Acts434_RM_en


Acts434_RM_en



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of the general council
year CII
december 2020
N. 434
official organ
of animation
and communication
for the
salesian congregation
Direzione Generale
Opere don Bosco
Roma

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acts
of the General Council
of the Salesian Society
of St John Bosco
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF ANIMATION AND COMMUNICATION FOR THE SALESIAN CONGREGATION
N. 434 year CII
december 2020
1. LETTER
1.1 Fr Ángel FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME
OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
“Signs and bearers of the love of god for young people,
especially those who are poor» (C. 2)
SIX YEARS THAT DEMAND
BOLDNESS, PROPHECY AND FIDELITY
3
2. GUIDELINES
AND POLICIES
2.1 Project of animation and government of the Rector Major
and his Council for the six-year period from 2020-2026
25
3. DISPOSITIONS AND NORMS
(none in this issue)
4. ACTIVITIES
OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
(none in this issue)
5. DOCUMENTS AND NEWS
(none in this issue)

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Editrice S.D.B.
Edizione extra commerciale
Sede Centrale Salesiana
Via Marsala, 42
00185 Roma
Tipolitografia Istituto Salesiano Pio XI - Via Umbertide, 11 - 00181 Roma
Tel. 06.78.27.819 - Fax 06.78.48.333 - E-mail: tipolito@donbosco.it
Finito di stampare: Dicembre 2020

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1. LETTER OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
«Signs and bearers of the love of god for young people,
especially those who are poor» (C. 2)
SIX YEARS THAT DEMAND
BOLDNESS, PROPHECY AND FIDELITY
“First, I thank my God
through Jesus Christ for all of you,
because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world.
For God, whom I serve with my spirit
by announcing the Gospel of his Son,
is my witness that without ceasing
I remember you always in my prayers,
asking that by God’s will,
I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you.
For I am longing to see you
so that I may share with you some spiritual gift
to strengthen you –
or rather, that we may be mutually
encouraged by each other’s faith
both yours and mine” (Rom 1:8-12).
Rome, 8 December 2020
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Dear Confreres,
I am making St Paul’s words my own while writing to you to
present you with the Rector Major and his Council’s ‘Project’ for
the six year term already underway.
What kind of Salesians for the youth of today? This question
resounded over the months preceding the 28th General Chapter
and accompanied us over the months spent in Valdocco up until
the premature closing of GC28 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is the question that needs to continue to accompany us and en-

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4 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
lighten our path over these next six years. The six-year term that
awaits us will undoubtedly be a valuable opportunity for being
bolder, more prophetic and ever more faithful, to the point of
carrying out “the Founder’s apostolic plan: ... to be in the Church
signs and bearers of the love of God for young people, especially
those who are poor” (C. 2), wherever we are present as the sons of
Don Bosco, dreamt of and raised up by the Holy Spirit.
My dear confreres, now that some months have passed since
the closing of GC28, together with the General Council I am
offering you a reflection to accompany the plan prepared by the
Rector Major with his Council for the animation and governance
of the Congregation over the six years from 2020-2026.
1. A precarious time
Seven months have gone by since the closure of the 28th
General Chapter and certainly, along with the rest of the world,
we have been living through a complicated time marked by
precariousness. Let me point to some simple indicators of this,
among the many that could be listed:
⇒ As a General Council, we too have not yet managed to all meet
together, not even once, and it will take months for this to
happen.
⇒ We Salesians too have been struck by the pandemic: as I write
I sadly need to tell you of the death of 67 of our confreres. Along
with them, family members and relatives of other confreres,
as well as other loved ones and our acquaintances, have also
died.
⇒ Like so many other people, we have felt and lived through
the experience of “isolation”. There have been moments of
nervousness, anxiety and even fear. Elderly confreres, but also
young people, have been hospitalised and risked losing their
lives.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 5
⇒ During the year many novitiates had to start their activities
within the different countries of origin of their novices,
because due to the pandemic many novices could not leave
their country. This has fragmented an already well-established
formation stage, in the expectation – hopefully not too long –
that it would be possible to bring the novices together as in the
past.
⇒ As has happened for thousands upon thousands of families,
hundreds of our Salesians houses too have been economically
affected and experience huge difficulties in keeping their works
and communities sustainable. They often find themselves
unable to assist those who, at this moment, need us most. All
this hurts us deeply.
⇒ Many schedules, planned events and commitments have been
skipped or cancelled. In a way, everything seems to have
stopped.
⇒ At the same time we are seeing enormous creativity, charac-
terised by the many initiatives on behalf of those most in need
around us; but we are surprised to admit that we have never
experienced something like this before and that we are still
going through it.
Faced with this reality, I myself have invited you on several
occasions, dear confreres, to look at, contemplate and experience
this time with profound faith and hope, without letting your-
selves be carried away by this “pandemic tsunami” which brings
so much pessimism with it, together with the temptation to close
in on ourselves.
Once again I invite you to take a contemplative stance and
to remain silent before so much accumulated pain, especially the
pain of many people, many families, many poor people.
This attentive and compassionate gaze according to God’s
heart, must make us ever more merciful in our interventions,
more humble in our words, our proclamations, our statements

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6 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
and our judgements. What a splendid fruit of the Spirit this will
be if we translate it into reality!
2. A believing manner of looking at reality and the world
In the situation we are going through, one truth is forced on
us as believers: God has never had his people set out on a journey
without accompanying them. This has been the case throughout
the development of Revelation in history and continues to be the
case today. In Jesus Christ, the Emmanuel, the God-with-us – the
time of Advent and approaching Christmas shows us this – the
way forward is God himself, who always walks with us. Even dur-
ing a time of pandemic.
The current moments of difficulty and disorientation require
all possible attention and acuity on our part to perceive more
than ever that God is with us, very close to us, especially in His
Son Jesus Christ.
Pope Francis reminded us of this last 27 March at an extraor-
dinary moment of prayer he presided over in a deserted St Pe-
ter’s Square. He invited us to be aware that this is “a time to
choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate
what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives
back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others.” He then
added: “We are not self-sufficient; by ourselves we founder: we
need the Lord like ancient navigators needed the stars. Let us in-
vite Jesus into the boats of our lives. Let us hand over our fears to
him so that he can conquer them. Like the disciples we will expe-
rience that with him on board there will be no shipwreck. Be-
cause this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that
happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our
storms, because with God life never dies.”1
1 FRANCIS, Meditation of the Holy Father during the extraordinary moment of
prayer at a time of pandemic, Rome 27 March 2020.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 7
At this time of uncertainty, exhaustion, instability, fear, we
could be thinking – like Prometheus in the Greek myth – that
we have to face the situation we are experiencing with our own
poor strengths, together with so many people around us. But
as believers we are called to continue doing our best with the
clear and steady awareness that here and now our strength is
grounded in the certainty that Jesus Christ the Lord is with us,
in our midst: in the “storm” or in the “desert” that we are cross-
ing.
This is the journey that I personally think about and dream
for our Congregation over these six years: tackling the storms
and deserts without pre-determined horizons, knowing well
the One in whom we have placed our trust – as the Apostle Paul
says when writing to his disciple Timothy2 – without closing in
on ourselves, isolating ourselves and moving away from those
who need us, in an effort to protect ourselves from whatever
threats... Families, individuals and our boys and girls need our
presence in their midst; they need us to stay among them, nei-
ther closed nor hunkered down in spaces of physical or psycho-
logical security.
Dear confreres, I hope that along this journey we will contin-
ue to be convinced that the rhythm of a society – the societies,
people and cultures among whom the Salesian charism is present
– is not only dictated by those who run the most, but also by those
who are weaker, more fragile, or who cannot even walk, cannot
even speak because they have no voice. This must be our post-
chapter horizon: with boldness and prophecy, faithful to Christ,
following our father Don Bosco.
2 Cf. 2 Tim 1:12.

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8 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
3. The Project of Animation and Government of the
Rector Major and his Council
Dear confreres, this letter accompanies the Project of Anima-
tion and Government of the Rector Major and his Council. First of
all, let me remind you that we are going through a time and expe-
riencing a context which is very particular: GC28 closed prema-
turely and the pandemic, which has already lasted nine months,
will probably continue for at least another six months, according
to experts. As I have said on other occasions, this is the time that
has been given to us and we are called to be fruitful during it. Don
Bosco was always able to act with initiative and creativity during
the time in which he was called to take care of the poorest young
people of nineteenth-century Turin, and did not “give way to dis-
couragement in the face of difficulties” because he had “complete
trust in the Father” (C. 17). It is up to us to do the same.
The Project of Animation and Government was not written
for the provinces. They can certainly draw profit from what they
believe is valid for them. However, the plan as such concerns the
particular commitments of the Rector Major and the General
Council.
Other than the wealth of GC28, the provinces and vice-
provinces can benefit from the Holy Father’s Message and the
Rector Major’s Action Programme for the Salesian Congregation
after General Chapter 28. Those guidelines were intended to be a
kind of long “highway” we would like to travel over these six
years. I don’t believe that the most important thing is the “speed”
we all make this journey with, given that so many factors are
involved: historical, cultural national. The most important thing
is to be certain that by following the authoritative signs from the
Pope and the Congregation, we are heading in the right direction.
It would be very difficult, not to say impossible, to find even a
single province or vice-province that did not feel they were in
tune with these action guidelines, or thought them distant or not
focused on their local reality.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 9
Adopting an image from nuclear physics or astronomy, we
could say that these action guidelines are like the concentric or-
bits that particles or satellites take around a nucleus or a central
star. The centre is the figure of today’s Salesian: “What kind of
Salesians for the youth of today?” was the question put as the
theme of GC28. We could describe the concentric circles around
the nucleus of the theme as follows:
⇒ How the young John Cagliero, today’s Salesian needs to feel
that the words: “Monk or no monk, I am staying with Don
Bosco”3 refer to himself. This is action guideline no. 1 (AG [Ac-
tion Guideline] 1: Six years for growth in Salesian identity),
because in fact many of us have heard the Lord’s call through
the charm and attraction worked on us by Don Bosco, our fa-
ther, who was everything to his young people.
⇒ Obviously this motivation alone is not enough to sustain an
entire lifetime. Sooner or later comes fatigue, because our life
is not a work but a vocation. Day after day, year after year, we
discover that the life of the consecrated individual, the life of
the Salesian, is sustained only by the central place Christ has,
only if we have the heart of the Good Shepherd, like Don Bosco,
who gave himself to the young till has last breath (AG2: The
urgency of the “Da mihi animas cetera tolle”).
⇒ From Don Bosco we learn that the essence of the preventive
system and the secret that opens the hearts of the young comes
from our presence among them (AG3: Living the “Salesian
sacrament of presence”). This is the presence of the educator,
of a brother, a father and also a friend (C. 15). It is an affective
and effective presence that makes us want to spend every mo-
ment with them in their midst.
⇒ All this is to live with a Salesian heart like Don Bosco’s, fol-
lowing the example of Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd. A heart
that feels that “its absolute priority is for the young, the poor-
est, the abandoned and defenceless” (AG5).
3 Cf. MB, VI, 335.

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10 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
⇒ These Salesians for the young people of today, us in other
words, and those who continue to knock at the doors of Don
Bosco’s charism, must assimilate all the features of identity
proper to it through their formation (initial and ongoing), along
with another feature that is very important, but which we of-
fer greater resistance to in many parts of the world. I am re-
ferring to the difficulty and effort of incorporating the great
and powerful contribution that the laity and the Salesian Fam-
ily make to the charism into our Salesian DNA, as an inheri-
tance received from Don Bosco himself. (AG6: “Together with
lay people in the mission and formation. The charismatic
strength that the laity and the Salesian Family offer us”).
⇒ And the Salesian for the youth of today is capable of loving what
young people love. Today he discovers and recognises the great
sensitivity that young people have and manifest for the care of
creation. He perceives that this attention touches them deeply,
envelops them, unites them, motivates them and stirs up their
commitment. Therefore we have decided to set out on the road
with them “accompanying them towards a sustainable future”
(AG8).
It remains for me to stress that all these elements of the Sale-
sian identity for today’s young people involve two options which
are part of animation and governance at all levels (global, provin-
cial and local). The Rector Major with his Council will invest a
great deal of energy, motivation, human and economic resources
to implement these options:
1. The first concerns the central place we will give to initial
formation (in all its phases) and ongoing formation in these
six years. (AG4).
2. The second touches fully on the conviction that our Congre-
gation must journey over the next six years towards greater
universality and without borders. Nations have borders. Our
generosity, which sustains the mission, cannot and must not
know limits. The prophecy of which we must be witnesses as a
Congregation does not have boundaries. (AG7).

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 11
4. Teamwork with clear priorities
I maintain that what I have just presented can throw light on
the action plan that follows.
The plan draws an arc that includes
– the particular plan for each sector of the Congregation (forma-
tion, youth ministry, social communication, missions, economy);
– the animation and accompaniment of regions, carried out
mostly by the Regional Councillors.
The eight action guidelines for the six-year period are involved
in this plan, with some specific emphases. They are all important.
At the same time the priorities and development to be brought
about over these six years are strictly bound up with the diversi-
ty of contexts and the specific reality of each province.
⇒ 4.1. We will give priority to caring for the vocation of each con-
frere and to the sense of belonging to the Congregation.
Fr Egidio Viganò had already warned us many years ago of
the danger of genericism in the Congregation.4 Perhaps today
this “genericism” is of another kind and risks being experi-
enced by some confreres as “vocational relativism”, meaning
that it doesn’t matter if they leave Don Bosco and abandon
the Congregation, so long as they are exercising the priestly
ministry in one or other diocese. At times, for some confreres,
4 Cf. E. VIGANÒ, Circular Letters of Fr Egidio Viganò to the Salesians, Di-
rezione Generale Opere Don Bosco, Rome 1996, 69, 661, 1041, 1053, 1116, 1281,
1286, 1526, 1558.
– Other significant quotations can be found in the following works (all in Ital-
ian):
– E. VIGANÒ, L’interiorità apostolica. Riflessioni sulla “grazia di unità” come
sorgente di carità pastorale, Elle Di Ci, Leumann (TO) 1995, 115 e 173.
– ID., Non secondo la carne ma nello Spirito, Istituto Figlie di Maria Ausili-
atrice, Rome 1978, 186.
– ID., Un progetto evangelico di vita attiva, Elle Di Ci, Leumann (TO) 1982.
– ID., La Famiglia Salesiana di Don Bosco. Lettere del Rettor Maggiore, Elle Di
Ci, Leumann (TO) 1988, 222.

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12 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
being a priest is a “risk” for their situation as consecrated
religious rather than an opportunity to live their priesthood
as Don Bosco did, meaning as the Founder of the Congrega-
tion, as a “Salesian among his Salesians” and a “priest among
his boys” at every moment: on the playground, in chapel, in
the dining hall, during the Eucharist, at play, in Confession, in
the study hall or workshop, while praying the Rosary. Always
and at every moment the Salesian and the priest with other
Salesians among the youngsters.
There are Salesian priests who, after some years in the Con-
gregation, ask if they can exercise their priesthood as parish
priests, not in a Salesian parish but under the exclusive lead-
ership of the bishop while they wait to be incardinated into
the diocese. It is enough for these Salesians to exercise their
priestly ministry, while being the Salesian of Don Bosco is put
to one side. This is an illness affecting many institutes of
consecrated life, and we are not exempt from this.
While saying this, I want to be understood correctly. The
priestly ministry is always a precious gift from God. I am
speaking about the religious consecration of the Salesian
priest. I am not doubting the beauty and goodness of the
priestly ministry; but I am warning against the real danger of
devaluing or of not understanding the prophetic and charis-
matic power of our consecrated life, by thinking that one can
be a Salesian, or stop being one, with the same ease, without
anything changing, so long as one can continue to exercise the
priestly ministry. But it is not the same thing. We are talking
about a state of life that brings with it a different way of
following the Lord in building the Kingdom of Heaven. Hence
I speak of another kind of “genericism” that I call “vocational
relativism”.
The long experience of the Congregation confirms that every
time when confreres embark on paths that lead them to be
focused on themselves looking for recognition, autonomy,
at times independence at any price, then everything else is
distorted.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 13
On the contrary, when as Salesians of Don Bosco, brothers or
priests, personally or as a community we make choices that
start from a life that places Jesus Christ at the centre, we ex-
perience a profound inner dynamic that comes from the Holy
Spirit and gives us solid happiness, leading us to be and to feel
that we are true apostles of the young. Friends, brothers, fa-
thers and educators who by imitating Don Bosco’s fatherli-
ness, are the best “good news” that can come to them from
God through a human face.
For this reason, in the coming years we are committed to tak-
ing care of our vocation and that of our confreres as much as
possible, together with the desire and joy of being forever
Salesians of Don Bosco with our confreres, for the young.
⇒ 4.2 We will give priority to being close to and accompanying
provincials and their councils, and provincial delegates too,
starting from the various animation sectors of the Congrega-
tion. We believe that the decision, taken in the past six years,
to ensure the closest possible proximity to each of the provin-
cials from the beginning of their service, has been very positive
and fruitful, starting with a first meeting with the Rector
Major and part of the General Council and then offering the
provincials a “road map” as an aid for the beginning of their
service in the province.
The magnificent experience spent each year in Valdocco with
provincials halfway through their service will continue to be
looked after in the same way, spending a week of spirituality
together at the cradle of our charism.
As I said at the conclusion of GC28, the Rector Major will also
take on the task of animating a retreat for the provincials and
members of the provincial councils in each of the Congrega-
tion’s Regions.
⇒ 4.3 We will give priority, fully in harmony with the youth min-
istry sector, to the evangelising dimension of our mission in
all of its expressions. In fact, we believe that it is certainly very
important, and in some cases urgent, to “live, breathe and con-

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14 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
tinue on its path, endeavouring to make the ‘Da mihi animas,
cetera tolle’ a reality through proclamation of the Gospel”.5
From a careful look at the work carried out by the Chapter
Assembly on the two reflection nuclei that we managed to deal
with in GC28, there is clear insistence “on giving a central
place to the proclamation of Jesus Christ, attentive to the new
challenges this presents us with ‘in style content and method’.
A youth ministry that proposes and produces experiences. A
precious, real and striking proposal that is framed within com-
munity life, and makes young people themselves active agents
in youth ministry, ‘bearers of the living fire of the Salesian
charism’, offers them every kind of experience through which
it is possible to touch Jesus, to feel Jesus in the first person.
The relationship of friendship with Jesus needs moments of
encounter, founding experiences, strong moments that con-
solidate (fortify, mobilise, strengthen) this relationship and
‘help to discover life as a gift for others.’”6
This strong evangelising conviction of our youth ministry
must have the vocational dimension as its unifying principle.
The many efforts expressed in the field of education and evan-
gelisation should help our boys and girls to follow a path of
faith that naturally leads them to ask themselves the right
questions about their vocation: “Lord, what do you expect of
me?” This aim is made possible by processes of accompani-
ment and by those who accompany – Salesians and lay people,
members of the Salesian Family – ever more formed and sen-
sitive to this need.
⇒ 4.4 We will give priority to the significant and prophetic jour-
ney throughout the Congregation in making the Salesian
sacrament of presence the distinctive sign of our DNA received
5 The Rector Major’s Action Programme for the Salesian Congregation after
GC 28, no. 2, in AGC 433 (2020), 22.
6 M.A. GARCÍA MORCUENDE, Chiavi di lettura educativo-pastorale del Capito-
lo Generale 28. Riflessione del Settore di Pastorale Giovanile, n° 4.1, Rome 10
September 2020.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 15
from Don Bosco. We will do everything possible to help bring
about the conversion already asked for by GC26. It would be a
wonderful fruit of GC28 if every Salesian – in every presence
throughout the world in every province – and the Rector Ma-
jor himself with his Council, were to find the time to be among
the young as friends, educators and witnesses of God, whatev-
er their role be in the community.7
In his message to GC28 Pope Francis made reference to the
“Valdocco option” and to “presence”. He reminded us that
“Even before things that need to be done, the Salesian is a
living reminder of a presence in which availability, listening,
joy and dedication are the essential features which give rise to
processes. The gratuitousness of presence saves the Congre-
gation from any activist obsession and from any kind of tech-
nical and functional reductionism. The first call is to be a joy-
ful and gratuitous presence among young people.”8 It is with
this sensitivity and with the strong call to attention that the
young people present at the Chapter Assembly addressed to
us, asking us not to forget them, that we will commit our-
selves more and more over these six years to promoting an
affective and effective presence among young people and with
them. The oratory atmosphere of family and welcoming young
people must be a distinctive sign of all our presences and must
be the personal attitude of every Salesian of Don Bosco.
Indeed, “we can say that the first oratory at Valdocco is like
the ‘theological place’ of our charism: all of Don Bosco’s youth
ministry came from there.”9
⇒ 4.5. We will commit ourselves to carefully seeing to formation
(initial and ongoing) so as become more evangelically signifi-
7 Cf. Action Programme, op.cit., 28.
8 GC28, Message of His Holiness Pope Francis to the members of GC28, in
AGC 433 (2020), 62.
9 E. VIGANÒ, L’interiorità apostolica. Riflessioni sulla “grazia di unità” come
sorgente di carità pastorale. Nel centenario della nascita e nel venticinquesimo del-
la morte, Elle Di Ci, Torino 2020, 137.

