in our midst, where the
female body expresses to perfection its feminine uniqueness. Or consider the
reality of adoption, where a family is open to and in solidarity with a fragile life
at risk and extends an invitation to trust. Or consider the reality of being a son
or daughter, that basic experience of every human, about with the Apostolic
Exhortation offers this reflection:
We do well to remember that each of us is a son or daughter. “Even though
one becomes an adult, or an elderly person, even when one becomes a parent,
or if one occupies a position of responsibility, underneath all of this is still the
identity of a child. We are all sons and daughters. And this always brings us
back to the fact that we did not give ourselves life but that we received it. The
great gift of life is the first gift that we received” 114.
The third unique aspect of the family is its educative vocation. This is the topic
of chapter seven which affirms that the family is the privileged and primary
educator of children. Neither the Church nor the state nor the school is the
primary locus of education. The family is. While the family can rightly seek the
assistance of ecclesial and civic partners in fulfilling this responsibility, it cannot
delegate this task because “the family is the first school of human values, where
we learn the wise use of freedom” 115.
The Exhortation’s goal in terms of education is to motivate parents to set aside
the logic of “delegating” or “consigning” the education of their children to
“educative agencies”, and to reclaim their educative responsibility with due
consideration of their family dynamics.
The Synod Fathers also wished to emphasize that “one
of the fundamental challenges facing families today is
undoubtedly that of raising children, made all the more
difficult and complex by today’s cultural reality and the
powerful influence of the media”. The Church assumes a
valuable role in supporting families, starting with Christian
initiation, through welcoming communities. At the same
time, I feel it is important to reiterate that the overall
education of children is a “most serious, but an essential
and inalienable right that parents are called to defend and
114 Ivi, n. 274.
115 Ivi, n. 84.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
of which no one may claim to deprive them. The State offers
educational programmes in a subsidiary way, supporting the
parents in their indeclinable role; parents themselves enjoy
the right to choose freely the kind of education —accessible
and of good quality— which they wish to give their children
in accordance with their convictions. Schools do not replace
parents, but complement them. This is a basic principle: “all
other participants in the process of education are only able
to carry out their responsibilities in the name of the parents,
with their consent and, to a certain degree, with their
authorization”. Still, “a rift has opened up between the family
and society, between family and the school; the educational
pact today has been broken and thus the educational alliance
between society and the family is in crisis” 116.
In these words, the Exhortation insists that the family is always the primary place
for the patient, educative accompaniment of children, throughout every phase
of life: infancy, childhood, pre-adolescence, adolescence, youth, adulthood,
old age! While choosing judiciously from a variety of responses and age-ap-
propriate techniques, the goal remains the same: tending to the diverse needs
and dimensions of the maturing process, by offering ongoing moral formation
through a “virtuous life that builds, strengthens and shapes freedom” 117. This
goal can be pursued in many ways. First, through the use of properly measured
consequences, corrections and stimuli to achieve human development through
a sound pedagogy of common sense and patient trust. Secondly, by accompa-
nying children through a positive and prudent sex education, that “can only
be seen within the broader framework of an education for love, for mutual
self-giving”118. Finally, but by no means less important, assuring an authentic
and committed transmission of the faith, which will always be the primary task
of the Christian family, a task that ecclesial groups may help families with, but
which must never replace the family in this regard.
Raising children calls for an orderly process of handing
on the faith. This is made difficult by current lifestyles,
work schedules and the complexity of today’s world,
where many people keep up a frenetic pace just to
survive. Even so, the home must continue to be the place
116 Ivi, n. 267.
117 Ivi, n. 280.
118 Ivi, n. 287.
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where we learn to appreciate the meaning and beauty of
the faith, to pray and to serve our neighbour. This begins
with baptism, in which, as Saint Augustine said, mothers
who bring their children “cooperate in the sacred birthing
of growth in that new life. Faith is God’s gift, received
in baptism, and not our own work, yet parents are the
means that God uses for it to grow and develop119.
3.2 WHAT TYPE OF CONTRIBUTIONS? SOME
PRIVILEGED POSSIBILITIES
If the deepest vocation of the family is love, then having and educating children
will logically be the family’s specific and most precious contribution to the Ed-
ucative Pastoral Community and its animating nucleus.
And yet, to date, we have not said much to promote this idea, nor have not
done much to explore the possibility of an enriching “cross-pollination” be-
tween the salesian charism and the family.
In a nutshell, what we need to do is to weave together in a wise and prudent
way the four pillars of the Salesian charism which are summarized in the or-
atorian criteria - a home that welcomes, a parish that evangelizes, a school
that educates for life, and a playground for meeting friends120 with the three
dimensions that are proper to the family – love, generativity and education.
Often there are married people within the animating nucleus of the Educative
Pastoral Community, but rarely do we find people who are involved as a couple,
that is, as a nuclear family. And yet this could be a new and precious aspect to
explore at the local, provincial and world levels of Salesian animation. It would
be a concrete way to give visibility to the fullness of ecclesial communion, made
up of people from all the states of life that make up the Church.
The time has come to consider seriously the idea that some families are ready to
enter into an apostolic commitment, through an authentic discernment around
their unique role within the Salesian educative-pastoral charism. True, this may
not be for all families, but even those few who might be called would be a
small but powerful sign of the dynamic unity that connects the family and the
119 Cfr. Quadro di riferimento della pastorale giovanile salesiana, 126-131.
120 Francesco, Amoris laetitia, n. 220.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Salesian charism. It is encouraging that in some Salesian provinces there has
been, serious ongoing discernment to deepen this reflection from a theoretical
and practical perspective.
Imagine the vast array of possibilities this could open up for us. Imagine if in all
of our Salesian presences our pastoral work was never simply a repetition, but
a new creation, the fruit of “the imagination of love” that should characterize
every ecclesial project. Considering what is most “pastorally advantageous” is
crucial. “Advantageous” here is used not in a business sense but in terms of
what will bear most fruit: what is the best thing to do here and now so that the
Salesian charism can be enriched by the concrete and visible contribution of the
family and of family spirituality with its characteristic predilection for the young?
Among all the possible options we could explore in this regard, permit me to
suggest three privileged areas of attention: affective education within youth
groups and ministry groups; the presence of families as animators of other
families and of educators, especially within a parish setting; the involvement of
families together with consecrated men and women in moments of local and
provincial vocation animation.
With respect to the first area, I would stress the strategic contribution families
could make when it comes to educating to love: affectivity, love and mutual
self-giving. Helping the young to enter the nuptial logic of love as the giving
of oneself to another is definitely a specific gift that a couple can offer to the
Church and to the young.
Consider the rich interplay between masculine and feminine, which brings forth
so many precious realties through the threefold dimensions of love, generativity
and education. In particular, the complementarity of maternal and paternal is
essential for a proper education which would be impossible without maternal
accompaniment and paternal transmission. It is not difficult to see how the many
transitions that characterize family life as a journey, which demands more and
more self-giving, can become an educative dynamic for adolescents and youths:
This process occurs in various stages that call for generosity
and sacrifice. The first powerful feelings of attraction give
way to the realization that the other is now a part of my life.
The pleasure of belonging to one another leads to seeing life
as a common project, putting the other’s happiness ahead of
my own, and realizing with joy that this marriage enriches
society. As love matures, it also learns to “negotiate”. Far
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from anything selfish or calculating, such negotiation is an
exercise of mutual love, an interplay of give and take, for the
good of the family. At each new stage of married life, there
is a need to sit down and renegotiate agreements, so that
there will be no winners and losers, but rather two winners.
In the home, decisions cannot be made unilaterally, since
each spouse shares responsibility for the family; yet each
home is unique and each marriage will find an arrangement
that works best121.
I would like to emphasize, in the context of the family’s specific duty, the pres-
ence and the necessity of families that welcome boys and girls, adolescents
and youth. There are families that share in the Salesian mission by welcome
young people into their homes: through adoption, short- or long-term foster
plans, various forms of responsibility with Salesian works that take care of youth
without families, as, for example, in group homes. This is a real way to share
in the Salesian mission.
With regards to the second area, dealing with couples committed to the spiritual
animation of groups of families, I would underline the necessary liberation of
family ministry from clerical control which, as we all know, is always a two-
edged sword: “clericalism” is always the fruit of those who want to stay on the
front line (priests or religious), and those who are content to stay in the back-
ground and be passive recipients (lay people and families). Groups of families
who constantly seek formation from ordained ministers or consecrated people
risk compromising the true apostolic identity of the family by sliding into a sense
of indebtedness to the clergy, which does not help anyone, neither priests, nor
families. In short, what is needed are families who are committed to families.
For this reason, it is necessary that we step up our game, as couples, as Salesian
provinces, as local Salesians: to create formative programmes to empower lay
leaders for family ministry; to have couples as well as single people as educators;
to encourage the growth of family groups that are responsible for their own
formation in the Word and in Salesian spirituality so they can become animating
nuclei of other families.
Together [with consecrated Salesians,], the presence of families could be a real
gift for the formation of animators and educators: convinced that the commun-
121 Cfr. Sinodo dei Vescovi – XV Assemblea Generale Ordinaria, I giovani, la fede e il
discernimento vocazionale. Documento preparatorio e questionario, II,2.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
ion shared by husband and wife is per se the first educative force within the fam-
ily, much can be said, just with regard to spouses, about the common educative
and evangelizing strategies that can be applied towards the integral formation
of young people who in turn give themselves in service to other young people.
Finally, some thoughts on the third area which deals with vocational discern-
ment. This area is connected to the experience of Salesian spirituality at the
local and provincial levels, where it is important to show that youth ministry is
entirely directed towards helping the young to make vocational choices. Think
about how beautiful and close the ties are between family, consecrated men
and women, and ordained ministers when a young person is working through a
demanding vocational discernment: the coexistence of virginity for the kingdom
and human fertility manifests the diverse forms of love that, far from being in
competition with each other, share an authentic, albeit different type of fertility,
that is both physical and spiritual.
This brings us to two problems that must be addressed. The first is thinking
about Youth Ministry as a service that has no end, that is, without a clear and
intentional vocational focus. But if it is important that youth ministry, a task
inspired by the charism, have a beginning, it is even more important that it
has an end. Our pastoral efforts are intended to form adults in life and in the
faith. This is why we help the young to entrust themselves to people who have
attained a certain level of vocational maturity in one of the various states of
Christian life. The second problem deals with a style of vocational animation
that is limited only to the so called “vocations of special consecration”, that is,
religious life and the priesthood. No doubt these vocations have unique aspects
to be carefully explored, but rather than do so in an exclusive or excluding way,
it is best done within an inclusive and integrated vocational dynamic. Otherwise,
vocation animation morphs into a “bonsai ministry”, rather than a destination
to orient the discernment journey that every young person needs to make.
How does one live the good news of the Gospel and
respond to the call which the Lord addresses to each person
He encounters?: through marriage, ordained ministry,
consecrated life? In what field can one’s talents be put
to best use: in a profession, volunteering, service to the
poorest, politics? 122.
122 Cfr. Quadro di riferimento della pastorale giovanile salesiana, 75-103 English
translation, 86-111
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3.3 WHAT KIND OF FORMATION? FORMATIVE
ITINERARIES FOR THE SALESIAN MISSION
The final point I would like to address is, in some ways the most delicate, and
perhaps the most fragile: if anything we have considered here in these days
has any chance of being realized, it will only be through innovative processes
of formation for each and every one of us.
Lack of pastoral planning is the mother of many disasters in many areas and at
every level. Today, there is an ongoing need for formation that provides ongo-
ing updating and a permanent capacity for life-long learning. Such formation
applies not only to families, but also to every consecrated and ordained Salesian.
What we need in the first place is to implement a genuine renewal for all of
us, a genuine conversion which calls us to assimilate the style of communion,
the dynamics of sharing, and the art of co-responsibility. We speak a lot about
these things, but we are still light years behind from where we could and ought
to be in fulfilling them. Valuing all the vocations present in the Church, joyfully
welcoming the unique contribution that each one has to offer for the good of
the young, living the logic of an ongoing exchange of giftedness, outdoing each
other in mutual appreciation are all goals that we have yet to achieve.
Today, it is of paramount importance that we live a spirituality of communion,
or, to use a current expression of our Rector Major, the prophecy of fraternity:
consecrated women and men, families and young people united by genuine
apostolic co-responsibility. What needs to emerge is a specifically relational
style. When I say “style” I mean something very specific: the concrete manner
in which our strengths and our structures —personal, community and institu-
tional— weave together to create a living unity, giving life to a truly functioning
ecosystem.
You will recall that in 1996, GC24 dealt with Salesians and Laypeople sharing
the same salesian spirit and mission. That Chapter said something that, in my
opinion, was prophetic, when it spoke about a relational spirituality and family
spirit that had to be sown, cultivated and brought to maturity. Three paragraphs
in particular remain of vital importance today in regard to the necessary con-
ditions for the renewal of our manner of living and doing. These paragraphs
shed light on all we have been speaking about:
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
[91] Don Bosco, man of relationships
The first gift Don Bosco gives to his disciples is that of a
serene and welcoming human relationship. His self-control
allowed him to give himself to others with extraordinary
efficacy, and to give gradually to relationships a pastoral and
sacramental content. The quality of educative encounters
was always foremost in his mind. “Let all you speak with
become your friends”, he used to say, and “to be a friend
of Don Bosco meant everything at Valdocco: spiritual
commitment, interior happiness, collaboration in education,
family joy. He was convinced that the Salesian spirit “must
animate and guide all we do and say”. He is forthright about
this in his letters to Don Cagliero and Don Costamagna
in August 1885: “The Preventive System must be our
distinguishing characteristic. (…) Charity, patience, kindness
(…) This holds for the Salesians among themselves, with
the pupils and others, externs or boarders”. “Study how
you can make yourself loved”, he murmured to Don Rua,
leaving him what seemed a final message and indicating
to him the secret of the art of the Good Shepherd. At the
end of his life therefore, he handed on as a deep conviction
and precious legacy, the intuition he had received in his
dream at the age of 9 years, and in his predilection for the
‘relational virtues’ as the bearings for educative dialogue
and practical collaboration, Don Bosco proved an excellent
disciple of St Francis of Sales.
[92] A need of today’s men and women
Today people bewail a widespread absence of relationships,
and loneliness gives rise to more fear than death itself,
especially among the young and the aged. The human
sciences describe man as a being of relationships. He is
immersed in them from the time he leaves his mother’s
womb. A positive relationship builds him up and makes him
happy; a negative one can depress and even destroy him. In
any case rapport is at the heart of every educative approach,
of every effort at collaboration, from family harmony to the
efficacy of a pastoral and educative community. “We must
be brothers to men at the same time that we want to be
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their pastors, fathers and teachers. The right atmosphere for
dialogue is friendship, or rather service” (Paul VI, Ecclesiam
suam).
[93] The Salesian response: loving kindness
What we hear from the laity and from young people
convinces us of the great desire there is for rapport; and
that in the Congregation there are numerous experiences
which provide grounds for hope that we can grow in this
direction, giving full expression —together with lay people
and primarily in their regard— to the rich values of Salesian
loving kindness and the family spirit which stems from it.
It can run the risk of being downgraded to the level of a
purely technical instrument, latching on to another person,
young or adult, and manipulating his personality. For this
reason, it must be so filled with charity that it becomes
transformed into an expression of authentic relational
spirituality. Its fruit and sign is the serene chastity, so dear
to Don Bosco, which governs affective balance and oblative
fidelity. Strengthened and purified in this way, educative
rapport is expressed in the personal encounter, builds a
formative and stimulating environment, encourages group
processes, and accompanies vocational maturing.
With regards to what human competencies that are needed, I refer to those
praiseworthy attitudes that GC24 summarized in n.103 as essential elements
for the building of the EPC.
We think it is important to cultivate in such processes the
following attitudes:
ee an attentive awareness of our manner of
behaviour in relationships and communications;
ee patience in listening and willingness to give way
to the other;
ee the deliberate giving of trust and confidence;
ee willingness to enter into the logic of exchange of
gifts;
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
ee readiness to make the first move in welcoming
others with kindness;
ee assumption of the daily discipline which gives
value to being together;
ee promptness for reconciliation.
Working together co-responsibly will demand critical pastoral conversion: from
“doing for the young” to “doing with the young”; from running “disconnected
events” to leading “a ministry lived in everyday life”; from “large group gather-
ings” to “responsible individual accompaniment”; from “we’ve always done it
like this” to “thinking together according to Gospel values”; from “co-respon-
sibility in doing” to “co-responsibility in planning”; from simply “accepting” lay
people and families to “valuing” their presence and contribution.
The formation we need must enhance our sense of belonging to a “vast move-
ment”, blessed as it is with so many rich and diverse gifts. These gifts are most
visible when we all work together to face the particular demands of our edu-
cative and evangelizing charism.
No doubt, there is a great need for formation in our educational method, the
preventive system. Characterized by reason, religion and kindness, the preven-
tive system remains our compass for living a spiritual and educative experience
in all of our presences 123. We do well to recall here the great pillars of Salesian
youth spirituality that were so well summarized by GC23 in 1990:
1. Spirituality of ordinary daily life. Daily life inspired by
Jesus of Nazareth (cf. C 12) is the setting in which the
youngster recognizes the presence of God who is at
work, and lives out his personal realization of the fact.
2. Spirituality of joy and optimism. Daily life is lived in joy
and optimism, without prejudice to commitment and
responsibility (cf. C 17.18).
3. Spirituality of friendship with the Lord Jesus. Daily life is
recreated by the Risen Christ (cf. C 34) who gives reasons
for hope and leads to a life that finds its fullest sense in
Him.
4. Spirituality of communion in the Church. Daily life is
experienced in the Church (cf. C 13.35), as the natural
123 Capitolo Generale 23, n. 161. Cfr. Quadro di riferimento della pastorale giovanile
salesiana, 93-99.
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setting for growth in faith through the sacraments. In
the Church we find Mary (cf. C 20.34) who goes in front,
accompanies and inspires.
5. Spirituality of responsible service. Daily life is presented to
the young as a setting for service (cf. C 32), both ordinary
and extraordinary124.
What we need is specific formation that gives adequate attention to our par-
ticular mission, Youth Ministry, and each of its five key components: human de-
velopment, explicit proclamation of the gospel, moral formation of conscience,
co-responsibility for the mission and vocational accompaniment. All five di-
mensions must be deepened through solid proposals within a systematically
developed project125
Finally, we need a specific formation plan for family ministry: formation for mar-
riage preparation of the young, for accompaniment of newly married couples
and for groups of families, for support to couples in difficult situations. For all
of this, there already exists a vast array of literature and ecclesial resources in
every continent, nation and diocese.
Important benchmarks
a. What is proper to the family: we are called to recognize and be grate-
ful for all that is specific to and characteristic of the family and the
other states of Christian life.
b. The contribution of the family: the internal demands of the Salesian
charism call us to value the unique contribution which the family as
such can make to the education and evangelization of the young
generations.
c. Adequate formation: the way out of improvisation and incompetence
is formation offered to consecrated Salesians and families together,
according to our Salesian charism.
124 Mi permetto qui di rimandare a R. Sala (con A. Bozzolo, R. Carelli e P.
Zini - Prefazione di G. Mari e postfazione di S. Currò), Pastorale giovanile 1.
Evangelizzazione ed educazione dei giovani. Un percorso teorico-pratico, LAS, Roma 2017,
333-398.
125 Mi permetto qui di remandare a R. SALA (con A. Bozzolo, R. Carelli e P. Zini –
Prefazione di G. Mari e postfazione di S. Curro), Pastorale giovanile1. Evangelizzazione
ed educazione dei giovani. Un percorso teorico-pratico, LAS, Roma 2017, 333-398.
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CONCLUSION
As an expression of my gratitude for your attention and patience, I would like
to offer you, as a practical conclusion, three simple questions that refer to each
of the three parts of my presentation.
A charism of the family. Rediscovering family spirit is essential if we are to re-
claim the pastoral atmosphere of our founding charism. In our salesian realities,
how do we make “family spirit”, which is the necessary context for our style
of education, a lived reality?
Salesian youth ministry for the family. What commitments are we making to
build a genuine “vocational youth ministry” that involves all the young who
come to our houses, including the necessary accompaniment to their families
of origin?
The family as co-responsible for the salesian mission. How and in what areas of
our work are we recognizing the specific contribution that families can bring
so that our Salesian mission may become more effective at the local and pro-
vincial levels? What formative itineraries have we undertaken to better prepare
ourselves to do this?
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REFLECTIONS AT THE
REGIONAL LEVEL
AFRICA & MADAGASCAR
ANGLOPHONE GROUP
1. A charism of the family. Rediscovering family spirit is essential if we
are to reclaim the pastoral atmosphere of our founding charism. In
our Salesian realities, how do we make “family spirit”, which is the
necessary context for our style of education, a lived reality?
MMSharing our charism with young people and laity and other
interested individuals and groups is one of the ways we must
rediscover our family spirit.
MMWe need to explore ways of balancing professionalism in our
institution with relationship with young people, families and
all our collaborators. Less talk, more actions.
MMNeed to improve relationship and collaboration with all the
members of the Salesian family.
MMUrgent need to heed to the call to Return to Don Bosco and
to young people by being present with the young people, not
only in the classrooms but especially at the playground.
MMRediscovering the family spirit is also inculcating in each of us
the same passion that drove Don Bosco.
MMWe need to understand what Salesian Spirit means; but most
importantly, the emphasis should be on the ownership of
the mission and sense of co-responsibility in planning and
ownership of the mission of Don Bosco.
MMThe animating nucleus in our Centres should not necessarily be
Salesians, but the joint planning and activities of the Salesians
and the collaborators.
MMThere is need to orient everyone who is interested in joining
the Salesian family so that the insertion becomes concrete and
committed.
MMNeed to rediscover Table-Fellowship as an integral part of the
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Salesian spirit. This is highlighted especially in the Salesian
festivities and celebrations, especially in the oratories and
schools.
MMPlanning together as EPC for the mission in a systematic
way and concluding with table fellowship. Secondly, shared
responsibilities in the missions, we should not plan as EPC and
implement as SDBs.
2. Salesian Youth ministry for the family. What commitments are we
making to build a genuine “vocational youth ministry” that involves
all the young who come to our houses, including the necessary
accompaniment to their families of origin?
MMImitation of Don Bosco whose approach was vocational
proposals made to young people, usually in an informal way.
however, there is need to have an orgnised and systematic
programmes that allows the young to reflect on and envision
what they want to be.
MMStrengthen and structure Career Guidance Offices within all
our sectors and institutions in such a way that they will be
more structured to meet the needs of young people in career
and vocational choices.
MMThere is need to create processes that complement
programmes and activities that are tailored to assist the young
people to follow their vocations. One of the processes is one-
on-one dialogue with the young in a personal and friendly
way.
MMGroup accompaniment: in many of our institutions, we
have groups with young of like minds. Our closeness and
accompaniment can go a long way to assist them in vocational
choices.
MM3. The family as co-responsible for the Salesian mission. How
and in what areas of our work are we recognizing the specific
contribution that families can bring so that our Salesian
mission may become more effective at the local and provincial
levels? What formative itineraries have we undertaken to
better prepare ourselves to do this?
MMThe team of vocation animation need to henceforth collaborate
with lay people in planning and implementing their formative
plans and activities.
MMWorking with parents in our schools (PTA) and oratories helps
us to understand the background of the children that come to
our schools and centres and their challenges.
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MMWhenever we invite the parents of the boys who are with us,
we need to invite both of them so that they will show to their
children through their presence the beauty of love.
MMInvite role model parents from time to time to share with
young people the ups and downs and beauty and joys of
marriage and family life as a way of inculcating culture of
openness on family and sexuality issues in our environment.
MMAs Salesians, we need to be courageous to let families and
groups to know where we need their help, especially in
catechesis, leading people to Jesus and helping the faithful to
appreciate the scripture.
MMReflections and discussions on Amoris Laetitia in many of
our communities are steps we take to prepare ourselves
to understand the role of the family and the need for our
collaboration for greater impact in our mission.
AFRICA – MADAGASCAR
GROUPE FRANCOPHONE
COMMENT NOUS NOUS ENGAGEONS DANS UNE VRAIE PASTORALE
VOCATIONNELLE DES JEUNES
eePrendre progressivement conscience que la vocation est large et
susciter les vocations dans tous les secteurs de nos œuvres (vocation
matrimoniale et religieuse et choix de vie).
eeFaire de la famille un grand collaborateur: fréquenter les familles des
candidats à la vie salésienne ou les parents des confrères.
eeImpliquer toute la communauté éducative et pastorale dans
l´accompagnement des vocations et des familles.
eePromouvoir et accompagner la famille salésienne.
eePrésenter la pastorale vocationnelle comme partie intégrante de la
pastorale des jeunes. Toute pastorale des jeunes est vocationnelle.
eeImpliquer les parents dans l´animation des activés pastorales.
eeMettre en place des itinéraires de formation ou des plans de formation
pour accompagner les familles.
eeOrganiser des rencontres des familles avec les jeunes en recherche,
ou soigner là où cela se fait déjà.
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eeProfiter de nos plateformes de communication pour promouvoir la
vocation en général.
eeQue chaque animateur ait son groupe de référence.
eeS´intéresser pour la situation des jeunes et de leurs familles.
eePréparer les parents pour qu´ils accompagnent leurs enfants dans leur
décision vocationnelle.
eeEviter de présenter la vocation matrimoniale comme un échec.
eePromouvoir les écoles de mariage à base d´itinéraires.
eeMettre l´accent sur la quatrième dimension du PEPS dans nos secteurs.
eeOuvrir nos maisons à toutes les personnes.
eeApprendre à connaitre les familles et les impliquer progressivement
dans nos œuvres.
INTERAMÉRICA 1
Carisma familiar:
Entre las Inspectorías se identifican algunas estrategias para fortalecer, favorecer
este espíritu de familia, entre las cuales:
1. El proyecto de Formación Conjunta, Proyecto Laicos o Proyecto
Seglares. La capacitación de laicos y salesianos en salesianidad se
identifica como una de las estrategias más fuertes.
2. Los diversos encuentros, retiros, celebraciones que se realizan como
iniciativas, algunas inspectoriales y otras locales, para fortalecer y
favorecer este espíritu de familia. Algunas estrategias locales sencillas
ayudan a este ejercicio.
3. Algunos proyectos inspectoriales o locales PEPS, propugnan por el
fortalecimiento de este rasgo carismático.
Sin embargo se descubre la necesidad de seguir trabajando por salesianizar aún
más las Inspectorías y obras; pero también algunas circunstancias han permitido
identificar la existencia de este rasgo: terremoto en Haití, huracán en Puerto
Rico, son algunos ejemplos. Se constata que la presencia de directores o núcleos
“ANIMADORES”, garantizan - fortalecen un espíritu de familia.
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INTERAMÉRICA 2
La pastoral juvenil salesiana para la familia. ¿Cómo nos estamos comprometien-
do en una verdadera y propia “pastoral juvenil vocacional” que implique a todos
los jóvenes que frecuentan nuestras casas, asegurando una atención especial a
las familias de las que provienen, por medio de un adecuado acompañamiento?
eeEs importante ubicar que el paso por este congreso va a significar un
“antes y un después”. Es evidente que hay inspectorías que están
“más delante que otras”, algunas que el tema está asumido inspec-
torialmente y en otras no.
eeEn algunos lugares ya no se habla de pastoral vocacional, sino de la
dimensión vocacional de la pastoral juvenil.
eeSeguir asumiendo y profundizando el CRPJ ya que va en la línea de
la transversalidad de la cuestión vocacional.
eeEl carisma ya tiene todos los elementos necesarios para dar unidad
a la pastoral juvenil, familiar y vocacional. Es necesario recuperarlos,
profundizarlos, ponerlos en practica.
eeLo que nos falta es sistematizar, hacer evidente, resaltar… experien-
cias que ya tenemos.
eeDesde el PEPSAL bien hecho, tomando en cuenta a todos en una real
y efectiva representación de la CEP.
eeImplicación de personas… cualificar y respetar funciones.
Desafíos que emergen del Congreso para tomar en cuenta en la Inspectoría:
eeLa familia como sujeto de evangelización y de la Pastoral Juvenil.
Poner a la familia en el corazón de la PJ, no son dos pastorales en
paralelo.
eeContinuidad con los procesos pastorales, hacer enlace entre el MJS
y las familias.
eeLa familia llevarla al corazón de la PJ, decisión motivada no solamente
por la gestión, sino liderar esta idea y plantear estrategias. Gestión
hacer cosas, liderar llevar adelante estrategias.
eeOrganizar un encuentro con los coordinadores de pastoral (salesianos
y laicos) de la inspectoría para replicar los contenidos y las reflexiones.
eeSocializar la experiencia para poner a todos en contexto.
eeCrear una escuela de formación de familias, a nivel inspectorial.
eeEn las inspectorías donde no está muy consiente el tema familia en la
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
PJ o no está organizada a nivel inspectorial. Dependiendo del punto
de partida donde nos encontramos.
eeTrabajo como Familia Salesiana
eeAsegurar que se introduzca en el lenguaje pastoral….
eeIntegrarlas a los proyectos pastorales: POI. PEPSI.
eeSi queremos llevar a la familia al corazón de la pastoral, debemos ha-
cerlo bien, apoyarnos de las ciencias humanas, la profesionalización,
para enriquecer las propuestas.
eeRevalorar la noción de CEP (donde se supone hay familias), el mismo
PEPSI, las dimensiones de la PJ… en definitiva el carisma salesiano
desde el criterio oratoriano, desde el espíritu de familia.
eeComunicar nuestra experiencia de familia, de espíritu de familia.
eeFamilia Salesiana. (en ocasiones trabajamos disfuncionalmente…)
AMÉRICA CONE SUL - CISBRASIL
Um carisma familiar. De que modo, em nossas realidades salesianas, procuramos
realizar o “espírito de família” como clima adequado que favorece o surgimento
do contexto familiar de educação, o único grau para propor o ambiente pastoral
típico das nossas origens carismáticas?
eeConstruindo uma ideia adequada de “casa” com identidade
salesiana, sobretudo para os educandos.
eeUma “casa salesiana” realmente aberta: seja pela disponibilidade dos
SDB seja pela disponibilidade física dos espaços das obras.
eeUtilizando o indicativo do Sistema Preventivo de sempre valorizar
o bom e o esperançoso da vida dos jovens e das famílias, sem
desconsiderar o que precisa ser melhorado.
eeEnxergando o “todo” da acolhida e do acompanhamento dos jovens
e das famílias feito pelas obras salesianas.
eeValorizando as ações próprias do “espírito de família” —tanto com
os educadores e educandos quanto com as famílias— que cria o
ambiente educativo próprio do trabalho salesiano: lúdico, esportivo,
cultural, celebrativo, etc.
A Pastoral Juvenil Salesiana para a família. Como é que estamos nos empenhan-
do com convicção numa verdadeira e própria “Pastoral Juvenil Vocacional” que
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envolva todos os jovens que frequentam as nossas casas, tendo também uma
atenção especial à sua família de proveniência, através de um acompanhamento
adequado?
eeCrescendo na consciência de que somos “Família Salesiana” tanto
no que diz respeito à formação quanto nas ações organizadas em
conjunto voltadas para a acolhida/acompanhamento dos jovens e
das famílias.
eeJá existem trabalhos pontuais envolvendo SDB e leigas/leigos no
atendimento dos jovens e das famílias… mas dificilmente organizados
em forma de processo.
eePerder o receio de entender a Pastoral Juvenil também como
Vocacional: criar e/ou reforçar uma “cultura vocacional”.
eeOrganização e trabalho das Comissões de Pastoral Juvenil Salesiana
(inspetoriais e regionais) e dos Conselhos Nacionais da AJS/MJS (locais
e inspetoriais).
A família corresponsável da missão salesiana. De que modo e em que âmbitos
estamos valorizando o contributo específico da família para a eficácia da missão
salesiana nas nossas Inspetorias e nas nossas realidades locais?
eeVencendo a barreira ideológica de que “envolver a família na CEP”
significa apenas convidá-la para participar de reuniões e encontros.
eeValorizando os grupos laicais, sobretudo da Família Salesiana, no seu
carisma e na sua missão.
eeAbrindo espaços para o envolvimento e a participação das famílias,
sobretudo na CEP e no Conselho da CEP.
E que caminhos de formação desenvolvemos para nos qualificarmos nesta
tarefa?
eePor enquanto os “caminhos” se reduzem: à reunião de pais de obras;
a alguns retiros (sobretudo retiros da Família Salesiana); ao incentivo à
participação em grupos (pastorais e movimentos) de casais; a algumas
palestras na área da educação e da família, etc.
eeNecessidade de conscientização de que ainda há um longo caminho
a ser percorrido: converter a mente e o coração dos SDB e da Família
Salesiana para a causa dos jovens e das famílias; aproximar as famílias
das obras salesianas; trabalhar juntos (sobretudo como Família
Salesiana) e de modo projetual (com orientação e acompanhamento
inspetorial) e processual (entendendo a família primeiro como
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
“objeto” e depois como “sujeito” da ação); constituir atividades
dentro de processos (pastoral de processos e não tanto de eventos);
etc.
AMERICA CONO SUR - SEPSUR
LA FAMILIA EN LA PROPUESTA PASTORAL SALESIANA.
a) Un carisma familiar.
Notamos que tenemos un buen trabajo sobre este tema con los jóvenes de
nuestros ambientes pero nos falta crear espacios para favorecer el clima de
familia con docentes y padres.
Hay muchas actividades en nuestras obras que son significativas y que ayudan
al clima de familia y sentido de pertenencia : retiros, jornadas institucionales,
celebraciones, encuentros, etc.
Es significativo el clima de familia que se ha generado a partir de promover
instancias de pequeñas comunidades dentro de instituciones grandes, ellos
permitió un conocimiento mutuo, colaboración, fraternidad…
El clima de familia es posible cuando logramos trabajar corresponsablemente
entre salesianos, laicos y otros miembros de la FS.
Notamos que espontáneamente generamos un clima de familia y confianza,
los alumnos, animadores, padres entre otros se siente bien porque estamos a la
mano somos cercanos… lo que a veces no logramos es dar paso a la generación
de la CEP, del trabajo compartido y proyectado, de integrar esta experiencia
fraterna y cordial dentro de un proceso.
b) La pastoral juvenil salesiana para la familia.
Existe en ARS una experiencia donde el aspirantado busca ser un centro voca-
cional para los jóvenes en la diversidad de vocaciones.
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En la universidad de Chile se pudo incorporar un espacio para que los estudi-
antes puedan pensar su profesión desde la perspectiva del proyecto de vida.
En el equipo de pastoral juvenil de ARN se generaron instancias para reflex-
ionar sobre la dimensión vocacional del carisma y sumar esta reflexión —de
la vocación como punto de partida y de llegada de toda acción pastoral— en
todos los sectores de animación (MJS, escuelas, CFP, parroquias, directivos, etc.)
tratando de dejar de lado la concepción de vocación reducida a la vida religiosa
y sacerdotal.
En ARN tuvieron un buena experiencia en generar una comunidad de jóvenes
para reflexionar sobre el propio proyecto de vida con un itinerario accesible y
significativo de ello surgieron muchas vocaciones para los sscc y para los sdb.
c) La familia corresponsable de la misión salesiana.
Reconocemos que todavía nuestros proyectos y acciones pastorales comprenden
a la familia como objeto, destinatarios pasivos. El encuentro nos está ayudando
a revisar nuestras prácticas para poder dar paso a las familias como sujetos
activos de la misión.
Los laicos deben hacer camino, acompañado por la comunidad religiosa, para
empoderarse en los procesos de animación y gobierno de las obras salesianas.
Conversión pastoral para evitar el clericalismo muchas veces arraigado no solo
en los religiosos sino también en los laicos.
En algunas inspectorías hay laicos que asumieron roles de animación de las
obras enriqueciendo la reflexión y la acción pastoral desde su experiencia de
vivir el carisma y la misión como padres.
EAST ASIA - OCEANIA 1
The family is co-responsible for the Salesian mission. In our parish ministry,
how and where are we recognizing the specific contribution that families can
bring so that our Salesian mission may become more effective at the local and
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provincial levels? What formative itineraries have we undertaken (or can we
undertake) to better prepare ourselves to do this?
Lay empowerment is a trend in the Church. We can form the young to be
apostles to the family. We can go beyond the structure of the family, involving
not only the parents but also the grandparents in the formation of the youth.
We need to involve the whole family in youth ministry, because it is in the family
that we foster that vocation to love. If the young person does not feel loved
in the family, then it would be more difficult to receive that from elsewhere.
Constant communication can be done, even daily, between the parents and
their children (in some settings, through the Students’ Handbook).
We can and should involve the parents in planning our pastoral ministry with
young people. This may not be easy because one problem is that sometimes, the
parents themselves are hands off in relation to our work. We should therefore
involve them even from the planning stage of our apostolate.
The parents should be aware of our charism, of the uniqueness of Salesian
Youth Ministry, what distinguishes it from other ways of doing youth ministry.
There is a value in talking about Youth Ministry and Family in the Provincial level.
There is a need to form all Salesians in the specific aspect of Family Ministry.
Our works indeed should focus on the family and the Province can make the
courses available for the Salesians and the lay people. Someone who belongs
to the Province Youth Ministry Team should focus on Family Ministry.
A charism of the family. Rediscovering family spirit is essential if we are to
reclaim the pastoral atmosphere of our founding charism, in our salesian
realities, how do we make “family spirit”, which is the necessary context for
our style of education, a lived reality?
Settings with boarding schools have an advantage in instilling the Family Spirit.
For students who come only during the day, this becomes more difficult. Time
is indeed a factor in our contact with young people.
Family Spirit should be a mark of the Educative Pastoral Community. This is
sometimes misunderstood: professionalism is sometimes sacrificed in the name
of family spirit, or vice versa. However, these can actually go together: we are
close together as a family, but we have a vision and a mission. Family Spirit in
our ministry is built through structures, feasts, and activities. The way liturgies
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and assemblies are conducted in our settings may facilitate growth in Family
Spirit. There is a whole range of ways in which Family Spirit may be inculcated.
Family Spirit should begin with the Salesians and this should be imbibed in
formation. We should make our communities embody Family Spirit, for conflicts
in communities are discernible by lay people.
Family Spirit flows onto our lay mission partners. Even in works managed by lay
people. Since these lay people in our settings have been constantly immersed
in them, there may even be instances when Family Spirit is stronger than when
there were Salesians! Even the language helps: Oratories, instead of classrooms,
the word in the ear, etc.
Salesian Youth Ministry for the Family. What commitments are we making to
build a genuine “vocational youth ministry” that involves all the young who
come to our houses, including the necessary accompaniment of their families
of origin?
FOCUS ON VOCATION MINISTRY
The focus of our education in the olden times was for young people to excel so
that they would have a good future. Today, there is more emphasis on making
life choices, about who they are and what they feel about things. This is actually
vocational youth ministry. We see this in how students look at their careers,
which is something positive, rather than just advising them about their career.
STRENGTHEN EXISTING GOOD PRACTICES
We carry on with the good practices that we are already doing: retreats,
initiation programs, good morning/good night talks, the word in the ear, religion
classes, etc. These are practices that we can maximize and that we should
preserve. Our commitment then goes with the line that we need not reinvent
the wheel.
PLAN!
There should be regular planning, as for example, goal setting at the beginning
of the year.
CONTACT WITH FAMILIES
The Salesians or lay educators or youth ministers can visit the families of the
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
young people so as to get to know them better. This is one way of knowing
and reaching the peripheries. This can also be done by the formators to those
who are in initial formation.
EAST ASIA - OCEANIA 2
A. In our salesian realities, how do we make family spirit, which is the necessary
context for our style of education, a lived reality?
eeLiving out loving-kindness in our places of apostolate is one way
of making family spirit a lived reality. This means we need to have
physical presence among the Young and be patient with them.
eeThe rector as the main animator of the EPC should have a fatherly
character in order to inspire the EPC to live as a family.
eeSometimes generational gap becomes a challenge to family spirit
becoming a lived reality. Therefore, an ongoing formation for salesians
is needed in order to strengthen community life.
eeGood fraternal life of the Salesian community is a good witnessing to
the lived reality of family spirit. Hence, the Salesians are encouraged
to live in harmony and unity because every Salesian community is the
animating nucleus of the EPC.
eeIn the wider reality of the Salesian Family, the family spirit becomes
a lived reality through recollection together and celebrating Salesian
feast days together.
B. What commitments are we making to build a genuine vocational youth
ministry that involves all the young who come to our houses, including the
necessary accompaniment to their families?
eeTo involve families of the young people as active subject of our youth
ministry. There is a need to establsih continuous dialogue between
the Salesians and the families of the young people.
eeTo establish friendship with families, particularly in promoting the
sense of permanent commitmment.
eeTo draw up formation plan for adult in order to be more committed
in the self-giving for accompanying the youth.
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eeEmpowering lay people with formation in order to take part in the
vocational youth ministry particularly in accompanying the youth.
C. How and in what areas of our work are we recognizing the specific
contribution that families can bring so that our Salesian mission may become
more effective at the local and provincial level? What formative intineraries have
we undertaken to better prepare ourselves to do this?
eeInvolving families as members of the EPC.
eeA consistent studies and reflection on families.
eeWorking together co-respinsibly by valuing lay people’s presence and
contribution in our ministry for the young people.
SOUTH ASIA 1
1. Rediscovery of the Salesian charism – family Spirit
eeThere is a family spirit permeating in our institutions.
eeYounger Salesians seem to be losing the Saleisan spirit – family spirit.
MMIn some provinces – the fraternal spirit is less visible. There are
divisions, suspicion, distrust and lack of cooperation. Confreres
are jealous about each other.
MMEthnic issues, caste differences, etc., block family spirit.
MMThere is lack of adequate human formation with regard to
ability to dialogue, to give fraternal correction and to receive
correction.
MMUnity and fraternal love is sine qua non for bringing about.
2. Vocational guidance in our works
eeParents meet in the schools.
eeCatechism classes, Sunday Catechism.
eeParents-teachers meeting with regard to the children.
eeSelf-help groups are used to teach about life.
eeCareer guidance, vocation camps and visits of the family.
eeCommunity(neigbourhood, officials, police etc) is used to build the
children.
eeOrientation programme for the outgoing students.
eeMarriage preparation of adults.
3. Family as co-responsible for the Salesian Mission
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eeYoung people become volunteers in Sunday school.
eeParents are involved in the formation of the Salesians. They are invited
to visit and see what their children do in the formation houses.
eeBCCs share in the mission of the church.
eePreparation of the sacrament of confirmation by the adults.
eeMen and women’s association share in the mission of the parish.
4. What formative programmes are organized for the Salesians and the lay
collaborators.
eeParents are invited to celebrate a day in the pre-novitiate and in the
novitiate.
eeThere is a shift from involvement of the Salesians alone to lay people
who are involved in teaching in the seminaries.
eeSome provinces are animated to their collaborators with regard to
the Salesian identity.
eeOrganize and re-energize the past pupils of schools and colleges.
eewe, Salesians stand in need of formation, particularly with regard to
conversion of the mind to take on board.
SOUTH ASIA 2
Question number C. The Family as co-responsible for the Salesian Mission.
1. Families can help in counselling provided they are trained.
2. Families can help in all sectors of our ministry (Basic Christian
Communities, preparation for First Holy Communion, Catechism
classes, assistance in the boarding etc.)-
3. The families can help with marriage preparation clases.
4. Street children can live in family style within our campus.
5. Families Preaching retreat to the College and school students and
teachers.
6. The children who do not have parents can be given foster care with
parents from families.
7. Families can help also in finding employment opportunities for the
young
8. The parents and families could be asked to meet and speak with the
children in our care.
9. The parents of the seminarians could be involved in the formation of
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the brothers provided they are trained.
10.Families at the local level could adopt or financially help Salesian misión.
11.In the mission areas families help as catechists and evangelisers.
12.Catholic families can help with home-integration.
13.Family members can help as members of the Provincial commissions
to help in our misión.
14.Families can also be involved in the vocation promotion and vocational
discernment of young people.
Formative itineraries to better prepare ourselves!
1. Studying various documents which speak about the importance of
families and these could be included in the formation plan.
2. We need to set criteria of specialization for our Salesians (for example
Youth Ministry, Family Counselling) and ensure their contribution in
their specialization.
3. Guidelines and training material to be prepared for the Salesians to
enter into family ministry.
4. To build competencies in the Salesians in the specific training to work
along with families.
5. More awareness programmes can be organized at the provincial and
local level for the Salesians and the families to learn to work together
for the mission.
6. To have a comprehensive data about our beneficiaries to organize
more and better services.
7. To organize music and other activities which attract families to our
services.
8. To manifest a witnessing life to attract families and young people.
Question number 1
Rediscovering Family Spirit in our Salesian Setting
1. By being a welcoming community in attitude and in action.
2. People-friendly campus.
3. Availability and accessibility.
4. Communion among ourselves.
5. Collaboration and co-responsibility among ourselves
6. To be faithful to the simple daily practices like praying Rosary with
boys.
7. Remove the barriers in our communities (cultural, language, caste etc.).
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EUROPE CENTRE NORTH
B. Salesian youth ministry for the family. What commitments are we
making to build a genuine “vocational youth ministry” that involves all the
young who come out to our houses, including the necessary accompaniment
to their families of origin?
Marriage and consecrated life go hand in hand. We are grateful for the privilege
of working with many animators; we also reckon how often we have spent
time asking them what to do rather than reflect on who they should be. Their
plea surprises us.
Formation means an openness for a journey, a privilege way of accompanying
the young, giving them the capacity to love and mirror it back.
Main challenges: invite young people to consider a discernment process of what
God is asking of them, Presenting role models; consecrated and lay, journey
with them.
Religious values are caught and not taught. Young people feel the sense of
family and trust: a first and sure way to create a culture.
Rediscover the preventive system. Get in touch with families, share quality time.
Spirituality behind the ethos: commitment of SDB’s teaching the “why” we do
what we do.
Bring the young to believe in themselves and in who they are. Some do not
believe in the value of being “children of God” as opposed to seeing the
