09-OctoberDB-StudyGuide2012 :: Formation

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09-OctoberDB-StudyGuide2012

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DON BOSCO: EDUCATOR

Study Guide: October 2012

facebook.com/SalesianStudies

Dear Salesian Family,

As we move into our second year of

studying our Founder, Don Bosco, we focus

on his Educational Methodology. We call

upon the work of Fr. Jack Finnegan, a Salesian

scholar from Dublin, who launched this

year’s study of Don Bosco by leading the USA

Western Province in a day of reflection. The

content of the day of reflection is found in

this guide, which contextualizes Don Bosco’s

Pedagogy within his burning love for God, and

demonstrates how his every effort was linked to

this encounter with God.

What is more powerful still is the challenging

questions Fr. Jack poses to the Salesian world of

today. He calls for an examination of our own

contexts, an appraisal of our own motivations,

and a deep soul-searching of our institutional

and personal passions.

Let the fire which moved, molded, and

mastered Don Bosco’s educative heart enflame

each of our hearts! Let each of the questions

he raises open personal reflection and initiate

conversations in all of our various contexts.

The work of the Institute of Salesian Studies

is committed to this study and renewal of hearts

and minds. May the Spirit guide your study

and your reflection and may you discover the

privileged call to be educators of the heart and

shapers of the soul!

-Fr. John Roche, SDB

Director of the Institute of Salesian Studies

Director@SalesianStudies.org

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DON BOSCO: EDUCATOR

by Fr. Jack Finnegan, SDB

Don Bosco is a man of many colours: priest, saint, founder, mystic, prophet, servant

of the young and the poor, educator, pastor, social activist, evangelist, healer, writer,

churchman. He is a man aflame with the glowing fire of Sinai shining through myriad

activities, talents and charismatic gifts; truly a man of God wrapped in an ecstasy of love-filled

and hope-filled action with a world-wide reach.

Yet if we pause for a moment to consider the whole person and put the student firmly

this ecstasy of love-in-action we soon dis- at the centre of his educative project.1

cover other spiritual blooms vividly at work:

He believed that, amidst the uncertainties

• an ecstasy of solidarity with the poor of the world, everyone is called to wholeness

and those most in need

and completion in Christ. His ministry was

• an ecstasy of faith-filled service

coloured by the many hues and possibilities of

that vision and the desire it provoked in him

• an ecstasy of loving care finding form to bring Christ’s healing work to completion

in a vast work of education, evangeli- in the lives of those he touched. Education be-

sation and development on behalf of came a privileged channel to the fulfilment of

the young

that desire precisely because Don Bosco knew

from personal experience that next to good

Only grace, and faith-filled cooperation parenting education is the fundamental agen-

with grace, can explain the prophetic phe- cy of human change and social development:

nomenon that is Don Bosco in the world. the door to a better life, the door to complete

The dance of Loving Spirit gives rhythm to and full expression of self.

Don Bosco’s every pastoral-educative step:

for God loves the young!

Don Bosco had already

Don Bosco was never

shy about affirming the deep

religious roots of his peda-

gogical inspiration and the

profoundly religious shape

Don Bosco knew from per-

sonal experience that next

to good parenting education

is the fundamental agency

of human change and social

seen this in the public life

of his mentor and spiritual

director St Joseph Cafasso

(1811-1860) whose solici-

tude for poor youth had

an immense impact on the

of his commitment to edu-

development

young Don Bosco.2 He

cation. His Christian faith

witnessed Don Cafasso in-

lies at the heart of everything he did. It is structing the young in the faith, giving them

especially present in everything he did to clothes so that they could go to church, and

overcome class- and poverty-based gaps in finding them jobs with honest employers.