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16 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
cant as Salesians of Don Bosco. Although during the work of
the GC28 Assembly we were not able to fully address what was
to be one of the most important nuclei of the Chapter’s reflec-
tion, there was a clear desire to develop the reality of the for-
mation processes in our Congregation with clarity, courage and
a broad vision. We are convinced that in a world that is expe-
riencing very rapid changes – i.e. the world in which we live –
we must be well positioned and well grounded in what is es-
sential for being the Salesian educators and pastors that young
people and their families, the Church and the world need today.
The reflection carried out in the General Council is fully in
harmony with GC28, with what Pope Francis asked for in
the formation of today’s Salesians,10 and with the request that
the Rector Major Fr Pascual Chávez made at the end of his
service when he invited the Congregation to give priority to
the centrality of formation as an element that guarantees our
vocation.11
In this six-year period our aim will be to foster more and more
a formation that is not only for the mission (already an impor-
tant aspect), but also in the mission, that is, far from any situa-
tion that leads Salesians to feel that they are a privileged elite
and even more so the “lucky ones”, who do not know the fatigue
and sacrifices that simple people and the poorest people have to
endure every day in order to live; or forgetting our humble ori-
gins, both as a Congregation and in our own family, as happens
for most of us. These words of the Pope continue to resound
strongly in us: “It is important to say that we are not formed for
the mission, but that we are formed in the mission. Our whole
life revolves around it, with its choices and priorities.”12
Pastoral accompaniment is essential. We will promote it as
much as possible, as well as seeking and forming formators
capable of such pastoral accompaniment and discernment.
10 GC28, Message of His Holiness Pope Francis to GC28, op. cit., 55-65.
11 P. CHÁVEZ, Vocation and Formation: gift and task, in AGC 416 (2013), 3-54.
12 GC28, Message of His Holiness Pope Francis to GC28, op. cit., 60.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 17
The years of study will have to be oriented more and more,
and better, towards the formation of young confreres that will
enable them to dialogue with culture and with the most di-
verse social contexts, learning to position themselves well and
to deal with the overwhelming secularisation very much pre-
sent in many countries in which we find ourselves. In the
same way we will have to prepare ourselves more and more to
carry out the Salesian mission in very different religious con-
texts. Knowledge of and dialogue with other religions should
characterise the formation of our future confreres in these
countries. Such religious contexts, atheistic or agnostic, chal-
lenge us and cannot be considered indifferent to the forma-
tion of the Salesian of today.
Inculturation will have to be much more than a word, one
usually not absent from our writings, but requires many
processes and much sensitivity to become a reality.
We must also form ourselves to translate into reality the
theological and charismatic conviction of the mission that
is shared between the Salesians of Don Bosco, lay people
involved in the mission and members of the Salesian family.
As part of this shared mission and formation it is necessary
to keep in consideration the contribution that women offer as
women and in their own families. This contribution today
cannot be passed over in silence or ignored.13 More concretely,
in Pope Francis’ words: “Without a real, effective and affective
presence of women, your works would lack the courage and
the ability to transform presence into hospitality, into a home.
Faced with the rigour that excludes, we must learn to gener-
ate the new life of the Gospel. I invite you to implement
approaches in which the female voice, her outlook and her
actions – appreciated for her individuality – finds an echo in
making decisions; not simply as a helper but as someone fully
involved in your presences.”14
13 GC24, 166. 177.
14 GC28, Message of His Holiness Pope Francis to GC28, op. cit., 62-63.

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18 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
In short, we must see to a formation that is committed to the
constant search for full harmony and symbiosis between
charismatic identity and vocational identification, implement-
ing approaches to true and formative personalisation. In fact
“We are convinced that if we succeed in guaranteeing a clear
Salesian identity through formation, the confreres will feel
furnished with a collection of values, attitudes and criteria
which will help them to face up successfully to today’s culture
and to effectively carry out the Salesian mission.”15
⇒ 4.6. In the same way, in animation and governance we will com-
mit all possible energies to transform into reality the absolute
priority of the young, the poorest and most abandoned and de-
fenceless.
I return here, dear confreres, to repeating what I had already
said during GC28 and which I picked up once more in the ac-
tion programme for these six years. My dream is that by say-
ing “Salesians of Don Bosco” today and in the coming
years means, for people who hear our name, that we are
slightly “crazy” consecrated individuals, “crazy”, that is, be-
cause we love the young, especially the poorest, most aban-
doned and defenceless of them, with a true Salesian heart.
This seems to me to be the most beautiful description one
could give of the sons of Don Bosco today. I am convinced that
this is what our Father would really want.
The reality of the poor and the new forms of poverty – in-
creasingly more numerous and diverse – must find the Sale-
sians sensitive and able to deal with the damage that these
forms of poverty do to the young: ready to intervene, as Don
Bosco did in the real circumstances of the poverty of the
young of his time. According to the Holy Father’s words: “We
cannot feel ‘alright’ when any member of the human family is
left behind and in the shadows. The silent cry of so many poor
men, women and children should find the people of God at the
15 P. CHÁVEZ, Vocation and formation: gift and task, op. cit., 27-28.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 19
forefront, always and everywhere, to give them a voice, to pro-
tect and support them in the face of hypocrisy and so many
unfulfilled promises, and to invite them to share in the life of
the community.”16 This is how it must be for us Salesians.
Here we find a beautiful continuity in the magisterium of our
Congregation. It is as if there is a river current that confirms
and justifies the priority choice for young people, because it
saves us charismatically as a Congregation: “If we are with
them and among them, they are the first to do us good, they
evangelise us and help us to truly live the Gospel with the
charism of Don Bosco. I dare to say that it is the poor young
people who will save us.”17 When a Salesian feels all this res-
onate strongly in his heart, he ends up saying – almost with-
out realising it – with deep conviction, like Don Bosco: “For
you I study, for you I work, for you I live, for you I am ready
even to give my life.”18
Our priority choice for “that part of human society which is so
exposed yet so rich in promise” (C. 1), has these strong con-
victions within itself: at the centre and always, for us, is the
person, each individual person, all people, each with their own
dignity that must be fully respected. Every person, every
young person is a value in themselves and should not be con-
sidered an object of economic calculation or a commercial
good, as often happens in our societies. In this priority option
and in the testimony we give, “what is important in our wit-
ness is that our predilection is seen to be clearly evangelical,
which in practice means ‘giving the most to those who in their
life have received least’. Salesian charity begins not with the
first but with the last, not with the ones who are richer from
16 FRANCIS, Message for the 4th World Day of the Poor, Rome 13 June 2020.
17 A. FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME, Rector Major’s closing address at GC27, in GC27,
127.
18 D. RUFFINO, Cronaca dell’Oratorio, ASC 110, Quaderno 5, p. 10; see also
J. VECCHI, “For you I study…” (C. 14). The adequate preparation of the confreres
and the quality of our educational work, in AGC 361 (1997), 3-47.

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20 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
an economic or spiritual standpoint (who already have care
and attention), but with those who need us to kindle their
hope and boost their forces.”19
We feel like friends, educators, brothers, fathers of young
people, and for this reason we protect their rights and help
them to become aware of their duties. And we are strongly
committed to protecting, in a special way, those who are more
fragile and weak, those who have no voice or whose voice is
not heard. We are committed to making ourselves and
our presences healthy and safe places for those to
whom we are sent. I must confess to you, dear confreres,
that while I was writing down this commitment I felt a
strong and beautiful feeling of peace. And I would like this
commitment to be a true “dogma” for all of us. I also admit
that I felt great emotion and was left speechless by what Don
Bosco wrote in 1873 about a similar reality. Please read it and
welcome it into your hearts as our Father’s most ardent de-
sire for our Congregation – his Congregation – today. This is
what he wrote: “The public voice often complains about im-
moral events that have occurred contrary to good behaviour,
and horrible scandals. It is a great evil, it is a disaster: and I
pray to the Lord that all our Houses be closed before similar
misfortunes happen in them.”20
⇒ 4.7. In these six years we will give particular importance to
Social Communication in the Congregation, to give visibility
to the good that is done, to make known the needs that exist
and to give the poorest people the voice that they have a right
to have. In this way we will be doing no less than carrying out
what our Constitutions say: “We work in the social communi-
cation sector. This is a significant field of activity which con-
stitutes one of the apostolic priorities of the Salesian mission.
19 P. CHÁVEZ, “But who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:28). Looking at Christ
through the eyes of Don Bosco, in AGC 384 (2004), 20.
20 P. RICALDONE, Santità e purezza, in ACS n. 69 (31 January 1935), 62.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 21
Our founder had an instinctive grasp of the value of this means
of mass education, which creates culture and spreads patterns
of life; he showed great originality in the apostolic undertak-
ings which he initiated to defend and sustain the faith of the
people. Following his example we utilize as God’s gift the great
possibilities which social communication offers us for educa-
tion and evangelization” (C. 43).
At the same time, let us take up our journey with young peo-
ple, committing ourselves to the care of creation and ecology
for a sustainable world, accompanying the prophetic sensitiv-
ity of which young people are the bearers and which must
grow more in each of us.
We maintain that the Salesian of today, every Salesian and not
only missionaries ad gentes, must be inculturated.
Among other challenges, we have that of the digital environ-
ment where today’s young people live. When we speak of
presence among young people, we are referring first of all to
the first and most precious presence that is the personal
encounter; but there is no doubt that we can and must also be
present in those “virtual courtyards of today” frequented by
many young people, at least by those who can access these
media, which is certainly not all of them. In fact it is often the
poor, due to their situation of poverty, who are excluded and
without other alternatives.
It is very encouraging to see that not a few confreres are pro-
viding a wonderful educational and pastoral service by using
digital communication.
The digital world offers many possibilities for meeting, for
listening and for a truly educational presence; but it cannot
be denied that these tools also have their “dark side” which
manifests itself when there is a lack of quality and informa-
tional ethics or when, through the work of individuals or
movements, messages of hatred, attacks on people, fake
news, hindering the path towards universal fellowship and
social friendship are spread through the digital world. As
Pope Francis rightly points out: “As silence and careful lis-

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22 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
tening disappear, replaced by a frenzy of texting, this basic
structure of sage human communication is at risk.”21
The reality of the digital world fully touches on the task of
the initial and ongoing formation of Don Bosco’s Salesians.
Adequate formation is needed to inhabit this world in an
increasingly competent way. It is necessary to be well aware of
the challenges and opportunities that this world presents, and
of what young people experience and go through in today’s
new social, cultural and communication ecosystems.
To be ever closer to the world of young people and their
language, their symbols and their real life is an essential task
for us today. Otherwise, we will “miss the train” that allows us
to take the journey of life together with them. On this “train”,
sensitivity to creation and care for our common home are “non
negotiable” items for young people today. Therefore, let us be
at their side planning and disseminating educational pathways
that will try to intercept and interact with everything that
refers to the care of creation, in the light of the gaze of faith
with which we contemplate the world. In doing so, we will
also accept the simple and no minor concern that many young
people express for ecology, even if they do not always live this
interest with a transcendent or faith-based perspective.
⇒ 4.8. Also clear is the decision to nourish the missionary dream
in our Congregation in fidelity to Don Bosco, which allows us
to look to the new frontiers of evangelisation and presence
among the poorest. This decision is closely linked to the effort
to promote, deepen and increase a missionary culture through-
out the Congregation, one that is taken up in a heartfelt way
and considered to be a fundamental element of our charism,
since “we look upon missionary work as an essential feature of
our Congregation” (C. 30).
And certainly, as with the other priorities I have already re-
ferred to, in this case too it is a strategic commitment to see to
21 FRANCIS, Encyclical Fratelli tutti, 49.

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THE RECTOR MAJOR 23
our formation in such a way that it is also geared to the mis-
sion and missionary spirituality. This formation concerns both
consecrated Salesians and lay missionaries who share mis-
sionary activity with us in its various expressions and in many
places. The shared journey, even in the missionary dimension,
cannot be reduced to practical and functional collaboration,
but must be integrated into shared mission and joint forma-
tion for the mission.
In full continuity with what I have said elsewhere, I repeat
that “We live in times when we have to face reality with a
renewed mentality which allows us to ‘cross borders’. In a
world where borders are more and more ‘a defence against
others’, the prophecy of our life as Salesians of Don Bosco
also consists in this: in showing that for us there are no
borders. The only reality we respond to is: God, the Gospel
and the mission that has been entrusted to us.”22 This vision is
the reason for the efforts we will support to establish inter-
national and intercultural Salesian communities, where it is
appropriate, necessary and possible to do so, with all the
prophetic power they have – without ignoring or forgetting
the effort needed to build fraternity in cultural diversity.
This commitment will always require great faith and no
small personal commitment on our part.
At the same time, as can be seen from the Rector Major’s
planning and in the planning of the some of the animation
sectors of the Congregation, we will make the openness of
vision and the sense of belonging to the Congregation of the
Salesians of Don Bosco in the world effective and effective
especially by counting on the availability of the confreres in
the provinces for international services, new foundations and
attention to the new frontiers.
22 GC28, Action Programme, op. cit., 46-47.

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24 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
CONCLUSION: Dream! … and get others to dream!
This is the invitation with which the Holy Father concludes
his message to the 28th General Chapter. As the title of this
“letter of presentation” of the plan for the coming years, I have
chosen the words of our Constitutions where we are told that we
are called to be “signs and bearers of the love of God for young
people” in a six-year period in which what is being asked of us,
as individuals and as a Congregation, is a healthy boldness and a
strength capable of prophecy, always on the path of fidelity.
Dear confreres, like our Father Don Bosco we are great
dreamers with feet planted firmly on earth and hearts always in
God. “Dream of open, fruitful and evangelising houses capable of
allowing the Lord to show so many young people his uncondi-
tional love and also allowing you to enjoy the beauty to which you
have been called. Dream... not only for yourself and for the good
of the Congregation, but for all young people deprived of the
strength, light and comfort of friendship with Jesus Christ,
deprived of a community of faith to sustain them, of a horizon of
meaning and of life.”23 Let us dream... And get others to dream!
Don Bosco has passed on to us the strong conviction that
Mary is at the origins of, accompanies our growth and is the sup-
port of our vocation. “We believe that Mary is present among us
and continues her ‘mission as Mother of the Church and Help of
Christians’” (C. 8).
With complete trust, as children, we entrust to Her the jour-
ney of our Congregation and of the Salesian Family over these six
years, in the awareness that She will continue to do everything.
Affectionately in Don Bosco
Fr Ángel FERNÁNDEZ ARTIME, sdb
Rector Major
23 Cf. FRANCIS, Message of His Holiness Pope Francis to GC28, op. cit., 65.

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2.  GUIDELINES AND DIRECTIVES
PROJECT OF ANIMATION AND GOVERNMENT
OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
AND HIS COUNCIL
FOR THE SIX-YEAR PERIOD FROM 2020-2026
First Part
PRIORITIES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
AND THE GENERAL COUNCIL
FOR THE SIX-YEAR PERIOD 2020-2026
1. Six years for growth in Salesian identity
28
2. For being Salesian pastors today
28
3. For ensuring the absolute priority for
the young, the poorest, most abandoned and defenceless 30
4. At a time of congregational generosity
30
Second Part
STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT
FOR THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
36
FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS
42
1. Formation
42
2. Youth Ministry
52
3. Social Communication
84
4. Missions
100
5. General Administration
116
FOR THE SECRETARIAT FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY
134
Third Part
STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT
FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS
146
1. Africa and Madagascar
146
2. America South Cone
158
3. East Asia and Oceania
164
4. South Asia
172
5. Central and North Europe
188
6. Interamerica
196
7. Mediterranean
202

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First Part
PRIORITIES
OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
AND THE GENERAL COUNCIL
FOR THE SIX-YEAR
PERIOD 2020-2026
1.  Six years for growth in Salesian identity
2.  For being Salesian pastors today
3.  For ensuring the absolute priority for
the young, the poorest, most abandoned
4.  At a time of congregational generosity

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28 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
PRIORITY 1 - Six years for growth in Salesian identity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Help the Congregation, in-
dividual provinces and confreres
in growth in our Salesian
identity.
1.1.1. Moving from today’s reality to a
greater awareness of the beauty of God’s
call to be Salesians of Don Bosco today,
and always remaining with him.
1.1.2. Helping to overcome potential
tiredness in the animation and gover-
nance of the provinces, always with a
greater realism full of hope.
PRIORITY 2 - For being Salesian pastors today
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Accompany, together with
the corresponding Sector, growth
and improvement of the forma-
tion of today’s Salesians.
2.1.1. Identifying the steps that allow
people to overcome routine, tiredness and
vocational hardships.

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FIRST PART - PRIORITIES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR AND THE GENERAL COUNCIL 29
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Accompany the life and mission of each province or vice-province
closely, personally or through the members of the General Council.
1.1.1.2. Throw light on the path of growth in Salesian identity in the
Congregation through the magisterium of the Rector Major in his letters,
the Strenna, visits and the various interventions.
1.1.2.1. Animate the retreats addressed to all the provincials and members
of the provincial councils in all regions of the Congregation.
1.1.2.2. Ensure personal meetings with all provincials during the six years
(formation courses for new provincials, the mid-term week of spirituality,
the personal meeting with the Rector Major at the beginning of the
provincial’s service and delivery of the “road map” for the province, the
team visit), reinforcing assistance for the animation and governance of the
provinces.
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. The Rector Major, together with the Formation sector, will closely
accompany the consolidation, reshaping and restructuring needed for houses
of specific formation of confreres in the Congregation.
2.1.1.2. Prioritise, ensuring and verifying the preparation and formation of
formators and the setting up of appropriate formation teams.
2.1.1.3. Ensure that the revision of the Ratio Studiorum is helpful for growth
in the Salesian identity to form people for and in the mission.

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30 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
PRIORITY 3 - For ensuring the absolute priority for
the young, the poorest, most abandoned
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Testify unequivocally that
today, more than ever, our prior-
ity must be the young, and al-
ways the poorest, most aban-
doned and defenceless.
3.1.1. Journeying towards a Salesian
reality that prioritises attention to the
deepest needs of young people, especially
the poorest, and their families.
PRIORITY 4 - At a time of congregational generosity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Make the openness of out-
look of the Salesians of Don
Bosco in the world and their
great sense of belonging to the
Congregation, something that is
truly effective and real.
4.1.1. Moving more and more from local
or national membership to a more gener-
ous and universal vision for the Salesian
mission.

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FIRST PART - PRIORITIES OF THE RECTOR MAJOR AND THE GENERAL COUNCIL 31
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Accompany and verify, during the visits of the Rector Major and
the General Councillors, the path that will be taken in the provinces to give
absolute priority to the neediest and most defenceless young people in
existing Salesian presences and those of the future.
3.1.1.2. Accompany each province, through the animation and government
of the Rector Major with his Council, in the drawing up, application and
consolidation of a code of ethics for the care, prevention and defence of the
children entrusted to us.
3.1.1.3. Make it a priority – over these six years, in meetings with provin-
cials – to verify the previous steps as distinctive elements of the ethical DNA
of our Congregation, for the good of young people.
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. The Rector Major will invite the confreres from all the provinces
around the world to make themselves available for international services,
new foundations or for presence on new frontiers, in compliance with our
Constitutions, through transfers, exchanges, temporary aid.
4.1.1.2. The missionary project of our Congregation will continue in decisive
manner in imitation of Don Bosco.

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Second Part
STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT
FOR THE VICAR
OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
FOR THE COUNCILLORS
FOR THE SECTORS
1.  Formation
2.  Youth Ministry
3.  Social Communication
4.  Missions
5.  General Administration
FOR THE SECRETARIAT
FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY

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34 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
MAIN ABBREVIATIONS FOUND IN THE TEXT
AM
ChV
EG
FT
GE
GP99
FBic
LG
LS
LSAY
RM
VC
BENEDICT XVI, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Africae Munus” (19 November 2011).
FRANCIS, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Christus Vivit” (25 March 2019), in AAS 107
(2015), 847.
FRANCIS, Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” (24 November 2013), in AAS 105
(2013), 1019.
FRANCIS, Encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (3 October 2020).
FRANCIS, Apostolic Exhortation “Gaudete et Exsultate” (19 March 2018).
JOHN PAUL II, Letter to Artists Aesthetics, theology, spirituality and communication through
communications and art, Vatican, 1999.
FRANCIS, Letter to the Rector Major Fr Ángel Fernández Artime for the bicentenary of birth
of St John Bosco, Like Don Bosco, with the young and for the young (24 June, 2015).
“Lumen Gentium”.
FRANCIS, Encyclical “Laudato si’” (24 May 2015).
Dicastery for the service of integral human development, “Laudato si’”. Special anniver-
sary year 24 May 2020-24 May 2021 (http://www.humandevelopment.va/).
JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical, “Redemptoris Missio” (1990).
JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation, “Vita Consecrata” (1996).
AGC
ACSSA
ANS
SB
CICFS
CIMEC
CNPG
CRF
DBI
DBNet
DBRC
DBST
DBSTI
DBTA
DBTech
DB-UN
Acts of the General Council.
Associazione dei Cultori di Storia Salesiana. [Salesian History Association]
Agenzia Notizie Salesiane.
Salesian Bulletin.
Charter of charismatic identity of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco (2012)
Consultative group for the Central North Europe Region grouping 5 provinces (Czech
Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia).
National Youth Ministry Centres.
Regional Formation Commission.
Don Bosco International.
Don Bosco Network.
Don Bosco Renewal Centre.
Don Bosco School of Theology (Parañaque, Philippines).
Don Bosco Technical Institute.
Don Bosco Tech Africa.
Don Bosco Tech.
Don Bosco at the United Nations.

4.5 Page 35

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SECOND PART - FOR THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR 35
DF
EPC
EPP
GC20
GC24
GC27
GC28
IUS
JPN
KSIP
OPP
PDMA
PFD
PDO
RDMA
SAFCAM
SDGs
SEPP
SMD
SPCSA
SSCS 2011
SSW
SyG
SYM
SMV
UN
UPS
WCD 2013
YaR
YM
YMFR
YSA
Final Declaration of the Youth Ministry Sector’s World Consultative Council (Rome, 27-31
March 2019), summary in AGC 431 (2019), 90-101.
Educative Pastoral Community.
Educative Pastoral Project.
Acts of the 20th General Chapter.
Acts of the 24th General Chapter.
Acts of the 27th General Chapter.
Acts of the 28th General Chapter, indicated as “Post-chapter Reflection” in AGC 433
(2020).
Salesian Higher Education Institutions.
Job Placement Network.
Provincial Conference involving Poland, Central North Europe Region.
Overall Provincial Project.
Provincial Delegate for Mission Animation.
Provincial Formation Delegate.
Planning and Development Office.
Regional Coordinators for Missionary Animation.
Salesian Formation Centre for Africa & Madagascar.
Sustainable Development Goals.
Salesian Educative-Pastoral Project (also Provincial SEPP).
Salesian Missions Day.
Salesian Provincials’ Conference of South Asia.
Salesian Social Communication Sector, Organising institutional communication in
”Salesian Social Communication System”, 2011, 54-68.
Social Service Works for young people at risk.
Synod of Bishops, XV ordinary General Assembly. The young, the faith and vocational
discernment. (I giovani, la fede e il discernimento vocazionale. Documento finale. Il frutto
dell’Assemblea Sinodale. Invito alla lettura di don Rossano Sala, Torino, Elledici, 2018.
Salesian Youth Movement.
Salesian Missionary Volunteering (2019).
United Nations.
Pontifical Salesian University.
BENEDICT XVI, Message for the 47th World Communications Day (12 May 2013).
Young at Risk Network.
Youth Ministry and Family. Acts of the International Congress (Madrid, 27 November-
1 December 2017).
Youth Ministry Frame of Reference (2014).
Departments of Formation and Youth Ministry. Young Salesians and Accompaniment.
Orientations and Guidelines, Rome, 2019.

