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PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
FORMATION
OF SALESIANS
OF DON BOSCO
PRINCIPLES AND NORMS
RATIO FUNDAMENTALIS
INSTITUTIONIS ET STUDIORUM
Fourth Edition
Rome 2016
Edizione online
Direzione Generale Opere Don Bosco
Via della Pisana, 1111
Casella Postale 18333
00163 Roma Bravetta
CONTENTS
Contents 5
Abbreviations 15
Decree of promulgation 17
First Part
SALESIAN FORMATION IN GENERAL
Chapter 1
SALESIAN FORMATION
IN THE PRESENT-DAY CIRCUMSTANCES. THE RATIO21
1.1 Vocation and formation: a gift to be welcomed and fostered 21
1.2 With our gaze on Don Bosco Founder and Educator and on the reality of the Congregation 22
1.3 Reference points for formation at the present day 25
1.3.1 Understanding the context: key influences and challenges 25
1.3.2 The experience and the guidelines of the Church 29
1.3.3 The experience and the guidelines of the Congregation 31
1.4 The Ratio: purpose, content and those to whom it is addressed 33
1.4.1 The purpose of the Ratio 33
1.4.2 The structure and content of the Ratio 34
1.4.3 Those to whom the Ratio is addressed 35
Practical Guidelines and norms 36
Chapter 2
THE STARTING-POINT AND GOAL OF OUR FORMATION: OUR IDENTITY AS SALESIANS 39
2.1 Our identity as Salesians 39
2.1.1 A project of apostolic consecrated life 40
2.1.1.1 Animated by pastoral love to be an educator and pastor of the young 42
2.1.1.2 Responsible member of a community 44
2.1.1.3 A witness to gospel radicalism 45
2.1.1.4 Animator of communion in the spirit and mission of Don Bosco 46
2.1.1.5 A part of the Church, open to the flow of events and in touch with reality 47
2.1.2 The different forms of Salesian identity 48
2.1.2.1 The Salesian priest 48
2.1.2.2 The Salesian brother 49
2.2 Formation at the service of Salesian identity 50
2.2.1 Formation is determined by Salesian identity 50
2.2.2 Formation promotes our identity on a permanent basis 51
2.2.3 Formation links our identity with the cultural context52
2.2.4
Formation fosters growth in our identity according to
our personal gifts 52
2.2.5 Formation helps us to live out our
identity within a
communion of vocations 53
Practical Guidelines and norms 54
Chapter 3
THE ASPECTS OF FORMATION AND THE VALUES AND ATTITUDES TO BE ASSUMED 57
3.1 Human formation 59
3.1.1 Good health and the capacity to work 60
3.1.2 Psychological balance 61
3.1.3 Affective and sexual maturity 63
3.1.4 Relational ability 65
3.1.5 Responsible freedom 67
3.1.6 Openness to reality 68
Practical Guidelines and norms 69
3.2 Spiritual formation 70
3.2.1 Giving the first place to God and his plan of salvation 73
3.2.2 Sense of the Church 75
3.2.3 The presence of Mary Immaculate, Help of Christians 76
3.2.4 Young people, the meeting-place with God 78
3.2.5 The experience of God in community life 80
3.2.6 Following Christ in his obedience, poverty and chastity82
3.2.6.1 Following Christ in his obedience 82
3.2.6.2 Following Christ in his poverty 84
3.2.6.3 Following Christ in his chastity 86
3.2.7 In dialogue with the Lord 88
Practical Guidelines and norms 93
3.3 Intellectual formation 99
3.3.1 Reasons for its importance 99
3.3.2 The nature of intellectual formation 101
3.3.3 Basic choices that govern the Salesian's intellectual formation 102
3.3.3.1 Salesian complexion 103
3.3.3.2 Interaction between theory and practice and harmony with the prevailing historical context 103
3.3.3.3 Unity and comprehensiveness 103
3.3.3.4 Continuity 104
3.3.3.5 Inculturation 105
3.3.4 Subject areas 106
3.3.4.1 A solid basic culture 106
3.3.4.2 Studying the faith more deeply with the help of Theology 107
3.3.4.3 A coherent understanding of man, the world and God with the help of Philosophy 108
3.3.4.4 The human sciences and the sciences of education 108
3.3.4.5 "Salesianity" 109
3.3.5 Specialization and professionalism 110
3.3.6 Study centres for formation 111
3.3.7 Some suggestions to promote intellectual formation 113
Practical Guidelines and norms 115
3.4 Formation for youth pastoral ministry 127
3.4.1 Formation for the practice of the Preventive System, the incarnation of the Salesian mission 128
3.4.2 Formation for Salesian Youth Pastoral Ministry, the realization of the Preventive System 129
3.4.3 The values and attitudes proper to youth pastoral formation 130
3.4.3.1 A love for, and presence among, the young, especially the poorest 130
3.4.3.2 An integration of education with evangelization 131
3.4.3.3 The communitarian nature of Salesian ministry 132
3.4.3.4 An animating style 132
3.4.3.5 An outlook focused on a structured ministry and overall planning 133
3.4.4 Some lines of action for formation to youth pastoral ministry 134
3.4.4.1 Formation for youth pastoral ministry 134
3.4.4.1.1 Responding to the Lord's call in the needs of young people 134
3.4.4.1.2 Concern for the world of education 134
3.4.4.1.3 Theological and pastoral reflection and the guidelines of the Church 135
3.4.4.1.4 The acceptance of Salesian pastoral guidelines 135
3.4.4.1.5 Formation in the day-to-day experience of the mission 135
3.4.4.2 Pastoral activities during the period of initial formation 136
Practical Guidelines and norms 138
Chapter 4
METHODOLOGY OF FORMATION: AN OUTLINE 141
4.1 Involve the person in the depth of his being 142
4.2 Animate a complete formation experience following a structured plan 144
4.3 Ensure a formation environment and the involvement of everyone responsible 147
4.3.1 The person of the Salesian 147
4.3.2 The community a formation setting 149
4.3.2.1 The local community 150
4.3.2.2 The formation community 151
4.3.2.3 The Study Centre 154
4.3.2.4 The provincial community 154
4.3.2.5 The world community 156
4.3.3 Those who are jointly responsible for formation 157
4.3.3.1 Those jointly responsible at local level 157
4.3.3.1.1 The Rector 157
4.3.3.1.2 The formation team 159
4.3.3.1.3 The teachers and experts 162
4.3.3.1.4 The contribution of lay people 164
4.3.3.2 Those jointly responsible at provincial level 166
4.3.3.2.1 The Provincial with his Council 166
4.3.3.2.2 The Delegate and the Provincial Commission for formation 168
4.3.3.3 Contacts and collaboration at interprovincial level 171
4.3.3.4 Those jointly responsible at world level 172
4.4 Make daily life and work more efficacious for formation 173
4.4.1 The presence among the young 174
4.4.2 Working with others 174
4.4.3 Communication 175
4.4.4 Interpersonal relationships 176
4.4.5 The social-cultural context 176
4.5 Strive for effective guidance 177
4.5.1 Community guidance 178
4.5.2 Personal guidance 179
4.6 Pay heed to discernment 185
4.6.1 Discernment, a permanent aspect of Salesian life 185
4.6.2 Discernment during the period of initial formation 186
4.6.3 Discernment in some particular circumstances 190
Practical Guidelines and norms 191
Second Part
THE SALESIAN FORMATION PROCESS
Chapter 5
THE SALESIAN FORMATION PROCESS 203
5.1 "A formation process that will last all his life" 203
5.2 The characteristics of the formation process 206
5.2.1 A personalised process 206
5.2.2 A communitarian process 207
5.2.3 A comprehensive and diversified process 207
5.2.4 An continuous and gradual process 208
5.2.5 An inculturated process 208
Practical Guidelines and norms 209
Chapter 6
THE PRENOVITIATE 213
6.1 Nature and purpose 213
6.2 The formation experience 215
6.2.1 Human formation 215
6.2.1.1 Physical condition and health 215
6.2.1.2 Knowing oneself and making oneself known 215
6.2.1.3 A serene affectivity 216
6.2.1.4 The capacity for relationships 216
6.2.1.5 The sense of responsibility 217
6.2.1.6 An upright conscience and openness to situations 217
6.2.2 Spiritual formation 218
6.2.3 Intellectual formation 219
6.2.4 Formation to youth pastoral ministry 220
6.3 Some requirements for formation 220
6.3.1 An experience of community 220
6.3.2 Those responsible for formation: a guide 221
6.4 Discernment and admission to the Novitiate 221
Practical Guidelines and norms 222
Chapter 7
THE NOVITIATE 227
7.1 Nature and purpose 227
7.2 The formative experience 228
7.2.1 Human formation 228
7.2.2 Spiritual formation 228
7.2.2.1 Configuration to Christ in the context of the Da mihi animas 228
7.2.2.2 Assimilation of the Salesian charism and identification with the Founder 229
7.2.2.3 Experience of fraternal life 230
7.2.2.4 Initiation to prayer encompassing his whole life 230
7.2.3 Intellectual formation 231
7.2.4 Formation to educative pastoral ministry 232
7.3 Some requirements for formation 234
7.3.1 The community and the setting 234
7.3.2 The director of novices and those responsible for formation 234
7.4 Discernment and admission to first profession 236
7.4.1 Time of discernment 236
7.4.2 Temporary profession 236
Practical Guidelines and norms 237
Chapter 8
THE POSTNOVITIATE 245
8.1 Nature and purpose 245
8.2 The formation experience 246
8.2.1 Human formation 246
8.2.2 Spiritual formation 247
8.2.3 Intellectual formation 248
8.2.3.1 Studies 248
8.2.3.1.1 Philosophical sciences 249
8.2.3.1.2 The human sciences and the sciences of education 249