value-led educational, vocational, faith and He also saw Cafasso pay school fees and give

economic attainment. As a mystic and a bread to young people in need; and, of course,

prophet, as a servant of the poor, Don Bos- he witnessed Don Cafasso’s work in the pris-

co was moved by an implicit eschatological ons. It is in such ways that the seeds of mysti-

vision made explicit in God-given motiva- cal and prophetic service are sown and their

tions of hope and the pastoral resiliency to patterns learnt from a man of prayer and pa-

which they gave rise. He was the master of a tient yet indefatigable action in the cause of

pastoral-educative approach that developed charity.3

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Mystic Fire

God’s fire, the fire of Sinai, is a transforming fire,

a liberating and refining fire, an inspiring fire that

inflames the goodness and the beauty in the human

heart. There is nothing harmful or punitive in it. Like

that fire, there is nothing harmful or

punitive in Don Bosco’s approach to

education. The fire of Sinai speaks of

God’s compassionate presence in the

world. So does Don Bosco. It speaks

of God’s light in a darkened world, of

the transforming wisdom of Christ

and the warmth of the Spirit touching

and transforming human hearts and

lives. So does Don Bosco. His mysti-

cism is grounded in a spirituality of

the heart. So is his educative-pastoral

approach. Are we listening to the wis-

dom of the heart today?

A holy man he had no difficulty proposing holi-

ness and the love of God to the young. He knew from

experience that the touch of God’s holiness is lovingly

expansive even in dark and difficult times. For Don

Bosco and for us religion, the way to holiness, the way

of response to God’s love, is not an add-on. It is not

an optional extra. Like Don Bosco it is our hope that

young people be touched by the divine fire that puri-

fies and transforms but does no harm. For us too reli-

gion and spirituality are part of what it means to be a

full human being.

In Don Bosco the mystic we see this fire spread-

ing into the lives of young people who in their turn

reached the heights of sanctity: Savio, Magone, Be-

succo4 and many others during (and after) Don Bos-

co’ life time, a message brought home in the names

that appear in the rolls of Salesian sanctity. And Don

Bosco was unafraid to make spiritual and vocational

proposals at a time when socio-cultural, political and

economic trends were blatantly inimical to sanctity.

Does the picture sound familiar?

By definition, the authentic Salesian educator is

one in whom the inspiring and transforming fire of

Trinitarian love burns brightly because he or she has

personally experienced a liberating encounter with

the living God. Such an encounter inevitably reshapes

the logic of the mind, the logic of the heart, and the

logic of life. It moves beyond narrative to an ever-

deepening understanding of the divine in life, and

then to the radical, transforming

wisdom of God; and the mystic

and the prophet begin to emerge.

In such a radical encounter

the mystic’s eyes are opened to

the One True Reality; they are

awakened from the collusive con-

sensual slumber of the majority

to an enlightened posture of true

being, touched by the unfrag-

mented reality of pure knowledge

and divine wisdom. They become

creative thinkers and saints, ra-

diating love and the fire of the

Spirit. Everything they do they do in union with God.

We understand that mystics are those who aban-

don the prison of self and become doorways to the

sacred, people who savour the aroma of Christ, who

in that aroma live radically open and different lives,

seeking to help others live their lives to the full, to

overcome the challenges that hold them back, and

strengthen the ethical fibre of a just society.

As mystics like Don Bosco we favour and support

the search for experiential transcendence; we want

to help people to achieve their spiritual potential and

challenge the barrenness of so much of life. Mystics

like Don Bosco always seek ways to make barren lives

fruitful, and barren places fit for life.

Like Don Bosco it is our

hope that young people be

touched by the divine fire

that purifies and transforms

but does no harm.

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Prophetic Spirituality

Prophetic spirituality blossoms where two desires

meet: our heartfelt desire for God and God’s unimaginably

vast desire for us. In the steps of St Francis de Sales Don

Bosco discovered this marvellous space and shared it with

the world. Where is this awe-inspiring space? It lies in the

region of the heart and blossoms in all the creative and

imaginative facets of loving kindness and compassion-

ate service, the core principles of the Salesian approach

to education. Salesian mysticism blossoms, it flourishes as

prophetic spirituality when God’s fire becomes our sun,

when Don Bosco’s vision becomes our way, when we un-

derstand what Mary means when she says to us, Do what-

ever he tells you (John 2:6).

