One of the indications of vocational fragility is a lack of human maturity, which can take different forms: a weakness of character, a loss of focus, an inability to use one’s freedom properly, a lack of personal integration. Problems in the area of affectivity and sexuality are also a pointer to immaturity as, for example, the absence of balanced relationships with women.

A particular weakness is spiritual superficiality: the faith is weak and hardly permeates one’s life. The result is a low level of spirituality, a lack of real integration of faith, culture and life. There is lot of concern about externals - one’s daily work, one’s studies, social events. One does one’s job but without a deep sense of one’s spiritual vocation and mission; there is little time for peace and recollection, little or no depth in one’s life. In short, God is not in the forefront of one’s thoughts, words and actions. One is simply satisfied with the status quo and has no desire to grow spiritually. Unfortunately, it also happens that there is not a sufficient number of fervent confreres to pull everyone up a little higher.

Allied with spiritual superficiality is a general weakness in living one’s consecrated life. Some lose the meaning of the three vows and give in to compromises. They have a poor knowledge of the Constitutions, misunderstand and lack an appreciation of Salesian values, and do not feel any more a strong sense of commitment or attachment to the Congregation. Adopting a worldly mentality and a comfortable style of living, they reject hard work, self-sacrifice, frugality, self-renunciation.

Consequently, they begin to have problems with their own motivations and identity. Their motivations are lo longer based on faith. And they have a weak or uncertain sense of identity, both personal and vocational, tending to identify themselves more as teachers and professionals than as Salesian consecrated persons.

2. ROOTS OF VOCATIONAL FRAGILITY

Many of the expressions of vocational fragility (that we saw above) have their roots in the quality of human and Christian life of families.

In East Timor, for example, being the first son or the only son can sometimes cause members of the extended family to force a candidate or a young Salesian to marry. On the other hand, the prestige of being a religious can induce families to pressurize candidates to enter or remain in the Salesian Congregation at all costs.

The Philippines and Vietnam point to similar pressures that come from families. A great number of candidates belong to blue-collar families, i.e. lower middle-class families, whose income is limited. They therefore have to work hard to give their sons a good high school and even a college education. Consequently, they expect a return by way of social prestige, and in some cases, even financial help. This sometimes creates a desire in candidates or those in formation to help their families in their problems.

Thailand alludes to a different kind of problem. Because of a lack of sustained and systematic faith-formation, several Catholic families tend to be shallow in their understanding and living of the faith. Faith, generally speaking, does not seem to have much to do with their style of living. And, they seem to have a poor grasp and appreciation of the priesthood and consecrated life.

There are certain elements of our post-modern society that impact Salesians and Salesian communities negatively. Chief among them are secularism, consumerism and pragmatism. As consecrated life absorbs more and more worldly elements, it becomes less and less challenging as a radical way of life. Instead, life in the world in terms of family and career and a culture of instant pleasure can sometimes appear to be very tempting and more fulfilling.

The other major negative influence is individualism which focuses on the self and is generally accompanied by relativism, subjectivism and liberalism. There is a constant search for novelty, especially in the matter of emotions; hence the constant refrain of “I feel” and “I want”. Freedom to do one’s own thing is taken for granted, and there is a fear of committing oneself to anyone or anything. Honesty and integrity are played down: the dominant motivating factor is self-interest.

As for the influence of culture, Thailand offers an interesting example of the ingrained and widespread respect for elders, and how it affects dealings with Superiors. Respect means not hurting one’s elders, not disturbing them, not annoying them. Therefore, personal differences with elders are kept to oneself; if freely expressing oneself to elders should cause them pain, it is avoided. Truth is not the priority, respect is. And this is often shown by keeping silent.

3. CAUSES OF VOCATIONAL FRAGILITY

The above-mentioned external factors create the backdrop against which other factors, closer to us, contribute to vocational fragility.

Chief among them is the neglect of prayer and in general of the spiritual life. There are confreres who absent themselves from community meditation, morning and evening prayer, and spiritual reading. They abandon personal prayer too; they do not visit the Blessed Sacrament; they do not frequent the sacrament of reconciliation. In some cases, they give up praying the Breviary and even celebrating daily Mass. Unfortunately too, the community at times focuses more on activities than on the spiritual life of its confreres.

Spiritual direction is also a problem. It sometimes arises from a lack of proper understanding of spiritual direction or a lack of conviction about the need for this practice. It also happens that some confreres fail to find a proper spiritual director who is competent and available, to whom they can open themselves, especially concerning their struggles in the spiritual life, so as to receive brotherly guidance or help to make a proper discernment. The problem of spiritual direction becomes all the more acute in moments of vocational crisis when the confrere finds no one to help him until it is too late or his spiritual director mishandles the crisis for lack of competence. What has been said about spiritual direction applies just as well to the friendly talk with the superior.

When confreres become dissatisfied with the work they are doing, it leads inevitably to problems of vocational fragility. For instance, when our works do not reach out to poor and marginalized youth, but remain confined to the middle and upper middle classes, the Salesians are no longer challenged to live their consecration radically and to work in simplicity and austerity; they feel no more committed to the Salesian preventive system of assistance, and instead begin to adopt a style of living that estranges them from the poor.

A lack of enthusiasm and zeal for the apostolate also arises when the work is too complex and the confreres too few, with the result that the community loses sight of the mission or is unable to focus on it properly. Or, when the work is not balanced properly with prayer and is shorn of its spiritual aspects: the end-result is superficial spirituality – one works for the Lord but forgets the Lord of the work. In such cases, confreres tend to give up easily when trials and difficulties arise.