8.2.3.1.3 The Christian mystery and faith-education 249
8.2.3.1.4 Salesian studies 250
8.2.3.2 Other studies 250
8.2.3.3 The curriculum for Salesian brothers 251
8.2.4 Formation to youth pastoral ministry 252
8.3 Some requirements for formation 253
8.3.1 The setting 253
8.3.1.1 The formation community 253
8.3.1.2 Other communities 255
8.3.2 Those responsible for formation 255
8.3.3 Inter-provincial collaboration 256
Practical Guidelines and norms 257
Chapter 9
PRACTICAL TRAINING 259
9.1 Nature and purpose 259
9.2 The formation experience 260
9.2.1 Human formation 260
9.2.2 Spiritual formation 260
9.2.3 Intellectual formation 262
9.2.4 Formation to youth pastoral ministry 262
9.3 Some requirements for formation 263
9.3.1 The community 263
9.3.2 The formation guide and the personal commitment of those in practical training 264
9.3.3 The Provincial 265
Practical Guidelines and norms 266
Chapter 10
SPECIFIC FORMATION 269
SPECIFIC FORMATION OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER 269
10.1 Nature and purpose 269
10.2 The formation experience 270
10.2.1 Human formation 271
10.2.2 Spiritual formation 271
10.2.3 Intellectual formation 272
10.2.3.1 The study of theology 272
10.2.3.2 Salesian studies 272
10.2.3.3 Education in the social sphere 273
10.2.3.4 Professional training 273
10.2.4 Formation to youth pastoral ministry 273
10.3 Some requirements for formation 274
SPECIFIC FORMATION OF THE SALESIAN PRIEST OR DEACON 275
10.4 Nature and purpose 275
10.5 The formation experience 276
10.5.1 Human formation 277
10.5.2 Spiritual formation 278
10.5.3 Intellectual formation 280
10.5.3.1 The study of theology 281
10.5.3.2 The Salesian angle and Salesian disciplines 282
10.5.4 Formation to youth pastoral ministry 283
10.5.4.1 Aspects to be cultivated 283
10.5.4.2 The exercise of the ministries and of the diaconate 285
10.5.4.2.1 The ministries of lector and acolyte 285
10.5.4.2.2 The diaconate 286
10.6 Some requirements for formation 287
Practical Guidelines and norms 288
Chapter 11
PREPARATION FOR PERPETUAL PROFESSION 296
11.1 Nature and purpose 296
11.2 The formation experience 299
11.3 Some requirements for formation 299
Practical Guidelines and norms 301
Chapter 12
ONGOING FORMATION 304
12.1 Nature and purpose 305
12.2 The formation experience 306
12.2.1 Human formation 307
12.2.2 Spiritual formation 308
12.2.3 Intellectual formation 308
12.2.4 Formation to educative pastoral ministry 309
12.3 Coping with some situations in life 310
12.3.1 The stages of life 311
12.3.1.1 The first years of full involvement in educative and pastoral work 311
12.3.1.2 The years of full maturity 312
12.3.1.3 Advanced age 314
12.3.2 Some particular situations 315
12.4 Animation of ongoing formation 316
12.4.1 At personal level 316
12.4.2 At local level 318
12.4.3 At provincial level 320
12.4.4 At inter-provincial level 324
Practical Guidelines and norms 326
APPENDICES
The formation section of the Provincial Directory 333
The Provincial Formation Plan 338
Guidelines for the organization of studies 343
Church and Salesian documents on Formation 357
ANALYTICAL INDEX 363
ABBREVIATIONS
AGCActs of the General Council
artarticle
ASCActs of the Superior Council/Chapter
BMBiographical Memoirs of St John Bosco
CConstitutions
cancanon of the Code of Canon Law, 1983
CECCongregation for Catholic Education
cfrconfer
GCGeneral Chapter
SGCActs of the Special General Chapter, 1971
CICCodex Iuris Canonici
CIVCSVA Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
CRISCongregation for Religious and Secular Institutes
DSMThe Salesian Rector, a ministry for the animation and govern‑
ing of the local community Rome, 1986
Ibidibidem
ISMaspettore salesiano, Rome, 1987
MuRMutuae Relations Directives for the mutual relations between
bishops and religious in the Church, Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes and Congregation for Bishops, 1978
OTOptatam Totius — Vatican II
PCPerfectae Caritatis — Vatican II
PDVPastores Dabo Vobis, Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation on
the formation of priests in the circumstances of the present day, John Paul II, 1990
PIPotissimum institutions, Directives on Formation in Religious
Institutes, Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, 1990
POPresbyterorum Ordinis — Vatican II
RGeneral Regulations
RFISRatio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, Congregation
for Catholic Education, 1985
SaCSacerdotalis Coelibatus, Encyclical Letter, Paul VI, 1967
SCSacrosanctum Concilium — Vatican II
VCVita Consecrata Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the
consecrated life and its mission in the church and the world, John Paul II, 1996
DECREE OF PROMULGATION
We are called the disciples of Our Lord Jesus Christ, witnesses to the Kingdom and missionaries to the young living the charismatic experience that the Holy Spirit has raised up in the Church through Don Bosco.
Formation to the apostolic Salesian religious life finds in the normative document "Formation of Salesians of Don Bosco. Principles and Norms" and in "Criteria and Norms for Salesian vocation discernment. Admissions," which complements it, a sure guide. The Ratio in fact "sets out in an organic and instructive way the complexus of principles and norms concerning formation which are found in the Constitutions, general Regulations and other documents of the Church and of the Congregation." (R. 87)
The GC24 asked for revision and an updating of the Ratio promulgated in 1985 (GC24 147). In making such a request, the. Chapter took inta consideration the guidelines of the Church on the consecrated life and priestly ministry which had appeared after the publication of the previous edition, particularly the apostolic exhortations Vita Consecrata and Pastores Dabo Vobis, the challenges of evangelization and inculturation, of considerable impact for a vocation which develops at world level in a variety of contexts, the new aspects of Salesian vocational experience underlined by recent General Chapters, the need to make a suitable response to present day requirements and to problems of formation. At the same time the Chapter members recognized the substantial validity of the structure, the criteria and the directives of the 1985 Ratio and emphasised the neell for greater consiLsteyic in translating it into formation practice.
In carrying out the revision, the parameters of the task set by the GC24 have been faithfully observed and the comments and suggestions coming from both the Provinces and the experts consulted in this regard have been carefully considered.
Consequently, having obtained the approval of the General Council as prescribed by art. 132 §4 of our Constitutions, in virtue of the authority which belongs to my office, by this Decree, I promulgate today, 8th December 2000, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
"FORMATION OF SALESIANS OF DON BOSCO, PRINCIPLES AND NORMS" "Ratio Fundamentali Instituionis et Studiorum" the third edition, which is to be faithfully observed throughout the Salesian Congregation. It will come into effect according to universal law. This same act of promulgation extends also to the text of "CRITERIA AND NORMS FOR SALESIAN VOCATION DISCERNMENT. ADMISSIONS," revised in harmony with the Ratio.
The Ratio which I now entrust to you is an expression of the care of the Congregation for the gift received and for the vocation of each member; it is an invitation to every Salesian to respond every day to the call of the Lord with the commitment to "an adequate ongoing formation" (C 96); it urges every Province called to accompany the vocation of each confrere in the different circumstances and stages of life to exercise its responsibility for the charism and to support the Salesian experience in the local communities.
I entrust this fundamental document to Mary the Immaculate Help of Christians so that "Don Bosco's Teacher" may be the inspiration, the support, the guide of our formation and help us to follow with _joy and renewed fidelity to our apostolic consecration for the young "our own way to holiness" (C 2) and our complete fulfilment in Christ (cfr C 22).
Rome, 8 December 2000.
Fr Juan Edmundo Vecchi
Rector Major
REVISION OF THE “RATIO” REGARDING THE PRENOVITIATE
Rome, 22 July 2009
Prot. 09/0787
To Rev.
Father Provincial
For information
To Rev
Provincial Formation Delegate
Subject: Revised Text of the “Ratio” regarding the Prenovitiate
Dear Fr Provincial,
On 16 July the Rector Major with the General Council approved the new formulation of the “Ratio” regarding the Prenovitiate, which I attach to this letter.
1. Motives for the revision
In accordance with the Project of animation and government for the six-year period starting from September 2008 the Department for Formation launched a process for the revision of the text of the “Ratio” regarding the prenovitiate. The purpose of this was to help each Province to carry out a serious assessment of the formation experience of its own prenovitiate noting its strengths and its weaknesses.