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36 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR
AREA 1 - SALESIAN OF DON BOSCO FOREVER.
Six years for growth in Salesian identity.
NOW IS THE TIME
FOR GREATER GENEROSITY
IN THE CONGREGATION.
A universal and missionary Congregation.
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Foster radical witness, both
personal and communal, to con-
secrated life according to the
Constitutions.
1.1.1. Helping to deepen the identity
of vocation in fidelity to the Lord, safe-
guarding our vocation, both personal and
communal in all of life’s stages.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR 37
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Offer guidance in the Acts of the General Council (AGC) regarding
fidelity to our vocation and to the mission in all of life’s stages, by taking care
of our vocation through formation.
1.1.1.2. Support initiatives and interventions that foster the assimilation and
implementation of the characteristics of our charismatic identity: a happy
Gospel-based life, a strong faith anchored in God, a communion that makes
community life attractive, a prophetic attitude (cf. guideline 1 second pro-
posal in AGC 433, 20).
1.1.1.3. Accompany the provinces in the process of reshaping presences, so
as to strengthen the witness of consecrated life, growing in the universal and
missionary dimension of the Congregation.
1.1.1.4. Help provincials, especially in regional meetings, to take on a change
of mentality regarding the vision of the Congregation and active and con-
scious participation in a universal dimension that is implemented through
“generosity” and synergy in the Congregation (cf. guideline 7 in AGC 433,
45), living the missionary dimension with provincial and regional missionary
projects.

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38 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Looking after religious discipline
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Continue the work of rais-
ing awareness with provincials
regarding the care of religious
discipline.
2.1.1. Fostering a culture of vocational
fidelity and prevention of the lack of reli-
gious discipline, and addressing the vari-
ous difficult personal and community sit-
uations.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR 39
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. With provincials and at regional meetings, continue to study how to
prevent situations of lack of religious discipline in the various aspects of our
vocation. Deepen and look after the culture of accompaniment for the life of
each confrere (cf. AGC 433, 93-94).
2.1.1.2. Accompany the provincials in dealing with situations of confreres
in difficulty and irregular situations and ask the Extraordinary Visitors for a
report on such situations in the provinces.
2.1.1.3. Help the provinces to formulate guidelines for the safeguard and
protection of children and for the prevention of cases of abuse.
2.1.1.4. Ensure that the provinces follow the protocol of the Rector Major
and the General Council in dealing with cases of abuse and have a commis-
sion examine allegations.
2.1.1.5. Enable the provinces to prepare the procedures concerning dispen-
sations, dismissals, secularisations, exclaustrations in a correct and thorough
way.

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40 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Coordination of the General Council
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Ensure the identification
of common objectives and syner-
gies between sector councillors,
and the coordination of inter-
ventions with regional council-
lors for fulfilling and applying
indications that have come to
us from many members of the
General Chapter.
3.1.1. Fostering information, sharing
reflection, planning and evaluation, the
willingness to change established prac-
tices and by “carrying out” a synergy of
action for the benefit of the animation of
the whole Congregation.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE VICAR OF THE RECTOR MAJOR 41
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Coordinate the shared drafting of the Vademecum, with a transfor-
mation that means the Vademecum will become a true Directory of the Rec-
tor Major and the General Council, to be implemented and disseminated in the
Congregation.
3.1.1.2. Coordinate the drafting of the Project of the Rector Major and
General Council for the six-year period, regional calendars, guidelines for
extraordinary visitations.
3.1.1.3. Ask the sector councillors to provide six-monthly information to the
General Council on the work of the sector.
3.1.1.4. Meet with the sector and regional councillors each semester and en-
courage the General Council to exchange reflections, proposals and situations
that have emerged.
3.1.1.5. Ensure coordination in the General Council of interventions to ac-
company provinces and vice-provinces in difficulty.
3.1.1.6. Begin to reflect with sector councillors on the formation of the laity,
identifying forms of coordination between sectors and further exploring the
results with the whole General Council.
3.1.1.7. Foster spiritual experiences, fraternal life in the council, commitment
to the service each one offers.
3.1.1.8. Strengthen the moments of formation for the General Council by
scheduling and planning them with foresight.

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42 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR FOR THE SECTOR
COUNCILLOR
FOR FORMATION
AREA 1 - Formation in mission
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Carry out formation in mis- 1.1.1. Clarifying “formation in mission”.
sion (cf. point 29 in AGC 433, 95).
[Note: we have chosen to follow the Constitu-
tions by using the word “formation” to indicate
a process that lasts a lifetime (C. 98). This is
why, although the phrase “ongoing formation”
or “continuous formation” does not recur very
often in this Project, what this terminology
points to is very much there. For a comment on
this, cf. AGC 425.]
1.1.2. Promoting pastoral accompaniment
as the way to ensure formation in mission
(AGC 433, 34).
1.1.3. Giving attention to the missionary
dimension of our vocation (cf. line 7 in
AGC 433, 45-48).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 43
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Dedicate the 2021 Regional Formation Commission (CRF) joint meet-
ing with the Youth Ministry sector to a better understanding of formation
in mission, promoting the pastoral orientation of initial formation, and
rethinking institutional and formative structures (cf. AGC 433: guideiline 4,
34; point 46d, 113).
1.1.1.2. Letter in the AGC on formation in mission, pastoral accompaniment
and discernment.
1.1.1.3. Letter in the AGC, together with the Social Communication sector, on
formation in mission within the digital world.
1.1.2.1. Train formators, through the regional formation centres, for pastoral
accompaniment and discernment (cf. point 30d in AGC 433, 96).
1.1.2.2. Ensure, through provincial formation delegates (PFD) and Rectors,
the pastoral accompaniment of confreres in practical training and in the quin-
quennium (cf. point 29d.h in AGC 433, 95).
1.1.3.1. Dedicate the 2023 CRF joint meeting with the Missions sector (2023)
to reflection on the shared mission in multi-religious contexts and its impact
on formation (cf. AGC 433, 44).
1.1.3.2. Together with the Missions sector, give greater attention to young
missionaries ad gentes in all phases of discernment, preparation and insertion,
also through a revision of the text The Missionary Formation of the Salesians
of Don Bosco (2014).

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44 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.2. Young people as active 1.2.1. Reflecting on how to favour the
agents of the mission (AGC 433, active agency of the young in the mission.
29).
1.2.2. Promoting ecological conversion
(AGC 433, 49-51).
1.2.3. Rethinking Salesian formation in
the digital world (cf. AGC 433, 28-29).
1.2.4. Involving confreres in initial for-
mation in the process of renewal of for-
mation.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 45
1.2.1.1. Reflection meetings at world and regional level, involving Salesians,
lay people, members of the Salesian Family and young people, to promote for-
mation programs for growing in fidelity to the model of youthful protagonism
requested by Christus Vivit (ChV).
1.2.2.1. Promote small seminars at the regional level, involving confreres,
laity and young people, on the universal call to ecological conversion, leading
to educational-pastoral formation programs.
1.2.3.1. Organize small regional seminars, involving the Social Communica-
tion sector, confreres in initial formation, formation guides, laity and young
people, to reflect on Salesian formation and mission in the digital world.
1.2.4.1. Involve confreres in initial formation in the process of reception and
implementation of Young Salesians and Accompaniment: Orientations and
Guidelines (2019) and Animating and Governing the Community: The Ser-
vice of the Salesian Rector (2019) (cf. point 14d in AGC 433, 80).
1.2.4.2. Involving them, along with other confreres, laity and young people,
in the process of updating the Ratio (AGC 433, 34).

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46 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - A formation that is synodal
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. A formation that is synodal,
capable of touching the heart.
[Note: From the Greek SYN-’ODOS, walking
together. Synodal formation is ‘walking togeth-
er’ in the EPC, with lay collaborators and with
the young people themselves, but also in the ini-
tial and ongoing formation of Salesians, where
all confreres – including those in initial forma-
tion – are subjects and not objects of formation,
and where, within the shared vocation, there is
dialogue, patience and mutual respect.
2.1.1. Deepening our understanding of
the Preventive System as our model of
formation (cf. AGC 433: point 27, 93;
point 28f, 94; point 34, 101-102).
2.2. Joint formation in the
shared mission (cf. AGC 433:
guideline 6, 39-44; point 42 and
43, 108-109).
2.2.1. Promoting theological and charis-
matic conviction regarding the shared
mission.
2.2.2. Encouraging joint formation of
Salesians and laity (AGC 433, 44).
2.2.3. Promoting the involvement of
women and families in initial formation
processes (cf. point 29g in AGC 433, 95).
2.3. Improvement of communi- 2.3.1. Fostering greater collaboration with
cation and collaboration.
the sectors.
2.3.2. Improving the processes of anima-
tion.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 47
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Disseminate the document Young Salesians and Accompaniment:
Orientations and Guidelines in order to ensure that formation is based on
the Preventive System (cf. AGC 433: point 14d, 80; point 28e, 94; point 34,
101-102).
2.1.1.2. Ensure initiation to meditation and Lectio Divina as a fundamental
preparation for discernment.
2.1.1.3. Promote in every province the preparation of a group of confreres for
the service of personal spiritual accompaniment as well as other forms of per-
sonal and group accompaniment, taking advantage of the School of Salesian
Accompaniment and other such experiences (cf. point 34 in AGC 433, 101-102).
2.2.1.1. Dedicate part of the 2022 CRF to reflecting on the shared mission
and joint formation, not forgetting multi-religious contexts.
2.2.1.2. Ask PFDs to find ways of reflecting on the shared mission and joint
formation at provincial level.
2.2.2.1. Ask PFDs to ensure that provincials and their councils as well as
educative-pastoral communities (EPC) study and implement the third part
of Animating and Governing the Community: The Service of the Salesian
Rector.
2.2.2.2. Encourage regional formation centres to become receivers, creators
and disseminators of best practices and materials for joint formation.
2.2.3.1. Ensure that the 2022 CRF works out contextualized ways of involv-
ing women and families in initial formation.
2.3.1.1. Follow the indications of the present Plan.
2.3.2.1. Prepare a Salesian Formation Handbook to define the World Advisory
Council, regional coordinators, PFDs, and the regional and provincial forma-
tion commissions.

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48 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
2.3.3. Accompanying inter-provincial for-
mation communities (cf. point 30h in AGC
433, 97).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 49
2.3.2.2. Strengthen communication both through the official channels of the
Congregation and other initiatives (video, MP3, newsletter, formazionesdb.
org, email, etc.).
2.3.3.1. Ensure that the curatoriums of inter-provincial formation commu-
nities and of the regional formation centres are strengthened.

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50 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Salesian consecrated identity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Ongoing rediscovery of the
beauty of the sequela Christi
that is Salesian consecrated life
in its two forms (AGC 433, 17-
20).
3.1.1. Deeper reflection on our identity.
3.1.2. Attending to the Salesian charis-
matic dimension of our identity.
3.1.3. Taking care of vocational discern-
ment, aspirantates, and prenovitiates.
3.2. Formation of open and bal- 3.2.1. Taking advantage of/creating rele-
anced people.
vant formation programs.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 51
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Disseminate the first part of Animating and Governing the Com-
munity: The Service of the Salesian Rector which deals with the Salesian
consecrated identity, and the letters about the Salesian Brother (AGC 424)
and the Salesian priest (AGC 431; AGC 433, 20).
3.1.2.1. Prepare confreres in each province for the animation of the Salesian
dimension of our identity.
3.1.2.2. Prepare Salesian experts for a theologico-spiritual reading of Don
Bosco.
3.1.2.3. Update the curriculum of Salesian studies for all stages of initial
formation, making sure to include the spiritual patrimony of St. Francis de
Sales.
3.1.2.4. Make use of the centenary of the death of Paolo Albera (2021), the
400th anniversary of the death of St. Francis de Sales (2022) and the bicen-
tenary of the ‘Dream at the age of nine’ (2024) as opportunities for animation.
3.1.3.1. Give attention, in collaboration with the Youth Ministry sector, to
vocation discernment and aspirantates, especially in certain regions.
3.1.3.2. Prepare prenovitiate formators for a good presentation of the Salesian
consecrated vocation in its two forms.
3.1.3.3. Collaborate with the Youth Ministry sector in the seminar on voca-
tional discernment.
3.2.1.1. Elaborate, in collaboration with the Youth Ministry sector, proposals
for an affective and sexual education of Salesians and lay people (cf. point 15d
in AGC 433, 81).
3.2.1.2. Update Criteria and norms for Salesian vocational discernment:
Admissions (2000). (AGC 433, 34)

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52 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR
FOR YOUTH MINISTRY
1 - Priority commitments
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Promote a Salesian Youth
Ministry that has the vocation
dimension as a unifying princi-
ple (cf. ChV 254; AGC 433, 24).
1.1.1. Develop educative-pastoral guide-
lines and processes (reflection and imple-
mentation) that help promote the voca-
tional dimension in each and every envi-
ronment.
1.1.2. Creating the right conditions of a
vocational culture where every person can
discover, accept and responsibly follow
their true vocation.
1.2. Strengthen the option for
the poorest young people in all
areas of the Salesian mission as a
fundamental expression of our
Salesian charism (cf. AGC 433,
35-38).
1.2.1. Promoting and supporting a
prophetic attitude of the EPC in the op-
tion towards the poorest and the excluded
as an underlying choice in our Salesian
mission.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 53
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Develop guidelines and promote reflection (including seminars, meet-
ings, courses, articles, ...) for the accompaniment of Salesians and lay people
in Salesian Youth Ministry in a vocational perspective (cf. AGC 433, 21-22.80).
1.1.1.2. Focus our attention on helping young people in their discernment
of a possible religious or priestly vocation and accompany them to their full
realisation of it.
1.1.1.3. Properly integrate into the Provincial SEPP the vocational proposal
into the itinerary of faith education as a point of convergence of all educa-
tional and evangelising efforts.
1.1.2.1. Empower the concrete and effective forms of integrated accompa-
niment of young people towards the path of maturity in different aspects
where the human and social aspects are integrated with the spiritual aspects
(cf. ChV 222).
1.1.2.2. Contribute to the organisation of meetings or formation initiatives on
spiritual accompaniment and direction in the Provinces, in order to identify
guidelines and new ‘good practices’ towards generous service and vocational
discernment (ChV 170; 240).
1.1.2.3. Encourage the reflection of the Educative-Pastoral Community with
a special focus on meaningful vocational testimonies within the family envi-
ronment.
1.2.1.1. Identify the criteria and guidelines for the study of pastoral action
among the poorest young people (AGC 433, 79), at provincial and local level,
as a principle attitude and choice.
1.2.1.2. Pay more attention to the phenomena of youth mobility (refugees
and migrants) (ChV 91-94) and the world of work (ChV 268-273) to offer con-
crete ways of welcome and help, beginning with the least (cf. FT 233-235),
through an articulated collaboration in the network.

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54 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.2.2. Living and interpreting the mission
to the “poorest and most abandoned”
young people in all the works with insti-
tutional openness to the existential pe-
ripheries where the poorest young people
find themselves.
1.3. Deepen co-responsibility
between Salesians and lay peo-
ple in the common mission with
young people, within the dy-
namics of EPC (cf. AGC 433, 39-
44.99-113).
1.3.1. Giving more attention to strength-
ening the centrality of the lived EPC as an
experience of family and Church.
1.3.2. Reflecting and accompanying dif-
ferent models of animation and manage-
ment of the works with the participation
and active involvement of lay people.
1.3.3. Ensuring the overall educative-pas-
toral formation of the Salesians and lay
people together to ensure charismatic iden-
tity in our Works (cf. AGC 433, 17-20.43).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 55
1.2.1.3. Collaborate with the implementation of socio-political formation
courses in collaboration with the various branches of the Salesian Family in
harmony with the Church’s social doctrine.
1.2.1.4. Promote the awareness among Youth Ministry Delegates to include
in the itineraries of education to the faith the commitment to the poor in the
light of an integral ecology, as a great cultural, spiritual and educational
challenge (cf. LS 202-232; AGC 433, 49-51).
1.2.1.5. Accompany and promote in every Province and Salesian House the
development of a code of ethics for the care, prevention and protection of
children entrusted to us, with the commitment to protect them from all kinds
of abuse, wherever it comes from (cf. AGC 433, 38.79).
1.2.2.1. Accompany the provinces in coordinating the various initiatives for
young people in need through the OPP and the provincial SEPP.
1.2.2.2. Accompany and promote reflection on the reality of the poorest young
people (studies, congresses, courses, proposals, meetings at provincial and
regional level) to help reflect on the regions and the province towards proposals
of responses.
1.3.1.1. Share the tried-and-tested criteria and experiences already in place
regarding the roles and responsibilities of Salesians and lay people within the
EPC (AGC 433, 112), as an expression of the ecclesiology of communion.
1.3.1.2. “Strengthen the understanding of the educative pastoral community
by taking care of the formation of its members and the preparation of the
Salesian educative and pastoral project” (AGC 433, 112).
1.3.2.1. Encourage the exchange of experiences and “best practice” that are
concrete and real (cf. AGC 433, 44), related to the gradual choice and inclusion
of lay staff and the shared management of works.
1.3.2.2. Accompany and support specific preparation referring to the leader-
ship of lay people who have institutional roles of responsibility (cf. AGC 433,
43).
1.3.3.1. Together with the Formation Department, verify that there is a
careful pastoral preparation in the stages of initial formation in view of a
concrete preparation oriented to the Salesian mission (cf. AGC 433, 30-34;
95-96).

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56 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.4. Promote the effective and
affective presence with and for
the young in communion of life
and action (AGC 433, 28-29).
1.4.1. Increasing an oratory ambience of
family and welcome for the young in our
works.
1.4.2. Accompanying youth dynamism
through the leadership of young people
prominent in the Salesian mission and
charism.
1.5. Consolidate the reflection
and practice of educational and
evangelisation processes in vari-
ous cultural, social and ecclesias-
tical contexts.
1.5.1. Assuming the disposition of dis-
cernment, both from a personal and com-
munity point of view, as a fundamental
criteria for pastoral action with young
people (ChV 278-298).
1.5.2. Promoting a mentality and com-
mitment to a educative-pastoral project
based on the education and evangelisation
relationship depending on the different
contexts.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 57
1.3.3.2. Offer formation journeys together (SDB, lay people and young
people.) in Salesian pedagogy and spirituality.
1.3.3.3. Accompany provincial policies for formation proposals aimed at
qualifying people for the animation of YM in the province (School of Dele-
gates and others).
1.4.1.1. Share reflections and initiatives with the general council’s YM Team
that offer a better understanding of the digital world and new languages
(cf. ChV 86-90; AGC 433, 29).
1.4.1.2. Study SDB and lay formation programs for pedagogical-pastoral
competence and to live the “Salesian sacrament” of presence (AGC 433, 25-
29) in the midst of young people (return to the play-ground, word in the ear,
listening, personalised accompaniment).
1.4.2.1. Promote a mentality and practice of creating or renewing times and
spaces that encourage the participation of young people in the planning, an-
imation and evaluation of pastoral activities, and in moments where young
people come together with the Salesian community.
1.4.2.2. Motivate the establishment of communities of believers in the EPC
where the experience of faith is visible and credible: a community that is
friendly, close, committed and open to all young people who seek their destiny
in life.
1.5.1.1. Help Youth Ministry delegates to provide spaces for sharing in the
EPC, to deepen and practice discernment as an attitude and method in the
proposal of faith education pathways.
1.5.1.2. Animate the accompaniment of young people in the provinces with
proposals that lead to the discovery of the meaning of their lives and the
joyful acceptance of their own existence.
1.5.2.1. Help to initiate systematic experiences of spirituality and service
(volunteering) in collaboration with the Salesian Family.
1.5.2.2. Lead and animate an educative-pastoral proposal using youthful
language and symbols to share the message of the Gospel, paying special
attention to the real life of young people (cf. ChV 71).

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58 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.5.3. Promoting the Inculturation of
faith as a gradual approach to the values
and ideals of the Gospel in contexts that
are non-Christian, secularised and indif-
ferent to faith.
1.6. Enhance the synergy be-
tween youth ministry and family,
within the Salesian educative
pastoral model (cf. YM 15-192).
1.6.1. Further exploring the journey to
enhance the role of the family as a subject
in the EPC and an active agent in the de-
velopment of the SEPP.
1.6.2. Forming our educators so that they
can accompany young people in the devel-
opment and maturation of their affective
and emotional realms (cf. AGC 433, 81).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 59
1.5.2.3. See that there is the promotion and dissemination of personalised
educative journeys in the educative-pastoral formation meetings that provide
experiences for the care of creation and the common home as part of what they
offer.
1.5.3.1. Share the differentiated processes underway for the growth of the
young with the different National Centres, Ongoing Formation Centres and
the UPS, in order to respond to the challenges of the different contexts.
1.5.3.2. Accompany the initiatives that educate young people to ethical dis-
cernment, transcendence and commitment to justice as a concrete expression
of the option for the poor (cf. EG 188).
1.5.3.3. Support and promote places for reflection on ecumenical, inter-reli-
gious and social dialogue in the youth context (cf. EG 255-258).
1.6.1.1. Reflect on the challenges, resources and opportunities that emerged
from the World Congress (SYM FAMILY) for consequent reflection and
animation in the provinces cf. AGC 433, 80).
1.6.1.2. Promote and enhance family groups inspired by Salesian spirituality
and foster their apostolic involvement (vocational ministry, new forms of
evangelisation and family catechism) and their active involvement in the EPC.
1.6.2.1. Look for appropriate paths and experiences of formation for lay peo-
ple and Salesians (together with the Formation sector) so that they can accom-
pany young people in the education of love (ChV 81; 261) and the formation
of a new family (ChV 259-267).