Prophetic spirituality is about producing difference. It

engages in the dance between the customary and the new,

between a possible future and the given past or present. It

actively supports and encourages a new social imagina-

tion just as Don Bosco did. It has a breathless impatience

with injustice and exploitation just as Don Bosco did.

Think: why did some of Don Bosco’s priestly colleagues

believe he was mad? Why did many early disciples leave

Jesus? Touched by divine fire both were dancing in a dif-

ferent space to their peers. Are we? Listen to the Prophet

Jeremiah:

Be appalled, O heavens, at this,

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

says the Lord,

for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns,

that can hold no water.

(Jeremiah 2:12-13)

Can you hear these words and others like them echo-

ing through Don Bosco’s life, echoing in his development

as a Christian educator? He wanted the young to develop

spiritual cisterns well able to hold divine waters, waters

and wisdom from the crystal springs of Spirit and the Liv-

ing Word. His ear is attuned to a cry and a need impercep-

tible to and ignored, marginalised by many others. Proph-

et that he was, Don Bosco adamantly refused to be

fed on the sin of the people (Hosea 4:8). He lis-

tened to the silent cry of the young, especially the

poor and abandoned. That is why his approach to

education supports uprightness, justice, steadfast

love, mercy, faithfulness, and personal knowledge

of God (see Hosea 2:19-20).

Prophetic insight into divine love also plays

a pivotal role in Don Bosco’s educational insight.

Listen again to Hosea:

I will heal their faithlessness;

I will love them freely...

I will be as the dew to Israel;

he shall blossom like a lily,

he shall strike root as the poplar,

his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be like the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

(Hosea 14:4-6)

Don Bosco recognised all these potentials and

promises in the young. Can you hear them echoing

in and inspiring his life-long desire to help them

become good Christians and honest citizens? Like

Micah he had no time for empty and perfunctory

worship. The contemplative in action, the active

mystic wanted something more, something deep,

something with liberating integrity for the young.

He invited them to do justice, love kindness, and

walk humbly with their God (see Micah 6:6-8). Is

this level of insight what we seek for them? If not,

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then how can we propose holiness as Don Bos-

co did? Prophetic spirituality is always ready to

sing the Lord’s song, always ready to sing new

songs.

Or have we wandered from the prophetic

path Don Bosco trod before us, making peace

with the customary and the familiar, satisfied

with the old songs, closed to anything new?

How can we call such a stance educational?

Where is the learning in it, the life-long trans-

formational learning that lies at the heart of the

prophetic call? Where is the critical reflection,

the questioning of personal assumptions and

preferences and the distorting habits of mind

and expectation to which they inevitably give

rise?

More: how can we dance in the space be-

tween the new and the customary if we exclude

religion, if we ignore the spiritual longings of

the human heart? But then, are we ourselves

ready to touch the flame? Are we ready to hold

the sacred in our hands? Are we ready to leave

our comfort zones? Are we ready for ruah ha-

kodesh, holy spirit? Are we ready to stand in the

space where prophetic spirituality unfolds and

transforms? Are we able to witness to sacred

possibility and new beginnings? Are we ready

to witness to the sacred space where meaning

begins? Are we ready to dance again with Don

Bosco? Are we ready to let divine fire inflame

our souls?

Prophetic spirituality is active; it turns to-

wards the world. Its contemplation is actively

social, its prayer and meditation is active and

attentive, its Eucharistic and Marian devotion is

active and aware, open, shared, lived with the

young. Look at Don Bosco. His commitments,

like those of the great biblical prophets are fierce,

fearless, unwavering, challenging, dynamic,

standing on the side of justice and the poor. Are

ours? His convictions about the meaning of life

are rooted in God. Are ours?

That is why Don Bosco and those who are

rooted in his prophetic spirituality serve life to

the full (John 10:10); that is why they seek, support and pro-

pose loving encounters with a living God-in-Christ. Prophetic

spirituality reverences and recognises God’s spirit and pres-

ence at the heart of every life and all creation. It discerns and

responds to the face of Christ, the Crucified Risen One, in the

faces of the young and those in need; and it recognises God’s

face in a planet under human duress. In all of these things we

are called with Don Bosco to be witnesses to hope.