At the same time it was meant to identify some new shared guidelines so as to further strengthen this stage, which continues to be very weak and not very well focused on the fundamental objectives of human maturity, of a convinced experience of the Christian faith, of the maturing of the vocational option and of vocational discernment.
Progress has been made in the quality of the formative experience of the prenovitiate but it is still not sufficient. The weakness of the prenovitiate then inevitably has repercussions on all the other stages of formation. In initial formation, in fact, vocational fragility continues to persist.
2. Process of the revision
Following the GC26 the Department, in consultation with the Regional Coordinators of Formation, prepared a first draft for the revision of the text regarding the prenovitiate. In the Regional Formation Commissions held between September and November 2008, first impressions were collected and suggestions were given about the way the work was to be undertaken.
After this, by March 2009 almost all the Provincial Formation Commissions had sent in their replies. In May and June the Department studied the replies from the Provinces and prepared a new revised text which has now been studied, integrated and approved by the Rector Major and the General Council.
3. Changes in the revision
The revised text has maintained the same numbers; it is about the same length; there has been a simplification of “the guidelines and norms for praxis.” The changes introduced with respect to the previous “Ratio” regard above all the fact that in the Congregation, in accordance with article 109 of the Constitutions and with the GC26. there is new attention being given to vocational accompaniment and to the aspirantate prior to the prenovitiate: 329. More emphasis is given to the process of human maturity, to the help provided by the professional psychologist, and to the family: 332. The centrality of the relationship with the Lord Jesus receives added emphasis as do the faith journey, catechesis, the formation of conscience, initiation into spiritual guidance: 339.
Aspects regarding intellectual formation are also revised, as are the formation community, the community experience, the formation team and the spiritual guide: 342, 344, 345. There are significant additions regarding the care of health, manual work, games and sport, personal media and the mass media, music and instrumental playing, the theatre and youth forms of expression: 333, 336, 337, 342. More emphasis is given to the assessment of suitability for Salesian consecrated life and to the need for greater attention to vocational suitability, also involving the prenovices themselves in the discernment process: 346. Finally there is a reformulation of the “guidelines and norms for the praxis” avoiding the excessive repetitions of the previous text: 348-356.
This text is now being entrusted to the Province, in particular to the prenovitiate community, to the Provincial Formation Commission, to the Provincial Council so that it may be studied, and above all, so that, on the basis of this new formulation, during the year 2010 the Provincial Plan for the Prenovitiate may be revised.
It is my hope that this work will strengthen and give greater quality to this stage of formation. I thank you even now for your collaboration and send you my best wishes.
In Don Bosco,
Fr Francesco Cereda
General Councillor for Formation
REVISION OF THE “RATIO” CONCERNING THE INITIAL FORMATION OF THE SALESIAN BROTHER
Rome, 18 January 2012
Prot. 12/0071
To the Reverend
Fr. Provincial
at his address
To the Reverend
Provincial Formation Delegate
at his address
Subject: Revision of the “Ratio” concerning the initial formation of the Salesian Brother
Dear Provincial and Delegate,
After a study in our Formation Department, a consultation in the Provinces and a deliberation in the General Council, on the 13th of January this year the Rector Major with his Council approved some modifications to the text of the “Ratio” on the formation of the Salesian Brother.
One of the four elements needed to foster an appreciation and a growth of the lay form of our Salesian consecrated vocation is a high quality formation. In fact, the “care and advancement of the Salesian Brother’s vocation” requires, in addition to formation, a widespread knowledge of his vocational identity, his “visibility”, and the promotion of his vocation (cfr. AGC 382, Rome 2003, pp. 29-43).
GC26 offered a new outlook on the Salesian Brother’s vocation in its third key issue by describing the uniqueness of the Salesian consecrated vocation in its two forms. New situations also called for appropriate responses in the formation of the Salesian Brother. And so, some modifications of the “Ratio” became necessary for the whole Congregation. I am giving you here a bird’s-eye view of the changes that you will find in the attachment to this letter.
1. A global presentation of the formation process
Oftentimes in the past, the formation of the Salesian Brother was fraught with uncertainties. Improvisations took place under the guise of flexibility. For various reasons of vocation and of formation, a global view of the process became a felt need. This global view has now been formulated, keeping in mind that the formation of the Salesian, whether brother or priest, is “one in its essential content and diversified in its concrete expressions” (Const. 100).
In number 323 of the revised text, you will now find a global presentation of the formation process of the Salesian Brother. The uncertainties surrounding the stages of formation have been swept away, and our candidates are now offered a clear picture of the Salesian Brother’s formation, which is on a par with that of the Salesian cleric, albeit with its proper characteristics. It now falls to each Province to lay down its practical decisions in this matter in the formation section of its Province Directory.
2. Vocation discernment
Till now a serious omission in the formation method was the scant attention paid to the aspect of vocational discernment concerning the two forms of the Salesian consecrated vocation. This was mostly left to the individual; there was no mention made of objective criteria; and no distinctions were drawn regarding each phase’s contribution to the discernment itself.
Now instead you will find importance given to discernment. In the first place, it is recommended that, following the presentation in the prenovitiate of Salesian consecrated life in its two forms and the presence of a Salesian Brother on the formation team (n. 345), there should be a discernment carried out in the novitiate by all the novices regarding their own Salesian vocation as future priest or brother (nn. 371, 384), drawing on and studying the indications given in numbers 84-87 of “Criteria and norms”.
For the Salesian Brother, the discernment carries on - during the postnovitiate, when he has to identify the field of work in which to carry out the Salesian mission in the future (n. 417); in the choice he has to make of the professional qualification to be achieved, preferably before practical training (n. 409, 417, 425); and in practical training, when he is assigned to a setting in which to practise the professional qualification he has acquired (n. 439).
Furthermore, in the course of preparation for perpetual profession, Salesian clerics and Brothers are asked to review their entire formation process in order to deepen their motivations, also regarding the form of vocation they have chosen; this discernment is done before they begin their specific formation, if it should precede their perpetual profession (n. 512).
Finally, a more serious and responsible process is to be embarked upon in the case of a Salesian Brother asking for a change in his choice of vocation; however, such a case must be an exception, and the conclusion of the process will be a decision by the Rector Major (n. 481).
3. Academic studies
Academic studies are recognized as important for the Salesian Brother. They are not a useless lengthening of the formation process to the detriment of professional qualification. A Brother needs a philosophical and pedagogical as well as a theological and pastoral foundation.
To this end, provision is now made for an equivalent two-year, or at most three-year, programme of philosophical and pedagogical studies during the postnovitiate; these studies will be a help to understand contemporary culture and to acquire the skills needed in the field of education (nn. 409, 417, 425).
The Salesian Brother’s specific formation too, which includes theological and pastoral studies, is now spelt out more clearly so as to avoid any confusion between specific formation and professional qualification. Explicit mention is made of the need for all Salesian Brothers to complete this phase in a regional or interregional centre established for the purpose (nn. 456, 480).
4. Professional qualification
In the recent past, professional qualification was often neglected because it was not properly made part of the formation process. And though, according to our tradition, the world of work and professional formation continue to be very important, not all Salesian Brothers have felt drawn to work in this field and therefore to acquire the necessary technical skills.
The fact is that the needs of our mission are many and varied, and therefore qualification in the professional field includes acquiring the necessary skills needed to fulfil tasks in various other fields besides professional training, such as, for example, the school, social communication, social work, administration and management. Such a qualification must ensure for the Brother a competence that puts him on a par with a lay person exercising the same profession in civil society (n. 409).
Professional qualification requires a discernment to be done during the postnovitiate (nn. 409, 417, 425); it is best achieved, if possible, before practical training (n. 439); and it can be completed with a professional specialization after specific formation (nn. 456, 480).
It is my hope that all this may contribute to an enhancement of the quality of formation given to this form of the Salesian consecrated vocation.
May our Salesian Brothers, Blessed Artemide Zatti, Venerable Simon Srugi, and the Servant of God, Stephen Sandor, intercede for us and obtain for us from God the gift of this precious vocation.
With my cordial greetings,
In Don Bosco,
Fr. Francesco Cereda
General Councillor for Formation
NOTE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
Several times in the past there have been requests for a new edition of the Ratio. Given of the enormous labour and time that would have been involved in such a task, however, Fr Pascual Chávez asked the Formation Department to revise only certain parts of this important document – the chapter on the prenovitiate, and certain articles referring to the initial formation of the Salesian Brother. These revisions were, up to now, available only in the form of separate documents on the website of the congregation, www.sdb.org; a new edition incorporating the revisions was never published.
We have now decided to make available at least online a complete text of the Formation of Salesians of Don Bosco incorporating the revisions, with the text on the prenovitiate being highlighted in blue, and the new articles on the initial formation of the Salesian Brother in green. The two letters of Fr Francesco Cereda containing the revised texts will also be available online. This is what we are referring to as the fourth edition.
May our dear Don Rua, along with venerable Simaan Srugi intercede for us as we heed the calls of our recent general chapters to strengthen our Salesian consecrated identity in its two forms.
