austraLasia 1685

'Cielito Lindo': Rector Major dreams, plans spirituality charter for Salesian Family.

ROME: 12th November 2006 --  Yesterday's Cielito Lindo, as the Rector Major flew in from Poland to be greeted by 300 Cooperators and Salesian Family Delegates, became All I needed was the rain (remember Elvis?) Sunday, as the group headed out to renew their Promise to God and fidelity to the Pope at St Peter's noon Angelus.  It has been a heady few days for the Third World Cooperator Congress, only the third such gathering in over 100 years. Rome kept its traditional 'ottobrate' pattern - fine days, cold nights and unexpected showers when you least need them.
    Yesterday's meeting between the group and the Rector Major had somewhat epochal proportions, not so much for the rapturous Mexican wave welcome, but for the content of his address to the assembled Salesian world. What were once the RAL or Regulations of Apostolic Life, have now become a PAL or Project of Apostolic Life rather more akin to the Salesian Constitutions and Regulations - and indeed the Rector Major made the point that from here on in, for 35,000 Salesian Cooperators around the world, the message is clear: Salesian Cooperators are to completely renew themselves in line with the one thing that matters, the mission to poor and abandoned young people, total self-giving, a spirituality which is fundamentally and practically that of Don Bosco and the Salesian Family as he wanted it to be.
    'This is an evangelical project of life', he pointed out.  It is meant to transform lives, not just be a law. When Don Bosco presented his Constitutions to the Holy See for approval, one chapter on the 'extern Salesian' was rejected.  Don Bosco then founded the Salesian Cooperators.  'Now', said the Rector Major' 'we hope the Holy See will accept the new PAL.  Don Bosco wanted you to be one hundred percent Salesians and at the same time to be open and docile to all social, cultural challenges, the magisterium of the Church and the Salesian Family as expressed in the common identity and common mission charter'.  In effect, the Rector Major spelt out the essential features of the spirituality as it touches on the Cooperator, with the mission at its core, total-giving as its driving force.  He repeated the notion at the homily today, Sunday, noting the two poor widows of the scripture readings who gave everything they had, which was little, but which received abundant response from the Lord. One could not help but notice a third widow in the physical foreground - a large portrait of Mamma Margaret.  The connection did not need to be verbally explicit.
    The Rector Major asked the Salesian Cooperators to shift mentality - not an Association, but a Movement.  Only if they come fully into a common sense of Movement, along with all members of the Salesian Family, will we have impact on society today, he reminded them, and in particular as part of the nucleus founded by Don Bosco with responsibility for the Movement along with SDB and FMA.  He then spelt out the challenges to be met by the Movement today: evangelisation, life, family, education, and, he added 'involvement in political life' especially for Cooperators. He clarified an oft-asked question - can non-Christians be Cooperators?  Not in the sense of  fully pledged persons, since the Promise requires fidelity to the Pope and presumes Catholic baptism, but they can cooperate in every other respect. He also addressed the difficulty of separated and divorced couples, asking for understanding for people in difficult situations. Separation and divorce per se are no reason why a person may not be a Salesian Cooperator.  Second marriage outside the Church's understanding creates other difficulties however.  These matters require our constant attention and further study.
    The Rector major concluded with an answer to a question hanging from everyone's lips: Mamma Margaret will be formally declared Venerable on 15th November, in good time for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of her death.
   ___________________
 AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific.  It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome.  For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com  Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.  To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.