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60 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
A.  Areas and settings of pastoral animation
2 - Oratory - Youth Centre
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Promote the Oratory-Youth
Centre as a place of welcome and
proposal, with a preference for
poor areas and popular youth
settings.
2.1.1. Re launching the Oratory towards
decisions that translate these new fron-
tiers/peripheries in the lives of the young
into concrete ways of living.
2.2.1. Giving attention to the processes of
formation and accompaniment aimed at
young leaders.
2.2. Develop educative-pastoral
activity that becomes a path for
growth in shared responsibility
between all educators working in
the Oratory-Youth Centre EPC.
2.2.2. Making young people promoters of
life in the Oratory-Youth Centre.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 61
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Propose a reflection in regional meetings on how to set up the oratory
in synergy with the other various settings of Salesian work and, at the same
time, as a space that animates the neighbourhood together with the other
educational and pastoral circumstances.
2.1.1.2. In the national YM centres encourage a rethinking of oratory ministry
today as a relevant place of human growth and vocational discernment.
2.2.1.1. YM sector to collect the formation modules already widely tested in
the regions, and will make available suitable aids and animation tools for the
leaders/animators (proposals, activities, experiences).
2.2.1.2. YM sector to put together a list of the educational skills leaders/
animators need in their neigh-bourhood, highlighting in every house the
attention given in every area to disadvantage and marginalisation.
2.2.1.3. Open a space for sharing in the regions to study innovative and
alternative forms and activities for the animation of the playground and free
time.
2.2.2.1. In regional meetings examine the degree of active involvement that
young people have in the Oratory Youth-Centres and in serving showing
leadership for other young people.
2.2.2.2. Encourage the provinces in their formation and accompaniment of
young couples and young families attending the Oratory-Youth Centre, in
collaboration with other settings.
2.2.2.3. Promote a reflection with the Social Communication Sector on dif-
ferent forms of youth expression (theatre, dance, music, painting, cinema and
literature).

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62 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
3 - School and Vocational Training Centres
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Promote the identity and
quality of Salesian presence in
schools and in vocational train-
ing centres, having the culture
and the vocational dimension
as a unifying principle of the
educative-pastoral project.
3.1.1. Encouraging educative-pastoral
quality in our Schools and Vocational
Training Centres.
3.2. Promote the formation and
accompaniment of the lay people
who share responsibility for the
Salesian mission in the Schools
and Vocational Training Centres.
3.2.1. Promoting shared responsibility
between SDB and lay people in the ani-
mation and management of Schools and
Vocational Training Centres.
3.3. Consolidate reflection on
and practice of educational and
evangelisation processes within
the school and the vocational
training centre, in the various
cultural, social and ecclesiastical
contexts.
3.3.1. Ensuring the increasing integration
of educational and evangelising processes
in the School and Vocational Training Cen-
tre ECPs.
3.4. Strengthen the option for
the poorest in our Schools and
Vocational Training Centres.
3.4.1. Encouraging our Schools and Voca-
tional Training Centres to agree on the
perspective of openness and service to the
poorest.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 63
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Reflect on the identity of the Salesian School and Salesian Vocational
Training today, in different regions and contexts.
3.1.1.2. Accompany the processes of provincial, inter-provincial or regional
structures of Salesian educational institutions, consolidating existing groups
of reflection and action.
3.1.1.3. Promote a reflection capable of generating and fostering guidance
processes in the school to meet the needs of the future vocational life of the
young people.
3.2.1.1. Encourage joint formation processes (SDB, lay people and young
people) in Salesian spirituality and pedagogy oriented to the shared mission.
3.2.1.2. Promoting the development of documents that present educational
and pastoral skills for lay people who share responsibility with us.
3.3.1.1. Encourage educative-pastoral choices that transform our scholastic
“structures” into a field of mission and evangelisation, by offering young
people gradual and diversified processes of growth and maturing in their
education in the faith.
3.3.1.2. Promote the creation, in schools and vocational training centres, of
processes of culture and ecological and solidarity-based education.
3.4.1.1. Encourage initiatives aimed at developing the most disadvantaged
young people.
3.4.1.2. Encourage socio-political formation courses in tune with the encycli-
cals Laudato Sì (LS) and Fratelli Tutti (FT) to give concrete form to a process
that leads to a commitment to integral ecology (AGC 433, 49).
3.4.1.3. Promote vocational training as a privileged means of attention to
people in need and their inclusion in society and the world of work.
3.4.1.4. Strengthen the accompaniment and privileged rapport with families
for their mutual involvement and collaboration.

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64 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
3.5. Ensure a greater visibility of
the Salesian Schools and Voca-
tional Training Centres outside
our own circumstances (Church,
society, civil institutions).
3.5.1. Encouraging an institutional pres-
ence of the YM Sector, the Schools and
Vocational Training Centres Office at
forums for ecclesial, political and social
education.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 65
3.5.1.1. Continue development and participation in Church-based educational
forums, or other international civil educational institutions.

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66 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
4 - Salesian institutes of higher education
(IUS) – Salesian University Colleges
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Promote the application of
the Policies for 2021-2025.
4.1.1. Ensuring the development of the
2021-2025 policies and the functioning of
coordination and animation structures at
a global and continental/regional level.
4.2. Consolidate the application
of the “Orientations for Campus
Ministry in the IUS”, emphasis-
ing the vocational dimension in
such a way as to ensure the edu-
cational-evangelising processes
in the different contexts of Sale-
sian higher education.
4.2.1. Strengthening pastoral care as a
dimension that runs across all of Salesian
higher education.
4.2.2. Encouraging reflection on the voca-
tional dimension in the educative-pastoral
processes of Salesian higher education.
4.3. Strengthen the option for
the poorest young people in the
context of Salesian higher educa-
tion.
4.3.1. Promoting reflection and decisions
on the option for the poor as an underly-
ing choice involving the triple university
mission: teaching, research and social
mission (extension).
4.4. Promote communication,
collaboration and institutional,
academic and staff exchange at
all levels.
4.4.1. Providing wider dissemination of
information on IUS within the network,
in the Congregation, in the Church and in
wider society.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 67
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Prepare the policies for the 2021-2025 period with the General
Assembly.
4.1.1.2. Organise and/or accompany the various IUS meetings, conferences
and assemblies.
4.1.1.3. Accompany the application of common programmes at global and
continental/regional level.
4.1.1.4. Plan animation visits to the various IUS institutes, especially those
facing greater challenges.
4.2.1.1. Ensure the establishment of pastoral animation teams in every IUS.
4.2.1.2. Motivate the preparation of the Pastoral Plan at the level of each of
the IUS.
4.2.1.3. Accompany proposals for continental and regional formation in
university pastoral work.
4.2.2.1. Ensure the subject of vocation is addressed in various continental
and regional meetings.
4.2.2.2. Offer reflections and resources on the subject of vocation in university
campus ministry.
4.3.1.1. Ensure reflection on the option for the poor in the various continental
and regional meetings.
4.3.1.2. Ensure institutional mechanisms to guarantee continued access to
our IUS for young people from popular sectors and young university students
marginalised for various reasons.
4.4.1.1. Develop IUS websites as strategic communication resources.
4.4.1.2. Disseminate information on best management, academic and pastoral
practices and experiences among the IUS.

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68 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
4.4.2. Promoting academic exchange and
best practice within IUS.
4.5. Promote reflection on the
application of the youth ministry
model in university colleges.
4.5.1. Helping to understand university
colleges more as an educative-pastoral
proposal than as a simple service to young
university students.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 69
4.4.2.1. Develop the work of the various academic networks.
4.4.2.2. Promote visits and collaborative initiatives between IUS managers,
staff or lecturers.
4.4.2.3. Promote exchange between students who are part of Salesian uni-
versity associations.
4.5.1.1. Put the analysis of the statistical survey on Salesian university col-
leges into context.
4.5.1.2. Contribute to reflection on the application of the EPC model in uni-
versity colleges.
4.5.1.3. Accompany this area by attending meetings of managers and also
visiting university colleges at provincial level.

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70 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
5 - Parishes and Shrines entrusted to the salesians
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
5.1. Value and make parish pas-
toral bodies operational as an ex-
pression of communion and an
exercise in shared responsibility.
5.1.1. Placing all members of the EPC in
a real situation of participation, dialogue
and shared responsibility in the ordinary
dynamics of the parish community.
5.2. Promote an up-to-date re-
flection on the Salesian parish
to ensure its originality and its
educative and pastoral specificity
as a place of welcome and mis-
sionary service.
5.2.1. Focusing on the crucial issue of pas-
toral life and, in particular, the challenges
of evangelising young people.
5.2.2. Making the parish community at-
tentive to the active role of the family in
the educative-pastoral mission and sup-
porting it in its educative role.
5.3. Give greater attention to 5.3.1. Prioritising parish pastoral work-
the local area and the social di- ers tackling concrete problems of those
mension of charity.
who live in the area.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 71
ACTION GUIDELINES
5.1.1.1. In the provincial SEPP, evaluate the role of councils, assemblies,
groups, pastoral committees (liturgical, charitable, family, etc.), ordinary
bodies of communion, programmes and the coordination of all the pastoral
activity of the parish.
5.2.1.1. Try to be present as a Sector at the national and regional meetings
of parish priests for a more refined animation of the area.
5.2.1.2. Initiate further reflection with provincial councils on the opportunities
offered to young people and the working classes by our parish communities,
in terms of welcome, leadership and witness.
5.2.1.3. Study with youth ministry delegates the commitment of parish
communities to launching programmes for rediscovering the faith, catechesis
for Christian Initiation and vocational accompaniment.
5.2.2.1. To give impetus in provincial/national commissions to the study
of reciprocity between the family and the Salesian parish in order to pool
resources, energy and shared responsibility.
5.2.2.2. A Sector study of existing best practice aimed at forming and estab-
lishing proposals to support individuals and families in parishes.
5.3.1.1. Check and evaluate carefully in the Provincial EPPs whether the
different forms of the social dimension of charity in parishes respond to the
new forms of poverty in which they live and work.
5.3.1.2. Offer a reflection on Parish Pastoral Councils.

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72 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
6 - Works - Social services for young people at risk
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
6.1. Strengthen the animation
and coordination of the youth
marginalisation and disadvan-
tage areas at regional and pro-
vincial level.
6.1.1. Identifying the criteria and guide-
lines for pastoral action among children,
adolescents, young people and other adults
at risk, who are vulnerable and poorer,
at the provincial and local level, as an
attitude and choice across all areas.
6.2. Develop shared responsibil-
ity between Salesians and lay
people in the common mission
with young people, within the
dynamics of the EPC.
6.2.1. Ensuring the overall educative-
pastoral formation of Salesians and laity
to guarantee charismatic identity in our
Works (cf. AGC 433, 17-20).
6.3. Consolidate the reflection
and practice of the processes of
education and evangelisation in
the various cultural, social and
ecclesial contexts.
6.3.1. Promoting a mentality of and com-
mitment to the Educative-Pastoral Project
in the SSW (Social Service Works).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 73
ACTION GUIDELINES
6.1.1.1. Giving continuity to reflection and application of the World Advisory
Council on Social Services Works (SSW) in the World Congress.
6.1.1.2. Consolidate synergy and networking in the Youth Ministry sector,
through the DBI and DB-UN, with other advocacy bodies.
6.1.1.3. Help the SSW provincial coordinator to verify and update the pastoral
interventions and structures at the province level to ensure significant pres-
ence among the poorest of our works.
6.1.1.4. Evaluate and bring up-to-date the collection of statistical data from
GC28 on the SSW for young people at risk and in situations of marginalisation.
6.1.1.5. Encourage public awareness by producing tools for the dissemination
of our works/services (website updates).
6.1.1.6. Establish a relationship with civil bodies, and even international
church bodies, in work on marginalisation and troubled youth.
6.2.1.1. Encourage and accompany vocational training in the provinces as an
effective tool for prevention, and the integral human maturing of disadvan-
taged youth.
6.2.1.2. Initiate or strengthen the formation paths of pastoral workers and
staff, both professional and voluntary, at provincial level, in the spirituality and
pedagogical practice of the Preventive System in the SSW.
6.2.1.3. Help to support a defined pedagogical model with Salesian identity
and professional competence.
6.3.1.1. Assisting provinces in the development and animation of the four
dimensions of the SEPP in the SSW which make it easier for every young
person to consciously and responsibly take up the values which guide and give
meaning to his or her life.
6.3.1.2. Accompany differentiated approaches to human and spiritual growth
in the SSW closely linked to daily life and following a graduated approach that
respects the rhythms and differences in starting points.

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74 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
B.  Other pastoral animation areas
7 - Mission volunteers
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
7.1. Accompany the experiences
of the volunteer movement with
a clear Salesian identity.
7.1.1. Encouraging provinces to organise,
form and accompany the experience of vol-
unteering in a systematic way according
to the Salesian Missionary Volunteering
(SMV) 2019.
7.1.2. Encouraging the use of existing
models in the world of volunteering, fos-
tering a network at an inter-provincial
level and between regions.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 75
ACTION GUIDELINES
7.1.1.1. Accompany the application of the SMV 2019 document in collabora-
tion with the Mission Sector.
7.1.1.2. Help to ensure the training and accompaniment processes of volun-
teers at national and regional level.
7.1.1.3. Foster an attitude that the experience of volunteering is not just
about the work to be done but an integral evangelical and charismatically
inspired experience.
7.1.1.4. At the annual meetings of YM delegates discuss the convergence
between volunteering and vocation animation.
7.1.2.1. Encourage the sharing of best practice and contacts between YM
delegates and the provincial coordinator for the volunteer movement.

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76 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
8 - Salesian Youth Movement
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
8.1. Promote and accompany
the SYM by giving priority to the
vocational dimension of Salesian
Youth Ministry.
8.1.1. Strengthening the coordination of
the SYM in its identity and visibility
through the practice of networking be-
tween provinces and regions.
8.1.2. Initiating formation processes in
spiritual direction and discernment as an
effective means for discovering God’s plan.
8.2. Strengthen and deepen the
spirituality of responsible service
in order to respond efficiently
and effectively to new forms of
youth poverty as an expression
of the new evangelisation.
8.2.1. Fostering a path of formation with
the aim of assimilating the social teaching
of the Church.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 77
ACTION GUIDELINES
8.1.1.1. Promote reflection on the SYM, in accordance with the “Framework
of Reference”, towards a clearer understanding of its identity and function,
especially the vocational dimension.
8.1.1.2. Participate in international events that strengthen the identity and
experience of the SYM.
8.1.1.3. Support the coordination of the SYM in the European Region
and the Middle East and strengthen the SYM in those Regions where it is
weaker.
8.1.1.4. Promote the active involvement of youth in the animation and coor-
dination of the SYM at the various levels: local, provincial and regional.
8.1.1.5. Promote the cooperation of the SYM with other groups or movements
of the Salesian Family or of Salesian inspiration, and with other platforms
aimed at young people such as the Youth Section of the Vatican’s Laity,
Family and Life Dicastery.
8.1.1.6. Prepare a worldwide directory and data collection on SYM.
8.1.1.7. Present the SYM, its identity and presence in a creative way: docu-
mentary, films and more.
8.1.2.1. Offer young leaders formation processes in the experience of discern-
ment and spiritual direction.
8.1.2.2. Provide monthly or bi-monthly reflection on the themes of discern-
ment and spiritual direction.
8.1.2.3. Encourage volunteering and other experiences within the SYM
journey to help young people in vocational discernment.
8.2.1.1. Promote the learning of the Church’s social teachings in SYM ani-
mation.
8.2.1.2. Launch service programmes for victims of new forms of poverty.
8.2.1.3. Encourage the participation in the SYM of groups from our priority
SSW works.

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78 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
8.2.2. Following up initiatives to grow in
sensitivity towards our common home and
the digital world.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 79
8.2.2.1. Participate in national or international meetings that carry forward
the proposals referred to in Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ (LS).
8.2.2.2. Encourage coherent thinking and lifestyles for young people to grow
as responsible citizens who care for creation.
8.2.2.3. Strengthen the evangelising proposal in the digital world where
young people live.

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80 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
9 - Advocacy and institutional representation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
9.1. Ensure the contribution of
the Congregation to the work of
Church and civil bodies engaged
in the education of young people
and youth ministry worldwide.
9.1.1. Continuing and strengthening co-
operation with Church bodies involved in
the field of education and youth ministry
regionally and worldwide.
9.1.2. Ensuring resources and accompa-
niment for personnel in charge of the
Salesian presence at the United Nations
(DB-UN) and Don Bosco International
(DBI) in achieving the objectives for which
these Offices are responsible.
9.1.3. Encouraging the Advocacy and
Representation Offices of the Congrega-
tion and the Cooperation and Develop-
ment Bodies it promotes to undertake in-
formation and awareness-raising activities
for international institutions responsible
for youth policy, and who promote educa-
tion, social inclusion and the integral de-
velopment of all young people, especially
the poorest.
9.2. Encourage communication
and cooperation between the
Congregation’s Representative
Offices at the International In-
stitutions and the General Coun-
cil, the Provinces and other bod-
ies promoted by the Congrega-
tion.
9.2.1. Promoting the exchange of infor-
mation and opportunities for mutual
involvement between DB-UN, DBI and
the various levels of government and ani-
mation of the Congregation.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 81
ACTION GUIDELINES
9.1.1.1. Participate in and contribute to international and regional initiatives
promoted by Church bodies and involve representatives of these Church
organizations in the relevant initiatives of the Congregation.
9.1.2.1. Periodically review DB-UN and DBI Strategic Plans, and continually
monitor their implementation.
9.1.2.2. Identify suitable people to represent the Congregation in the UN’s
regional centres and facilitate their participation in the initiatives that take
place there.
9.1.3.1. Promote policies for the poorest of young people at various levels
(cf. AGC 433, 79).
9.1.3.2. Involve young people from the Salesian Youth Movement, Salesian-
inspired youth organisations (e.g. Don Bosco Youth-Net) and the poor young
people who are beneficiaries of Salesian works in the activities of DB-UN,
DBI and Don Bosco Network.
9.1.3.3. Promote the participation of young people representing Salesian work
around the world in the UN Youth Forums.
9.1.3.4. Carry out a study to identify the civil bodies where it is strategic for
the Congregation to be in order to participate in significant processes in the
field of education.
9.2.1.1. Send regular newsletters of DB-UN’s activities, both from New York
and from the regional centres, and of DBI, to the General Council of the
Congregation and to the provinces.
9.2.1.2. Involve DB-UN and DBI staff in relevant processes and events at the
various levels of government and animation of the Congregation.
9.2.1.3. Involve Salesians and lay collaborators from the provinces in the
activities of DB-UN and DBI.

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82 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
9.3. Promote reflection in the
Congregation on the social and
political dimension of Salesian
educative and pastoral action.
9.3.1. Promoting initiatives and tools
at various levels that foster a culture of
reflection and study of the social and
political dimension of the educative and
pastoral action of the Congregation and
the bodies promoted by it.
9.3.2. Strengthening DB-UN and DBI’s
ability to articulate the position of the
Congregation on relevant issues in the
service with and for young people.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 83
9.3.1.1. Involve the advocacy and Representation Offices of the Congrega-
tion, Cooperation and Development Bodies, Provincial Youth Ministry Offices
and the IUS in the promotion of initiatives and drawing up of tools for
reflection and critical study of the social and political dimension of Salesian
educative and pastoral action.
9.3.1.2. Ensure that the care of creation and our common home is the object
of reflection and the criterion of discernment for Salesian educative and pas-
toral action.
9.3.2.1. Form or strengthen groups of experts, Salesians and lay people, at
regional and international level on relevant thematic areas, to support the
Congregation’s advocacy and representation Offices.
9.3.2.2. Disseminate the initiatives of the advocacy and Representation
Offices of the Congregation through the Congregation’s social networks and
communication agencies.

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84 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR
FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
AREA 1 - Charismatic communication
and the salesian mission
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Live communication in an
evangelical (Cf. Jn 1:1-5; 1:14),
synodal (SyG 121-122), Salesian
(C. 6) and convergent (cf. Fbic)
manner.
1.1.1. Accompanying and prioritising
the study of new implementation strate-
gies for anthropological, biblical, ecclesial,
educational and pastoral communication
(cf. LS 69; 89 and 92).
1.1.2. Offering the tools and means at
various levels for a constant process of
verification, updating and inculturation of
the Salesian mission in the digital habitat
where today’s young people live (cf. AGC
433, 29).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 85
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Carry out formative meetings involving Salesians and lay people at a
personal and community level, to enhance a vision of communication from
an educative and pastoral perspective in the youth ecosystem.
1.1.1.2. Develop the anthropological, biblical, ecclesial, educative and pas-
toral basis of Salesian communication with the help of scholars and educators
and in an interdisciplinary way.
1.1.1.3. From the perspective of the spiritual and educational pedagogy of the
disciples of Emmaus (SyG 58), build formative paths of accompaniment of
communication, together with Salesians, lay people and young people from the
provinces.
1.1.1.4. Integrate the new proposal of Salesian communication (anthropo-
logical, biblical, ecclesial, educational and pastoral) as part of the formation of
Salesians, laity and the curriculum for the evangelisation and education in the
faith of young people (SyG 145).
1.1.2.1. Carry out a joint reflection process with other sectors through semi-
nars, meetings of delegates, studies on inculturation and educational accom-
paniment of young people in the digital continent (WCD 2013).
1.1.2.2. Provide spaces for reflection, and formation sessions with communi-
cation delegates and local teams to further explore, integrate and implement
communication proposals within the province’s and community’s communi-
cation plan.
1.1.2.3. Develop shared working strategies between delegates and local
communication teams to create dialogue, processes and integration of new
communication proposals within the OPP and provincial and local SEPP.

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86 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Institutional communication
and shared management
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Support communication in
view of animation and govern-
ment for the Salesians, the Sale-
sian Family and external Insti-
tutions.
2.1.1. Continuing to guarantee the visi-
bility of the Congregation in the Salesian
Family, in the Church and in the world.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 87
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Organise and update institutional communication (internally and
externally) in an institutional, professional and technical manner (SSCS 2011,
54-68).
2.1.1.2. Accompany the Rector Major’s spokesperson through the Communi-
cation sector.
2.1.1.3. Coordinate the production and dissemination of the Rector Major’s
messages in the media on the basis of content and recipients.
2.1.1.4. Collaborate in preparations for the celebrations of the Congregation
(Bicentenary of the Dream at nine years of age, Fr Paul Albera, St Francis
de Sales, Centenary of the Salesian Presence in North East India, 150th
Anniversary of the first Salesian Missionary Expedition and others).
2.1.1.5. Support the Rector Major’s communication with a press office, and
through communication and social network channels.
2.1.1.6. Organise the policy, logistics and technical means to support the sec-
tors in information, interactivity and instant communication with provinces
and regions.
2.1.1.7. Accompany those responsible for communication in the different
Regions or continents through meetings to encourage opportunities for unity,
collaboration and shared management (publishing houses, radio, printing
houses, SB, magazines, websites, multimedia, video, music, theatre and film
productions).
2.1.1.8. Organise a group of expert translators, both SDB and lay.
2.1.1.9. Study and define how to establish institutional and personal security
protocols for Salesians on the Internet and social networks.
2.1.1.10. Organise a Crisis Management Team with the participation of peo-
ple from the legal and international communication area.