Ivo Coelho, SDB
General Councillor for Formation
Feast of Don Rua, 29 October 2016
First Part
SALESIAN FORMATION
IN GENERAL
We live as disciples of the Lord by the grace of the Father, who consecrates us through the gift of his Spirit and sends us out to be apostles of the young.
Through our religious profession we offer ourselves to God in order to follow CHRIST and work with him in building up the Kingdom. Our apostolic mission, our fraternal community and the practice of the evangelical counsels are the inseparable elements of our consecration which we live in a single movement of love towards God and towards our brothers.
Our mission sets the tenor of our whole life; it specifies the task we have in the Church and our place among other religious families.
(Constitution 3)
CHAPTER ONE
SALESIAN FORMATION IN THE PRESENT-DAY CIRCUMSTANCES.
THE RATIO
1.1VOCATION AND FORMATION: A GIFT TO BE WELCOMED AND FOSTERED
1.The Salesian vocation is a gift of God rooted in baptism. It is a call to become, like Don Bosco, disciples of Christ and to form communities bearing witness to the Good Shepherd’s love for the young. “We respond to this call by committing ourselves to an adequate ongoing formation, for which the Lord daily gives us his grace.”1 By responding faithfully to his vocation each Salesian finds his path to complete fulfilment in Christ and his way to holiness.2
“Jesus called his Apostles individually to be with him, and to be sent forth to preach the Gospel. Patiently and lovingly he prepared them and gave them the Holy Spirit to guide them into the fullness of Truth. He calls us too to live out in the Church our Founder’s project as apostles of the young.”3
What the first disciples experienced in their encounter with Jesus and the road they trod as they shared his life, accepted the mystery of his person, embraced the cause of his Kingdom and espoused the evangelical style of life he proposed are also the experience of every Salesian and the path he follows.
Formation is the joyful acceptance of the gift of one’s vocation and its actualization at every moment of one’s life and in every situation. Formation is a grace of the Spirit, a personal attitude, an education for life.
1.2WITH OUR GAZE ON DON BOSCO, FOUNDER AND EDUCATOR, AND ON THE REALITY OF THE CONGREGATION
2.Don Bosco was a true disciple of Christ. He was deeply a “man of God, filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and living as seeing him who is invisible”.4 Zeal for the Kingdom, service of the Church, and response to the needs of the times – these were the typical features of his life, in which he perceived the presence and support of Mary Immaculate, Help of Christians.
Young people and their salvation were his vocation, his mission and his constant field of vision. For their sake the Spirit bestowed on him the heart of a father and teacher, capable of total self-giving: “I have promised God that I would give of myself to my last breath for my poor boys.”5 In his predilection for the young, especially the poorest among them, in his concern for the working-classes and in his missionary undertaking he found his life’s identity.
Don Bosco lived this vocation joyfully, aware that the gift he had received was to be communicated to others. He was able at every moment to evoke participation and sharing in responsibility.6 Many people shared his spirit and his mission, living them out in a wide range of vocations. In this way, the Salesian charism became from its beginning a community, a family, a movement.7
Don Bosco the Founder wanted a community of consecrated persons at the centre of his work, persons who would dedicate their lives entirely as educators and missionaries of the young, especially the poorest, living in fraternal and apostolic communities, and following Jesus in his obedience, poverty and chastity.8 Inspired by the goodness and zeal of St. Francis de Sales, Don Bosco called them Salesians.9
3.Conscious of his responsibility for the charism the Lord had entrusted to him, Don Bosco devoted himself to the formation of his first sons as his priority. “One cannot think of Don Bosco as a founder without at the same time thinking of him as a educator.”10
Formation was his “constant preoccupation and greatest endeavour, from the time of the Oratory when he chose from among his boys those who gave hope of eventually remaining with him, until the last years of his life when his insistent recommendation to Rectors, Provincials and missionaries was to work earnestly for vocations and their formation.”11 He did not limit himself to the search for collaborators, but invited them to become to some extent both disciples and teachers at the same time, “founders” of a new Congregation together with him.12
4.“The first Salesians,” our Constitutions say, “found their sure guide in Don Bosco. Living at the very heart of his community in action, they learned to model their own lives on his.”13
“Fathering a charism”14 which he lived in the style of the Preventive System, Don Bosco was led:
- to impart to his spiritual sons the fire of his “da mihi animas”, an enthusiasm for the mission among the young and an interior joy born of a total dedication, in work and sacrifice, to the cause of the Kingdom;
- to offer them an environment rich in values and relationships, built upon mutual confidence and inner freedom;
- to accompany them individually by educating them to a simple but deep experience of God, by offering them a maturing process incarnated in their daily lives, by opening up vast horizons before them, and by making them responsible for his apostolic project.
In fostering vocations and in the long-drawn-out work of forming his own disciples, he was at one and the same time demanding as well as patient, firm as well as flexible.
Salesian formation means identifying oneself with the vocation which the Spirit has raised up through Don Bosco, possessing his ability to share it with others, and drawing inspiration from his attitude and method of formation.
5.The Salesian Congregation is the bearer of an original experience of the Holy Spirit in the Church, one that was lived by Don Bosco; it is a creative continuation of his project and his spirit in history.15 Right from its origins until the present-day it has lived and fostered that experience with affection and constant fidelity, and has made an effort to communicate it in different ways, especially by caring for vocations and engaging in the work of formation. In the postconciliar period it has made a particularly intense effort to be faithful and to renew itself; evidence of this have been the process of reformulating the Constitutions and the reflections and guidelines of the General Chapters.
Today the Congregation is universal in its appearance and in its roots. The Holy Spirit has given its charism the capacity to bear fruit for the good of young people and continues to raise up persons who wish to “stay with Don Bosco” and live out the Salesian mission in religious consecrated life. The Congregation is present all over the world, inserted in a great variety of human, cultural, religious and pastoral contexts; there it faces different situations: starting up or refounding, consolidating or expanding, redimensioning or relocating. Different too are the contexts in which vocations emerge and develop, and variable their number, background and depth.
When speaking of Salesian formation therefore we have to take into account the reality of a single vocation lived out in different ways at world level; we have to consider this particular “Don Bosco in the world” – gratefully, responsibly and realistically.
In this way the Salesian vocation appears as an identity in constant evolution: while remaining the same, it renews itself in creative fidelity and incarnates itself continually. Growing in Don Bosco’s charism and striving to be faithful to it: this is formation, and it is an absolutely basic priority for the Congregation today and for every Salesian, just as it was for Don Bosco himself in his early days.
1.3REFERENCE POINTS FOR FORMATION AT THE PRESENT DAY
6. To achieve its objectives, formation today needs to focus on certain points. It must understand the context within which a vocation develops, be in tune with the Church and docile to her guidance, feel with the Congregation’s experience of the Salesian charism and adhere to the pattern of formation it proposes.
1.3.1Understanding the context: key influences and challenges
Each one’s experience of his vocation and formation is marked by the human and historical context to which he belongs and within which he has to operate; it is a “contextualized” experience.16 The setting and the needs of inculturation and evangelization make demands of every form of religious life and apostolic mission and have a deep effect on them. The different cultural contexts bring key influences and challenges to bear on the concept and development of the person and his formation.
Faced with this taxing and ambivalent reality, it becomes imperative to engage in a work of discernment and to be able to respond with the help of a proper pedagogical strategy. It becomes the responsibility of every confrere and the specific duty of those involved in the animation and formation of vocations to understand the various contexts and the questions they raise, and to grasp the requirements demanded of whoever wishes to live his vocation. Creating a suitable formative experience requires close consideration to be given to one’s context.
This is all the more necessary in a situation which is complex, fragmented and in constant flux, and for a Congregation which is becoming ever more universal and pluricultural.
7.At the level of the Church and the Congregation, there are overall views of the existing reality and shrewd interpretations of some particular situations. We mention this here in order to lay stress on the constant concern for formation which should permeate the Congregation at world level, and in their different contexts the Provinces, as well as those responsible for formation: it is a matter of carefully considering and duly discerning situations in relation to initial and ongoing formation.
The objectives and the methodology of formation must be constantly attuned to a pastoral reading of cultural situations, and those in charge of formation must become capable of a dialogue which takes account of both elements.17
Aware that a single presentation is not possible because of the variety of situations, we shall draw attention to some of the challenges that are emerging in the different contexts and closely affecting the experience of vocation.
- The unique and sacred dignity of the human person is universally recognized today, but we come across situations in which an exaggerated exaltation of the individual leads to subjectivism and individualism.
- There is a growing awareness of the dignity of the woman and her role in building the new society, but in many places she is still manipulated and exploited in various ways; hence the ambiguous treatment she receives.
- A strong emphasis is laid today on the aspect of sexuality, but all too often in an ambiguous or distorted manner; there is a need therefore for sound and mature personalities.
- Pluralism is already a widespread reality in many places. It can turn into an enrichment, but it requires people who have a strong sense of identity and are able to make mature decisions; otherwise there is a risk of falling into relativism and weak thinking.
- Considerable importance is attached to the value of freedom, and there is a growing awareness that it can be safeguarded only through a well-formed conscience.