difficulties or challenges. You are precious!
Friendship with Jesus; helping them to encounter Christ in the sacraments is
often difficult but they are still encouraged to encounter Jesus in loving others,
passing on this love.
Rediscover a new language which is common to the young: a language which
enables them to encounter love.
We reckon the failure of deciding for them what they needed and what they
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don’t like. Direct encounters with Christ are being proposed with huge positive
surprises. This bravery is speaking more of our fears rather than their failures.
Our commitment: pick experiences which speak to their feelings as a starting
point to move towards God’s grace.
We underestimate the Young person’s needs for the spiritual and what can be
done through us by God. We need to go back to Don Bosco and the Valdocco
dream.
C. The family co-responsible for the Salesian mission. How and in what
areas of our work are we recognizing the specific contribution that families
can bring so that our Salesian mission may become more effective at the local
and provincial levels? What formative itineraries have we undertaken to better
prepare ourselves to do this?
Though “family spirit’ is felt by many students, we admittedly don’t have a
planned strategy.
Some kindergartens are followed by salesian parishes especially round the
Sunday liturgy. This might serve as a first step in bringing back families who
were distant.
The need to plan and create spaces for religious encounters as a strategic way
forward. Recover the Salesian “assistance” as a privileged way of being with
the young.
We need to take the Congress back and translate it in an action plan.
There are some structured initiatives but not really an organic plan. A paradigm
shift is needed.
The need to go back, create a space for families, in order to listen to their needs
rather than prepare courses/opportunities pre-fabricated according to what I
see important rather than what they actually need.
Lay people have to shake the SDB’s to invest in relationships. SDB’s struggle to
maintain their identity, not because they are anti-lay, but because what their
formation led them believe to be. It left many SDB’s in a vulnerable position,
lay people are entering the world of the young.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Initial formation can be enriched by considering families’ encounters and
testimonies as well as basic systemic training/awareness.
Wedding is only the beginning and not the end. This also applies for SDB’s: the
profession in not the climax but the beginning of the journey of relationships.
In countries where foreign SDB’s are working, one has to be sensible towards
cultures. Foster a mentality of formation teams run between SDB’s and couples.
An inward desire to be with the young.
Time to celebrate; time to spend time with the young.
Rediscover the letter from Rome (1884). It is reassuring to know that SDB’s in
DB’s time had to be reminded that “family spirit” is not automatic; it is a divine
gift which needs to be fostered and taken care of. We are getting in touch with
the giftedness of the current milieu.
MEDITERRANEA 1
ITALIA & PORTOGALLO
Domanda 1
Alcuni aspetti che creano spirito di famiglia:
eeLo stile di accoglienza
eeIl coinvolgimento dei ragazzi nel pensare e fare
eeAttenzione ai momenti informali e alle relazioni
eeAffidarsi a Dio per avere un cuore libero e non appesantito dalle cose
e dalle urgenze rende più capaci nell’accogliere l’altro
eeInvestire sulle relazioni all’interno dei consigli CEP e, a cascata, su
tutta la CEP
eeLa presenza di anziani sereni favorisce molto il clima di famiglia
eeLa possibilità di utilizzare spazi riservati alla Comunità Salesiana
eePregare assieme l’uno per l’altro
eeLa partica educativa dell’angelo custode
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Domanda 2
Il tema del profilo in uscita nelle nostre scuole: quando pensiamo
all’orientamento nelle realtà scolastiche lo restringiamo solo nel campo
scolastico-lavorativo e il “meta-messaggio” che passiamo è che la cosa
importante per il tuo futuro è la tua professione e non la tua vocazione.
MEDITERRANEA 2
ITALIA & MEDIO ORIENTE
Domande:
1. Un carisma familiare. In che modo nelle nostre realtà salesiane
cerchiamo di realizzare lo “Spirito di famiglia” come clima adeguato
che favorisce l’emergere del contesto familiare dell’educazione,
l’unico in grado di riproporre l’ambiente pastorale tipico delle nostre
origini carismatiche?
2. La PG salesiana perla famiglia. Come ci stiamo impegnando con
convinzione in una vera e propria “pastorale giovanile vocazionale”
che coinvolga tutti i giovani che frequentano le nostre case, avendo
anche una attenzione speciale alla loro famiglia di provenienza,
attraverso un accompagnamento adeguato?
3. La famiglia corresponsabile della missione salesiana. In che modo ed
in quali ambiti stiamo valorizzando l’apporto specifico della famiglia
per l’efficacia della missione salesiana nelle nostre ispettorie e nelle
nostre realtà locali e quali cammini di formazione abbiamo intrapreso
per qualificarci in questo compito?
Risposte (a partire dalla domanda numero 2 e poi dalla numero 3):
Il coinvolgimento della famiglie nella PG è un fatto diffuso sia a livello locale
che a livello ispettoriale.
Alcune famiglie sono coinvolte anche in alcuni “gruppi ricerca” ispettoriali e
nelle singole comunità si sviluppano gruppi di incontro per loro e di formazione
per giovani famiglie, per i genitori dei ragazzi delle scuole, degli oratori, ecc.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Funziona l’opera di inclusione della comunità in clima di famiglia, per permettere
l’accoglienza di tutti, a prescindere dal punto di partenza, per includere così
tutti, giovani e genitori, nei vari cammini.
Il lavoro insieme di delegato di PG e all’animatore vocazionale ha stimolato a
fare dei cammini vocazionali a 360° con anche la collaborazione, anche a livello
progettuale, di coppie di genitori che partecipano agli incontri. Più a macchia
di leopardo la realtà locale.
La PG è in genere impostata vocazionalmente, ma a livello ispettoriale è meno
presente il coinvolgimento della famiglie di provenienza dei ragazzi.
Sporadica, ma a volte presente, la coppia nei consigli delle CEP. Più facile la presenza
di movimenti di gruppi di formazione di famiglie e di pastorale famigliare.
Nelle case sono spesso coinvolte le famiglie dei ragazzi. Il problema è la
progettazione di questi cammini, con anche delle coppie presenti nella
progettazione stessa.
Problema del coinvolgimento dei laici “dipendenti” specie nel mondo della
scuola, anche come coppie e non solo come singoli.
Esperienza della formazione affettiva dei gruppi apostolici.
Favorisce certamente l’entrata delle coppie nelle nostre pastorali il clima di
famiglia della stessa comunità salesiana.
Valorizzare la Famiglia Salesiana come sinfonia di vocazioni.
Difficoltà di trovare a volte da chi formarsi perché di formazione ce n’è tanta
in giro e di professionisti ed esperti ce ne sono tanti, ma chi va bene per noi?
Si accenna alla presenza di famiglie di non cristiani nelle nostre opere…
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MEDITERRANEA 3
SPAGNA & PORTOGALLO
III- TERCERA PREGUNTA. La familia corresponsable de la misión salesiana.
¿De qué modo y en cuáles ámbitos estamos valorizando el aporte específico
de la familia para la eficacia de la misión salesiana en nuestras Inspectorías y
realidades locales y qué caminos de formación hemos asumido para cualificar-
nos en esta tarea?
eeLa presencia de los seglares de la Familia Salesiana en nuestras casas
ayudan a crecer en el sentido de familia y en el propio sentimiento
de familia y ayuda a los SDB en trasmitir mejor este sentimiento de
familia.
eeSe está empezando este camino. Las Pascuas familiares, la invitación
a parejas en momentos como “Campobosco” y similares, la pre-
sencia de parejas en los cursillos prematrimoniales de las parroquias
salesianas.
eeNos estamos situando bien para la carrera. Ha ayudado la Amoris
laetitia y el Aguinaldo del Rector Mayor.
eeEl trabajo conjunto de la Familia Salesiana nos puede ayudar ya que
cada grupo nos puede aportar al carisma su especificidad.
eeLa existencia del movimiento de Hogares Don Bosco y su reflexión nos
puede ayudar también al resto de Familia Salesiana.
eeCuidar la formación de formadores y los procesos formativos.
eeLa experiencia de la Pascua de Somalo de hacer ver a los jóvenes que
no se acaba el camino y la vida espiritual cuando se deja de ser joven.
eeLos Consejos de Familia Salesiana.
eeMayor colaboración entre los grupos de FASA (sobre todo SDB y FMA)
en todos los ámbitos (INCLUIDO EL LOCAL E INSPECTORIAL)
eeEn Portugal destaca la peregrinación a Fátima de la FASA junto con
el MJS.
eeEn los momentos de Formación de Animadores la presencia de fa-
milias
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
MEDITERRANEA 4
SPAGNA & PORTOGALLO
Un carisma familiar. ¿De qué manera en nuestra realidad salesiana buscamos
realizar el “espíritu de familia” como clima adecuado que ayude a que surja el
contexto familiar de la educación que es el único capaz de recrear el ambiente
pastoral típico de nuestros orígenes carismáticos?
Elementos que hay que cuidar y no darlos por supuesto. Es necesario ser con-
scientes de estos elementos y generar procesos que lo faciliten y lo propicien,
con nuevos modos y nuevas.
Facilitar la cercanía a las familias que se acercan por primera vez
Acogida salesiana espontanea y cercana. Esto se está perdiendo. (Turnos de
guardia). Asistencia activa y propositiva, tomando la iniciativa. Ruptura gener-
acional. Muchos educadores no han visto nunca como se asiste.
Disponibilidad de los espacios. No puede estar el colegio cerrado. Espacios
abiertos y atendidos. Esto requiere implicar a muchos.
Elementos que hay que seguir cuidando. Acciones que responden al Espíritu
de Familia: funcionen los consejos de la CEP ( con vida eficaces, con reflexión),
constancia en los PEPS, como mejorar el ambiente de familia.
Implicar dando protagonismo. Sentirse en casa porque este es mi proyecto, me
pertenece de alguna manera. Protagonismo acompañado. Se cuenta con todos
pero se acompaña a los grupos y a cada uno. Se requiere un proceso formativo
que les ayude a integrar la experiencia. Espíritu de familia-Previsión-Revisión. La
gratificación de trabajar bien genera perseverancia.
A los miembros de la CEP le interesa todo lo que afecta a los chicos.
No pastoral para la familia, sino con la familia. Descubrir en que me puede
ayudar cada uno. Requiere de mucha asistencia. Hay que perder el tiempo para
ganarlo. Conocer para saber que le puedo pedir.
El deporte es un ámbito de implicación primera, en la que se empiezan procesos
de implicación. Las actividades artísticas. El deporte tira mucho. Más hombres
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que mujeres en el deporte, incluso padres varones. Momentos de encuentro,
de comida, de fiesta.
Querer a la gente, querer a todos, querer estar de corazón, proyectar juntos.
El proyecto nuestro. La fiesta es pedagógico. Cuidar mucho el ambiente en
valores. Casa salesiana.
Celebrar bien la liturgia. Esto crea buen ambiente. Es algo del espíritu salesiano.
El gusto de lo estético: la música, el teatro,
La pastoral juvenil salesiana para la familia ¿Cómo nos estamos comprometien-
do en una verdadera y propia “pastoral juvenil vocacional” que implique a todos
los jóvenes que frecuentan nuestras casas, asegurando una atención especial a
las familias de las que provienen, por medio de un adecuado acompañamiento?
Poner en el centro la llamada vocacional a todo ser humano, la llamada a seguir
a Jesús, y la vocación específica. Campaña vocacional en la que se tenga en
cuenta a las familias.. Implicar y presentar a los padres.
Implicar a las familias en la vocación de sus hijos. Jesús rompió los esquemas a
sus padres a los 12 años. Ellos son los que deben estar atentos para que cada
chico y chica descubra su vocación personal. La vocación viene de Dios a cada
persona. El respeto de los padres a los chicos. Muchos padres que se proyectan
en los hijos y quieren programarles su vocación.
Se nos note que somos capaces de compartir. Elementos que ayuden a de-
scubrirse a si mismo: servicio, gratitud y gratuidad. Agradecer y dar gratis.
Compartir experiencias de gratitud y de servicio, en este mundo en el que se
fomenta todo lo contrario.
Trabajar directamente sobre la familia para recuperar la opción vocacional del
matrimonio. Cuidar mucho la preparación al matrimonio.
Muy difícil desde las casas grandes. Hay familias afines al centro familias que
sólo ven el servicio educativo.
Seguir implicando a la familia. El reto es acompañar a la familia para que se haga
responsable. Los primeros pasos es compartir, e implicar, pero acompañar form-
ativamente para que se crean el protagonismo. La responsabilidad es de todos.
La vida como don y como misión. Recuperar eso es una clave. Ofrecer espacios
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
de silencio. Esto hace sanar muchísimo. Cuando se empieza a tener sentido
todo cambia. Los jóvenes más dañados sólo sobreviven. Ser valientes a la hora
de proponer porque la respuesta es positiva.
Se necesita que los Equipos Locales de Pastoral Juvenil se paren a pensar y a
diseñar estrategias con inteligencia pastoral en las que se formen a los educa-
dores y ciertas familias con capacidad de proponer un mensaje atrayente.
Educar es más fácil que acompañar. Pastoral y orientación caminen de la mano.
Tutorías. Intervenir con los chavales y con los padres. Vasos comunicantes. El
núcleo animador de la CEP donde se toman opciones como CEP. Comunicación.
Creerse de verdad que cada miembro de la CEP (profesores, personal no educan
y evangeliza. Se trata de llegar a todos, atendiendo a los diferentes ritmos y per-
sonalizando procesos. Para que se impliquen hay que escucharlos. Propuestas
que contagien a mucha gente.
La familia corresponsable de la misión salesiana. ¿De qué modo y en cuáles
ámbitos estamos valorizando el aporte específico de la familia para la eficacia de
la misión salesiana en nuestras inspectorías y realidades locales y qué caminos
de formación hemos asumido para cualificarnos en esta tarea?
Importante que la familia esté en la misión salesiana, pero que la misión sale-
siana no robe tiempo a la familia. No dedicar tiempo es degradar el ambiente.
Abrir más puertas y dar más oportunidades a otras personas. Valorar la familia
es respetar los ritmos familiares. Adaptarse a ellos. Dar gracias a Dios por las
vocaciones laicales, corresponsables en la misión. La CEP es familia de familias.
La responsabilidad de todas las familias con los hijos y los consagrados con las
familias y las familias con los consagrados.
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FOR THE
FUTURE
AFRICA & MADAGASCAR
SOME MAJOR CHALLENGES SHARED IN THE AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR -
ENGLISH GROUP:
eeCHALLENGES IN FORMATION: Formation of the SDBs and Lay
collaborators to a clear understanding and incarnation of Salesian
Charism is yet to be realized in most of our communities and
provinces.
eeOVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES OF CLERICALISM: Clericalism not
necessarily seen as the problem of the clergy but lay people who
constantly see the priests and religious as the main point of reference
for the mission. We need to keep a level playing ground.
eeTHE CHALLENGE OF ACCOMPANIMENT AND WORKING WITH
FAMILIES: There is need for accompaniment of young people and
their families: Taking care of the family spirit in the Salesian family so
as to be a clear witness to young people.
eeEPC AS ANIMATING NUCLEUS: The animating nucleus in our Centres
should not necessarily be Salesians, but the joint project and activities
of the Salesians, the Salesian Family and all the lay collaborators, that
forms EPC.
eeMEETING YOUNG PEOPLE IN THEIR CONCRETE REALITIES: Currently
most of our centres welcome young people who come to us. Now
the time has come for us to go and meet the young people where
they are.
Quatre grands défis pour la région FRANCOPHONE:
eeChanger la mentalité des SDB pour qu´ils rentrent dans la dynamique
de considérer la famille comme sujet et objet de notre pastorale.
eeAccorder plus d´importance aux familles dans notre pastorale et ne
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pas se limiter aux jeunes. Prendre en compte la réalité de la famille
dans les PEPSP.
eeSoigner l´esprit de famille au niveau de la Famille Salésienne pour
qu´elle soit signe crédible auprès des jeunes. Que les Salésiens
impliquent davantage les familles et les laïcs et toute la Communauté
Éducative et Pastorale.
eeRejoindre les jeunes dans leurs réalités concrètes et familiales et
ne pas attendre qu´ils viennent vers nous. Découvrir leurs centres
d´intérêt et les accompagner. Valoriser nos jeunes et leurs potentialités
dans l´avènement d´une humanité nouvelle en Afrique (Faire de la PJ
une pastorale qui offre des sorties pour les jeunes : emplois).
eeMûrir et approfondir ce qui a été dit dans ce Congrès et mettre sur
pied des mécanismes de concrétisation et évaluation.
INTERAMERICA (GRUPOS 1 Y 2)
DESAFÍOS DE INTERAMÉRCIA
1. Socialización: Apuntando a un cambio de mentalidad que se expresa
en el lenguaje (familia, acompañamiento, vocación), y a la unidad de
la pastoral.
2. Formación (sdb, laicos, jóvenes y los futuros salesianos) revisar, actu-
alizar, completar la formación que responda a la atención próxima,
inmediata y remota. Formación integral sólida.
3. Organizacional: incluya la PJ y PF dentro de los proyectos inspecto-
riales y locales (Reestructurar la pastoral: “integrada”, “vinculada”,
restructurada). Trabajo en red, lo que hacemos se fortalece y se co-
munica.
4. Carismático: Fieles a las orientaciones de la congregación, desde la
vinculación de la familia como sujeto.
AMÉRICA CONE SUL - CISBRASIL
EMPENHOS PARA O FUTURO: CISBRASIL
eeEstudar profundamente a realidade e os contextos em que estão
inseridas as obras salesianas e onde as famílias vivem, e também os
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novos arranjos familiares (casais separados e divorciados, segunda
união, uniões homoafetivas, questão de gênero, etc.) e pastorais.
eeEm âmbito de Brasil produzir/distribuir material com temáticas de
acompanhamento e de formação dos jovens e das famílias: para o
amor, à afetividade e à sexualidade; para a cidadania e a política; para
a tolerância. Servir-se da RSB e da EDEBE.
eeEntender a PJS (sobretudo a AJS) como missão de toda a CEP (SDB,
Família Salesiana, leigas/leigos) e na sua dimensão missionária e
vocacional, sempre adequada a real situação de vida dos jovens e
das famílias.
eePotencializar a reflexão e a ação da RSB (escolas, obras sociais,
paróquias, comunicação) sobre os jovens e as famílias, integrando-
os nos processos.
eePreparar agentes de pastoral para o acompanhamento dos jovens e
das famílias na área da afetividade e sexualidade e da construção dos
projetos de vida.
eeFazer, de fato, pastoral de conjunto e orgânica, sobretudo com a
criação/otimização dos Conselhos da CEP.
eeOrganizar a Pastoral Familiar nas obras salesianas conforme os
elementos da Espiritualidade Juvenil Salesiana.
eeEntender o acompanhamento das famílias como ação missionária
contínua no sentido de buscar as distantes e de aproximá-las das
casas salesianas.
REGIÃO AMÉRICA CONE SUL
EMPENHOS PARA O FUTURO
1. Fortalecer la comunión y la mirada orgánica, sistémica de en nuestra
acción educativo-pastoral:
eeArticulando las diferentes propuestas pastorales para la familia.
eeArticulando las propuestas para las familias con la Pastoral Juvenil
para que las acciones que se lleven a cabo apunten a procesos
comunitarios.
eeFortaleciendo el consejo de la obra sumando a las familias en
estos espacios..
eeArticulando los diferentes grupos de la Familia Salesiana para el
acompañamiento a las familias.
2. Caminar hacia un cambio de paradigma:
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eeComprender a la familia no solamente como objeto sino como
sujetos de la acción educativa pastoral dando lugar a que familias
puedan comprometerse a acompañar a otras con estilo salesiano.
3. Fortalecer la Formación a todos los referentes de la CEP priorizando
los siguientes temas:
eeAcompañamiento salesiano reforzando la mirada preventiva.
eeAmor, afectividad y sexualidad.
eeConstrucción del Proyecto de vida y la vocación.
eeCiudadanía, política y aprendizaje en el respeto y en la convivencia.
SOUTH ASIA
Challenges and proposals in the context of South Asia
1. Formation of Salesians and Salesian Family
Formation of Salesians and Salesian Family members in the spirit of
‘returning to Valdocco’ with a renewed commitment to collaborative
Educative Pastoral Communities for effective Youth and Family Ministry.
2. Addressing key issues of Youth and Family Ministry
Integral Formation of young people and families through our various
settings by addressing key issues of the families (for example gender
inequality, unemployment, social unrest and crises in faith etc.) and
accompanying them in their vocational journey
3. Building up reflection to improve the quality of our work
Building up Youth and Family Ministry research and resource centres to
create models, strategies and offer animation to enhance the quality of
Salesian intervention in the Church and in the Society (for example by
establishing Youth and Family Counselling centres, mobile apps, Journals,
animation materials etc.)
EAST ASIA – OCEANIA
Challenges
1. To get the parents to be part of our Youth Ministry in pastoral
planning and in the accompaniment of our young people.
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2. To focus on Youth Vocation Ministry in our work with young people,
keeping in mind that an essential task of Youth Ministry and Family
is for the young to discover their vocation.
3. To include in the formation of Salesians a basic training on how to
work with the families of young people.
4. To rethink our structures (timetable and spaces) and paradigms in
order to facilitate working with families.
5. To embrace Family Ministry as an integral part of Youth Ministry, as a
new frontier in all the Provinces, re-echoing the fruits of the Congress
on Youth Ministry and Family.
EUROPE CENTRE NORTH
1. Start a process, both at a Provincial and Regional level, to read the
vision outlined in the Frame of Reference from a family/systemic
perspective where the family is the subject and not only the object
of Salesian ministry, ensuring equal partnerships. Be realistic in our
opportunities but also be practical and prioritize.
2. Invite for a change in attitude: rediscover the courage and the wisdom
to risk, to aim high and to include families. Above all, listen to the
Spirit rather than to the crisis at hand. SDB’s are invited to reflect if
lay collaborators are working for SDB’s or with the SDB’s.
3. Initial formation should bring SDB’s and lay together for common
systemic formation and mutual understanding, sharing not only
information but experiences. Shift the animators’ formation from a
linear approach of “doing” to a circular approach of “being and
sharing”, supporting their vocational call and putting forward their
witness for new generations who need role models. An urgent call,
calls us to focus on pre-marriage formation and the accompaniment
of newly wedded couples who are invited to get used to a change of
identity and new forms involvement in the Salesian Family.
4. How are we to renew the quality of Salesian (SDB) communities in a
way that they truly testify a sense of family where living and working
together is truly a reflection of Don Bosco’s family spirit?
5. Study, at a Provincial and local level, new ways how to reach out to
families, including new forms of families, who are at the periphery,
being attentive to digital and new contexts, allowing us to focus less
on maintaining structures which are no longer meaningful.
6. Include in our current Youth and Vocation ministries a wider
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understanding of a vocational journey, one which allows several
forms of Christian and Salesian lifestyles to be considered by our
young. This journey of discovering one’s vocation will complement
our current vocation ministry to the consecrated life.
MEDITERRANEA
ITALIA & MEDIO ORIENTE
PRIORITÀ EMERSE DAL DIBATTITO
1. Una priorità è la trasmissione e l’avvio dei processi nelle nostre realtà.
Un incontro a livello italiano nello stesso stile con cui è stato fatto
quello dei consigli CEP (SDB e famiglia).
2. Mettere al centro la Comunità Educativo Pastorale, dove ognuno
mette a disposizione le proprie meta competenze;
3. La preparazione prossima al matrimonio con una visione integrata
della persona;
4. Dove è possibile valorizzare e coinvolgere la famiglia non solo come
collaboratrice ma nella fase di riflessione/visione e progettazione della
casa (consigli CEP);
5. Sensibilizzare i Salesiani e aiutarci a capire meglio il cammino da compiere.
6. Vanno valorizzati e coinvolti i giovani nei nostri consigli delle CEP;
7. Fare a livello nazionale una rete e un collegamento (sito internet) dove
scambiare le buone pratiche;
8. Una piccola scelta ragionata poi nel tempo porta frutti… fare con
i delegati una lista di pratiche da inserire nei progetti educativi
pastorali;
9. Che la pastorale familiare si ripensi con lo sguardo della pastorale
giovanile e nella pastorale giovanile si favorisca la rivisitazione e
aggiunta di famiglie come figure adulte che si inseriscono con i
giovani con misura e ragionevolezza;
10.Un movimento di famiglie come l’MGS;
11.Vedere le parrocchie affidate ai Salesiani che fanno pastorale giovanile
e pastorale familiare più che per adulti;
12.Fare una proposta alta vocazionalmente orientata al mondo giovanile;
13.Nodi non risolti:
MMquanto siamo in grado in alcuni passaggi di riuscire a farci
riflettere in profondità;
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MMricentrare la CEP nello stile di famiglia con la presenza di
famiglie;
MMse riflettiamo in futuro riflettiamo con i giovani;
14.Un processo da portare avanti ma attendendo anche il Sinodo dei
Vescovi su “I giovani, la fede e il discernimento vocazionale” nel
ripensare l’intreccio tra PG e pastorale familiare;
15.Un tema forte è il discernimento per le coppie;
16.Un tema su cui occorre riflettere maggiormente è la questione
dell’affettività;
17.La trasmissione dei contenuti deve essere dominante nei nostri tavoli
e consulte;
18.Potrebbe essere interessante ritrovarsi tra un anno per vedere come
i processi si sono avviati;
19.Verificare e rafforzare le buone pratiche già avviate;
20.Sostenere le CEP;
21.Itinerario con linguaggio, contenuto e testimonianza che trasmettano
la fede in ottica vocazionale;
22.Studiare che apporto il Centro Nazionale Salesiano può dare per
approfondire lo snodo PG e pastorale familiare e le sue implicanze;
23.Come integrare la Famiglia Salesiana affinché sia orientata ai giovani
e quindi integrata con la pastorale giovanile;
24.Riflettere su come la Congregazione possa farsi carico delle famiglie
in difficoltà;
25.Continuare a riflettere su questo argomento per arrivare a un
progetto nazionale, come fu per l’animazione vocazionale;
26.Orientamento vocazionale per una pastorale in uscita orientata ai
gruppi della Famiglia Salesiana;
27.Dobbiamo partire dai giovani a poco a poco perché i processi possano
svilupparsi, avendo come preoccupazione il cammino delle persone
con i loro slanci e battute di arresto;
4 PRIORITÀ SCELTE
a. Curare la trasmissione dei contenuti sentiti per continuare la
formazione a livello sia ispettoriale che nazionale (incontri formativi,
convegni);
b. Rileggere il tema della CEP, su cui abbiamo lavorato in questi anni,
in chiave di spirito di familia, valorizzando la vocazione famigliare sia
per la CEP in quanto tale sia per i nuclei animatori;
c. Riflettere e avviare cammini affettivi, percorsi per fidanzati e giovani
famiglie in chiave vocazionale;
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
d. Attivare un confronto tra i vari rami della Famiglia Salesiana su
pastorale giovanile e famiglia;
MEDITERRANEA
SPAGNA & PORTOGALLO
RETOS A SEGUIR TRABAJANDO:
1. Incorporar fuertemente la propuesta de la vocación matrimonial y
familiar en nuestra animación vocacional, educando para el amor,
con testimonios y metas claras. Acompañar en la formación al mat-
rimonio y en los primeros años. Establecer equipos en el que poda-
mos trabajar integralmente los itinerarios vocacionales. Atención a la
familia como objeto y como sujeto de modo transversal. Realizando
itinerarios formativos. Desemboque claro del IEF.
2. Fortalecer la CEP para que se tener modelos de referencia. Familias
evangelizadoras de las propias familias, creando redes de soporte.
Aprender de las familias a la hora de plantear la pastoral juvenil.
Comunidad Educativo Pastoral que es familia de familias. Fortalecer
todo lo propiamente carismático. Llegar a las familias con más necesi-
dades y en situaciones de mayor pobreza y fragilidad. Introducir en
los PEPS locales las propuestas que recojan las ofertas pastorales a las
familias. Esto necesita una participación masiva. Corresponsabilidad.
Incorporar en el tejido de la comunidad educativa. Sensibilizar y for-
mar en competencia para los padres, respetando cada uno sus espa-
cios. ¿Qué es lo que como casa salesiana podemos hacer? Proyecto
inspectorial.
3. Establecer mayor relación con la familia salesiana. La FASA presenta
maneras de vivir el Evangelio. Tender puentes. Compartir la misión.
Vivir con más claridad el Espíritu de familia. Pastoral Juvenil y familia
salesiana.
4. No dar por supuesto el Espíritu de familia en nuestras obras. Necesi-
tamos recuperar de modo incisivo y cuidar los elementos propios del
ambiente salesiano. Que facilite la participación.
5. Continuar la reflexión a la hora de incorporar la atención a la familia.
Madurar elementos de reflexión. Reflexionar y asimilar el pensamiento
pastoral juvenil y familia. Se necesita una asimilación por parte de las
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comunidades educativas. Dejar claro cuales son las competencias de
cada uno en la CE, respetando los límites.
6. Integrar la familia en la pastoral Juvenil de modo explícito.
RETOS CONSENSUADOS SSM —SMX— POR A SEGUIR TRABAJANDO:
1. Incorporar fuertemente la propuesta de la vocación matrimonial y
familiar en nuestra animación vocacional, educando para el amor,
con testimonios y metas claras. Establecer equipos en el que podamos
trabajar integralmente los itinerarios vocacionales. Desemboque claro
del Itinerario de Educación en la Fe.
2. Acompañar en la formación al matrimonio y en los primeros años del
mismo, realizando itinerarios formativos específicos.
3. Fortalecer la CEP donde la familia sea un modelo de referencia y
dando protagonismo para que puedan ser evangelizadoras de las
propias familias, e integrando en los PEPS locales las propuestas de
atención a las familias.
4. Crear dentro de la CEP redes de soporte en donde se responda, de
modo corresponsable, a las necesidades de las familias en situación
de mayor fragilidad, contemplando la formación necesaria de los
agentes.
5. Crear proyectos comunes en los que todos nos impliquemos como Fa-
milia Salesiana, desde la vivencia de nuestro espíritu de familia, recu-
perando elementos propios que fortalezcan nuestro estilo carismático.
Incorporar la reflexión sobre la familia y la Pastoral Juvenil en todos los ambi-
entes pastorales de las casas y los ambientes.
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THE FOLLOWING
COLLABORATED FOR THE
CONGRESS
With Fr Fabio Attard, General Councillor for Youth Ministry.
Miguel Angel Garcia, Daniel Garcia Reynoso, Marcelo Farfan, Tarcizio
Morais, Renato Cursi, Patrick Anthonyraj, Ángel Gudiña
Se. Mons. Bruno Forte, Arch-Bishop of Chieti-vasto, Doctor Carmen
Peña García, Fr Rossano Sala.
Department for Social Communication, Rome; Filiberto Gonzales,
José Luis Muñoz, Abreu Juan Pablo, Jurado Jesus, Carava Placide,
Iruppakkaattu Jacob,
The Salesian Province of Madrid (SMX), Fr Juan Carlos and his councillors
National Centre, Madrid, Fr Koldo Gutièrrez and his Team
Department for Social Communication, Madrid; Fr Javier Valiente and his
Team
Yolanda Sobrino, Susana de Torres
Gustavo Cavagnari, Mario Oscar Llanos, Álvaro Ginel Vielva, Francis O.
Gustilo, Paul Raj Amalraj, Paulina Fernández Moreno, Ronaldo Zacharias,
Virginia Cagigal de Gregorio
Clarence Watts, Nhlahla Mdlalose, Edwin Vasanthan, Jindřich Šrajer,
Kamil, Katarina Bagin, Nele Louage, Simona Carli, Tullio Lucca,
Simonetta Rossi, Daniele Merlini, Lorenzo, Lucia Gheri, Emanuele De
Maria, Elisabetta Preve, Riccardo Giribaldi, David Kabongo Mikombe,
Donatien Banze, Francisco Cervantes, Miguel Angel Calavia, Nieves
Barragán Bru, Luis Corral Prieto, Eva María Martínez, José Luis Villota,
Fernanda C.M.Pereira, Salvatore, Roberta Parrino, Abraham N. Feliciano,
Val Collier, Martin Burke, Eric Cachia, Savio Yeung & Team, Héctor Luis
Arismende.
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MINI-COURSES
LA PASTORAL JUVENIL FAMILIAR:
¿UN NUEVO PARADIGMA?
GUSTAVO CAVAGNARI
La propuesta del Mini Curso entiende ofrecer una contribución para el logro del
tercer objetivo propuesto para el Congreso, es decir, proponer, reforzar e inte-
grar en la pastoral juvenil salesiana la atención pastoral a la familia y favorecer
su protagonismo. La perspectiva y los subrayados serán, sin embargo, no tanto
de “pastoral familiar” cuando de “pastoral juvenil”.
Itinerario y contenidos:
MMSiguiendo el camino metodológico de la reflexión teológico-pastoral,
el curso estará articulado en cuatro momentos.
MMEn el primer tiempo se afrontará la situación de la pastoral juvenil actual
en referencia a la familia como comunidad de origen y de destino.
MMEn el segundo bloque se estudiarán los criterios para una colabora-
ción eficaz entre la pastoral juvenil y familia.
MMEn el tercer espacio se verán algunos modos de avanzar en sinergia
entre pastoral juvenil y familia a partir de algunos modelos recientes.
MMLa cuarta parte se constituirá como un espacio facilitador para la
conclusión y la elaboración de propuestas sobre el tema tratado.
ORIENTAMENTI E PRASSI PER LA PASTORALE
FAMILIARE SALESIANA
MARIO OSCAR LLANOS
Obiettivi:
1. Offrire i criteri sull’accompagnamento alle coppie e alle famiglie, nel
campo dell’animazione familiare d’ispirazione “salesiana”.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
2. Riconoscere il valore della «famiglia» negli ambienti di appartenenza.
3. Orientare un’azione pastorale rivolta alla e dalla famiglia nell’ambi-
ente pastorale e nel territorio.
4. Indicare i lineamenti del metodo della pastorale familiare salesiana.
5. Proporre alcune tematiche e strategie in forma laboratoriale.
Contenuto pratico:
1. La pastorale familiare e l’accompagnamento “salesiano” delle fami-
glie. Orientamenti e lettura dell’esperienza
2. Metodologia dell’animazione familiare salesiana: Laboratorio sulla
preparazione di un incontro di gruppo famiglia
3. Contenuti e strategie operative per l’animazione familiare secondo le
fasi e le aree del ciclo vitale della famiglia.
4. Dialogo genitori-figli: il metodo del “Confronto moderato”
TRANSMITIR
LA FE EN FAMILIA
ÁLVARO GINEL VIELVA
Contenidos prácticos:
MMSentido de transmitir y transmitir la fe.
MMOriginalidad de la transmisión de la fe.
MMNuestros “deseos” y la “libertad” del otro: interlocutor único ante
Dios
MMFormas de transmisión cotidianas.
MMNuestra experiencia de transmisión
Pertinencia y relevancia a la misión salesiana:
6. El hogar-familia como lugar de apertura al Dios de Jesús con la fuerza
del Espíritu que se realiza en el carisma de Don Bosco. El carisma de
Don Bosco no se reduce a las obras salesianas. ¡Es vivible en el hogar!
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COUPLES FOR CHRIST:
A COVENANTED COMMUNITY
FRANCIS O. GUSTILO
Objectives and Practical Content:
1. To engage the participants of this Mini-Course to a process of
recognizing, appreciating, and valuing the dynamic role of the Holy
Spirit in the renewal of families through the faith and life experience
of a Charismatic Renewal Covenanted Movement like CFC FFL.
2. To experience through personal witnessing the different stages of
faith growth of the young within the ministry of promoting families
and defending life.
3. To offer a hands-on treatment of the faith-and-life programs designed
according to the psycho-spiritual stages of youth from childhood to
adolescence into young adulthood, namely Kids for Family and Life
(KFL), Youth (YFL), and Singles (SFL).
4. To experience two specific missionary endeavors of the CFC FFL
community for lapsed Catholics who are adolescents and in young
adulthood: LIVE PURE and LIVE THE WORD.
Relevance and significance:
1. Connecting Don Bosco’s experience of Youth-serving-youth within
the framework of Family Renewal and the Ministry of the New
Evangelization.
2. Bridging the CFC FFL presence found in 66 countries (in the 5
continents of the world) and the Salesian Family.
DYNAMICS OF PARENT
EARLY ADULT (YOUTH) CONFLICT IN FAMILY
AND INTERVENTIONS
PAULRAJ AMALRAJ
The young person’s problems are not purely personal but might also have its
origin and existence in the family and all the significant persons of his or her
world. Addressing the Young person’s issues would necessarily include the
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
family in the process. Resolving of conflicts in the family gives a sense of security
and hope for the young adult to face the challenges of the world. On the other
hand, constrained by the dysfunctionality in the family, the young person spirals
into a vicious circle of problems.
Relevance and significance:
MMUsing counselling skills and Intervention techniques, the youth
minister understands better, the dynamics of Parent – young adult
conflict in the family.
MMThe awareness of dynamics helps the young and the parents to see
their dysfunctional behaviour in an unemotional way and model a
new behaviour.
MMResolution of the family conflicts gives the young, a sense of security
and hope and the young person is empowered to become a healthy
contributor for the family and for his or her future.
LAS FAMILIAS ACTUALES:
DESAFÍOS PARA SU COMPRENSIÓN Y
ACOMPAÑAMIENTO
PAULINA FERNÁNDEZ MORENO
La siguiente propuesta, se centra en la noción de familia y sus transforma-
ciones recientes, proponiéndose entregar una panorámica de la diversidad y
complejidad que actualmente se observa en este campo. Se espera incentivar
una reflexión-propositiva acerca de cómo comprender y acompañar distintas
realidades familiares, considerados los cambios en las valoraciones y roles asig-
nados al hombre y la mujer en la sociedad occidental, así como las tensiones en
materia de inclusión social de determinadas cosmovisiones culturales y religio-
sas, orígenes étnico-raciales o nacionales, clase social y grupo etario. Se trata,
por lo tanto, de una aproximación crítica a los temas de familia, que articula
los enfoques de derechos,
Pertinencia y relevancia
El presente curso se encuentra en línea con los planteamientos de la Con-
gregación en Pastoral Juvenil y Familia, comenzando desde la importancia y
necesidad de comprender la actuales situaciones de las familias en la sociedad
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y la Iglesia; para luego, desde este acercamiento a la noción de familia y sus
trasformaciones recientes, hacer un “atento discernimiento comunitario” y
proponer caminos pertinentes de acompañamiento en las realidades locales.
OS JOVENS E AS
NOVAS CONFIGURAÇÕES FAMILIARES:
DESAFIOS ÉTICO-MORAIS
E EDUCATIVO-PEDAGÓGICOS
RONALDO ZACHARIAS
Ao assumirmos a família como lugar unificante da ação pastoral, precisamos
ter presente a realidade concreta da maioria dos jovens pobres que não vivem
numa família nuclear. Os “arranjos” e as “configurações” familiares são os mais
diversos. Os desafios ético-morais e educativo-pedagógicos que derivam deste
simples dado de fato são enormes e não podem ser ignorados. Se as famílias,
hoje, devem lidar com uma série de ameaças que provêm dos contextos em
que estão inseridas, elas não podem ignorar o fato de que uma das ameaças
mais sérias provém da fragilidade da própria instituição familiar, totalmente
dependente da qualidade das relações das pessoas que a compõem. É possível,
hoje, falar de uma nova cultura da família? Acredito que sim, se estivermos
dispostos a tratá-la não de forma abstrata e idealizada, mas como ela é: plural,
situada em vários contextos, dependente da multiplicidade de formas nas quais
o amor pode se encarnar, suscetível à qualidade das relações que as pessoas
estabelecem entre si. Precisamos, com urgência, descobrir estratégias educativo-
pastorais que não apenas apoiem as famílias, mas as sustentem na difícil missão
de serem, também elas, lugar onde Deus habita e se revela.
EDUCACIÓN DE LOS HIJOS DESDE LA
MADUREZ DE LOS PADRES
VIRGINIA CAGIGAL DE GREGORIO
Objetivos:
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
MMIdentificar las áreas principales de desarrollo pleno de la identidad en
niños y adolescentes.
MMIdentificar las principales dificultades actuales en el ejercicio de la
parentalidad y su impacto en el desarrollo de los niños y adolescentes
MMOfrecer herramientas de acompañamiento y apoyo a los padres y
familias en la educación de los hijos
Contenidos prácticos:
MMPrincipales dificultades para la educación en la familia hoy día
MMLa conformación de vínculos seguros padres-hijos
MMEl control de la conducta en el hogar y su importancia en la construc-
ción de la autoestima
MMIdentidad del niño y del adolescente en relación con la identidad de
los padres
MMHerramientas para guiar a los padres en el ejercicio de la parentalidad
Pertinencia y relevancia
Tanto en los colegios salesianos como en otras obras (parroquias,
centros de menores, etc.) la labor educativa y de desarrollo de niños
y adolescentes es eje de la misión. Los padres se acercan a los edu-
cadores pidiendo pistas y orientaciones, y es importante que éstos
puedan ofrecerles una escucha con la suficiente preparación como
para poder orientarles adecuadamente, contribuyendo a la madurez
de los propios padres.
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BEST
PRACTICES
LOVE MATTERS
A REMOTE MARRIAGE PREPARATION
PROGRAM FOR TEENAGERS
CLARENCE WATTS
NHLAHLA MDLALOSE (AFM)
It is a remote marriage preparation program for Teenagers, assisting them to
make good choices in relationships and their sexuality and avoid the heartache
of teenaged pregnancy and sexually transmitted illnesses. In the face of the HIV/
AIDS pandemic of the 1990s in Southern Africa, fueled by both the prevalent
disintegration of the family structure and the widespread governmental and
NGO campaigns promoting the “safe-sex” mentality, the Salesian Youth
Ministry Team at Bosco developed this program as an abstinence/chastity based
antidote for parish and school groups
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
VICTIMS TO VICTORY
INTEGRATION OF YOUTH WITH HIV IN THE
SOCIETY
EDWIN VASANTHAN (INM)
The work for the HIV positive children and youth began in our province in the
year 2012. At present we are having a Residential care centre and a Home-
based reach out programme for 300 children and youth. We now focus on 18
above youth who need our special care and attention. As this particular target
group is very much in need of guidance and support (which is not provided by
any other agency) we Salesians have taken up this challenge to be with them
and to assist them to have serene and decent life as rest of the youth.
YOUNG COUPLES
HELPING YOUNG COUPLES TOWARDS A
MATURE RELATIONSHIP
JINDŘICHŘŠRAJER (CEP)
The aim of this presentation is to introduce the methodology in helping young
spouses towards a mature relationship, according to the conclusions and the
encouragement given by the Bishops at the Synod of the Family (2014-2015)
and it was also mentioned in the document entitled Amoris Laetita (2016).
This presentation will introduce the methodology that has been developed
by the authors in the Czech Republic and the practical experience with its
implimentation into practice. This practice represents a challenge for the
Salesians and the Salesians’ associates.
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FAMILY GARDEN
COUNSELLING CENTRE FOR FAMILIES
KAMIL
KATARINA BAGIN (SLK)
The Family Garden is a counseling centre for families, located in Bratislava,
staffed by laymen —Salesian cooperators since 2014. In addition to Salesian
cooperators FAMILY GARDEN collaborate with many other specialists
(gynecologist, psychologist, priest, lawyer, special education professional,
financial adviser), married couples and the entire Salesian family. The Family
Garden brings all these Christian specialists under one roof, thus helping
believers who seek high quality professional help. The Family Garden provides
the assistance on two levels— counseling and prevention.
TRAIL OF DON BOSCO
WORKING WITH FAMILIES OF YOUNG
PEOPLE
NELE LOUAGE (BEN)
In the home, we accompany 41 boys between 12 and 21 years of age. More
than half of the boys is placed in our setting by the juvenile judge because of
their undesirable behavior. We are inspired by the systemic theory (contextual
thinking —Ivan Boszormenyi— Nagy). We believe that every youngster is a
unique hub of relationships forming his identity and that problems arise in the
interaction between people. Therefore we believe that involving the families
in our work is very important. The purpose of our work is search for allies
between youngsters and their families to tackle the problems and search for a
perspective.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
GRUPPO FAMIGLIE
MOVIMENTO GIOVANILE SALESIANO
SIMONA CARLI (ILE)
Il Gruppo Famiglie MGS, così come è nato 9 anni fa, consisteva in una decina
di giovani sposi che hanno condiviso nell’arco di quattro anni —per una
sera al mese infrasettimanale— un programma molto semplice di incontro:
una cena, la preghiera insieme, un itinerario formativo e occasionalmente
qualche gita. Le parole – chiave del gruppo sono: 1. Formazione 2. Servizio
3. Accompagnamento. Ogni anno il gruppo si propone di coinvolgere nuove
coppie, nell’ottica dell’inclusione e della condivisione delle buone prassi
maturate. L’Associazione Salesiani Cooperatori ha nel gruppo Giovani Famiglie
diversi esponenti.
ALLEANZA EDUCATIVA
ACCOMPAGNARE FAMIGLIE E GIOVANI
TULLIO LUCCA
SIMONETTA ROSSI (ILE)
Le famiglie non possono isolarsi, ma devono camminare insieme. I giovani
devono sentirsi amati, accompagnati e sostenuti da reti familiari in un progetto
di bene. Nell’Ispettoria del Piemonte e della Valle d’Aosta, da 25 anni, viviamo
un’esperienza di apertura della pastorale familiare a quella giovanile, a partire
da un cammino per giovani sposi che è maturato nell’Associazione di Maria
Ausiliatrice (ADMA) e che da alcuni anni ha una significativa realtà giovanile.
Stiamo comprendendo dall’esperienza che la Pastorale Familiare deve aprirsi
a quella Giovanile (e viceversa). I giovani, convinti dalla testimonianza delle
famiglie, hanno organizzato un gruppo (ADMA giovani) per coinvolgere gli
amici nel cammino.
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PASTORALE GIOVANILE E FAMIGLIA
DANIELE MERLINI
LORENZO
LUCIA GHERI (ICC)
Il gruppo di studio e la Commissione “PG e Famiglia” ha iniziato a riflettere aiutata
da esperti del Dicastero di PG e dell’Università Salesiana su temi come: lo specifico
educativo della famiglia, il carisma salesiano e la famiglia, quale apporto specifico può
dare la famiglia al carisma salesiano, quale apporto può dare il carisma salesiano alla
famiglia, quale complementarietà tra la vocazione alla vita consacrata e la vocazione
alla vita familiare. Al termine di un anno di studio, mentre alcuni temi sono stati messi
all’ordine del giorno per un’ulteriore approfondimento, sono state elaborate delle linee
di azione prioritarie su cui iniziare a coinvolgere le diverse case della Circoscrizione.
FAMIGLIE ANIMATRICE
DELLA DIMENSIONE AFFETTIVA NEI GRUPPI
APOSTOLICI
EMANUELE DE MARIA
ELISABETTA PREVE
RICCARDO GIRIBALDI (ICC)
Nel nuovo clima di attenzione dato alla famiglia a partire dal CG26 e da “Amoris
laetitia”, è stata avviata in Circoscrizione, da una parte, una riflessione su Famiglia
e Carisma salesiano e, dall’altra parte, una serie di pratiche volte a comprovare ciò
che si stava andando studiando e elaborando. È sembrato che uno dei campi di
impegno educativo specifico delle famiglie potesse essere quello dell’educazione
all’affettività e all’amore. Alcune famiglie si sono rese disponibili ad aiutare i
Salesiani in questo percorso nei Gruppi Apostolici delle diverse fasce d’età e a
livello ispettoriale nei cammini di formazione degli animatori.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
SAFINA
MAISON DE FORMATION CULTURELLE ET
CHRÉTIENNE
DAVID KABONGO MIKOMBE
DONATIEN BANZE (AFC)
La jeunesse lushoise évolue dans un environnement marqué par la crise sociale,
politique, économique, culturelle. SAFINA est un lieu d’accompagnement
des jeunes sur le chemin du mariage chrétien. Différentes activités culturelles
organisées permettent de ressortir l’importance de la famille. Les thèmes de
mariage sont joués comme théâtre ou animés comme récollection, par moments
accompagnés comme enseignements par un groupe de parents, juste pour
accompagner les jeunes ; qu’ils découvrent et réalisent que l’Évangile de la
famille est une joie qui remplit le cœur et la vie toute entière.
MAMÁS CATEQUISTAS
MAMÁS SALESIANAS EDUCANDO EN LA FE
FRANCISCO CERVANTES (MEG)
Las Mamás Catequista Salesianas están constituidas como una agrupación de
mujeres voluntarias en los colegios de nuestra Inspectoría, ellas son general-
mente mamás o incluso abuelas de los alumnos que se implican en la formación
de la fe de sus hijos, pero lo hacen como “maestras”, dentro del horario escolar
en el aula. La Asociación de Mamás Catequistas está presente en los 13 Cole-
gios Salesianos de nuestra Inspectoría, en cada colegio hay de 20 a 40 mamás
participando. Nace por dos motivos, el primero es de la inquietud de servicio y
apostolado de las mismas mamás que conscientes de su compromiso cristiano
laical y de su responsabilidad de educadoras en la fe de sus propios hijos quieren
“hacer algo” y qué mejor en la escuela donde estudian sus hijos.
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PASTORAL EN ZAPATILLAS
EXPERIENCIAS DE VIDA CRISTIANA
EN LA FAMILIA
MIGUEL ANGEL CALAVIA
NIEVES BARRAGÁN BRU (SMX)
“Pastoral en Zapatillas” nace para responder el desafío actual de la Pastoral
Familiar en la Iglesia y en la Congregación. Tema presente en la reflexión de la
Comisión Nacional de Parroquias/Santuarios (integrada en el Centro Nacional
Salesiano de Pastoral Juvenil), La urgencia de La Pastoral Familiar aparece en los
documentos eclesiales y ocupa también un lugar importante en los Proyectos
educativo-pastorales inspectoriales y locales de España. “Pastoral en Zapatillas”
quiere ser un material sencillo y práctico, que se ofrece a las familias de nuestras
obras salesianas (parroquias, escuelas, oratorios, plataformas sociales…); para
ayudarles a hacer una lectura creyente-evangélica de la propia vida y cultura.
VARIEDAD Y TECNOLOGÍA
EN LA ESCUELA DE PADRES
LUIS CORRAL PRIETO (CAM)
En CEDES Don Bosco (San José, Costa Rica), estamos convencidos de la necesidad
de intensificar, el trabajo a favor de la vida, el matrimonio y la familia, porque el
diagnóstico es tan pesimista como en cualquier otro lugar del mundo Occidental:
personas que solo conviven, padres divorciados e hijos del divorcio, separaciones
matrimoniales, familias monoparentales (madres solteras), familias reconstruidas,
contracepción, alumnas embarazadas, etc. No basta la Escuela de Padres. Hay
que trabajar en todos los frentes: alumnado, educadores, y padres de familia. Con
más de dos mil estudiantes, y un promedio de 5 personas por familia tenemos
una influencia directa sobre 10.000 personas. Esa es nuestra misión.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
GRUPO DE PADRES
EVA MARÍA MARTÍNEZ
JOSÉ LUIS VILLOTA (SSM)
Nuestro “Grupo de Padres” se reúne una vez al mes, en el mismo horario
en que se llevan a cabo las actividades con sus hijos en el Centro Juvenil, el
Oratorio y la Catequesis de Comunión. Es importante para nosotros coincidir
con los chicos en tiempo y espacio para convertir nuestra reunión también en
un testimonio para ellos. Somos tres parejas de Salesianos Cooperadores que
animamos/acompañamos a un grupo de unos 30 padres y madres. Tal y como
los propios padres nos demandaron, no se trata de una “Escuela de padres”,
sino, más bien, de un grupo de fe, de formación y de compartir vida.
FAZER O BEM FAZ BEM
EXPERIÊNCIAS DE PRÁTICAS DE PASTORAL
JUVENIL E FAMILIAR
FERNANDA C.M.PEREIRA (BMA)
Visando fortalecer o protagonismo juvenil, a formação de jovens líderes e criar
redes de testemunhos cristãos e motivacional às práticas de Pastoral, o Delegado
de Pastoral da Mantenedora, Padre Antonio de Assis Ribeiro, lançou o Projeto
CASAIS VOLUNTÁRIOS com o objetivo de diagnosticar e promover casais que
desejam fazer a experiência do Voluntariado Social a Serviço da Pastoral Juvenil
Salesiana. Os casais voluntários, alguns com consistente experiência de Pastoral
Juvenil Salesiana, apoiam e são parceiros nas variadas iniciativas da Pastoral
Juvenil Salesiana sobretudo dando especial atenção e acompanhamento aos
jovens que estão em formação no Curso de Liderança Juvenil.
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PASTORALE CIRCOLARE
SALVATORE
ROBERTA PARRINO (ISI)
Da più di 10 anni è presente nella nostra Casa, un gruppo Famiglie, guidato da
coppie animatrici secondo la metodologia dell’animazione salesiana. Le direttrici
lungo le quali si muove il gruppo sono tre: la relazione, la formazione e il
servizio. In pratica il percorso che viene proposto alle coppie è quello di una
scoperta della vocazione matrimoniale, attraverso l’approfondimento di temi
specifici della coppia. Già nel 2007 il gruppo individuava la necessità di operare
un coinvolgimento parallelo delle famiglie accanto all’azione pastorale sui
ragazzi, in quanto si rendeva conto che senza un’azione educativa “circolare”
si rischiava di non dare continuità all’opera educativa intrapresa con i ragazzi.
PARENTS OF STUDENTS
THE FIRST EDUCATORS AND THE FIRST
YOUTH MINISTERS
ABRAHAM N. FELICIANO (SUE)
At Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Takoma Park, Maryland, the Youth
Ministry Team of the school consists of approximately 40-45 students and 4
adults. The team is responsible for all of the school liturgies, all student retreats,
community building activities, Salesian Family events, and the service program.
An orientation day is held at the building of the scholastic year and a network is
established with the parents. Through this network the parents not only support
the activity and work of their sons and daughters, but the parents themselves
were responsible or co-responsible for a number of Youth Ministry activities
and events at the school.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
REBUILDING TRUST
BETWEEN YOUNG PEOPLE AND THEIR
PARENTS
VAL COLLIER
MARTIN BURKE (IRL)
Don Bosco Care is a voluntary agency providing residential care and emotional
support to young people who are unable to live presently with their families. Over
the years it became very clear for many of our young people eventually returned to
live with their family, or at least continued to have regular contact with their family
even when this contact had many difficulties for them. As a result we realised that
we needed to change our practice. We also know that young people, from even
the most distressed and traumatic situations, have an intense desire to be deeply
connected with their family. So over the years, our practice has evolved to include
working with families in a more significant way, if they are open to working with us.
MY SECOND HOME
AS EXPERIENCE OF YOUTH AND FAMILY
MINISTRY
ERIC CACHIA (IRL)
A meaningful Youth Ministry always goes with a sound Family Ministry. Therefore,
Savio College decided to look for a common ground which brings together both
the family and the young. This has been identified as “accompaniment”, of both
the family and the young. Mutual respect and understanding between the Salesians
(as educators) and parents/guardians (as primary care givers) is built before the
student/son starts school, thus creating a strong platform in line with the Salesian
preventive system. The process lived at Savio College allows a stronger ownership
where faith becomes a journey to unfold rather than a service to consume.
204

