THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE LAY PERSON IN THE SALESIAN FAMILY

An invitation to renew our identity card. - Who are the laity who share the mission with us. - The new ecclesial mentality. - Vatican II our guide in a "pilgrimage of discovery", - A valuable initiative of communion. - What our objectives are. - Giving life to a "spiritual movement".

Rome, 24 February 1986

My dear confreres,

The theme expressed in the Strenna for 1986 is deserving of careful consideration in the Congregation.

The vocation and mission of the lay person at the present day is one of the great fronts of renewal opened up by Vatican II. The Council's action of analysis and relaunching has its repercussions also on our Family, which detects in the development of this vocation an enriching experience of returning to its origins. Don Bosco in fact always involved a large number of lay people in his mission for the young and the poor.