- The existing complexity of the world and of life tends towards fragmentation and makes it difficult to lead a well-integrated life.
- The pattern of constant change, the push towards globalization and the insistence of persons and groups on preserving their own identity call for a critical stance and an equilibrium, with a grounding in one’s own culture, albeit with due openness.
- In the religious sphere, one notices a greater desire for spirituality and for God, while, on the other hand, there are vast areas in which religious values are increasingly irrelevant and of little consequence in people’s lives.
8.This description of both positive and problematic elements resonates deeply in everyone’s heart, and particularly affects the formation of those who embrace the vocation to consecrated life, be they young or not so young. It becomes necessary to ask about the kind of “youth situation” within which vocations arise today and the relationship between the criteria and models of life which that situation proposes and the project of Salesian consecrated life. There cannot be a uniform answer to these questions because “youth situations” are so diverse, and those who embark on their first formation bring with them their very different experiences of family, culture, religion, work, study and contact with Salesians; moreover, the paths they have led in following their vocation have differed so widely.
Let us recall a few characteristics that are particularly relevant from the point of view of formation:
- Young people want to be the architects of their own lives, but their horizons are often very limited and they experience difficulty in making decisive choices either for the long term or for life, choices which call for constancy and sacrifice.
- They are sensitive to the values of the human person, but at the same time are fascinated by the consumer society.
- They are apt to defend their freedom, but lacking solid points of reference and affected by rapid changes, they can turn into disoriented personalities, not sufficiently formed and wanting in psychological consistency.
- Particularly in the sphere of sexuality they are influenced by the way people behave in the environments in which they live; the emotional aspect too carries a lot of weight with them.
- They often draw their information, their understanding of reality and their values from the world of social communication. They do not have a strong sense of history, and for this reason they are inclined to give importance to whatever is immediate.
- In their daily relationships they are open, sincere and ready to communicate. They are flexible, tolerant and can easily adapt to new situations. In general they are capable of generosity and service to those in need, and several of them are in the volunteer movements; however, these positive experiences need to be integrated with their life, lest they remain a parenthesis.
- While the educative and evangelizing impact of the family and the school is on the wane, the complexity of modern times makes it difficult to forge unity in one’s life and prolongs the process of growing to maturity and personal identity.
- Young people are sensitive to religion. They search for God and for the values which can give meaning to their lives. They feel the need for spirituality and prayer, but they do not always find it easy to follow the trends in society and at the same time interiorize their own relationship with God.
1.3.2The experience and the guidelines of the Church
9. Aware of the challenges of the present time and faithful to the renewal ushered in by the Council, the Church has been decisively studying the various forms the baptismal vocation can take, and has been showing how the different specific vocations integrate with and enrich each other in an ecclesiology of communion.
In this context the Church has:
- fostered a renewed awareness of the vocation of the laity and has invited everyone to aim at a better quality of Christian life, one that is more solid, personalized, and capable of entering into dialogue with culture;18
- given a deeper understanding of consecrated life and its place in the Church, asking that it be lived in authenticity and fidelity to one’s charism and as a sorely needed prophetic witness in the world of today;19
- reflected anew on the ministry of priests, highlighting their service to the People of God and their need to improve relationships and communication in their pastoral work.20
The Church has given prominence to the witnessing and apostolic aspect of the Christian vocation. She wants everyone to be involved in the commitment to the new evangelization, in the renewed missionary thrust and in the dialogue between faith and culture. Actively inserted in situations of cultural and religious pluralism in the different social contexts, she offers deeper insights into the motivations and manner of inculturating the faith, of opening up to ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue, of expressing solidarity with the world, and in particular, of promoting justice and peace.
10.For the Church a formation that is of high quality and relevant to the times is the key to renewal and the vitality of vocations. While proposing it as a strategic priority and a constant commitment, the Church draws attention to the importance of certain elements: a clear identity with regard to vocation and charism, a formation that is personal and at the same time shared with others, a programme of formation that takes account of the characteristics of the new candidates and the rapidly evolving human and cultural context, and an ongoing formation that keeps alive one’s enthusiasm and fidelity in regard to one’s vocation.
Several recent documents offer criteria, guidelines and instructions for formation. Among them are the following: Vita consecrata,21 Potissimum institutioni (Directives on Formation in Religious Institutes),22 Inter-Institute Collaboration for Formation,23 Pastores dabo vobis,24 Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis (Basic Programme of Priestly Formation),25 and Directives on the Preparation of Educators for Seminaries.26
1.3.3The experience and the guidelines of the Congregation
11.The Congregation has had to react to the rapid cultural changes, to the world of the young, to the exhortations of the Church and to its own situation in the world. The path it has taken in recent decades testifies to the strenuous efforts it has made for a renewed understanding of its charism, for a relaunching of its mission, and its openness to renewal.
Some aspects of vocation have been the object of new emphases: from the meaning of apostolic consecration to a renewed understanding of the Preventive System, from a felt need for spirituality to a community experience, from a basic culture to ongoing formation, from an awareness of the specificity of vocations to their complementary and reciprocal relationships within the Salesian Family, from an ability to draw in lay people to the animating role of Salesians in the educative and pastoral community.
New challenges are arising from the situation of our communities, from the new working model27 and the new relationship with lay people, from a stronger sense of togetherness in the Salesian Family, from the new frontiers of our mission and the new situations of poverty, and from the need to convey a message through our works.
12.Each Salesian is called to respond to these challenges, and the Congregation is strongly urged to provide for a genuine and renewed Salesian experience as well as a formation that helps the confreres and the communities to be:
- bearers of a clear Salesian identity and a high quality spiritual and apostolic experience;
- clearly identified by the grace of unity, in imitation of Don Bosco, who achieved “a splendid blending of nature and grace”;28
- able to discern situations and react positively, and consequently to be creative in the pastoral field and launch significant projects for the benefit of young people;
- conscious of their role as an animating nucleus within a network of shared responsibility with lay people, which is the educative and pastoral community;
- aware that the Salesian vocation is a vocation open to sharing its mission and charism with a spiritual Family and a Movement which take their inspiration from Don Bosco, Father and Teacher.
All this requires that we flesh out a practical plan of action to form Salesians for the Church and the world of today.
13.The text of the Constitutions, officially approved by the Church, is the sure foundation on which to trace the path of fidelity to our vocation and to organise the work of formation.
It falls to the General Chapter and the Rector Major to exercise their responsibility and competence in ensuring unity of spirit; they offer the proper means to look after, safeguard and develop the charism, and propose particular normative guidelines to ensure that the formation of the members is able to meet the demands of the common vocation.
On the basis of the indications given by the Constitutions, the General Chapters, and the Rector Majors, the Congregation has produced other documents that serve to deepen the Salesian experience and show how to cultivate it. These are, for example, the commentary on the Constitutions29 and texts concerning our educative and pastoral praxis, the part we have to play within the Salesian Family, and the exercise of authority by the Provincial and the Rector.30
Among the official texts, the Ratio (“The Formation of the Salesians of Don Bosco”) is a document of unique importance. It shows how to pass on the charism of Don Bosco “so that it will be lived in its integrity by future generations, in different cultures and geographical regions,” and it also explains to Salesians “how to live that spirit in the different stages of life on the way to full maturity of
faith in Christ.”31
1.4THE RATIO: PURPOSE, CONTENT AND THOSE TO WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED
1.4.1The purpose of the Ratio
14. “The principle of unity in the Congregation,” our Constitutions say, “is the charism of our Founder, which of its richness gives rise to different ways of living the one Salesian vocation. Formation is therefore one in its essential content and diversified in its concrete expressions; it accepts and develops whatever is true, noble and just in the various cultures.”32
From this standpoint the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum is an instrument for forging vocational identity and a particular service for unifying and decentralizing formation. It “sets out in an organic and instructive way the complexus of principles and norms concerning formation which are found in the Constitutions, general Regulations and other documents of the Church and of the Congregation”;33 it contains the guidelines and general norms that must guide the Provinces in laying down how the work of formation is to be carried out, keeping in mind the demands of the cultural context.
The Ratio is a practical and secure guide that aims at expressing the ideals that Don Bosco has left us as his legacy. It gives practical norms and presents a synthesis of the conditions, the pedagogical methods and the processes that ought to characterize formation at world level.34 In it is to be found the basis of unity for every legitimate pluralism in the manner of conducting the work of formation and the programme of studies.
15.It was the GC21 which required that the Salesian Ratio be drawn up. The first edition was published in 1981; the second was prepared in 1985 after the Code of Canon Law was published and the renewed text of the Salesian Constitutions was definitively approved. The present revision was asked for by the GC2435 in the light of the new challenges of evangelization and inculturation, and in response to the renewed commitment to formation that emerged very strongly from the analysis of the state of the Congregation and from the deeper study of the theme of the Chapter.36
1.4.2The structure and content of the Ratio
16.The Ratio is made up of two parts, followed by four Appendices.
The first part opens with a chapter that highlights some aspects of Salesian formation in the circumstances of the present-day and declares the purpose of the Ratio (chap. 1). There follows a presentation of our Salesian vocational identity: the starting point and goal of our formation (chap. 2), the dimensions of our formation together with a description of certain values and attitudes required by our Salesian vocation (chap. 3), and some strategies for a methodology of formation (chap. 4).