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88 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Collaborative and solidarity-based management
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Give structure to the insti-
tutional, political and governance
communication of the Salesian
Congregation.
3.1.1. Contributing with projects and
campaigns for social, economic, educa-
tional and sustainable future develop-
ment, to raise awareness of the situation
of the poorest and most needy (cf. guide-
line 7, AGC 433, 45-48).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 89
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Ensure an educational policy of digital inclusion rights for young
people in poorer regions, using digital platforms for distance learning and
educational-professional opportunities (SyG 89).
3.1.1.2. Support the Missions sector in spreading awareness in the Congre-
gation of the situation of refugees and displaced persons in refugee camps,
of gypsies and indigenous peoples, promoting greater coordination for a more
effective and robust commitment.
3.1.1.3. Give more visibility and circulation to the Don Bosco Green Alliance
project together with the Youth Ministry Sector (SyG 89).
3.1.1.4. Create a Salesian Digital Forum where all those who have an interest
in spreading the faith in a “Salesian” way, or who wish to deepen their knowl-
edge of Salesian spirituality and the Salesian educational system, can meet.
3.1.1.5. Accompany the Congregation’s request concerning ethics and pro-
tection of children so that in every Salesian province and house there may be
a code of conduct for the care, prevention and defence of the children en-
trusted to us, with the commitment to protect them from any kind of abuse,
wherever it may come from (cf. LS 137).

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90 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 4 - Salesian identity and the youth world
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Experience communication
as a “Salesian sacrament” of
presence (cf. guideline 3, AGC
433, 25-29), in an effective and
affective way among young peo-
ple (cf. CEC, Circular Letter to
schools, universities and educa-
tional institutions. Prot. N. 553/
10 September 2020) with the
heart of the Good Shep-herd.
4.1.1. Adopting a style of listening,
dialogue and personal and community
discernment (cf. guideline 3, AGC 433, 27)
to be a joyful and free presence among
young people in a digital world
[Note: the Salesian “is a living reminder of a presence in
which availability, listening, joy and dedication are the
essential features which give rise to processes... a joyful and
gratuitous presence among young people”, Pope Francis’
message, in AGC 433, 67].

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 91
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Promote pastoral approaches through communication that reach out
to today’s youth culture in practical ways, to relive the same experience of
spiritual fatherhood that Don Bosco lived with his young people (SyG 145).
4.1.1.2. Be present in the digital world with a clear Salesian identity, an-
nouncing the Good News with the joy and simplicity of being disciples of
the Lord (cf. guideline 3, AGC 433, 25-29).
4.1.1.3. Adopt the educative spirituality and pastoral methodology of com-
munication to outline educational processes and steps, in loving and compas-
sionate listening to young people, helping them to seek and meet the Lord
through the great questions of life.
4.1.1.4. Integrate the new dynamics of digital communication such as inter-
activity, immediacy, convergence and the active role young people play, within
education courses (SyG 145).

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92 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 5 - Evangelisation and the digital environment
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
5.1. Inculturate the faith, in
communication and the digital
world of young people, by giving
priority to the centrality of the
person (cf. CEC, Ibidem).
5.1.1. Supporting the accompaniment of
the initial and ongoing formation of Sale-
sians, lay people and educators to make
known the new challenges and opportu-
nities that young people experience in
today’s new social, cultural and commu-
nicative eco-systems.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 93
ACTION GUIDELINES
5.1.1.1. Develop a formation project for communicators as “experts in
humanity” who are capable of fostering educational dialogue in the youth
habitat.
5.1.1.2. Involve our universities in networking with other centres and
agencies in the study of the transformations that the digital world is bringing
about within the new generations (cf. EG 132).
5.1.1.3. Carry out some studies in collaboration with Youth Ministry on themes
concerning the world of youth (young people and intelligent hypermedia, arti-
ficial intelligence, algorithms, psychological and sociological aspects resulting
from the virtual world).
5.1.1.4. Organise an integral and ongoing formation course for Communica-
tion delegates and teams with suitable programmes and structures.
5.1.1.5. Support the Missions sector in its vision and implementation of Initial
Proclamation of the Gospel in the digital environment.
5.1.1.6. Organise an International Conference on the Bicentenary of Don
Bosco’s Dream at nine years of age from the perspective of communication.

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94 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 6 - Collaborative formation
and mission with the laity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
6.1. Collaborate with the other
sectors in the processes of for-
mation of Salesians and lay peo-
ple, to increase basic skills in
evangelisation and education of
young people in the digital world
(AGC 433, 29).
6.1.1. Developing the initial and ongoing
formation of Salesians, the laity (cf. point
32. Reciprocal relations between Salesians
and lay people in AGC 433, 100), to inhab-
it the digital world with competence and a
renewed missionary spirit.
6.2.1. Encouraging the updating of Sale-
sians in the shared mission of the Sectors.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 95
ACTION GUIDELINES
6.1.1.1. Integrate the anthropological, theological, spiritual and Salesian
aspects of digital communication within the Ratio, in collaboration with the
Formation sector.
6.1.1.2. Educate Salesians and young people in the knowledge and use of
artificial intelligence from an educational, social, pastoral and human gover-
nance perspective.
6.1.1.3. Accompany the older Salesians (confessors, spiritual guides) in on-
going formation regarding the virtual world today (ethical aspects, language).
6.1.1.4. Promote cultural and artistic communication in formation commu-
nities (music, theatre, literature, painting) (cf. SyG 47).
6.1.1.5. Complement the YMFR with a chapter on media communication and
the SSCS with a chapter on YM principles and methodology.
6.1.1.6. Collaborate with the various sectors and the person in charge of the
Salesian Family in the creating a communication course/training in EAD
(Video Conference) format for Salesians, educators and young people.
6.2.1.1. Contribute with communication projects that promote opportunities
for active involvement and visibility for young migrants and homeless people,
together with the Youth Ministry Sector.
6.2.1.2. Implement, together with Youth Ministry, the organisation of dis-
tance formation courses for the ongoing formation of the laity.
6.2.1.3. Create a commission of scholars and researchers (Salesians and laity)
from the IUS to contribute directly to the Sector in the study of new human,
social and cultural phenomena of young people in the digital habitat.

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96 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 7 - Technology, information and networking
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
7.1. Promote digitilisation in
Salesian works and networking
for a charismatic, co-responsible
and cross-sectoral vision of the
mission (FT 142).
7.1.1. Supporting digital transformation
and modernisation and technological in-
novation in the provinces.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 97
ACTION GUIDELINES
7.1.1.1. Collaborate with the provinces in updating plans for digital trans-
formation of networking among provinces and regions.
7.1.1.2. Implement, together with the Economer General, a Salesian com-
munications platform as an institutional and pastoral service, designing Apps
that facilitate organisation, multilingual content (news, texts, video, audio).
7.1.1.3. Build a new digital-social communications platform at the service of
the Rector Major and his Council, the animation sectors and departments and
Salesian Family services.
7.1.1.4. Coordinate the updating and technical, graphical and aesthetic
reorganisation of the www.sdb.org, ANS and SB sites, taking into account the
multicultural nature and linguistic diversity of the Congregation.
7.1.1.5. Ensure the coverage and involvement of ANS, SB, www.sdb.org,
so that information reaches the Congregation and the Salesian Family and
society in general in a creative, professional and convergent way.
7.1.1.6. Update strategic, collaborative and sustainable business management
guidelines for publishing houses, radio stations, printing houses and press
agencies.

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98 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 8 - Historical memory, artistic
and patrimonial heritage
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
8.1. See to the artistic heritage
and the memory of the Salesian
mission and works, throughout
its history and today.
8.1.1. Encouraging a scientific (system-
atic) management of Salesian historical
heritage and artistic production (music,
theatre, dance, literature).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 99
ACTION GUIDELINES
8.1.1.1. Organise a Don Bosco database of Salesian music collected from all
over the Salesian world and make these items available on YouTube and oth-
er networks for the animation of Youth Ministry and the Salesian Family (cf.
GP99).
8.1.1.2. Implement film production, Salesian Radio Network.
8.1.1.3. Organise Salesian choral, musical and literary productions.
8.1.1.4. Offer support for the publication of texts by the Associazione dei Cul-
tori di Storia Salesiana (ACSSA) [Salesian History Association].
8.1.1.5. Organise Salesian cultural and religious heritage.

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100 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR
FOR THE MISSIONS
AREA 1 - Missionary vocation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Help give rise in every Sale-
sian to the discernment of the
missionary call ad gentes, ad
exteros, ad vitam by responding
to the missionary appeals of the
Rector Major (AGC 433, 48)
1.1.1. Moving from a sense of belonging
to the Province of origin to missionary
generosity (AGC 433, 47)
1.2. Ensure Salesian mission-
ary formation at its different
levels and in its various forms.
1.2.1. Moving from considering mission-
ary formation for only a handful, to con-
ceiving of it as an essential element of
the Salesian charism.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 101
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Make known the life and missionary approaches of the Salesian mis-
sionary saints, in collaboration with the Postulator General.
1.1.1.2. Foster the rediscovery and a deeper understanding of the missionary
spirit as an essential element of Don Bosco’s charism through visits to forma-
tion houses, days of recollection, retreats by members of the Missions Sector.
1.1.1.3. Visit the Provinces, giving priority on the part of the General Coun-
cillor to those most in need of missionary animation, those with a greater num-
ber of missionary candidates ad gentes, with new frontiers.
1.1.1.4. Foster the possibility of missionary experiences ad tempus (3 or 5
years) through temporary agreements between the Provinces (GC20, 477).
1.1.1.5. Promote the acceptance of the Rector Major’s missionary appeals and
foster missionary availability.
1.2.1.1. Encourage and accompany the Provincial Delegates for Missionary
Animation (PDMA) in the preparation of resources and materials for mis-
sionary animation for the members of the Educative Pastoral Community
(EPC), youth groups and at every level of Salesian formation.
1.2.1.2. Review the document The Missionary Formation of the Salesians of
Don Bosco (2014) and promote its better understanding and assimilation, in
collaboration with the Formation Sector.
1.2.1.3. Accompany the PDMAs in the development of missionary groups in
the Salesian houses of formation to foster missionary zeal among formands,
in close collaboration with the Provincial Delegate for Formation.
1.2.1.4. Consolidate the Orientation Course for New Missionaries (September)
and evaluate all phases of missionary discernment, the insertion of mission-
aries and their accompaniment, within the first five years of arrival.

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102 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.3. Qualify the formation in
spirituality and mission, of lay
missionaries (RM 71) and lay
partners engaged in mis-
sionary animation (cf. guide-
line 6, 39ss.; point 46 in AGC
433, 112).
1.3.1. Moving from functional collabora-
tion to a shared mission and joint mis-
sionary formation (cf. point 38 in AGC
433, 105; AGC 433, 43).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 103
1.2.1.5. Enhance the Course on Missionary Pastoral Ministry (alternatively
in Italian and English) in collaboration with UPS (September-December), ex-
ploring the possibility of opening it to lay missionaries.
1.2.1.6. Organise a one-month ‘Sorgente’ (back to the sources) Course for
“veteran missionaries” (alternately in English and Italian) at Colle Don Bosco
(May).
1.2.1.7. Promote the qualification of confreres in missiology, anthropology
and inter-religious dialogue, in dialogue with the Provincials.
1.2.1.8. Accompany and promote missionary formation courses at regional
and inter-provincial level to keep aflame the missionary ardour of Salesian
and lay participants (example: courses in Quito and Shillong).
1.3.1.1. Encourage the involvement of lay missionaries in the missionary
courses and activities of the EPC and of Salesians in formation (cf. point 42
in AGC 433, 108; AGC 433, 43).
1.3.1.2. Promote the realisation of a systematic, progressive, gradual and
permanent accompaniment of lay missionaries to help them carry out their
own missionary project of life.
1.3.1.3. Foster synergy among the formator guides of the Salesian missionary
volunteers, in close collaboration with the Youth Ministry Sector.
1.3.1.4. Formulate guidelines that foster the formation of catechists in the
missions by highlighting the importance of Initial Proclamation.
1.3.1.5. Contribute to the theme of participation of the laity in the Salesian
mission with our reflection on collaborators belonging to other religions or
beliefs (AGC 433, 44).

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104 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Mission animation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Foster and deepen the mis-
sionary culture throughout the
Congregation (AGC 433, 47).
2.1.1. Moving from a pastoral ministry
of conservation to an integrated mis-
sionary ministry as an option touching
all areas of life.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 105
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Continue the deepening of reflection on Initial Proclamation and
its application in missionary contexts (AGC 433, 23).
2.1.1.2. Promote the circulation and dissemination of Salesian missionary
news at all levels, in collaboration with the Social Communication Sector.
2.1.1.3. Ensure a significant and continuous presence in the digital continent
through the social media of the Missions Sector (Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube) and the section of our website www.sdb.org dedicated to the
Missions.
2.1.1.4. Supervise the publications of the Missions Sector and ensure the
monthly dissemination of the missionary animation bulletin Cagliero 11.
2.1.1.5. Strengthen spiritual cooperation through prayer by means of the mis-
sionary intention of the month, especially on the 11th of each month.
2.1.1.6. Organise and launch the annual Salesian Mission Day (SMD).
2.1.1.7. Provide materials to the Social Communications sector for the
production of videos, commercials, clips and advertising clips on our projects.
2.1.1.8. Assist the PDMAs in the promotion of missionary groups as bearers
of the missionary spirit within the EPC and the Salesian Youth Movement,
through programmes and formative pathways, in close collaboration with the
Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry.
2.1.1.9. Promote and accompany the development of Salesian Missionary
Volunteering as an integral experience that is evangelically and charismat-
ically inspired, fostering better coordination in every Province, in close col-
laboration with the Youth Ministry Sector.
2.1.1.10. Collaborate with the Regional Concillors and Visitors (R. 104) to
evaluate the level of the quality of missionary culture in the Provinces, espe-
cially during the Extraordinary Visitation.
2.1.1.11. Collaborate with the local Provinces for the celebration of the
Centenary of the Salesian Presence in North East India (2022) and the 150th
Anniversary of the First Salesian Missionary Expedition (2025).

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106 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
2.2. Promote and enhance
missionary animation in each
province.
2.2.1. Moving from sporadic animation
to a systematic process of sensibilisation
and animation in view of a deeper mis-
sionary awareness.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 107
2.1.1.12. Promote a critical study of Don Bosco’s missionary dreams and
the figure of Cagliero as a missionary (1875-1904), in collaboration with the
Salesian Historical Institute.
2.1.1.13. Organise meetings of Salesian missiologists (2022, 2025) to reflect
on Salesian missionary spirituality and missionary synodality.
2.1.1.14. Accompany the Missionary Museums in elaborating their own
Salesian identity as an instrument of initial proclamation, evangelisation and
missionary animation, as well as foster synergy among them by creating an
international network, organising at least one meeting during the six-year
period with their directors.
2.1.1.15. Reflect with the groups of the Salesian Family on ways of deepening
the missionary spirit in the Charter of Communion of the Salesian Family
(2012).
2.2.1.1. Develop better ways of missionary animation through regular and
systematic formation of Regional Delegates for Missionary Animation
(RDMA) and PDMAs, meeting them by region each year.
2.2.1.2. Accompany the RDMAs in each region to ensure that the PDMAs
and the Provincial Commissions for Missionary Animation work together to
draw up a six-year plan in line with that of the Sector, to be evaluated in the
middle and at the end of the six-year period.
2.2.1.3. Coordinate and convene the Missions Sector Consultative Assembly
every two years, inviting the other Sectors when the topic is relevant to their
areas.
2.2.1.4. Encourage in each province a better understanding and assimilation
of the guidelines contained in the document Volunteering in the Salesian
Mission (2019) and foster the networking of the provincial coordinators on
volunteering, in close collaboration with the Youth Ministry Sector.
2.2.1.5. Deepen the reflection on the different missionary contexts (e.g.
Amazon region, Orthodox context, Afro-American context, etc.), in collaboration
with the groups of the Salesian Family, particularly with the Missions Sector
of the FMA.

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108 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
2.3. Collaborate with the other
Sectors in the spirit of mission-
ary synodality for the anima-
tion of the whole Congregation
(AGC 433, 37).
2.3.1. Moving from sectoral work to joint
and synodal work.
2.4. Provide sound support to
the Councillor in his task of
promoting the missionary
spirit and commitment in the
Congregation (C. 138).
2.4.1. Moving from a departmental men-
tality to an overall view of service for the
Congregation.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 109
2.3.1.1. Foster sharing with the teams of the Sectors of Youth Ministry,
Communication, Formation and Economy by promoting meetings on a regular
basis.
2.3.1.2. Strengthen synergy by organising a joint meeting of the Provincial
Delegates of the other sectors, at least once during the six-year period, to
share best practices and further explore different pastoral choices and activ-
ities.
2.4.1.1. Ensure the continuing formation of the Sector’s team members in
matters related to the service that is rendered.
2.4.1.2. Foster sharing within the team through regular meetings.
2.4.1.3. Organise adequate time for fellowship each year among the sector’s
team members in order to enhance communion.
2.4.1.4. Ensure that members of the sector’s team has the opportunity to
nourish their own spiritual life and psycho-physical health.

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110 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Mission solidarity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Contribute to the coordi- 3.1.1. Moving from sporadic solidarity to
nation of solidarity towards the coordinated solidarity with trans-
most needy areas (AGC 433, 48). parency and accountability.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 111
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Coordinate the ongoing process of deepening the Salesian identity
of Mission Offices and their role within the Provinces and the Congregation.
3.1.1.2. Strengthen the coordination, capacity building and professionalisation
of local Mission Offices in view of the self-sustainability of the Provinces,
convening their directors at regional level at least every two years.
3.1.1.3. Promote regular contacts and exchanges between the Mission Offices
at different levels, making full use of the capabilities offered by new techno-
logical development.
3.1.1.4. Organise a world meeting of all Mission Offices twice during the
six-year period.
3.1.1.5. Convene the directors of “Mission Offices to serve the whole Congre-
gation” (R. 24.1) each year to coordinate their operation, strengthen their
relationship with the Rector Major and his Council and promote synergy
among them.
3.1.1.6. Help the Provinces improve their capacity for self-sustainability and
mobilisation of local resources on behalf of poor youth.
3.1.1.7. Encourage the Mission Offices and the Salesian NGOs to support the
Provinces in finding economic resources for the use of renewable energy (AGC
433, 51).
3.1.1.8. Review the System of Emergency Response in the light of the experi-
ence of “Don Bosco Worldwide Solidarity vs COVID-19”, in dialogue with the
Economy sector.
3.1.1.9. Process the proposals for the distribution of funds for the Missions
together with the Commission appointed by the Rector Major.
3.1.1.10. Represent the General Council, through the Councillor for the
Missions, at the Don Bosco Network and coordinate relations with it, other
NGOs and Mission Offices.
3.1.1.11. Collaborate closely with the Youth Ministry sector on advocacy
through Don Bosco International, Don Bosco at the United Nations (DBUN)
and the Mission Offices.

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112 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 113
3.1.1.12. Accompany the Apostolic Prefectures, Apostolic Vicariates, Prela-
tures entrusted to the Congregation and the Provincial Delegations (C. 159)
in their capacity building in view of attaining self-sustainability and the
mobilisation of local resources.

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114 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 4 - New frontiers
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Nurture the missionary
dream of the Congregation in
order to keep alive its gaze to-
wards new frontiers.
4.1.1. Moving from inertia to missionary
audacity that guarantees a real presence
among those we minister to (AGC 433, 28)
4.2. Accompany the Provinces
in opening a missionary pro-
ject within their own territory
(AGC 433, 48).
4.2.1. Moving from a pastoral ministry of
preservation to a provincial missionary
project (AGC 433, 48)

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 115
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Collaborate with the Rector Major and his Council as sentinel for the
new missionary frontiers of the Congregation (social situations, existential
peripheries, geographical frontiers, etc.).
4.1.1.2. Ensure an effective presence of Salesian missionaries in the new
missionary frontiers.
4.1.1.3. Spread greater awareness in the Congregation about the situation
of refugees and displaced persons in refugee camps and of the Rom/Gypsies,
with the support of the Social Communication Sector, in order to foster better
coordination in view of our more incisive and effective commitment (AGC
433, 38; 48).
4.1.1.4. Foster the study and promotion of Initial Proclamation in the digital
continent as a new missionary frontier, in close collaboration with the Social
Communication Sector (AGC 433, 23).
4.1.1.5. Collaborate with the two Regional Councillors of Europe to promote
the “endogenous revitalisation of the Salesian charism”, especially in the
choice of missionaries and of specific of projects to be implemented within
Project Europe.
4.1.1.6. Collaborate with the Regional Councillors in discerning the new
missionary frontiers, to be presented to the General Council.
4.1.1.7. Reflect on the new aspects and missionary dynamics that the Church
is called to take on in today’s world.
4.2.1.1. Encourage reflection and greater awareness within the Provinces
towards a missionary reality in view of formulating or developing a shared
Province project, involving young confreres and lay people in this process.
4.2.1.2. Support the Provinces that have received responsibility for a new
missionary frontier from the Rector Major.

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116 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
ECONOMER GENERAL
AREA 1 - Salesian identity (AGC 433, 19-20)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Rethinking the theme of 1.1.1. Initiating a process of evaluation
evangelical poverty as part of of our works according to Salesian charis-
Salesian identity.
matic identity.
1.1.2. By embarking on a management
path based on the principles of effective-
ness and efficiency.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 117
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Draw up an evaluation form for the works to monitor their effec-
tiveness and efficiency and their adherence to Salesian charismatic identity.
1.1.1.2. Create a property [real estate] registry in every province, preparatory
to an effective and efficient management of property, including with the help
of dedicated software.
1.1.1.3. Ask the provinces for each individual building to proceed with an
evaluation of its functionality in relation to the social pastoral needs of the
works.
1.1.1.4. Strengthen the monitoring system, on the part of Headquarters for
financial statements, and carry out targeted audits in cases where it is
necessary to pursue an in-depth examination of the state of accounts and the
organisation of the Province.
1.1.2.1. Re-read the prescriptions in Chapter documents (GC23-GC28) regard-
ing principles of effectiveness and efficiency and consider that the Youth
Ministry Frame of Reference of our Congregation is an integral part of the
formation of local and provincial bursars/economers.
1.1.2.2. Monitoring by the Economer General of the Provinces’ management
processes, including through a revision of the system of provincial visitations,
a pre-study of the “Provincial Directory” and the drafting of a standard
preparatory letter for the provincial visitation announcing the monitoring and
verification activities that will be carried out.
1.1.2.3. During visits to provinces, and after having surveyed the property
assets, the Economer General’s Office will ask for minutes of the meetings of
the Provincial Council in which matters concerning the individual works were
discussed (C. 190; R. 192; 196).