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PARENTAL ORATORY
SAVIO YEUNG & TEAM (CIN)
Salesian Educative Pastoral Centre for Youth and Family” is located in the district
with low social-economic and new immigrant families in Macau. The center is
a “Parental Center” as well as “Daily Oratory” where parents can walk-in with
children and stay and play together with their children, to enjoy and enhance
the parent-child relationship. From time to time the center provides different
parental training courses such as “Life Skill”, “Spiritual Counselling”, “Play
Group”, “Thinking Course”, “Personality Growth Training” that helps parents
to have educating mind set and improve their parent-child relationship.
PADRES EXPLORADORES
HÉCTOR LUIS ARISMENDE (ARS)
El movimiento juvenil de los Exploradores Argentinos de Don Bosco se abre cada
vez más a la participación de los padres en las actividades de sus hijos, gener-
ando espacios de encuentro, formación y colaboración con la finalidad de: inte-
grarlos al proceso educativo del Movimiento; ofrecerles espacio de participación
activa en el sostén organizativo y económico; garantizar una presencia estable
de adultos durante las actividades ordinarias y extraordinarias. El movimiento
EADB está presente en toda la Argentina con más de 80 centros, y cada uno
posee al menos un grupo estable de Padres Exploradores.
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
TABLES
TABLE
YOUTH MINISTRY & FAMILY
Map of the social and Ecclesial Reality of the family by region or continent
(Presentations by 6 Speakers & Regional Teams with Provincial Delegates for Youtn Ministry)
AFRICA &
MADAGASCAR
16-19 September
2015
Addis Abeba
AMERICA
17-20 October
2015
Quito
SOUTH
ASIA
2-5 November
2015
Bangalore
EAST ASIA -
OCEANIA
10-13 November
2015
Seoul
EU.
MEDITERRANEAN
2-5 February
2016
Santiago de
Compostela
EU. CENTRAL-
NORTH
9-12 February
2016
Rome
TABLE
YOUTH MINISTRY & FAMILY
Contributions from local realities
AFRICA &
MADAGASCAR
Results due:
31/08/2016
AMERICA
SOUTH CONE
Results due:
07/10/2016
EAST ASIA-
OCEANIA
Results due:
01/10/2016
21-23/06/2016
Regional Meeting
17-20/10/2016
Regional Meeting
1-3/11/2016
Regional Meeting
7-10/02/2017
Regional Meeting
12-15/09/2016
Regional Meeting
24-27/10/2016
Mailing of
Rector Major’s
Letter-Survey to
Provincials &
Youth Ministry
Delegates
INTERAMERICA
Results due:
07/10/2016
ASIA SUD
Results due:
01/10/2016
Regional Meeting
10-13/11/2016
EUROPE
Results due:
15/11/2017
206