The second part concentrates on the formative process seen from the standpoint of ongoing formation. After an introduction which outlines the characteristics of the formative process (chap. 5), the various periods or phases of initial formation right up to perpetual profession are presented one by one, and for each of them are spelled out the nature and the purpose, the particular characteristics and a few necessary conditions (chap. 6 – 11). The final chapter deals with ongoing formation (chap. 12).
Four Appendices complete the document. Two of them offer suggestions for drawing up the Formation section of the Province Directory and the Provincial Formation Plan. A third contains guidelines for the programme of studies. And a fourth presents some significant documents on formation.
1.4.3Those to whom the Ratio is directed
17.The Ratio is a text entrusted to all Salesians. In it they will find the solicitude of the Congregation for the holiness and training of its members. In particular, the confreres in formation will find in it an invitation and a motivation to grow personally in identifying with their Salesian vocation and to embrace their commitments with complete awareness.
In a special way, the Ratio is entrusted to the Provinces and directly concerns the Provincial and his Council, the Rectors of communities, the Provincial Delegate and Commission for Formation, those holding responsibility for formation, and all those who are animators of vocations and of initial and ongoing formation.
In line with the principles and the general criteria set out in the Ratio, every Province has the duty of laying down, through the various organs of animation and government, “the method of formation according to the needs of its own cultural context and in conformity with the directives of the Church and the Congregation”.37 This responsibility requires a permanent attitude of reflection and dialogue between Salesian identity and the cultural context. Collaboration in this field is to be encouraged among Provinces that are in similar circumstances.
18.For a Province, which is the community responsible for inculturating the Salesian charism, accepting the spirit and the mind of the Ratio means establishing a formation climate and mentality at the level of the Province, a service of animation and government which accords real priority to the care of vocations, and a group of confreres – normally the Provincial Delegate for Formation and the Provincial Commission for Formation – who have a real capacity for reflecting, evaluating and putting forward suggestions for consideration. Such a group, acting in dependence on the Provincial and his Council, will be responsible for animating and coordinating the formation enterprise at the various levels.
The Province will express its responsibility in connection with the Ratio by drawing up:
- the formation section of the Provincial Directory, in which it will transpose the policies and requirements of the Ratio in precise norms, applying them to the local situation;38
- the Provincial Formation Plan, a plan of initial and ongoing formation that contains objectives, urgent needs, priorities and a concrete course of action – in line with the Ratio – that are fixed after, and based on, an attentive and up-to-date assessment of the situation of formation. The plan makes for a formation process that is gradual and organic, permits a verification and a constant adaptation to situations, and helps to keep improvisation and immediate concerns at bay.39
19.“The principle of unity in the Congregation is the charism of our Founder, which of its richness gives rise to different ways of living the one Salesian vocation. Formation is therefore one in its essential content and diversified in its concrete expressions; it accepts and develops whatever is true, noble and just in the various cultures.”40
Pluralism in the manner of effecting Salesian formation in line with the needs of a particular cultural context41 requires that the charism be the basis of unity.
20. “At world level the practical guide for formation will be the Salesian ‘Ratio fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum’, and at provincial level a Directory approved by the Rector Major with the consent of his Council.
“The Ratio sets out in an organic and instructive way the complexus of principles and norms concerning formation which are found in the Constitutions, general Regulations and other documents of the Church and of the Congregation.”42
The Ratio is a document at the service of the unity and decentralization of formation in the Congregation. It therefore gives directions, and is normative in its practical indications, wherever they are found. It must serve as a basis for the formation section of the Provincial Directory, for the programme of studies and for the Provincial Formation Plan.
21.Let the Provincial and the Provincial Delegate for Formation see to it that all the confreres are acquainted with the Ratio and the booklet “Criteria and Norms for Salesian Vocation Discernment. Admissions”. These two documents should become a constant point of reference for those who, by virtue of their different roles, hold responsibility in the formation and vocation sector (the Provincial Council and the animators, the Rectors, those involved in the work of formation, the confessors, etc.).
22. It is the prime responsibility of the Provincial and his Council to animate the work of formation. Every Province must ensure that formation is carried out in an organic, systematic and coordinated manner as a service that is mindful of the different situations, reflects, plans and evaluates.
Ordinarily, this service will be undertaken by the Provincial Delegate and the Provincial Commission for Formation, in agreement with and under the responsibility of the Provincial and his Council.
23. “It is the duty of the provincial community, through the various organs of animation and government, to lay down the method of formation according to the needs of its own cultural context and in conformity with the directives of the Church and the Congregation.”43
The formation section of the Provincial Directory, formulated by the Provincial Chapter44 and approved by the Rector Major with the consent of his Council, “applies the principles and norms of Salesian formation [set out in the Ratio] to the concrete local situations.”45
Let every Province evaluate on a regular basis – normally through the Provincial Commission for Formation, or if considered opportune, in line with its proper function, through the Provincial Chapter – the practical implementation of the formation section of the Provincial Directory. This information will be sent by the Provincial to the Councillor for Formation.
24.In conformity with the Provincial Directory, let the Provincial see to the formulation of the Provincial Formation Plan as an operational blueprint in the field of initial and ongoing formation. The plan should contain criteria, objectives, strategies, and lines of action. It should provide for a sharing of responsibility and a gradual approach at the working level, and lay down the modalities for verification. It ought to be the fruit of a community reflection on the formation guidelines of the Church and the Congregation.
CHAPTER TWO
THE STARTING-POINT AND GOAL OF OUR FORMATION:
OUR IDENTITY AS SALESIANS
25.“Our living Rule is Jesus Christ… whom we find present in Don Bosco who devoted his life to the young.”46 This statement of our Constitutions sums up our Salesian vocation: we are to conform ourselves to Jesus Christ and spend our lives for the young, as did Don Bosco. All our formation, both initial and ongoing, consists in acquiring and actualizing this identity in individual persons and in the community. To this end are directed the efforts of every candidate and every confrere, the activity of the animators, and the entire formation enterprise.
For this reason, our Salesian identity is the basis of unity and of belonging to the worldwide Congregation. It is the heart of all our formation, the fountainhead of our formation process and its constant point of reference. It is also the determining criterion of vocation discernment.
2.1OUR IDENTITY AS SALESIANS
26.Don Bosco the Founder, “a man of God and a man of young people”, a man of the Church and a man of his times, the animator of a way of apostolic spirituality, is for us Salesians not only someone to constantly refer to but also our pattern of life. We find the authentic way of living our Salesian identity in Don Bosco’s own experience of his vocation and in that of the first community of Valdocco. In our Constitutions, approved by the Church, we have its most authoritative formulation, expressing the Congregation’s awareness of its own charism.
In Don Bosco and the Salesian Constitutions we find the elements which define that “original style of life and action”47 which the Holy Spirit raised up in the Church, that “specific form of religious life”48 in which “we find our own way to holiness”.49 By calling us Salesians, Don Bosco wanted to emphasize our spiritual and pastoral closeness to Francis de Sales, a saint whose goodness and pastoral zeal he admired.50
What was true for Don Bosco is true for every Salesian: when the living out of one’s vocation is identified with one’s actual journey through life, it becomes the place of encounter between God’s initiative and human endeavour.51 And again, for Don Bosco as well as for every Salesian, one’s personal vocation is closely linked with that of the community, itself the bearer of the charism and responsible for the mission.
2.1.1 A project of apostolic consecrated life
27.The Constitutions state that the Salesian vocation is a particular expression of the baptismal vocation, which religious profession recalls and endorses, “giving it a deeper and fuller expression”.52
The hallmark of the life of a Salesian as a disciple of the Lord is his apostolic consecration. It is a grace of the Father, who consecrates him with the gift of his Spirit, engrafts him in Christ, and in the Church entrusts him with building his Kingdom by being a sign and bearer of his love for the young, especially the poorest.53
In the act of religious profession our apostolic consecration finds its most eloquent expression. It is “a sign of a loving encounter between the Lord who calls and the disciple who responds by giving himself totally to God and to his brothers and sisters.”54
28.While this gift of the Spirit - the Salesian charism – effects a particular configuration to Christ, it creates a distinct Gospel awareness that permeates a Salesian’s entire life, his style of holiness and the accomplishment of the mission:55
- it distinguishes his encounter with God: his relationship with the Father, whose fatherhood and compassion he experiences every day; with the Son, Apostle of the Father and Good Shepherd, whom he seeks to identify with more and more; and with the Holy Spirit, from whom he draws grace to be holy and strength to be faithful;
- it marks his relationship with the Body of Christ, the Church: he loves her, feels himself a living part of her, and works assiduously for her growth;56
- it gives prominence to some particular aspects in the sphere of asceticism, aspects that we can define in the following key-words: work, temperance, loving-kindness, educational expertise, and fraternal rapport;57
- it gives a certain Marian tone to his life, drawing him into a relationship with Mary Immaculate, Help of Christians, who epitomises his spirituality and gives him support in his vocation. He contemplates her as the Lord’s disciple who said “Yes” to God’s plan of the Incarnation, and follows her as she cooperates in the work of redemption and symbolizes the Church;
- it determines his outlook on the world about him and the part he is to play in it.