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118 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.2. Improve the social condi-
tion of the young (AGC 433, 79).
1.2.1. Creating a “culture of care” within
the administration and calling the confr-
eres to personal and managerial modera-
tion.
1.2.2. Integrating young people into soci-
ety and the world of work.
1.3. Create an atmosphere of 1.3.1. Creating a climate of collaboration
collaboration and sharing (AGC and decision sharing.
433, 105).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 119
1.2.1.1. Begin to strengthen the dialogue with representatives of young
people and lay staff at all levels to verify the correct use of resources (money,
personnel, material, facilities, ...) in communities and works.
1.2.1.2. Promote within provinces a process of periodic verification of man-
agement, both of the works and of the community, with the aim of reducing
and gradually eliminating waste and excesses; make the culture of moderation
and management efficiency a “model of good management of the works” such
that it is an example for young people and their families and a vehicle for the
message that the money received or generated by Salesian works is actually
spent for the good of the youngsters.
1.2.2.1. Review the organisational and management structure of the works
at provincial level to ensure the “voice” of young people in decision-making
processes (AGC 433, 145).
1.2.2.2. Consider the need for ongoing updating of the staff in the economer’s
office (Salesianity, social development, Church doctrine...).
1.2.2.3. Once a year, the Province to produce and publish a social report
indicating the beneficiaries of our mission, the resources used, the results
achieved and those to be achieved.
1.2.2.4. Create the right conditions (tools) for monitoring the integration of
young people within society, the world of work, the Church.
1.3.1.1. Proceed, during the visits of the Economer General’s Office to the
provinces, with the verification of the effective sharing of strategic choices
in the financial area, both with the Salesians involved because of their role
in management processes, and with the laity who play important roles in
the province’s organisation chart (some indications will be given in the letter
announcing a visit from the Economer General’s Office).
1.3.1.2. Recommend the parts of the SDB Constitutions which indicate the
collegial bodies with the competence for making management decisions
(e.g. Board of Directors, House Council, Council of the Work, etc.), in order to
prevent those involved in the decision-making process from making personal
decisions.
1.3.1.3. Check the presence of formation plans for lay and Salesian personnel.

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120 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.4. Pay attention to the choice 1.4.1. Giving priority to Salesian identity.
of provincial economers and ad-
ministrative staff.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 121
1.4.1.1. Prepare a professional profile for each individual sought, whether
they be Salesian or lay personnel.
1.4.1.2. Provide a differentiated process of ongoing formation in the provinces
for the economers (bursars, treasurers...) both for the houses and the prov-
ince. Headquarters should assist this process with ongoing accompaniment.

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122 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Forming and being formed
to become salesian “pastors” (AGC 433, 113)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Promote the development
of a ministry-centred mentality
within the economic sector, so
that people are oriented towards
Christ and the Good Shepherd
(AGC 433, 88-90).
2.1.1. Providing an ongoing formation
curriculum for Salesians.
2.1.2. Improving the transparency of or-
dinary management within the Salesian
community, the EPC and towards bene-
factors.
2.2. Overcome the divide be- 2.2.1. Encouraging the overcoming of the
tween formation and mission same gap within the economers’ offices
(AGC 433, 84).
(House/Works) and within communities.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 123
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Include Financial Education courses, starting with the Houses of
formation, aimed at promoting a development programme that guarantees
the younger generation of Salesians has the skills to make informed choices
in the future in administrative, economic and financial areas.
2.1.1.2. Revise the manual of the Provincial Economer’s Office, including
new insights into Salesianity, Church doctrine, social development, etc.
2.1.2.1. Make the Salesians and their collaborators understand the impor-
tance of adopting a strategic plan (OPP; Provincial SEPP, budget and finan-
cial report) so that they learn to use these tools for the management of the
works.
2.1.2.2. Periodically inform those in charge of the works, who in turn are
informed about the economic situation in the various sectors of the mission
(e.g. financial report, budget preparation).
2.2.1.1. Identify, necessarily in the economic-financial field, structured for-
mation courses for Salesian personnel, starting with formation houses and
arriving at the courses that Headquarters provides for the new provincial
economers. Formation in this sector can only be entrusted to lay specialists.
There should be periodic monitoring by the Economer General of the adoption
of these formation courses.
2.2.1.2. The Economer General’s Office undertakes to update its contribu-
tion to the formation of provincials.
2.2.1.3. Adopt an ongoing formation process within provinces aimed at
bursars/economers in the houses/communities and the lay staff involved in
administration.
2.2.1.4. Allocate a share of the province’s budget to the ongoing formation of
Salesians and employees, and in this way also encourage responsibility on the
part of individuals.

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124 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
2.3. Respect a code of ethics for
Salesian Economy at the service
of the charism and mission (AGC
433, 38).
2.3.1. Guaranteeing an ethical approach
in management in the field of economics,
adopting actions and behaviour that dis-
tinguished for its moderation, effective-
ness, efficiency and solidarity.
2.3.2. Following the Holy Father’s Magis-
terium on the management of ecclesiasti-
cal goods.
2.4. Strengthening networking 2.4.1. Sharing best practice and using IT
capacity in the economic field. tools and operational procedures in the
administrative and economic field.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 125
2.3.1.1. Re-read and analyse the Scrutinium paupertatis document (cf. AGC
345 [1993]), which must be adopted in each local community.
2.3.1.2. Verify, through the Economer General’s Office, the management
efficiency of the province by means of an in-depth and timely analysis of
financial statements and their comparison over time.
2.3.1.3. Adopt a code of ethics within every province that gives indications on
the fundamental rights and duties that must characterise the actions of people
within Salesian works (respect, fairness, confidentiality and protection of the
individual and the environment, honesty, impartiality and transparency) and
ensure that this code embraces Christian and Salesian values (ChV 98).
2.3.1.4. Each province shall identify the individual(s) responsible for person-
nel management and entrust them with the task of informing and forming all
personnel in the adoption of the code of ethics.
2.3.1.5. Each provincial economer shall ensure compliance with the law and
civil society standards in matters of employment contracts and workplace
safety, as well as in places dedicated to young people (e.g. by upgrading build-
ings where the activities are carried out).
2.3.2.1. Use and management of movable assets, property and investments,
always respecting ethical criteria in harmony with the Social Doctrine of the
Church and the mission to young people.
2.3.2.2. The provincial economer shall provide his provincial/superior and
the Economer General at least once a year with a report on investments and
use of real estate, taking into account the “financial risk assessment criteria”
indicated by Headquarters (R 202).
2.4.1.1. Sharing experiences and management tools between provinces
belonging to homogeneous geo-political areas.
2.4.1.2. Support and promote connections and sharing among economers/bur-
sars, by having meetings at regional level or on a more restricted local basis
and preparing international seminars (SDB Change Congress in September
2022 and September 2025).
2.4.1.3. Digitise province documents at the Economer General’s Office level,
starting in 2021.

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126 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 127
2.4.1.4. Encourage the development of collaboration/synergy within each
province between the provincial economer’s office, administrative/manage-
ment control office; personnel office, PDO; legal office.

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128 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Sharing the salesian mission with lay people
(AGC 433, 39, 99-102)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Qualify the economic sector
with specialised lay people (cf. 40.
Works entrusted to Salesians and
lay people in AGC 433, 107).
3.1.1. Promoting the inclusion of lay people
within the economic sectors of the province
(e.g. bursars) and the process of delegating
management responsibilities to lay people.
3.1.2. Encouraging trust in and trustwor-
thiness of lay personnel.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 129
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Include specialised lay personnel (both as employees and external
consultants) in the economic, administrative, management and legal sectors.
3.1.1.2. Share and gradually assign responsibilities for the management of a
mission area or an entire work to lay personnel, where possible.
3.1.2.1. Provide processes for selection, formation and professional growth
of lay personnel within each province in order to encourage their involvement
and responsibility in the management of the works. During the visits, the
Economer General’s Office will verify the existence and application of these
processes.

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130 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 4 - Greater generosity in the Congregation
(AGC 433, 45)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Increase awareness of the
real situations and challenges
within the Congregation in order
to encourage greater generosity.
4.1.1. Strengthening the dialogue between
the provinces and the Economer General’s
Office to support those in financial dif-
ficulties; recourse to external financial
backers should only be made in extremely
necessary cases.

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 131
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Create regional networks on the subject of solidarity and sharing,
together with PDOs and provincial economers, with the aim of supporting
social projects, formation of Salesians, care of the sick and elderly with the
provinces’ own resources. The Economer General’s Office will act as promoter,
supervisor and auditor of these initiatives.
4.1.1.2. Make the principle of subsidiarity the framework for action in case of
emergency or economic need, as provided for in the Church’s social doctrine.
4.1.1.3. Each province, involving its local communities, will contribute to
the Rector Major’s Global Solidarity Fund and, where possible, support the
Distribution of Funds on behalf of provinces in need (R. 197).

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132 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 5 - Accompanying the young
towards a sustainable future (AGC 433, 49)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
5.1. Translate the encyclical
Laudato Sì (LS) into the daily ac-
tivity of every Salesian and every
Salesian work.
5.1.1. By each Province preparing a plan
to implement a policy that eradicates
poverty while respecting the environment
and timing activities up till 2032 (AGC
433, 51).

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SECOND PART - FOR THE COUNCILLORS FOR THE SECTORS 133
ACTION GUIDELINES
5.1.1.1. Reflect on the possibility of achieving the objective of LS in the
formation and education of economers.
5.1.1.2. Each Planning and Development Office (PDO) and economer’s office
will commit to presenting their concrete strategy for achieving high level
eco-sustainability at the SDB Change Congress in 2022.
5.1.1.3. The Economer General’s Office and each provincial economer’s office
should try to find as many resources as possible to update each formative
curriculum on environmental issues.

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134 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
SECRETARIAT
FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY
AREA 1 - Formation in mission
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Deepen the charismatic,
spiritual, apostolic and family ex-
perience of Don Bosco, founder
of the Salesian Family and of a
vast movement for the salvation
of youth (cf. AGC 433, 19).
1.1.1. Making known and encouraging
participation in the formative proposals
on Salesianity of the various Centres of
spirituality and other formative instances,
both in presence and online.
1.1.2. Creating space and time for reflec-
tion on Don Bosco, founder of the Salesian
Family.
1.2. Make each Group and all
the Groups grow in awareness of
being a charismatic Family in
the Church (cf. AGC 433, 150).
1.2.1. Continuing the deeper understand-
ing of the Charter of Charismatic Identity.
1.2.2. Promoting awareness of the differ-
ent groups of the Salesian Family.
1.2.3. Sharing common aspects of Sale-
sian spirituality and those specific to indi-
vidual groups.

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SECOND PART - SECRETARIAT FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY 135
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Compile a list of centres and proposals by region, communicate these
proposals to the groups in the regions, contact the teachers/animators for any
new initiatives.
1.1.1.2. Organise meetings of the Secretariat as far as possible in Salesian
places.
1.1.2.1. Prepare an essential bibliography on Don Bosco as founder, and Sale-
sian spirituality.
1.1.2.2. Promote study seminars on concrete aspects concerning the Salesian
Family, involving scholars, consecrated and lay experts.
1.2.1.1. Produce aids for information, formation and common spirituality that
help achieve a deeper appreciation of being a charismatic family in the
Church.
1.2.2.1. Disseminate the new edition of the book The Salesian Family of Don
Bosco (2019, printed and online) and give groups the opportunity to present
themselves at regional or world meetings.
1.2.2.2. Provide the presentation of events, activities, testimonies and short
interviews of people belonging to the different groups of the Salesian Family
on the website.
1.2.3.1. Take the Rector Major’s Strenna as an instrument of charismatic
communion, inspiration and common action.

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136 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL

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SECOND PART - SECRETARIAT FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY 137
1.2.3.2. Hold the World Council and Spirituality Days each year, seeing to
their influence on the provinces and groups, and see the value of similar ex-
periences in regions and provinces.
1.2.3.3. Promote prayer together at local, provincial or world level (reflection
days, retreats, novena of Mary Help of Christians...).

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138 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Shared Mission and Formation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Animate, form and increase
the sense of belonging to the
Salesian Family in confreres
(AGC 433, 34).
2.1.1. Seeing to an understanding and
positive experience of our being members
of the Salesian Family in initial and ongo-
ing formation.
2.2. Interact with those respon-
sible for sectors in reflection and
joint action at global, regional
and provincial level (AGC 433,
108-109).
2.2.1. Looking after communication and
interaction between those responsible for
the sectors (particularly Youth Ministry,
Missions and Formation) and the mem-
bers of the Secretariat.
2.2.2. Encouraging thinking together,
planning together, working together, in
response to the challenges of the local area
and valuing the resources of the Salesian
Family.
2.2.3. Collaborating with shared forma-
tion initiatives worldwide, regionally and
at province level.

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SECOND PART - SECRETARIAT FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY 139
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. To guarantee young confreres, in collaboration with the Formation
Sector, a theoretical and experiential formation in the Salesian Family within
their study of Salesianity, making the most of the programmes and experi-
ences already in place.
2.1.1.2. Promote participation in shared experiences of spirituality and for-
mation among the Salesians and among the groups of the Salesian Family
present in the area.
2.1.1.3. Involve Salesian confreres in the accompaniment of the local groups
of the Salesian Family.
2.2.1.1. Participate at all levels in the proposed reflections and offer reflec-
tions that more specifically concern the Salesian Family.
2.2.1.2. Establish an opportunity with Youth Ministry and Formation (SDB,
FMA and other interested Groups) for reflecting together on aspects common
to youth ministry, formation and the Salesian Family (among which voca-
tional proposal and accompaniment), involving other members of the Sale-
sian Family.
2.2.1.3. Promote the participation of members of the Groups of the Salesian
Family in the study seminars organised by the sectors.
2.2.2.1. Make known the positive experiences (best practice) where groups
of the Salesian Family work together.
2.2.2.2. Identify common areas and engage in initiatives for a significant
educational and apostolic intervention (attention to families, animation of the
SYM in vocational terms, promotion of civil and missionary volunteering,
causes for the most needy, spiritual accompaniment, care of creation, apostolic
commitments beyond Salesian areas in a sense of belonging to the Church...).
2.2.3.1. Collaborate in initiatives of the various Sectors of the Congregation,
and of the other Groups if required, in the areas of formation, spirituality,
youth ministry, mission ad gentes, communication.
2.2.3.2. Actively participate in the development of shared formation programs
for Salesian identity.

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140 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Life of communion
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Engage in the accompani-
ment of the Salesian Family as a
whole, promoting growth in the
life of communion between the
Groups, respecting their specifi-
city and autonomy (cf. Charter of
the Charismatic Identity of the
Salesian Family of Don Bosco,
2012, 10).
3.1.1. Renewing how the Secretariat for
the Salesian Family functions.
3.1.2. Organising a service of effective
communication.
3.1.3. Celebrating significant dates for
the Groups of the Salesian Family.
3.2. Qualify the animation of
the Salesian Family at regional
and provincial level as also the
accompaniment of the groups
for whom we Salesians have a
particular responsibility.
3.2.1. Ensuring the formation and ac-
companiment of provincial delegates for
the Salesian Family, as well as the quality
of their service.
3.2.2. Seeing to the implementation of
Salesian Family advisory bodies at all le-
vels.

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SECOND PART - SECRETARIAT FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY 141
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Carry out with dedication the tasks that the Rector Major indicates
to the Secretariat.
3.1.1.2. SDBs, FMAs, SSCC, ADMA will reflect together on the accompani-
ment of delegates/animators of the SSCC, ADMA groups.
3.1.2.1. Check the communication system currently in place and with the
help of the Social Communication Sector, implement its effective renewal.
3.1.2.2. Create channels of awareness, information and common formation
for all the groups of the Salesian Family where they can share reflections, ex-
periences, initiatives, materials, best practice...
3.1.3.1. The events to be celebrated will be: the Centenary of the death of
Fr Paul Albera (2021); the Centenary of the CSMA Congregation (2021); the
4th Centenary of the death of Saint Francis de Sales; the 150th anniversary
of the Foundation of the FMA (2022); the 150th anniversary of John Bosco’s
dream at nine years of age (2024); the 9th International Congress of Mary
Help of Christians (2024).
3.2.1.1. Complete the drafting of the document dedicated to the identity and
mission of the SDB Provincial Delegate for the Salesian Family.
3.2.1.2. Organise the course for new provincial delegates at the time of the
Spirituality Days.
3.2.1.3. Organise a regional meeting of provincial delegates during these six
years that is open to those in charge of Groups in the area.
3.2.2.1. Direct provinces to establishing and consolidating their Advisory
Bodies in the light of the Charter of identity and their experience, and offer
the required assistance.

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142 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 4 - Salesian Family holiness
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Revive the grand theme of 4.1.1. Valuing the variety and multiplicity
the universal call to holiness (cf. of vocations present in the Groups of the
LG 39).
Salesian Family.
4.2. Value, in the Salesian Fam-
ily, the legacy of holiness that
has come from the charism of
Don Bosco.
4.2.1. Spreading knowledge, imitation
and devotion to saints and candidates for
sainthood of the Salesian Family.
4.2.2. Involving groups of the Salesian
Family in accompanying and promoting
the causes of beatification and canonisa-
tion.

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SECOND PART - SECRETARIAT FOR THE SALESIAN FAMILY 143
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Promote knowledge of the specific nature of the different vocations
of the Groups presented in their corresponding Statutes and Constitutions.
4.1.1.2. Celebrate the 4th Centenary of the death of St Francis de Sales
(2022).
4.1.1.3. A deeper study of the Exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate and the
Strenna Holiness for you too! from 2019.
4.2.1.1. Present testimonies of holiness at world and regional meetings, as
well as the specific nature of the various expressions of holiness lived in the
Salesian Family.
4.2.1.2. Disseminate the biographies of the Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and
Servants of God and in particular make known figures of youthful holiness
and others from the local area.
4.2.1.3. Promote joint prayer initiatives to invoke the help and intercession
of our Family’s candidates for sainthood.
4.2.2.1. Participate in world seminars for the promotion of causes and en-
courage the Studium promoted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
4.2.2.2. Share events related to the causes of beatification and canonisation:
anniversaries, advancement of causes, beatifications...
4.2.2.3. Disseminate the Dossier and annual Postulation Poster.

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Third Part
STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT
FOR THE REGIONAL
COUNCILLORS
1.  Africa and Madagascar
2.  America South Cone
3.  East Asia and Oceania
4.  South Asia
5.  Central and North Europe
6.  Interamerica
7.  Mediterranean

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146 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
REGIONAL COUNCILLORS
COUNCILLOR FOR THE
AFRICA AND MADAGASCAR REGION
AREA 1 - Formation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Prepare formators and for-
mation teams (cf. AGC 433, 17).
1.1.1. Ensuring the qualification and spe-
cialisation of confreres and lay people suit-
able for formation, Salesian spirituality
and accompaniment (cf. AGC 433, 50).
1.2. Adopt a personalised style 1.2.1. Strengthening consecrated Salesian
of accompaniment (cf. AGC 433, identity.
18).
1.2.2. Studying a “satellite” approach to
formation houses in the Region.
1.3. Rediscover the beauty of
Salesian consecrated life (cf. VC
24).
1.3.1. Reflecting in the Provinces and in
the Region on the different phases of vo-
cational discernment and on the quality
of our formative offer (cf. ChV 291-298;
AGC 433, 40).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 147
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Review, in all provinces, the provincial plan for the qualification of
confreres and lay people, especially of the Salesian Family.
1.1.1.2. Provide, in the formative sessions offered by the Salesian Formation
Centre for Africa and Madagascar (SAFCAM), for the formation of formators,
rectors and all those who collaborate in formation, discernment, accompani-
ment and promotion of religious discipline.
1.1.1.3. Make pedagogical aids and qualified confreres in the field of forma-
tion and Salesianity, psychology and counselling available to the curatorium.
1.2.1.1. Helping growth in the practice of the evangelical counsels and in
the assimilation of the Salesian spirit (especially in young people in forma-
tion).
1.2.2.1. Encourage the provinces to arrange various formation communities
around the study centres so as not to waste energy and resources.
1.2.2.2. Prepare the formation teams in the inter-provincial houses to ac-
company and form the confreres in groups (initiation into the skills required
in Salesian life).
1.3.1.1. Propose in regional meetings and in the material prepared by SAF-
CAM the dissemination of the first part of the book, Animating and Govern-
ing the Community: The Service of the Salesian Rector (2019) which deals
with the consecrated identity of the Salesians, and with letters on the Salesian
brother (AGC 424) and the Salesian priest (AGC 431).

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148 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.3.2. Highlighting the complementarity
between the SDB brother and priest (cf.
AGC 433, 33).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 149
1.3.1.2. Consider ongoing formation more and more according to the different
age groups of the confreres and focus on the contextual dimension (incultura-
tion).
1.3.1.3. Strengthen and diversify the permanent team at the service of
SAFCAM, and network it with other confreres and resources of the Region
and the Congregation.
1.3.2.1. Involve the provinces more in how the centre at Yaoundé functions.
1.3.2.2. Encourage the participation of brothers in the various formation op-
portunities (Regional Formation Commission, other commissions, formation
houses and/or centres, vocational animation, etc.).
1.3.2.3. Organise a second congress of Brothers from Africa and/or a network.