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TABLE
28 November
Tuesday
Propositive
reading:
REALITY of the
Congregation
STUDY OF
QUESTIONNAIRE
29 November
Wednesday
ECCLESIAL
reading
PONENCIA
30 November
Thursday
EDUCATIVE-
PASTORAL
reading
PONENCIA
1 December
Friday
WORKSHOP
I Session 90’
Pausa
BEST
Practices
GROUPS
BEST
Practices
GROUPS
BEST
Practices
GROUPS
Regional
contextualization:
inspiration in
the morning
reflection
Regional
contextualization:
inspiration in
the morning
reflection
Regional
contextualization:
inspiration in
the morning
reflection
27 November
Monday
Opening
WORKSHOP
WORKSHOP
WORKSHOP
GUIDELINES
FOR THE
FUTURE
II Session 90’
Pranzo
Plenary
Assembly
III Session 90’
Pausa
Salesian-
Cultural
gathering
IV Session 120’
207

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
FINAL EVALUATION
ITA (37) FRA (13) SPA (46) POR (20) ENG (49) = 165
1 2 3 4 5 Average
CONFERENCES
1 Bruno Forte
3 7 40 109 4.60
2 Fabio Attard
1
5 28 133 4.74
3 Carmen Peña
1 12 24 56 72 4.27
4 Rossano Sala
1
2 25 133 4.79
GOOD PRACTICES
6 1. Love Matters
5 1 3 3.77
7 2. Integration of HIV affected
3 5 4.62
8 3. Helping Young Couples
2 4 4 4 3 3.11
4. Family Garden
1 1 11 8 4.23
5. In the trail of Don Bosco
1 7 9 4.47
6. Gruppo Famiglie MGS
5 6 10 4.23
7. Alleanza Educativa
1 1 4 19 17 4.19
8. PG e Famiglia
2 7 15 12 4.02
9. Famiglie animatrici della dimensione affettiva
2 15 10 4.29
10. Maison Safina
1 1 5 4.57
11. Mamas Catequistas
2 1 17 4.75
12. Pastoral en Zapatillas
1 1 4 18 18 4.21
13. Variedad y Tecnologia
1 6 8 4.46
14. Grupo de Padres
1 5 7 4.46
15. Fazer o Bem Faz Bem
5 2 5 4.00
16. Pastorale Circolare
1 3 10 7 4.19
17. Parents of Students
2 6 1 3.88
18. Rebuilding Trust
4 5 4 4.00
19. You are part of my family
1 9 6 4.31
20. Parental oratory
3 4 7 4.28
21. Padres Exploradores
1 2 1 3 3.85
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ITA (37) FRA (13) SPA (46) POR (20) ENG (49) = 165
WORKSHOP
9 1. Francis Gustilo
2. Paul Raj
3. Virginia Cagigal
4. Paulina Fernandez
5. Alvaro Ginel
6. Ronaldo Zacharias
7. Mario Llanos
8. Gustavo Cavagnari
GROUP WORK
10 Group Work in regions
IN CONCLUSION
11 Enriched vision and strategies
12 Planned objectives
13 The methodology in general
14 Active participation of the participants
15 Personal involvement
16 Personal involvement of other participants
17 Duration
18 Environmental conditions
19 The accommodation
20 Information-communication
21 Personal formation
22 Moments of celebration
1 2 3 4 5 Average
1 1 2 2 5 3.81
1
1 10 5 4.05
4 7 4.63
1 2 5 5 1 3.21
1
12 4.84
14 5.00
1 5 3 5 10 3.75
2 6 21 4.65
1 5 22 66 60 4.04
2 9 64 86 4.46
1
14 62 82 4.40
1 3 9 66 84 4.40
1 1 14 57 87 4.48
1 15 70 79 4.37
1 15 72 78 4.36
1 3 6 54 100 4.51
2 6 10 47 100 4.43
1
3 32 129 4.74
3 4 30 48 75 4.17
1 1 4 44 112 4.63
4 8 24 43 86 4.20
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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
PARTICIPANTS
Nº NAME
1 KABWE PAUL
2 JOACHIM
3 NICOLE EKILA
4 LIGOPI LINZUWA
5 ISIDORO
6 ABEL
7 BANZE WA MONGA
8 MELCHADES
9 CLARENCE
10 NHALNHLA GODFREE
11 DIDIER
12 BENON
13 MARK ANTHONY
14 OLUMIDE
15 BENEDICT
16 GATETE
17 SANTIAGO
18 ANGELO
19 DANIEL
20 MARIA CLARA
21 ZEZINHA MADALENA
22 JOSE FRANCISCO
23 JOSE PASTOR
24 JORGE
25 FERNANDO
26 GERMAN ARIEL
27 HECTOR LUIS
28 EMILE DESIRE
SURNAME
VINNY
SHAMUKEKE KABANZA
DJANGI
ZEPHYRIN
APOSTOLI
MUSSIE
DONATIEN
LUKANYANGA
WATTS
MDLALOSE
MEBA
HERMANN
OKPALIRE
AKADIRI
MENSAH
INNOCENT
CHRISTOPHERSEN
EPALANGA AMANDIO
KANDANDJI
BORGES KANDANDJI
MUTANGO EPALANGA
ORTEGA MEJIA
RAMIREZ FERNANDEZ
SANTIAGO CARTAGENA
SAADE
CUESTA
ARISMENDE
MEFOUDE
PROVINCE
ACC
ACC
ACC
ACC
AET
AET
AFC
AFE
AFM
AFM
AFO
AFO
AFW
AFW
AFW
AGL
ANG
ANG
ANG
ANG
ANG
ANT
ANT
ANT
ARN
ARN
ARS
ATE
210