29.The Salesian follows Christ by realizing Don Bosco’s apostolic plan.58
“With one and the same call Christ invites us to follow him in his work of salvation and in the kind of virginal and poor life that he chose for himself; and we, in a single response of love and the grace of the Holy Spirit, following the example of the apostles, willingly leave everything and join together in community, the better to work for him and for the Kingdom. The consecration of Salesians is therefore one and undivided: it is inseparably apostolic and religious.”59
The Salesian therefore devotes himself totally to God, whom he loves above all things, and to his plan of salvation. His life starts from a deep experience of God and the challenges involved in carrying out the mission.60 He is consecrated for the mission which sets the tenor of his life.61 God’s call reaches him as he lives out his mission among the young; that is often the place where he begins to follow Christ. In the mission are exercised, revealed and developed the gifts he has received at his consecration. A single movement of love draws him to God and directs him towards the young.62 He turns his educational activity among the young into an act of worship and a potential meeting-place with God.
It is in “the grace of unity”63 that the essential elements of the Salesian “project” of apostolic consecrated life are fused together.
2.1.1.1ANIMATED BY PASTORAL LOVE TO BE AN EDUCATOR AND PASTOR OF THE YOUNG
30. What distinguishes the life of the Salesian, as well as that of Don Bosco, is the predilection for the young, and among them, the preference for those who are “poor, abandoned and in danger”.64 The service to the young gives unity to his whole life: “That you are young is enough to make me love you very much.”65 “For you I study, for you I work, for you I live, for you I am ready even to give my life.”66
The predilection for young people and the accompanying gift of oneself to them – the distinguishing features of Don Bosco and of every Salesian – flow from pastoral love, that is, from a “special communion of love with Christ”,67 and not just from the concern of an educator or the generous heart of someone sensitive to their needs.
In pastoral love, the love for Christ as the Good Shepherd and for young people, the Salesian finds his programme of life, his way to holiness, the embodiment of his covenant with God and of his will to become conformed to Christ. It is through the young that the Lord enters to take first place in the life of the Salesian, and the yearnings of Christ the Redeemer find an echo in his motto, Da mihi animas, coetera tolle, which forms the unifying element of his whole life.
31.In Don Bosco pastoral love assumes a further specification as educative love. It manifests itself as a tangible, personalized love concerned with the integral salvation of young people. To some it offers bread, to others trade skills and cultural advancement; to everyone it provides a path that opens them to truth, urges them to develop in themselves a responsible freedom, and leads them to an encounter with the risen Jesus.
As he works with the Oratory as his model, the Salesian responds to the needs of the young by embarking on a vast array of activities and works, each of which is “a home”, “a school”, “a parish” and “a playground”.68 His generous and creative spirit in the name of the Gospel is his way of being Church and translates into youth projects significant for both Church and society.
32. Moreover, his “apostolic passion, lit up by youthful ardour”69 gives a particular tone to his service of youth: called “the oratorian heart”, it reveals itself in a method which Don Bosco named the Preventive System, and which is based on reason, religion and loving-kindness.70 Drawing inspiration from the example and teachings of Don Bosco, the Salesian lives the Preventive System as a spiritual, pedagogical and pastoral experience.71 His dealings with the young are marked by cordiality and by an active and friendly presence72 that fosters leadership. He joyfully accepts the labours and sacrifices that his contact with young people implies, convinced that through them he will find his way to holiness.
This priority commitment to young people fits in well with pastoral work among the working-classes73 (faith-education of the ordinary people, particularly by means of social communication74) and missionary activity by proclaiming the Gospel message among peoples it has not yet reached.75
2.1.1.2RESPONSIBLE MEMBER OF A COMMUNITY
33. By his vocation the Salesian is a living part of a local, provincial and world community and nurtures a deep sense of belonging to each of them. He lives the two aspects of that vocation – the personal and the community aspects – in his brotherly fellowship, in the realization of his mission and in his spirituality.
Don Bosco was not one to work all alone by himself; he sought the involvement of others and fostered collaboration and the sharing of responsibility. He was clearly aware that his vocation was meant to be shared and passed on to others.
The community aspect is therefore one of the most distinguishing marks of Salesian identity. The Salesian is called to live with brothers who are consecrated like him in order to work together with them for God’s Kingdom among the young. “To live and work together,” our Constitutions say, “is for us Salesians a fundamental requirement and a sure way of fulfilling our vocation.”76
In a spirit of faith and with friendly support the Salesian lives the family spirit in his community, contributing day by day to the growth of communion among all the members.
Convinced that the mission is entrusted to the community, he commits himself to work together with his confreres according to an overall plan and a joint strategy.
In his community prayer he rejoices in the presence of the Lord and shares his spiritual experience with others.
2.1.1.3WITNESS TO GOSPEL RADICALISM
34. Prompted by pastoral love and a sense of mission, Don Bosco proposed to his collaborators a pattern of life entirely based on Gospel values that would demonstrate an active solidarity with the young and testify to God’s supremacy, bringing to bear on the world of education their radical witness to the values of the Kingdom.77 He “frequently [pointed] out how the sincere practice of the vows strengthens the bonds of brotherly love and makes our apostolic work coherent.”78
The way of life according to the counsels of obedience, poverty and chastity is grounded on a love for Christ and for young people. With the groundwork of a solid human maturity for its foundation, and its sustenance deriving from life in community and personal asecticism, it bears witness that the need to love, the urge to possess and the freedom to control one’s whole life, aspects which touch on the deepest inclinations of human nature, find their fullest meaning in Christ the Saviour.79 It is an experience rich in evangelical and human values.
The practice of the evangelical counsels manifests in a particular way the “Da mihi animas, coetera tolle”, the hallmark of the Salesian’s apostolic spirituality and asceticism; it is his badge of identity and test of formation.
2.1.1.4ANIMATOR OF COMMUNION IN THE SPIRIT AND MISSION OF DON BOSCO
35.“Every SDB is an animator, and strives always to fulfil the task more efficiently.”80
Don Bosco’s vocation developed in such a way that it became a shared vocation, a joint mission, an experience of holiness in a communion of gifts. From the beginning of the Oratory there were secular priests and lay people, men and women, taking part in his apostolate in a family environment and having the same spirit and goals. Still others felt they were a part of the Oratory and gave a helping hand in different ways in the work for the young.
In this way Don Bosco’s apostolic drive became the common undertaking of those who joined in his enterprises. His zeal for souls, his style of approach to the young, his method of education and his spirituality became the patrimony of a Family and of a vast Movement.
The Salesian cannot fully think about his vocation in the Church without reference to those who with him share in carrying out the Founder’s will.81 Through his profession he enters the Salesian Congregation and becomes part of the Salesian Family in which, together with the other members who are called to pursue different vocations, he shares the spirit and mission proper to Don Bosco’s charism, and the striving for fidelity through formation in common.82 He takes on the responsibility “to preserve unity of spirit and to foster dialogue and fraternal collaboration for [...] mutual enrichment and greater apostolic effectiveness”.83
36.In the educative and pastoral community (EPC) the Salesian finds practical ways of expressing Salesian communion every day. That is where he shares the Salesian spirit, experiences the interdependence of vocations and roles, and carries out a programme of joint formation. Together with his Salesian community he fulfils his animating role by helping everyone to collaborate and share responsibility.
But the circle of communion goes beyond Salesian works. It takes in the wider area and the local Church, and above all embraces a vast movement of persons who are attracted by the charism and spirituality of Don Bosco or who work for the young.
2.1.1.5A PART OF THE CHURCH, OPEN TO THE FLOW OF EVENTS AND IN TOUCH WITH REALITY
37.In openness to the working of the Spirit, Don Bosco successfully interpreted the signs of the times and responded to new needs in a wise, creative and practical manner.84 The contact with reality was woven into the fabric of his vocation. He experienced firsthand the life of the Church and the history of his country. He grasped their complex reality and played an active role in them. The flow of events was for him a challenge and an urgent summons to discernment and action. “I have always gone along [...], just as the Lord inspired me and circumstances required.”85
Receptive to every situation, the Salesian is particularly responsive to the condition of the young, of working-class people and of those still awaiting the Gospel message; he feels invested with a responsibility towards them by virtue of the Salesian charism.86
He tries to understand the cultural developments taking place in everyday life, reflects seriously on them, considers them in the light of Redemption, the urgency of the “Da mihi animas” and “the coming of the Kingdom”,87 and feels constantly challenged to produce bold, new, practical responses.
By keeping in touch with reality he is impelled to grow in his identity as a Salesian out of dynamic fidelity to Don Bosco and to the times.
2.1.2The different forms of Salesian identity
38.Don Bosco wanted the single project of Salesian apostolic consecration to be expressed in its entirety in the two forms proper to it: in that of the Salesian priest [or deacon] and in that of the Salesian brother. Both live out the same profession and take part in one and the same community of life and action.