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150 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Youth Ministry
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Put Youth Ministry once
again at the centre of our charis-
matic identity and of our mission
for the poorest young people.
2.1.1. Strengthening the profile and skills
of the Provincial Delegates for Youth Min-
istry (YMFR, 259).
2.2. Take a prophetic position 2.2.1. Studying the potential and chal-
on the key themes of today’s lenges of young Africans (cf. AGC 433, 20-
African youth (cf. AM 60-68). 24).
2.3. Promote a regional network 2.3.1. Working together to federate pro-
for a quality African school (cf. jects and offers of formation in the Region
AM 74-78).
and in the Congregation.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 151
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Make the GC28 known and encourage each province to re-read its
OPP and its SEPP in the light of the three Chapter themes and the Rector
Major’s letter (Action Programme).
2.1.1.2. Invite all provinces to: (a) free the Provincial Delegates from other
commitments incompatible with pastoral and vocational animation, (b) assign
them to the Provincial House or centre and (c) involve them as members of the
Provincial Councils (cf. YMFR, 273-274).
2.1.1.3. Involve the Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry in the discernment,
planning, financing, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of all educa-
tional projects, including those developed by the Planning and Development
Office (PDO) and Don Bosco Tech Africa (DBTA).
2.2.1.1. Explore, in collaboration with the confreres of the Salesian diaspora
and Salesian and other experts, the current issues relating to human rights,
migration, child labour, the protection of minors, development, peace, citizen
and political commitment, access and challenges of the digital world, etc.
2.2.1.2. Promote the inculturation of the charism in the Africa and Mada-
gascar Region with the help of the Social Communication sector (cf. the
sector’s plan for the six-year period) through works, round tables and publi-
cations on Salesian education at its meeting point with African anthropology
(cf. AM 36).
2.2.1.3. Propose activities that help unleash the genius and creativity of
young Africans in various fields (science and technology, culture and art,
sport, etc.).
2.3.1.1. Consolidate the Conference of Salesian University Institutions (IUS)
in the Region and emphasise the contribution of the charism to higher edu-
cation in Africa and Madagascar (cf. AGC 361, 43-47; AGC 407, 38).
2.3.1.2. Disseminate best practice of the provinces in school management,
the digitisation of the school system, the mobility of skills and teaching staff
(teachers, researchers), the creation of educational resources and interest in
research and innovation.

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152 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 153
2.3.1.3. Ensure collaboration and communication between Provinces, DBTA,
DBI and DBNet, to better qualify our technical and vocational training,
generalise the creation of the job service office in each centre, and the updat-
ing of structures, and offers of formation for the poorest young people.

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154 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Mission
(cf. Priority 7 of the Rector Major AGC 433, 45-48)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Ensuring discernment of
the missionary call ad gentes, ad
exteros, ad vitam and Salesian
missionary formation in its vari-
ous levels and approaches.
3.1.1. Broadening the sense of belonging
of the confreres to the wider horizons of
the Region, the Congregation and the
Church.
3.2. Strengthen mission solidar- 3.2.1. Launching missionary animation at
ity towards the most needy prov- all levels.
inces.
3.2.2. Moving from inertia to missionary
boldness that guarantees a real presence
to wherever God calls us.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 155
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Make known the missionary life and methods of Salesian holy mis-
sionaries, in collaboration with the Postulator General.
3.1.1.2. Promote the double movement of sending and welcoming confreres
and lay missionaries or volunteers in each Province.
3.1.1.3. Create and enrich, in collaboration with the delegates and the Social
Communication Sector, a platform for a better knowledge and understanding
of Africa.
3.2.1.1. Increase in individual confreres and communities the mentality of a
“Church going forth” to the peripheries of existence and the world, opening
up to universal fraternity.
3.2.1.2. Encourage and accompany the PDMAs in the preparation of resources
and materials for the missionary animation of the members of the EPC, of
youth groups and all levels of Salesian formation.
3.2.1.3. Appoint a PDMA coordinator for the Region, as well as a Provincial
to chair the Regional Commission.
3.2.2.1. Promote greater solidarity between the provinces for the sharing and
exchange of skills and human resources (rectors, formators, volunteers, etc.).
3.2.2.2. Establish, in dialogue with the Rector Major and his Council, the
criteria for the management and possible transfers of candidates/vocations.
3.2.2.3. Demonstrate generosity and solidarity to ensure a Salesian and gen-
erous response to the new frontiers, in particular the displaced and refugees,
the dioceses and nations of the Region who await our presence.
3.2.2.4. Accompany the restructuring processes of the provinces (cf. Provin-
cial Chapters 2016) and of the Region.

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156 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 4 - Economy and management
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. In the context of evangelical
poverty, strive for greater trans-
parency, self-financing, and pro-
fessionalism in resource man-
agement (C. 190; R. 30).
4.1.1. Accompanying the confreres in the
direction of a transparent and solidarity-
based management of resources (cf. AGC
433, 77).
4.1.2. Decreasing dependence on foreign
aid and promoting local resources.
4.2. Provide for better care and
management of our common
home (cf. AGC 433, 27 and LS
51).
4.2.1. Working more carefully to protect
creation for a sustainable future (cf. AM
79-80).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 157
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Promote a simple style of life, love for a job well done and scrutinium
paupertatis at community and provincial level.
4.1.1.2. Draw up and disseminate in all our provinces a Manual of procedures
or code of conduct.
4.1.1.3. Help provincial economers, in collaboration with the vice-rector and
rectors, to motivate each confrere and each local bursar/economer to present
the accounts of each management situation regularly.
4.1.1.4. Help the provinces, through external skilled individuals and/or audits,
and the Finance Commissions, the DBTA, to assimilate Salesian management
and investment criteria.
4.1.2.1. See the value of the patrimony of our works and of every province.
4.1.2.2. Encourage the Mission offices and PDOs to find and preserve local
benefactors.
4.1.2.3. Provide, through the discernment of the Provincial and his council,
income-generating initiatives managed in collaboration with the laity, with
transparency and competence, and for the mission.
4.1.2.4. Maintain inter-community and inter-provincial solidarity to meet
the extraordinary expenses of the formation houses coordinated by the
Curatorium.
4.2.1.1. Belong in a convinced and concrete way to the Don Bosco Green
Alliance.
4.2.1.2. Educate young people to ecological conversion and the safeguarding
of creation.
4.2.1.3. Respect and promote environmental policies in our facilities.

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158 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR FOR THE
AMERICA SOUTH CONE REGION
AREA 1 - Salesian identity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Deepen the understanding
of the profile of Salesians today
for young people (AGC 433, 37).
1.1.1. Growing in charismatic depth and
in Salesian identity, in all phases of life,
with a serious commitment in every prov-
ince and in every Salesian community
(AGC 433, 10).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 159
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Promote the growth of the Salesian consecrated identity (AGC 433,
10) lived in its two forms: brothers and clerics.
1.1.1.2. Insist on the value of affective and effective presence among young
people by accompanying the active role and leadership by young people them-
selves in every house and in the Salesian mission (AGC 433, 15).
1.1.1.3. Accompany the reshaping of presences so that they can give priority
to the option for the poorest young people (AGC 433, 20).
1.1.1.4. Encourage the missionary dimension of the Region, including by
volunteering (AGC 433, 25) especially in the Amazon, Patagonia and Chaco.

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160 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Formation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Reflect on the formation of 2.1.1. Promoting a renewed culture of
the Salesian (AGC 433, 44).
formation in mission in the Region (AGC
433, 16).
2.2.1. Banking on the formation of the
laity committed to the mission, supporting
their personal growth (AGC 433, 22).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 161
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Encourage reflection on formation in and for the mission (AGC 433,
18).
2.1.1.2. Be present at the curatorium of the inter-provincial formation houses
and guarantee the good formation of the teams of formators.
2.1.1.3. In particular, accompany the two inter-regional centres: the Salesian
Ongoing Formation Centre for America in Quito and the Formation Centre
for Salesian Brothers (CRESCO) in Guatemala.
2.1.1.4. See to the formation of formators in the Region (AGC 433, 18).
2.2.1.1. Promote the ongoing formation plan for Salesians and laity in the
provinces (AGC 433, 23), especially by encouraging consecrated persons to
participate and to be formed together with the laity.
2.2.1.2. Commit all the provinces to send Salesians and lay people to forma-
tion courses in Quito.
2.2.1.3. Encourage the correct functioning of the EPCs as privileged spaces
for ongoing formation between Salesians and laity (AGC 433, 23).

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162 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Shared mission between salesians
and lay people
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Take care of the dimension
of the shared mission between
Salesians and laity (AGC 433,
52).
3.1.1. Encouraging the presence of lay
people, young people and adults in the
various sectors of the Salesian mission,
evaluating their contribution and qualifi-
cation (AGC 433, 23).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 163
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Accompany the strengthening of the evangelising dimension of the
mission in provincial youth ministry, proposing Initial Proclamation with
more conviction (AGC 433, 12).
3.1.1.2. Promote systematic coordination of the various sectors of youth
ministry in the provinces.
3.1.1.3. Encourage reflection in the provinces on Querida Amazonia and
Laudato Si’, collaborating with the Don Bosco Green Alliance in the commit-
ment to care for creation (AGC 433, 27).
3.1.1.4. Accompanying reflection and actions relating to the inculturation of
the Salesian mission in the digital environment (AGC 433, 15).
3.1.1.5. Consolidate the work of the “Escuela Salesiana América” (ESA), the
formation of those in charge of Vocation Training Centres and synergy
between Salesian Institutes of Higher Education (IUS).
3.1.1.6. See to the strengthening of the SYM and of vocation animation in
each province (AGC 433, 42).
3.1.1.7. Ensure that all provinces are committed to the care and defence of
the rights of minors, including by developing their own code of ethics (ACG
433, 20).

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164 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR FOR THE
EAST ASIA AND OCEANIA REGION
AREA 1 - Being with Don Bosco (AGC 433, 9-11):
Communion and solidarity (AGC 433, 8; 23)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Strengthen the sense of be-
longing to the Congregation and
the Region among the confreres
(cf. guideline 2 in AGC 433, 24).
1.1.1. Assisting the process of opening up
to a broader vision of our mission in the
wider world community.
1.2. Create a culture of solidari-
ty among superiors and among
the confreres (cf. AGC 433, 25).
1.2.1. Encouraging and becoming used to
the steps for consolidating more personal
contacts between superiors and those
responsible for the various sectors at the
various levels in the Salesian family spirit.
1.2.2. Reflecting on ways to give young
people who are in a desperate situation a
broader view of the world.
1.2.3. Supporting the steps to consolidate
a mentality of what I/we offer to the Con-
gregation.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 165
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Accompany and encourage all the confreres and members of the
Salesian Family to often draw on the resources of ANS, Boscolink and Austra-
Lasia and help share “living testimonies” as a habitual act of communion.
1.1.1.2. Continue contributing the monthly message of Boscolink and Austra-
Lasia as a means of communicating information and building a sense (of
belonging) to the Congregation and the East Asia-Oceania Region.
1.2.1.1. Make frequent contact with the help of social media, with provincials
and superiors to support their concerns and encourage hopes.
1.2.2.1. Build a culture of social communication among sector coordinators in
the East Asia-Oceania Region.
1.2.2.2. Raise awareness of the needs of the missions in the Congregation and
in the Region.
1.2.3.1. Exploit the human and economic resources in the East Asia-Oceania
Region to respond to the needs of the Congregation and of the inter-provincial
formation houses.

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166 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Clear salesian identity as consecrated
educators and evangelisers (AGC 433, 49)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Ensure that candidates and
young confreres in initial for-
mation assimilate the Salesian
charismatic identity well (AGC
433, 10).
2.1.1. Reflecting on the process of updat-
ing the Ratio with the Magisterium and
its contextualisation in specific provinces.
2.1.2. Promoting models of Salesian wit-
nesses in study and life today as an effec-
tive means of integral formation.
2.2. Offer all confreres the op-
portunity to renew their fidelity
to the Salesian charism (AGC
433, 10).
2.2.1. Promoting the processes to achieve
common goals in regional formation with
a focus on evangelisation in the multi-
religious context of Asia and Oceania and
in secularised society.
2.3. Make sure that SDBs and
members of the Salesian Family
are active heralds of the Gospel in
the multi-religious or secularised
context of the East Asia-Oceania
Region (AGC 433, 12).
2.3.1. Assisting and facilitating the
processes of intentional, proactive and
habitual proclamation of the Gospel in
the local context.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 167
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Accompany the formation plan of the province to ensure the imple-
mentation and development of guidelines in the formation sector, in particu-
lar ‘Salesian accompaniment’.
2.1.1.2. Frequently visit formation houses and provincial centres in the
Region with specific points to share on Salesian charismatic identity.
2.1.2.1. Verify the lifestyle in formation houses and study centres, the for-
mation commission, the closeness of formators to those in formation in ac-
cordance with Don Bosco’s preventive system.
2.1.2.2. Promote and verify that the accompaniment of young confreres in
initial formation is effective, especially during the holidays (summer-winter).
2.1.2.3. Promote seminars-workshops for the exchange among educators of
‘best practice’ in pedagogy and spirituality.
2.2.1.1. Accompany provincial ongoing formation plans with regard to “sab-
batical courses” to deepen Salesian charismatic identity, using the resources
available in ‘Salesian Studies’.
2.2.1.2. Accompany and verify formation plans of formators in accordance
with guidelines from the sectors: Formation, YM, Missions and SF.
2.2.1.3. Animate and encourage the individual provinces to contribute for-
mators to the five inter-provincial formation houses in the East Asia-Oceania
Region in the short and long term.
2.3.1.1. Accompany and verify that the guidelines of the Missions sector are
contextualised in the provinces and works.
2.3.1.2. Encourage and facilitate the sharing of good and effective Initial
Proclamation and evangelisation practices in seminars and websites.

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168 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Total dedication to poorer young people
(cf. guideline 4 in AGC 433, 32; point 13 in AGC 433, 79-80)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. The personal and communi-
ty lifestyle must be more frugal
for a more effective evangelisa-
tion (cf. guideline 1 in AGC 433,
18; point 29d in AGC 433, 95).
3.1.1. Helping those responsible to peri-
odically reflect on the processes of the
“Return to Valdocco” as a fundamental
and preferential choice.
3.2. Offer all children and young
people a safe place in all Salesian
environments (cf. AGC 433, 14)
with the effective presence of the
Salesians.
3.2.1. Consolidating the constant reflec-
tion process on Protocols and putting them
in place at all levels for the protection of
minors.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 169
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Through communication and visits, animate the confreres and com-
munities for a lifestyle that provides space for coming to poor young people.
3.1.1.2. Accompany and encourage the province’s redimensioning plan to
ensure that works are aimed at serving the poorest young people.
3.1.1.3. Facilitate the sharing of provinces’ and confreres’ experiences on how
to approach young people and how to create space for young people, as well as
how to help them grow.
3.2.1.1. Accompany and verify the Protocols for the protection of minors in
the provinces of the Region.

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170 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 4 - More collaboration and participation
on the part of the laity
(cf. guideline 1 in AGC 433, 20; point 45 in AGC 433, 111)
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Welcome roles and service of 4.1.1. Assisting the process of change in
lay people in Salesian thinking mentality and practice to achieve the con-
and action (cf. AGC 433, 20; 23). viction of synodality.
4.1.2. Promoting the processes of elimi-
nating expressions of clericalism, starting
from a positive approach of communion in
equality.
4.2. Make the shared mission
between Salesians and laity be-
come a “new normal” in the
Salesian environment (cf. point
45e-f in AGC 433, 112).
4.2.1. Assisting the reflection processes
for an effective awareness of the synergy
between the Salesian sectors and between
confreres and laity.
4.3. Qualify the laity in Salesian
spirituality and pedagogy (cf.
guideline 6 in AGC 433, 39ff;
point 46d.e.f in AGC 433, 113).
4.3.1. Assisting in the processes of the
gradual introduction and qualification of
the laity in Salesian spirituality and peda-
gogy.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 171
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Promote the mentality of communion with the magisterial help of
the Church and the Salesian sectors.
4.1.1.2. Accompany and verify the establishment of the EPC and SEPP in all
Salesian works.
4.1.2.1. Promote and verify the contribution of the laity in the provincial
formation plan (initial formation) ensuring that the young confreres have an
experience of the apostolate in various Salesian works in the province.
4.1.2.2. Promote and verify the opportunities for young confreres to work
“under” the guidance of lay leaders who animate the works.
4.2.1.1. Accompany and verify the SEPP at the provincial and local levels, in
which the role and services of the laity are appreciated and defined.
4.3.1.1. Verify that all the guidelines of the sectors are studied and imple-
mented in synergy with one another.
4.3.1.2. Accompany and promote initiatives to exploit the human and mate-
rial resources of Don Bosco School of Theology (DBST, Parañaque) and Clifton
Hill (Melbourne) as ongoing formation centres of the Region, promoting their
consolidation with well-trained staff as shared resources within of the Region.
For example, the Mobile Team.
4.3.1.3. Make known the needs and responses of Salesians and lay people to
promote Seminars on Salesianity at the regional level, in particular the cur-
rent one offered by DBST.
4.3.1.4. Support and animate the provinces to send Salesians and lay people
to participate in seminars organised by the formation sector and the forma-
tion team of the Congregation and the Region. In this way, the same seminars
can be organised with a mobile team as in the past two six-year periods (2008-
2020).

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172 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR FOR THE
SOUTH ASIA REGION
AREA 1 - Salesian of Don Bosco forever
with absolute priority for the young,
the poorest, most abandoned and defenceless
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1. Animate the South Asia Re-
gion to focus on the Salesian
identity of our mission, in
particular on poor, aban-
doned young people who are
defenceless (AGC 433, 18-20;
21; 42. ChV 104. C. 26).
1.1. Encouraging a profound evalua-
tion of our significance and presence
among the poorest young people in
our works in our provinces, according to
the criteria offered by the Constitutions,
Chapters and the Magisterium of the
Rectors Major and by the implementation
of policies and animation plans at the
level of the Salesian Provincial Confer-
ence of South Asia (SPCSA) together with
all the provinces, and subsequently the
implementation and achievement of the
objectives set with the help of the SPCSA.
1.2. Disseminating the GC28 post-
Chapter document (AGC 433).
1.3. Encouraging and accompanying pro-
fessional, technical and vocational
formation in the provinces as an
effective tool for the integral human
growth of young people and a means
of preventing the impoverishment
and marginalisation of young people
(cf. FT 162; ChV 268-273).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 173
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1. Strengthen our spirituality through frequent reading of the Constitu-
tions and study of the Salesian sources, and live according to them.
1.1.2. Intensify animation by the provincials and the regional superior.
1.1.3. Aim for the elimination of poverty in 500,000 families of young
people through Vocational Training, education, empowerment of
young people (through the achievement of the various UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) (cf. Gal 2:10. FT 189; 172. SDGs, 1).
1.1.4. Have all existing Salesian presences and ministries document
the intervention indicated above with verifiable results.
1.2.1. Motivate all communities and confreres to focus on poor young
people in all our interventions through the dissemination of the documents of
the GC28 and the Letter of the Rector Major (cf. AGC 433).
1.3.1. Motivate and document vocational training and job placements
for at least 250,000 young people, under the guidance of Don Bosco
Tech (DBTech) and Job Placement Network (JPN). The new Education
Policy in India places great emphasis on vocational training.
1.3.2. Motivate and document the strengthening of the skills (through
reading, writing, arithmetic) of poor young people to overcome the
vicious circle of poverty (cf. SDGs 4).

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174 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.4. Strengthening youth ministry
activity at all levels in the Provinces
through close collaboration with the
Youth Ministry Sector.
1.5. Promoting youth ministry that
focuses on the vocational perspective
(cf. AGC 433, 12-13).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 175
1.3.3. Motivate and document the intervention of the Salesians of the
South Asia Region in education for rights, and prevent child traf-
ficking and bonded labour, substance abuse and other addictions
under the guidance of the Young at Risk Network (YaR) (cf. points 13e.f in
AGC 433, 79. SDGs 16).
1.3.4. Motivate and document the creativity and ability of young people to
promote sustainable development through the promotion of skills in green
energy management, under the guidance of DBTech and Don Bosco Green
Alliance (cf. AGC 433, 27).
1.3.5. Strengthen the SPCSA Secretariat for Data Management.
1.3.6. Give more importance to research and work in collaboration with the
government.
1.4.1. Encourage initiatives at all levels to try to serve poor young people.
1.4.2. Encourage our schools, colleges, university centres and voca-
tional training centres, etc. to open up to serve the poor in a targeted way.
1.4.3. Strengthen the accompaniment of the privileged space of the Salesian
Family for involvement and collaboration in the ministry to young people
(AGC 433, 84).
1.4.4. Ensure that child safety policies are in place in all areas of
youth ministry (cf. AGC 433, 20).
1.5.1. Offer young people different and incremental processes to grow and
mature in education to the faith and to life as a response to invitation
(AGC 433, 12).
1.5.2. Promote pastoral care among young Catholics so that they
strengthen their faith and vocation. (AGC 433, 13; C. 29).
1.5.3. Explore the possibility of setting up “Don Bosco Leadership
Academies” for young Catholics, from where vocations to Salesian life
could emerge (ChV 274-277).
1.5.4. Encourage the provinces to focus more on good catechetical forma-
tion of young people to deepen their faith in Christ (AGC 433, 83).

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176 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
1.6. Encouraging particular attention to
a new form of marginalisation among
young people caused by migration with-
in India, coordinating efforts of all Prov-
inces to take care of young migrants and
studying the same types of interventions
in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal (cf.
AGC 433, 25).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 177
1.5.5. Provide catechetical and ‘faith’ formation for 100,000 young
Catholics and in the process, create a new model of Salesian youth
ministry (AGC 433, 12-13).
1.6.1. Make a nationwide effort to provide the best services (support
systems, legal support, rights promotion, capacity building) to young mi-
grants in India under the care of the YaR network.
1.6.2. Create a national team that allies itself with all the provinces
to take care of young migrants, defending their rights and increasing their
capacities (cf. point 13f in AGC 433, 79).

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178 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Time for greater generosity in the Congregation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2. Strengthen generosity
within the South Asia Re-
gion and the Congregation
(AGC 433, 25; 84).
2.1. Accompanying initial formation
processes in the provinces to encourage
more vocations to Salesian religious life
(Priests and Brothers).
2.2. By better organising our services
in the less served areas of the Region,
such as Nepal (INC), Bangladesh (INC),
Sri Lanka (LKC) and New Delhi (INN),
sharing personnel and resources. Encour-
age creative ways to improve sharing of
personnel between the provinces and
study the possibilities of re-structur-
ing the geographical areas of the
provinces in order to reach the vast
areas of the Region that are not suf-
ficiently served (cf. AGC 433, 84).
2.3. Encouraging the sharing of human
resources with other Regions in the
Salesian world by sending missionaries
(AGC 433, 25).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 179
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1. Plan the development of policies and strategies with the Forma-
tion sector, the SPCSA Formation Commission and the provinces, in conso-
nance with the socio-cultural situations in Asia (consider aspirantates
in a special way).
2.1.2. Encourage special efforts in the provinces to promote the Brother
vocation.
2.1.3. Strengthen the functioning of the Curatorium especially in studenta-
tes of theology and philosophy (cf. point 30h in AGC 433, 97).
2.2.1. Establish a Commission to study possibilities and propose strategies
and follow up on the proposals.
2.2.2. Share personnel among the provinces through agreements at inter-
provincial level.
2.2.3. Plan strategies to mobilise resources for our ministry at the regional
level (under the leadership of the SPCSA networks).
2.3.1. Evaluate the current situation of the two missionary aspiran-
tates with the help of the Missions and Formation Sectors and plan for a
better utilisation of structures.
2.3.2. Promote greater cooperation and coordination between the provinces to
promote the sense of being missionaries of Christ with the Salesian charism.
2.3.3. Encourage the confreres to be missionaries within and outsi-
de the Region (even for limited periods of 3-5 years).
2.3.4. Give opportunities to young priests and deacons to work in the mis-
sions within the Region

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180 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 181
2.3.5. Strengthen the missionary animation sector in the provinces in order
to foster a missionary culture among the confreres, a missionary culture of
the Salesian vocation (cf. AGC 433, 25).
2.3.6. Improve the quality and participation in the Missionary Course (inclu-
ding a change of time/month for the course).
2.3.7. Celebrate well the centenary of the arrival of the Salesians in
North East India and use this event to promote the attitude of being
missionaries (AGC 433, 25).