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Nº NAME
SURNAME
29
FRANCINE COLETTE
ZENAIDE
ZOMAMBOU BONGO
30 YOLANDE GISELE
OSSAVOU
31 ANNICK RACHEL
OSSAVOU DOUMBE
32 BERNARD
GRAHAM
33 RUDOLF
OSANGER
34 WAGNER
LUIS GALVAO
35 ELIAS
ROBERTO
36 GEE
VAN DEN BERGHE
37 LOUAGE
NELE
38 VERPOEST
DIETER
39 REGINALDO
LIMA CORDEIRO
40 FERNANDA CRISTINA
MELO PEREIRA
41 DULCIMAR
SILVA PEREIRA
42 EDWIN
CESPEDES BERNAL
43 GILSON MARCOS
DA SILVA
44 RAFAEL
PEREIRA PEREIRA
45 EDUARDO ROGERIO
SCHMITZ
46 ALESSANDRA
FISTAROL SCHMITZ
47 EUDES
BARRETO FERNANDES
48 JOSEFA MADALENA
DA SILVA
49 ROQUE LUIZ
SIBIONI
50 ANA LUCIA
DA SILVA BASTISTA
51 MARILDA MARTINS
PEREIRA DE SOUZA
52 ALEXANDRO
SANTANA
53 ERACLIDES REIS PIMENTA ERACLIDES
54 RENE
SANTOS GONZALEZ
55 LUIS
CORRAL PRIETO
PROVINCE
ATE
ATE
ATE
AUL
AUS
BCG
BCG
BEN
BEN
BEN
BMA
BMA
BMA
BOL
BPA
BPA
BPA
BPA
BRE
BRE
BSP
BSP
BSP
BSP
BSP
CAM
CAM
211