3.3 Inadequate formation

The selection and the discernment at the very beginning of the formation process have sometimes been inadequate. Not always has there been a thorough background check on those entering the Congregation. As for motivations, while some have entered just to “try it out”, there have also been some wrong motivations like peer pressure, the availability of free education, an escape from poverty, and family expectations.

If at times a certain superficiality has been seen in our formation, it has been due to the weakness or the lack of clarity of the formation programme and its being subject to too much experimentation or a trial-and-error approach. The programme has sometimes been disliked by those in formation, and there has been a lack of interest in the courses being taken. The use of the traditional mass formation style has led to little or no personalized formation. Unsettled issues in one formation phase are carried over to the next, and little is done to prepare young confreres to face the difficulties of adjustment as they pass from a formation community to a regular Salesian apostolic community.

Perhaps it is in the area of human formation that several shortcomings are most noticeable: a lack of self-awareness, a stagnation in his growth, an inability to go deeper into oneself, poor communication of one’s feelings, a failure to accept oneself and others, a weak sense of personal responsibility, compliance without true conviction, an inability to face (and not avoid) challenges and deal with emotional / affective issues before they develop into a crisis.

What has sometimes been lacking has been a proper guidance on the part of formation personnel who because of their inadequacies have not been able to win the confidence of their charges, to know and understand them well, and to offer them brotherly support without too much spiritualization. Not enough effort has been put into deepening motivations of faith (more than psychology), laying a solid foundation in Salesian consecrated life, and giving the strength and the ability to live in accordance with its requirements.

There are also particular problems that some provinces have faced with regard to the initial formation process and that have not been helpful for the growth of vocations. China, for example, believes that the widespread use of Italian in past times in the initial formation of local vocations has had an adverse effect on the absorption of knowledge and convictions. Thailand mentions the existence of “cliques” or small groups in formation communities that have created feelings of distrust and favouritism, and have eventually left the Congregation. Japan finds that having its candidates and young Salesians live through successive formation phases in the same environment is not conducive to formation as also their frequenting non-Salesian study centres.

As for ongoing formation, the chief problem seems to be the lack of motivation for renewal on the part of individuals and communities. The regular way of doing things is seen as preferable to any innovation. There is not much awareness of the epochal changes taking place all around us and of the need to adapt in order to… survive. Having become accustomed to obedience, individuals find it hard to assume their own initiative and responsibility. It could also be that the province has not been able to envisage formation programmes designed for adult vocations or that its programmes are not incisive enough. Maybe too not many efforts have been made to retrain Salesians, especially brothers, as they approach retirement age. And the formation of confreres together with lay collaborators is not seen as something worthy of consideration.

3.4 Community malaise

One of the major factors of vocational fragility is the poor quality of relationships or the absence of deep friendships among the confreres. Because of a lack of mutual acceptance, trust and respect, there is poor communication and little or no personal sharing in depth, leading to a sense of isolation and loneliness in the community.

Relationships between the confreres become purely functional. A confrere is valued more for what he can do rather than for who he is. There is a division of work, but no true collaboration. Each one does his own work, and because of the fear of interference in another’s work, there is little or no planning as a community. Worse still, the apostolate may become something private, and the confrere gradually alienates himself from his community. However, neither the Rector nor the community is willing to reach out to the confrere or to confront him for fear of offending him or disturbing the peace of the community. He is left alone. A kind of laissez-faire attitude takes hold of the community.

Without mutual concern and support, the community becomes no longer humanly attractive, and therefore not vocationally attractive. It becomes difficult to sustain a vocation, if, in addition, strong and inspiring examples of Salesian consecrated life are not available. Young Salesians in particular become disillusioned and discouraged in their vocation. Practical trainees, for example, find themselves overloaded with work, and receive little support and encouragement from their community. What also emerges from this scenario in our communities is the inability, especially on the part of superiors, to deal with conflicts and crises. Conflicts remain unresolved in our communities, causing discouragement and bitterness, and those who enter a crisis receive hardly any help, if at all.

4. PRIORITIES FOR ACTION

There must be a greater focus on the spiritual life. We are not “servants who work for”, but “friends who live in the presence of”, Christ. The primacy in our lives must be given to God, not to our work..

A lot of importance needs to be given to faith-formation and to formation to prayer, especially personal prayer, right from the beginning of formation. Perseverance in one’s vocation is a grace that God freely shares with us when we ask for it in humble prayer. At the same time, a deep sense of prayer is built on a strong faith, and so it is the faith that needs strengthening. Candidates need to develop a deep love for Christ and a joyful experience of prayer; if this does not take place in the early formation stages, it will be difficult for them to acquire these elements later on.

There is a need for radically living the consecrated life, particularly by practising the vows in relation to the mission. The practice of the evangelical counsels intensifies one’s zeal for apostolic engagement with young people and enhances apostolic quality.

We need to continually return to the permanent criterion of our Salesian vocation, viz. ensuring that the four basic elements of Don Bosco’s Oratory – home, school, parish and playground - are present in all our Salesian settings. Traditional Salesian values and practices need to be maintained because they help to preserve our charism.

4.2Improve the formation process

The entire programme of formation needs to have a clarity of objectives every step of the way, and ensure sufficient time for reflection and the personalization of one’s formation.

Already in the prenovitiate the candidates ought to possess a sufficiently clear idea of consecrated life and be imbued with a love for Don Bosco and his charism, and the Salesian mission among the young.

One of the important convictions we have to instil in our candidates and Salesians in formation is that a vocation is a special gift of God that each one must love and cherish, be responsible for, and cultivate to its fullest potential. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by drawing up one’s personal plan of life.