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182 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Together with lay people in the mission
and in formation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3. Carry out the mission to-
gether with the laity, espe-
cially those of the Salesian
Family (cf. AGC 433, 20-23).
3.1. Strengthening the ongoing forma-
tion of Salesians and the joint for-
mation of Salesians and lay people,
passing from an attitude of being already
formed to a humble and daily listening to
the Word of God, to the signs of the times
and to young people in an attitude of con-
stant learning (cf. point 46d, g in AGC
433, 113).
3.2. Strengthening collaboration within
the Salesian Family to deepen Salesian
spirituality and to give greater visibility to
the Salesian charism in the Region (C. 47;
AGC 433, 23; cf. point 45i in AGC 433,
112).
3.3. Reflecting on the collaboration
of the laity in the Salesian Mission in
the multi-religious context of South
Asia (cf. point 46e in AGC 433, 113).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 183
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1. Ensure there is a competent team of animators for the Don Bosco
Renewal Centre (DBRC) Bangalore (cf. point 30i in AGC 433, 97).
3.1.2. Plan new content for the joint formation of Salesians, the Salesian
Family, lay adults and young people directed to the shared mission in Salesian
pedagogy and spirituality (cf. point 46g in AGC 433, 113).
3.1.3. Improve the physical structures of the DBRC which is 30 years old
(cf. point 30i in AGC 433, 97).
3.1.4. Coordinate the qualification of other confreres in various provinces of
the SPCSA as guides and leaders in reflection, teaching and publication on the
Salesian charism and the preventive system.
3.1.5. Encourage and strengthen the functioning of the EPCs in all our con-
texts (AGC 433, 23).
3.1.6. Encourage the formation of faith communities in the EPCs where the
experience of faith is visible and credible, open to all young people who seek
their vocational destiny in life.
3.2.1. Encourage synergy through mission-oriented collaboration, especially
in the poverty eradication proposal, and work for young migrants led by the
SPCSA and the activities of Don Bosco Green Alliance.
3.2.2. Encourage the formation of new groups of Salesian Cooperators and
the formation of existing groups with a possible offer of online formation mod-
ules.
3.2.3. Strengthen the Association of Salesian Past Pupils and encourage their
active engagement in the Salesian mission.
3.3.1. Hold a Symposium on the topic in 2023 with the aim of developing a
good theoretical framework for the commitment of lay people belonging to
other religions or non-religious in the Salesian mission.

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184 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
3.4. Reflecting on the Salesian charism
and on mission as shared mission.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 185
3.4.1. Guarantee collegial decision-making and fidelity to Salesian traditions
in governing institutions and presences (role of rectors, administrators, etc.).
3.4.2. Encourage the study of the manual on animation and governance of
communities in all provinces (AGC 433, 23).
3.4.3. Participate well in the various inter-religious meetings.

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186 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 4 - Salesian charism and mission in the Region
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4. Increase the impact and
visibility of the Salesian
charism and mission in
South Asia (AGC 433, 9-11; 83).
4.1. Moving from being individual net-
works and institutions to the power
of synergy through attention to common
causes, shared objectives, and effective
animation.
4.2. Entering the digital world, where
young people in particular are at home,
in a meaningful and educational way,
ensuring an adequate professional and
ethical formation of the confreres and col-
laborators (AGC 433, 15; 34-35).
4.3. By increasing the quantity and qual-
ity of our digital presence among young
people.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 187
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1. Strengthen the inter-provincial and regional commissions and net-
works with sufficient staff, structures and basic or work tools, and train them
to be professional in their services, and promote the thematic collaboration
of these networks with other agencies of the Church, other religions, and civil
society (cf. point 13g in AGC 433, 79).
4.1.2. Build and establish the Regional Secretariat in Delhi as a Resource,
Research and Animation Centre.
4.1.3. Create consultation groups to advise SPCSA on finance, new policies,
new legal requirements, etc.
4.1.4. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of the animation quality of the
SPCSA network and strengthen it for greater impact.
4.2.1. Build more effective collaboration within the Salesian Family and lay
collaborators (cf. point 45i in AGC 433, 112).
4.3.2. Create a dynamic communication network, in particular a website, for
the South Asian Region.
4.3.3. Encourage many units within the Provinces to work synergistically to
create content and to be present on digital campuses/digital oratories (under
the leadership of the Social Communication Sector and Boscom).

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188 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR FOR THE
CENTRAL AND NORTH EUROPE REGION
AREA 1 - Salesian charismatic identity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Sensitise the confreres to
deepening their understanding
of the GC28 “What kind of Sale-
sians for the youth of today?”,
strengthening their Salesian
charismatic identity.
1.1.1. Encouraging reflection and study
of issues concerning the identity of the
Salesian priest and Salesian brother.
AREA 2 - Salesian formation
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Emphasise the ongoing for-
mation of the confreres starting
from initial formation and the
formation of lay collaborators.
2.1.1. Supporting the formation of the
confreres regarding Salesian religious life
and collaboration with the laity.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 189
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Together with the provincial, encouraging a deeper understanding
of Salesian identity.
1.1.1.2. Reflect on the GC28 theme during Extraordinary Visitations and
other moments of meeting with the confreres.
1.1.1.3. Help the provinces to organise reflection meetings on the GC28 them,
e.g. conferences, retreats, etc.
1.1.1.4. Propose a reflection and sharing on the GC28 theme during the Team
Visit.
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Reflect, together with the provincials in Region meetings and with
the confreres during the Extraordinary Visitations, on the formation theme,
underlining its community and personal importance.
2.1.1.2. During the Extraordinary Visitations, propose reflections on the role
of the Rector of the community, on the importance of the commitment of each
confrere in the community as well as of lay collaborators.
2.1.1.3. Promote the importance of and synergy between EPC, Community
Council, Council of the Work, EPC Council, SEPP during the Extraordinary
Visitations, for gaining an overall perspective on the Salesian mission.

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190 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Salesiana Youth Ministry
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Reflect on the various
forms, both traditional and new,
of how to be and remain in the
midst of young people today, and
how to be significant in educa-
tive and pastoral activity, em-
phasising the Salesian vocation
of consecrated life.
3.1.1. Qualifying our way of being and
remaining among young people: school,
parish, oratory, etc., creating unity/synergy
in educative and pastoral activity.
AREA 4 - Social communication
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
4.1. Continue to support and 4.1.1. Qualifying the confreres and lay col-
promote the Salesian presence in laborators to participate in social media.
social media.
AREA 5 - Salesian missions
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
5.1. Strengthen “Project Eu-
rope” in collaboration with all
the European provinces by open-
ing up to new missionaries.
5.1.1. Raising awareness of the confreres
in the Region of the missionary call in all
its various forms: ad gentes, ad vitam.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 191
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Together with the provincials during the Extraordinary Visitations
Region meetings, promote reflection on the youth reality theme in Europe, e.g.
the challenges of the youth world.
3.1.1.2. Promote Salesian vocational activity among young people.
3.1.1.3. Promote knowledge of Salesian Family Saints.
3.1.1.4. Give particular emphasis to the Salesian character of the parish.
3.1.1.5. Promote meetings of young people from the provinces in the Region,
e.g. knowledge of significant Salesian works...
3.1.1.6. Promote ecological commitment and culture.
ACTION GUIDELINES
4.1.1.1. Together with the provincials in the individual provinces, encourage
reflection by confreres and lay collaborators on ways to be present in the
world of social media.
ACTION GUIDELINES
5.1.1.1. Together with the provincials in the individual provinces and in the
Region, promote meetings of missionaries with young people, helping them to
reflect on missionary spirit.
5.1.1.2. Value the presence of Salesian missionaries who have returned to
their provinces of origin, and of lay missionary volunteers.

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192 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 6 - Salesian Family
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
6.1. Foster collaboration in the
Salesian Family: FMA, Salesian
Cooperators, Past Pupils of Don
Bosco, VDB, CDB, DMA, etc.
6.1.1. Supporting the Salesian Family in
mutual collaboration at the provincial and
regional level.
AREA 7 - Economy
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
7.1. Live the Salesian religious
life with a sense of shared re-
sponsibility in the use of materi-
al goods.
7.1.1. Sensitising the confreres to accept
the radical nature of the Gospel, practis-
ing solidarity with the most needy.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 193
ACTION GUIDELINES
6.1.1.1. Together with the provincials in the individual Provinces and in
the Region meetings, promote awareness of the Salesian Family, identifying
possible forms of collaboration.
6.1.1.2. Together with the provincials in the individual provinces, support
the provincial delegates of the various groups of the Salesian Family, in
particular Salesian Cooperators, Past Pupils of Don Bosco, VDB, CDB, ADMA.
6.1.1.3. Collaborate together with: the Presidents of the two Regions of the
Salesian Cooperators, the World President of the Past Pupils of Don Bosco, the
Heads of VDB and CDB at Central and Regional level and the World President
of the ADMA.
ACTION GUIDELINES
7.1.1.1. Reflect, during the Extraordinary Visitations and other moments
for meeting with confreres, on the Salesian evangelical life and on the ways
of being closer to the poorest young people.

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194 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 8 - Accompaniment
of the Centre North Europe Region
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
8.1. Support collaboration be- 8.1.1. Supporting projects and initiatives
tween the Provinces of the Cen- at the level of the individual provinces and
tral and North Europe Region. the Region.
AREA 9 - Salesian Europe
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
9.1. Support collaboration be-
tween the two Regions of Sale-
sian Europe and also with other
provinces of the Salesian world.
9.1.1. Participating in the service of the
“Salesian Places” and in other possibili-
ties for collaboration in the Salesian world.
AREA 10 - Salesian animation sectors
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
10.1. Collaborate with the Sale-
sian animation sectors at the
level of Headquarters and the
other Regions.
10.1.1. Supporting collaboration and par-
ticipation in the various meetings of the
animation sectors.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 195
ACTION GUIDELINES
8.1.1.1. Promote, together with provincials, some initiatives of support and
collaboration: e.g. continue the experience of practical training for confreres
in other provinces of the Region; exchange of some confreres between
provinces in the Region, etc.
8.1.1.2. Meetings of provincials of the Region and of the individual Zones:
Atlantic-German Zone, CIMEC Zone, KSIP Conference, to promote mutual
knowledge and collaboration.
ACTION GUIDELINES
9.1.1.1. Together with the provincials, supporting the preparation of some
confreres to serve the “Salesian Places” and the organisation of pilgrimages
to the “Salesian Places”.
9.1.1.2. Support novitiates and initial formation in Salesian Europe with
Salesian personnel.
9.1.1.3. Value the specific formation centre for Salesian brothers in Spain.
ACTION GUIDELINES
10.1.1.1. Together with the provincials, valuing the collaboration and par-
ticipation of provincial delegates in animation meetings of the Sectors at the
level of Headquarters, the Region, Regions of Europe and other Regions.
10.1.1.2. Collaborate in synergy with the General Councillors of the various
animation sectors and the Regional Councillors.

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196 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR FOR THE
INTERAMERICA REGION
AREA 1 - Charismatic depth and salesian identity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Encourage charismatic iden-
tity and apostolic passion, the joy
of being Salesians of Don Bosco
(cf. “Rector Major’s Action Pro-
gramme” in AGC 433, 20).
1.1.1. Accompanying provincials to en-
sure care for the Salesian consecrated
identity.
1.2. Encourage the priority com-
mitment of the provinces to the
Salesian mission among the poor
young people of our Region.
1.2.1. Accompanying and promoting con-
crete expressions for the education and
evangelisation of young people at risk, or
who are abandoned or excluded.
1.3. Encourage missionary spirit 1.3.1. Motivating the missionary gene-
and generosity as an important rosity that Don Bosco always promoted
feature of our identity.
among his Salesians and his young people.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 197
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Promote study, appropriation and follow-up regarding the Post-
Chapter reflections on GC28 and its connection with the Overall Province
Plan in the Region (cf. AGC 433, 67).
1.1.1.2. Encourage the revision and adaptation of re-dimensioning projects of
the provinces in the Region by identifying the areas of opportunity in the
short, medium and long term, from the point of view of the “Valdocco option”
to which Pope Francis invites the Salesians of Don Bosco (cf. “Message of His
Holiness Pope Francis to the members of the GC28” in AGC 433, 55).
1.1.1.3. Encourage the study and appropriation at all levels of guidelines
found in the book Animating and Governing the Community: The Service of
the Salesian Rector (2019).
1.2.1.1. Promote provincial strategies for caring for the rights of children and
young people, as well as policies, protocols and best practice in the prevention
of abuse.
1.2.1.2. Encourage study, reflection and approaches that assist provincial
decision-making processes aimed at qualifying the Salesian presence in evan-
gelisation and education in the faith.
1.2.1.3. Promote concrete commitment and regional synergy as Pastors-
Educators, with priority given to three issues: youth migration, integral ecol-
ogy and job training.
1.3.1.1. Recognise and thank the missionaries ad vitam sent to the Region
over the past 20 years.
1.3.1.2. Encourage and stimulate the contribution of the Salesians of Don Bosco
of the Interamerica Region as missionaries ad vitam for the Congregation.
1.3.1.3. Promote missionary volunteer service by SDBs and young people
within and outside the provinces of the Region.

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198 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Formation in the mission
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Encourage new processes
of formation for the profile of
today’s Salesian, on the basis of
the criteria and guidelines of
GC28.
2.1.1. Accompanying specific and joint
proposals and initial and ongoing forma-
tion regional teams as a priority.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 199
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Promote the renewal of formation projects of the provinces in the
Region in the light of the GC28 Post-Chapter guidelines (cf. AGC 433, 83ff).
2.1.1.2. Promote the formation of formators with a renewed mentality and
attitude, inspired by the ability to accompany (cf. GSA) in harmony with the
planning of the formation sector.
2.1.1.3. Plan and accompany the regional initial and ongoing formation
teams, guaranteeing formation communities and the mission perspective
(cf. point 28h-j in AGC 433, 94).
2.1.1.4. Accompany the development, synergy and impact of regional train-
ing centres in the Region: the “Centro Salesiano de Formación Permanente
America” in Quito, Ecuador and “Don Bosco Hall” in Berkeley, California,
US.
2.1.1.5. As a Salesian Family, promote the proposals for joint formation in
three priority topics: Salesianity, accompaniment and Salesian mission in the
digital field.

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200 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 3 - Shared mission
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
3.1. Encourage the different 3.1.1. Accompanying the provincial pro-
mission processes shared across cesses and projects that make the shared
the provinces of the Region.
mission concrete.
3.2. Encourage and stimulate
the perspective of integral ecolo-
gy proposed in the Encyclical
LS.
3.2.1. Promoting the institutional appro-
priation of the commitment to our “com-
mon home” proposed by LS.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 201
ACTION GUIDELINES
3.1.1.1. Motivate the evaluation and adaptation of each province’s Lay Project
in the light of the GC28 Post-Chapter guidelines, and verify the perspective
of the Salesian Family (cf. AGC 433, 111-113).
3.1.1.2. Accompany the Region’s various networks as real opportunities for
shared mission and joint formation.
3.1.1.3. Motivate the configuration and functioning of the EPC in accordance
with the guidelines and planning of the Youth Ministry Sector (cf. YMFR 2014,
108-131).
3.1.1.4. Ensure that a joint formation project exists
3.2.1.1. Motivate the study and concrete appropriation of the Encyclical LS
in the OPP and the EPP.
3.2.1.2. Recognise best practice and motivate the importance of the SYM in
its commitment to the care of creation.
3.2.1.3. Promote awareness of and participation in the multi-year plan for
the implementation of LS (cf. LSAY).

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202 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
COUNCILLOR FOR THE
MEDITERRANEAN REGION
AREA 1 - Building up our Region
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
1.1. Continue the process of
building the identity of our Re-
gion.
1.1.1. Building, in the Region, mutual
knowledge, attention and listening, shar-
ing of multiple and rich experiences
through meetings, synergies, and by de-
veloping aid materials.
1.1.2. Accompanying the two provincial
conferences, the provincials and the
provinces, respecting their peculiarities,
listening to and in dialogue with European
culture and the ecclesial context (cf. AGC
433, 118; R. 135).
1.1.3. Promoting the development of work
networks and shared projects.

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 203
ACTION GUIDELINES
1.1.1.1. Develop knowledge and collaboration by organising meetings of the
National Youth Ministry Centres (CNPG) and delegates from the various
fields of activity, in synergy with the YM sector.
1.1.1.2. Promote reflection on formation houses, within the project for
reshaping initial formation in Europe, encouraging greater internationality,
reflection on the formation model and on relocation, and improving the
process of formation and selection of formators in collaboration with the
Formation sector (cf. point 20, 86-87; points 26 and 27, 92-93; point 30, 96 in
AGC 433).
1.1.1.3. Build a sense of regional identity in formation houses, in meetings of
young confreres, rectors and provincial councils and broaden dialogue and
synergy with the other Regions in Europe.
1.1.2.1. Accompany the courageous process and path of re-dimensioning as
a road to the future, implementing GC27 criteria and GC28 Post-Chapter
reflection.
1.1.2.2. Accompany the meetings of the conferences of the Region, the Cura-
torium, and possibly Provincial Councils through the presence of the Regional
(cf. AGC33, 118; R. 135).
1.1.2.3. Share experiences and create greater synergies between the na-
tional YM centres through meetings, reflections, moments of sharing and
formation.
1.1.3.1. Initiate a reflection on the possibility of coordination between pub-
lishers, participation in civil organisations that will allow us to be present
in European institutions to share and propose projects in the various sectors,
etc.

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204 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 205
1.1.3.2. Continue to seek synergies and common reflections among the
CNPG in order to be able to creatively and boldly rethink evangelisation and
proclamation to the poorest, and so that they are better connected with the
provinces and local scenes (cf. AGC proposals 433, 28-29; 37-38).
1.1.3.3. Take steps in advocacy on the rights of minors and in defence of the
smallest and poorest (cf. AGC 433, 38; 79).
1.1.3.4. Promote the dissemination of the SB and the publication of a regional
newsletter.

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206 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
AREA 2 - Building our vocational identity
OBJECTIVES
PROCESSES
2.1. Continue animation of the
provinces of the Region by pro-
moting the assimilation and de-
velopment of the “Post-Chapter
GC28 Reflection”, the knowledge
and implementation of the Rec-
tor Major’s Letter (Action Pro-
gramme), and the plans of the
various Sectors.
2.1.1. Addressing the vocational chal-
lenge from the twofold perspective
of the vocational fidelity of the Sale-
sian, who rediscovers and deepens his
own charismatic identity (cf. AGC 433:
guideline 1, 17-19; line 4, 30-38; point 18,
85), and the perspective of the fruitful-
ness and vocational orientation of our
YM (cf. AGC 433: point 9, 75-76; point 14,
80-81).
2.1.2. Promoting initiatives and strate-
gic options that allow themselves
to be challenged by the poverty of
young people, inside and outside the
Region (cf. AGC 433: guideline 5, 35-38;
message of Pope Francis, 58-60; point 8,
74-75; point 13, 79-80).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 207
ACTION GUIDELINES
2.1.1.1. Promote and accompany the updating of OPPs and provincial plan-
ning in accordance with the GC28 guidelines and the Rector Major’s “Action
Programme” letter.
2.1.1.2. Continue along the path of reflection on the vocational challenge, on
our model of life in community, on what role the Salesians have, given the
need for greater vocational “impact” in the mission shared with the laity
(cf. AGC 433: proposal, 19-20; 61-62; point 28, 93-94; point 45, 111-112), on
the sense of belonging to the Salesian Youth Movement and its continuity
into adulthood; and valuing the holy/charismatic places of the Region from a
vocational perspective.
2.1.1.3. Consolidate the ongoing formation of confreres and communities and
joint Salesian-lay formation, so that this touches the heart and becomes the
hermeneutic key to formation in mission (cf. AGC 433: guideline 6, 39-44;
message of Pope Francis, 60-61; paragraph 17, 84; paragraph 29, 95; para-
graph 46, 112-113). Sharing best practice.
2.1.1.4. Schedule moments of reflection and sharing on youth ministry,
vocation promotion, the management of works and communities, involving
the Salesian Family.
2.1.2.1. Increase reflection on immigration and refugees. Create a reflection
and work group on the presence of young immigrants and refugees in Sale-
sian communities, in order to know and share best practice in this, coordinate
their work and encourage the communities of the Region to open up to these
experiences (cf. AGC 433: message of Pope Francis, 58-60; paragraph 13, 79).
2.1.2.2. Develop the dialogue with cultures (cf. AGC 433, 63-64), with Islam,
and promote the defence and development of the Christian presence in the
Middle East (cf. AGC 433, 110).
2.1.2.3. See to the presence of international communities, the MOR twinning
project and the missionary dimension ad gentes in the Region.

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208 ACTS OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
2.1.3. Encouraging the taking on of the
other challenges of our mission with-
in the Region in synergy with the various
Sectors: the journey of evangelisation
and initial proclamation (cf. AGC 433,
21-24; 59; 61-62), the “sacrament of
presence” (Cf. AGC 433, 25-28), inter-
religious dialogue (cf. AGC 433, 40;
110-111), families (cf. AGC 433, 77-78;
81-82), care for creation ( cf. AGC 433,
49-51).

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THIRD PART - FOR THE REGIONAL COUNCILLORS 209
2.1.3.1. Implement reflection in the CNPG and in the various commissions in
synergy with the various Sectors.
2.1.3.2. Organise regional meetings involving the Salesian Family to share
reflection and best practice and to arrive at shared strategic lines.
2.1.3.3. Promote study courses on inter-religious dialogue by enhancing the
great potential already existing within the Region: UPS, Granada, MOR.