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Nº NAME
SURNAME
56 TOMAS
57 JINDRICH
58 MICHAL
59 CLAUDIO
60 RUTH ANGELICA
61 CLAUDIA ALEJANDRA
62 JUAN FRANCISCO
63 CHO LAW SAVIO
64 UN HOU
65 YUK CHO
66 JOSE ARCADIO
67 ELMA MIREYA
68 JULIO CESAR
69 JAIME ENRIQUE
70 JORGE ARLEY
71 OSCAR JOSE
72 IVAN
73 JOSIP
74 JOSIPA
75 HENRY WLADIMIR
76 RUBINSKY RAVINDANAT
77 JOEL
78
JOHN MARIE FRANCIS
OCAMPO
79 EDWIN
80 JOANNA MARIE
81
ANTHONY E.GEORGE
ANGELO
82 JORIZ
83 ELIGIO
84 XAVIER
85 JOCKIR
86 MICOD
87 KATHARINA
88 WIDMANN
89 BARBARA
REDLICH
SRAJER
KAPLANEK
CARTES
LIZANA IBACETA
MARTI AGUILERA
TRIPAILAF QUILONDRAN
YEUNG
CHEONG
SHI
RIAÑO CUIDA
ARDILA DUARTE
HERRAN CASTILLO
MORALES ALFONSO
ESCOBAR ARIAS
HOLGUIN ORDONEZ
TERZE
ZELENIKA
ZELENIKA
ACOSTA NARANJO
SANCHEZ ANDRADE
CAMAYA
VILLAFANIA
SOLIVA
OLIVA
CORREIA
CALSA
SANTOS
ERNST
GENEVIÈVE
ERIC
KARL
JÖRG
KLOSE
PROVINCE
CEP
CEP
CEP
CIL
CIL
CIL
CIL
CIN
CIN
CIN
COB
COB
COB
COB
COM
COM
CRO
CRO
CRO
ECU
ECU
FIN
FIN
FIN
FIN
FIN
FIS
FIS
FRB
FRB
FRB
GER
GER
GER
212