The vocations of the Salesian priest [or deacon] and the Salesian brother are two complementary forms that enrich fraternal and apostolic life, bringing to it their specific contribution.88
2.1.2.1THE SALESIAN PRIEST
39.The Salesian priest [or deacon] combines in himself the gifts of Salesian consecration and those of the pastoral ministry, but in such a way that his particular manner of being a priest and exercising his ministry stems from his Salesian consecration. As a sacramental sign of Christ the Good Shepherd, from whom he draws his pastoral love, he works within the framework of his community in his bid to “save” the young.
His specific contribution to the apostolic activity of his community lies in his threefold ministry.
Through the ministry of the Word, he brings Christ’s message to bear on a variety of situations and expresses it in different ways: by preaching, by helping and giving advice, by enabling the young to understand their own experience, by giving a sense of direction to activities and works, and by effecting a change of life.
He accomplishes his service of sanctification in different ways, but the most significant and fruitful occasion is the service of initiation into the life of Christ, into liturgical prayer and into the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation.
His activity of “animating the Christian community” is wholly directed to the service of unity in the Salesian community, and on a wider level, in the educative and pastoral community, in the Salesian Family and in the Salesian Movement. He knows how to animate different Salesian pastoral settings.
2.1.2.2THE SALESIAN BROTHER89
40.The Salesian brother “combines in himself the gifts of consecration with those of the lay state”:90 he lives the lay state as a consecrated person.
He works mainly in the secular field, where he bears witness to his radical love for Christ and is conspicuous for his professional competence.
“The presence of the Salesian brother enriches the apostolic activity of the community. It reminds the priest members of the values inherent in the lay religious vocation and recalls them constantly to an active collaboration with lay people. It also recalls to the Salesian priest the vision of an apostolic goal and ideal that is complex in its reality, because it goes beyond priestly and catechetical activity in the strict sense.”91
He has a significant role to play, especially in certain contexts where the priest is seen as a sacred or cultic figure. By his consecrated life he proclaims the presence of God in daily life, the importance of becoming disciples before being teachers, and bears witness to a convinced life of faith not tied to functional or ministerial duties.92
The Salesian brother also acts as a link between his consecrated brothers and the lay people in the educative and pastoral community itself.
“To his consecrated brethren he recalls the value of creation and of secular realities; to the laity he recalls the value of total dedication to God for the cause of the Kingdom. To all he offers a particular sensitivity for the world of work, a concern for the locality, and a need for the kind of professional approach he uses in his educative and pastoral activity.”93
2.2FORMATION AT THE SERVICE OF SALESIAN IDENTITY
41.The process of growth in one’s Salesian identity is the determining factor of the whole approach to formation. In other words, what distinguishes our formation - which cannot be generic – is our Salesian identity: it spells out the tasks and fundamental requirements.
2.2.1Our formation is determined by our Salesian identity
The Constitutions assert that “the religious and apostolic nature of the Salesian calling dictates the specific direction our formation must take”.94 To become a consecrated apostle like Don Bosco is the guiding principle of our process of formation.
It is through formation, in fact, that we achieve our identity as Salesians and acquire the maturity needed to live and work in conformity with the founding charism.95 Starting out from an initial state of enthusiasm for Don Bosco and his mission for youth, we arrive at a true conformity with Christ and a stronger identification with our Founder; we embrace the Constitutions as our Rule of life and identity-card, and develop a strong sense of belonging to the Congregation and to the provincial community.
The close relationship between formation and identity “means that each member should study diligently the spirit, history and mission of the Institute to which he or she belongs, in order to advance the personal and communal assimilation of its charism”.96 It underlines the importance of “Salesianity”, that is, of the spiritual patrimony and the “mind” of the Congregation that need to be progressively studied, assimilated and fostered.
Since the priestly and lay forms are integral aspects of Salesian identity, it is necessary that there be an appropriate formation for growth in one’s specific identity from the very beginning of the process.
2.2.2Formation promotes our identity on a permanent basis
42.The Salesian vocation is an ever-changing reality. It is a continual response to the Father and consists in following Christ the way Don Bosco did. It calls for a constant openness and discernment in the face of the changes taking place in the life of the Church and the world, especially among youth and the working-classes.
As a process of assimilating one’s identity therefore, formation is a lifelong task, a continuing process of being and becoming a Salesian in every phase of one’s life and of living every situation in a Salesian way. It is a response to a vocation that challenges us constantly. It is the responsibility of the Congregation and of each confrere.
In the reality of every day the Salesian turns his identity of apostle of youth into a living experience.
2.2.3 Formation links our identity with the cultural context
43.The Salesian vocation extends to all times and places, expressing itself everywhere and finding ever new and richer ways of being faithful. Called to incarnate himself among the youth of a particular place and culture, the Salesian stands in need of an incultured formation.
Through discernment and dialogue with his own situation, he seeks to imbue his life’s principles with evangelical and Salesian values, and to implant the Salesian experience in his own context. This fruitful relationship gives rise to ways of life and pastoral approaches which are more effective in so far as they are consistent with the founding charism and with the unifying action of the Holy Spirit.97
2.2.4Formation fosters growth in our identity according to our personal gifts
44.The Salesian vocation found its ideal in Don Bosco and its most original historical form in the first community of Valdocco.
There is no doubt that the reality of the Salesian identity is found in different ways in the faces and life-stories of different people, according to the gifts each one has received from God. The communion in fidelity and the different impact of the charism on each person’s life can be clearly seen in the history of “Salesian sanctity” and in an intelligent perusal of the experience of those confreres who have lived to the full the Gospel project of Salesian life.
Hence the need for a formation that can communicate the same nucleus of Salesian identity, the same underlying values, the same fundamental characteristics, the same Salesian “culture”,98 and that at the same time inspires every confrere to express in his Salesian vocation the gifts he has received and to find in it his way to complete fulfilment in Christ.99
As a personal attitude and community responsibility, formation has the permanent task of enabling every confrere to acquire his own identity as a Salesian and realize it in his own person.
2.2.5Formation helps us to live out our identity within a communion of vocations
45.Formation gives the Salesian a strong sense of his own particular identity, opens him up to communion in the Salesian spirit and mission with the members of the Salesian Family who live different vocations, and brings him into the broad communion which comprises many varied forms of the Christian vocation. The communion will be the stronger “the clearer each one is about his own identity as a Salesian, and the more the different vocations are understood, respected and benefited from”.100
Consequently, when initiatives promoting collaboration among the groups of the Salesian Family and with other Institutes in the field of formation, or promoting joint formation between Salesians and lay collaborators are well conducted, they contribute to “a greater appreciation of the charism of one’s own Institute as well as that of others...” and offer “an eloquent testimony of the communion to which the Church is called by divine vocation”.101
Formation to communion in Salesian values increases our awareness of the task of animating in whatever concerns our charism and prepares us for it.
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1 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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2 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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3 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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4 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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5 CHAPTER SIX |
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6 THE PRENOVITIATE |
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7 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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8 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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9 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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10 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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11 PRACTICAL GUIDELINES AND NORMS |
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12 The formation section of the Provincial Directory710 |
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13 Church and Salesian documents on formation |
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14 General Chapters |
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15 Rector Majors |
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16 Egidio Viganò |
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17 Juan Edmundo Vecchi |
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18 Documents for reference |
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19 Activities |
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20 Aspect |
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21 Atmosphere/climate |
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22 Authority |
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23 Chastity |
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24 Collaboration |
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25 Communication |
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26 Community |
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27 Constitutions |
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28 Continuity |
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29 Culture |
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30 Dialogue |
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31 Discernment |
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32 Don Bosco the founder |
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33 Education |
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34 Educator |
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35 Experience |
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36 Evaluations |
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37 Evangelization |
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38 Faith |
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39 Fidelity |
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40 God |
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41 God the Father |
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42 Gospel |
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43 Graded/gradual approach |
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44 Holiness |
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45 Holy Spirit |
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46 Identity |
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47 Inculturation |
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48 inculturation of the faith/Gospel 9, 139, 141, 467 |
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49 Interdependence |
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50 Jesus Christ |
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51 Joy |
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52 Kindness |
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53 Love |
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54 Mary |
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55 Maturing |
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56 Methodology |
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57 Participation |
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58 Pastoral work |
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59 structured pastoral work 83, 192, 198, 473 |
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60 Pedagogy |
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61 Person |
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62 Philosophy |
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63 Pluralism |
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64 Poor |
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65 Poverty |
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66 Practice |
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67 interaction between theory and practice (= reflection on one’s experience) 132, 150, 152, 198-199, 433, 445 |
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68 Prayer |
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69 Preventive System |
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70 Project/Plan |
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71 Provincial |
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72 Qualification |
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73 Rector Major |
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74 Salesian brother |
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75 Salesian deacon |
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76 Salesian Family |
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77 Salesian priest |
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78 Sciences |
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79 shared responsibility in the community 73, 89, 90, 93, 197, 226, 253, 411, 430, 543-544, 555 |
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80 Sharing |
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81 Situations |
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82 Spiritual direction |
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83 Spirituality |
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84 Structured approach |
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85 Updating |
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86 Values |
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87 Word of God |
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88 World |
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89 Youth |
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