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Nº NAME
SURNAME
90 HITOSHI
YAMANOUCHI
91 SHINGO
TOMITA
92 JAMES ROBERT
GARDNER
93 SUE
MCDONALD
94 HUBERT
MESIDOR
95 MARIE GLADYS
DUPUY
96 WITHNEY
JEAN BAPTISTE
97 RICCARDO
GIRIBALDI
98 DANIELE
MERLINI
99 ELISABETTA
PREVE
100 EMANUELE
DE MARIA
101 LORENZO
GHERI
102 LUCIA
SCILLA
103 CLAUDIO
BELFIORE
104 GIOVANNI
D’ANDREA
105 TULLIO
LUCCA
106 SIMONETTA
ROSSI
107 CLAUDIO
DURANDO
108 ALBERTO
MARTELLI
109 STEFANO
MONDIN
110 MICHELE
MOLINAR MIN BECIET
111 PAOLO
CAIANI
112 SIMONA ANGELA
CARLI
113 DOMENICO
MADONNA
114 PIERLUIGI
LANOTTE
115 TOMMASO
CELENTA
116 DANIELA
GALDI
117 GLENFORD CLIFTON JUDE LOWE
118 RICHARD
D’SILVA
119 ANAND
CASTELINO
120 PALOMA LYDIA
DSA
121 ANTON
D’SOUZA
122 LAWRENCE
MONDAL
123 Don Bosco
Perianayagam
124 KAISA
KAIKHO
PROVINCE
GIA
GIA
GRB
GRB
HAI
HAI
HAI
ICC
ICC
ICC
ICC
ICC
ICC
ICC
ICC
ICP
ICP
ICP
ICP
ICP
ICP
ILE
ILE
IME
IME
IME
IME
INB
INB
INB
INB
INB
INC
IND
IND
213

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Nº NAME
SURNAME
125 Siile Anthony
126 Francis
127 SILVIO
128 VINCENZO
129 BARBARA CRISTINA
130 ANGELO SERGIO
131 Prueba
132 LUCIA
133 LUCAS
134 SUDHAKAR
135 ANTHIC
136 JOSE THOMAS
137 PAULACHAN
138 HYACINTH
139 SINDHA
140 STEVEN LAWRENCE
141 EDWIN VASANTHAN
142 MURALI KRISHNAN
143 JOHN BOSCO
144 DON BOSCO
145 MARIA CHARLES
146 SHILANAND
147 GABRIEL
148 VINCENT AROKIA XAVIER
149 ERIC
150 VAL
151 MARTIN
152 ROBERT L.
153 DOMENICO
154 GIUSEPPE
155 ANGELO
156 SALVATORE
157 ROBERTA
158 MARIANNINA
159 JOAO DA COSTA
Khoho
Ngajokapa
ZANCHETTA
RICCIO
CASTIONI
VIANELLO
Prueba
SEBASTIANUTTI
CHAMBUGONG MARAK
BELLAMKONDA
JOSEPH
KOYICKAL
KANNAPPILLY
MENDEZ
HYACINTH MENDEZ
LAWRENCE
THOMAS
GOPALAN
SELVARAJ
LOURDUSAMY
ANTONYSAMY
KERKETTA
KARUNARAJ
PHILOMINRAJ
CACHIA
COLLIER
BURKE
GRECH
LUVARÁ
RUTA
GRASSO
PARRINO
NICASTRO
PISCIOTTA
BOAVIDA
PROVINCE
IND
IND
INE
INE
INE
INE
INE
INE
ING
INH
INH
INK
INK
INK
INK
INK
INM
INM
INM
INM
INN
INN
INT
INT
IRL
IRL
IRL
IRL
ISI
ISI
ISI
ISI
ISI
ISI
ITM
214

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Nº NAME
160 ORATIOUS SAJEEWAKA
161
ANTHONY T.CLAY
FERNANDO
162 HARISOA JOSE GASTON
163 MARIE FREDELINE
164 FRANCISCO
165 PABLO FEDERICO
166
MARIA DE LA SALUD
RAQUEL
167 JONATHAN SIMON
168 JESUS ABRAHAM
169 PERLA
170 PAULO ARMANDO
171 MARIA ANGELICA
172 JUANA
173 MANUEL
174 OLGA ALBERTINA
175 DELIO FRANCISCO
176 DOMINGO ANTONIO
177 DOMINGO RAMON
178 MARTIN
179 HUMBERTO
180 VICTORIA
181 SILVIA EDITH
182 GEORGE AUFE
183 CASPA
184 ADAM
185 MARIA
186 MAGDALENA
187 ALICJA
188 FRANCISZEK
189 JOÃO
190 JUAN
191 ALVARO
192 PAULO JORGE
SURNAME
PAUL
WARNAKULASOORIYA
RAKOTONDRANAIVO
RATOVOARIVELO
NDRASANTSOA
CERVANTES
MUJICA LOPEZ
SERRATOS VAZQUEZ
ORTEGA FRAIRE
VILLA MARTINEZ
PATIÑO
MORALES GUTIERREZ
ALVAREZ MENDIETA
LOPEZ RUEDA
GUTIERREZ MUÑOZ
CUCO
BARREIRO PENAYO
ARANDA DELGADO
CACERES GONZALEZ
CIPRIANO SALAZAR
CHAVEZ
BASHI ZAVALA
FERNANDEZ GARCIA
ISOAIMO
CHARLES
WEGRZYN
BORAKIEWICZ
JAGIELSKA
BOROWIK
JANYGA
CHAVES MENDES
FREITAS
LAGO
VALENTE PINTO
PROVINCE
LKC
LKC
MDG
MDG
MEG
MEG
MEG
MEG
MEG
MEG
MEM
MEM
MEM
MEM
MOZ
PAR
PAR
PAR
PER
PER
PER
PER
PGS
PGS
PLE
PLN
PLO
PLO
PLS
POR
POR
POR
POR
215

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Nº NAME
193 RENATO
194 MARCELO
195 MIGUEL ANGEL
196 DANIEL
197 PATRICK
198 FABIO
199 ANGEL
200 HORACIO
201 TARCIZIO
202 AMERICO
203 NATALE
204 MARIA AROKIAM
205 TADEUSZ
206 STEFANO
207 ROSSANO
208 BRUNO
209 GUSTAVO
210 FRANCIS O.
211 RONALDO
212 PAULINA
213 MARIO
214 PAUL
215 ALESSANDRA
216 DOMENICO
217 LIVIA HELENA
218 JULIA
219 ALEXANDER AWI
220 ANGEL
221 LEONARDO
222 MARIAN
223 MANUEL
224 DANIEL
225 CARLOS
226 YOLANDA
227 JAYAPALAN
216
SURNAME
CURSI
FARFAN
GARCIA MORCUENDE
GARCIA
ANTHONYRAJ
ATTARD
FERNANDEZ ARTIME
LOPEZ
MORAIS
CHAQUISSE
VITALI
KANAGA
ROZMUS
MARTOGLIO
SALA
FORTE
CAVAGNARI
GUSTILO
ZACHARIAS
FERNANDEZ
LLANOS
RAJ AMALRAJ
CAMA
MOLINA GUISEPPE
PITTINAU
ARCINIEGAS ALVAREZ
MELLO
GUDIÑA
SANCHEZ
SERRANO
SERRANO
DIAZ-JIMENEZ
MARTIN
SOBRINO POVES
RAPHAEL
PROVINCE
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG
RMG

22.6 Page 216

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Nº NAME
228 FRANCISCO
229 JOAN LLUÍS
230 PAVOL
231 KATARINA
232 KAMIL
233 DOMINIK
234 GASPER
235 SANJA
236 FRANCISCO JOSE
237 MIGUEL ANGEL
238 JAVIER
239 ANA MARIA
240 MARTA
241 ALEJANDRO
242 JORGE JUAN
243 CRISTOBAL
244 RAUL
245 EVA MARIA
246 JOSE ANTONIO
247 AURORA
248 IRUNE
249 JOSÉ LUIS
250 CHARO
251 JUAN CARLOS
252 SAMUEL
253 JOSE MANUEL
254 JOSE MARIA
255 XAVIER
256 MANUEL FERNANDO
257 FRANCISCO JAVIER
258 JOSE LUIS
259 JOSE MARIA
260 VIRGINIA
261 Alvaro
262 KOLDO
SURNAME
SANTOS MONTERO
PLAYÀ MORERA
BOKA
BAGINOVA
BAGIN
VINS
OTRIN
OBAHA BRODNJAK
PEREZ CAMACHO
CALAVIA CALAVIA
DOMINGUEZ PARRA
VAQUERO PEIRO
ROMAN CAMARA
GUEVARA RODRIGUEZ
REYES MACIAS
LOPEZ
FERNANDEZ ABAD
MARTINEZ FERNANDEZ
HERNANDEZ GARCIA
MARTIN IZQUIERDO
LOPEZ ARESTI
GARCÍA PEÑA
TEN SORIANO
PEREZ GODOY
SEGURA VALERO
GONZALEZ DIEZ
BLANCO ALONSO
CAMINO SAEZ
GARCIA SANCHEZ
VALIENTE MORENO
VILLOTA COSIO
GARCIA MENDEZ
CAGIGAL DE GREGORIO
Ginel
GUTIERREZ CUESTA
PROVINCE
RMG
RMG
SLK
SLK
SLK
SLK
SLO
SLO
SMX
SMX
SMX
SMX
SMX
SMX
SMX
SMX
SMX
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
SSM
217

22.7 Page 217

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YOUTH MINISTRY AND FAMILY
Nº NAME
SURNAME
263 ANGEL
264 MARIA DEL ROSARIO
265 ABRAHAM
266 MATTEO
267 NORMA
268 ANDREA
269 ALPHONSE
270 GINA
271 PIYA
272 ANATOLIY
273 SERGIO
274 PEDRO
275 ORLANDO ELISEO
276 NELSON RAMON
277 SANDILLY INMACULADA
278 QUOC PHONG
279 DUY BAO
280 HUY CHUONG
281 QUANG THAI
282 CHRISTOPHER
283 JENNIFER NKONDE
ASTORGANO RUIZ
GARCIA RIBAS
FELICIANO
MORELLI
FRANCO
ZIMMERMAN
VU
ROBLES
PUCHCHAN
HETSYANYN
ALVAREZ MORA
INICIO REY
GRAMCKO RODRIGUEZ
SEQUERA GIMENEZ
ECHETO JORGE
PHAM
VU
PHAN
DINH
KUNDA
SIKAZWE
PROVINCE
SSM
SSM
SUE
SUE
SUE
SUE
SUO
SUO
THA
UKR
URU
URU
VEN
VEN
VEN
VIE
VIE
VIE
VIE
ZMB
ZMB
218

22.8 Page 218

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219

22.9 Page 219

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22.10 Page 220

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PRESENTATION ...............................................................................................................06
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................08
27TH NOVEMBER 2017
THE FAMILY IN THE CHURCH’S SYNOD: PROSPECTS
AND OPPORTUNITIES...............................................................................................17
28TH NOVEMBER 2017
THE JOURNEY OF THE SALESIAN CONGREGATION......35
Reflections at the Regional Level ...........................................................................65
29TH NOVEMBER 2017
AMORIS LAETITIA:
SOME CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS............................................81
Reflections at the Regional Level .......................................................................... 99
30TH NOVEMBER 2017
THE FAMILY IN SALESIAN PASTORAL CONTEXT ...............119
Reflections at the Regional Level ......................................................................... 153
FOR THE FUTURE..........................................................................................................177
COLLABORATORS...................................................................................................... 187
MINI-COURSES................................................................................................................189
BEST PRACTICES..........................................................................................................195
TABLES..................................................................................................................................... 206
FINAL EVALUATION.................................................................................................208
PARTICIPANTS................................................................................................................. 210
221

23 Pages 221-230

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23.1 Page 221

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23.2 Page 222

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23.3 Page 223

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23.4 Page 224

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