Let your face shine on your servant;

save me in your steadfast love

Psalm 31:16)

Servant Spirituality

The question for us all, then, is this: what is the bright cen-

tre around which my whole life revolves? If my life, like Don

Bosco’s, is truly oriented on the divine how can mystical fire

be separated from the Salesian work of education and for that

work to be separated from the authentic expression of a ser-

vant spirituality? Such a separation can only mean that Salesian

educators have failed to grasp the true nature of Don Bosco’s

mystical path, his prophetic vocation, his friendship with God,

his life-long concern for the young, and his world-transform-

ing service. It can only mean that they have failed to open their

lives to God’s transforming fire, and failed to respond to the in-

spiring and transforming graces that bud forth as service. They

have not personally known or have forgotten the light shining

in God’s face.

Servant spirituality is part and parcel of the prophetic call:

Behold my servant whom I uphold,

my chosen in whom my soul delights;

I have put my Spirit upon him,

he will bring forth justice to the nations

(Isaiah 42:1)

It is grounded in loving kindness, gentleness, compassion,

care and concern, and its commitments are shaped by these

very human qualities. It is a spirituality of the heart that serves

human and spiritual wholeness. Servant spirituality serves

life and justice and stands in contrast to repressive, domina-

tor models in life, leadership, religion and education. In Don

Bosco’s terms it is preventive, ethical, interactive, and open to

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the Spirit in order to engage the human

spirit in the search for meaning, integrity,

identity and the core self.

Educational praxis that does not en-

gage with these human qualities misses

the point. For Don Bosco true religion,

true devotion, engages with all of these

forces and brings them together in the

liberating space of spirituality and care.

He understood that some sense of spiri-

tuality, however vague, some residual re-

ligious sense, is the anchor-hold of most

people’s work ethics and social morality.

That is why he valued and gave his life for

the inspiration, education, and all-round

development of the young.

Servant spirituality taught him to put

them first. His servant spirituality led him

to be a teacher, a bearer of inspiration,

a model of faith in touch with the deep

questions of the human spirit. He was a

servant, a guide, one who offered invita-

tions and proposals, not a disciplinarian.

He offered a vision grounded and made

real in personal dedication. The young

knew they were in the presence of some-

one who was truly on their side, someone

whose values, experiences and assump-

tions they could take to heart. He entered

through the heart and encouraged the

mind.

Yet in all of this Don Bosco remained

a realist. He understood that he could not

draw all the young people he met to be

honest citizens and good Christians. But

that did not stop him trying. He was happy

to serve those he could help to be honest

citizens, but he was also deeply concerned

for those he knew would become nei-

ther honest citizens nor good Christians.

He never lost hope of winning hearts for

God. He would have delighted in what we

call today spiritual and religious social

capital: the religious and spiritual virtues,

attitudes and skills that build wholeness,

wholesomeness, wellness, integrity and wellbeing.

Even an incomplete listing of the virtues and attitudes associ-

ated with theories of spiritual capital will be familiar to the Salesian

educator: love, hope, discernment, empowerment, service, knowl-

edge, remembrance, hospitality, forgiveness, reconciliation, non-

violence, play, acceptance of failure, healing of hurts, and genuine

participation in group and community activities. Following Don

Bosco the Salesian educator today is well-placed to support all the

spiritual and religious forces that nurture resilience, hope, respect,

work ethic, and creative mental ability among the young.

Spiritual capital also favours forms of networking, relation-

ships, and respect for legal and ethical norms that enrich lives

and communities, all of them elements in Don Bosco’s approach.

Theories of spiritual capital remind us that faith-based activities

have measurable personal, social effects. Don Bosco would not

have been surprised. Spiritual capital not only makes a theological

framework and worshipping tradition available to people and the

young, it offers a sound moral vision and a faith-basis for life.

Spiritual capital is not only a powerful source of energy and

motivation that is equally at home on immanent and transcendent

levels of awareness and involvement, it stands in stark contrast

with materialistic postmodern and neo-liberal visions of self-in-

terest and greed as the basis of moral and economic conduct.

Don Bosco would seek to moderate greed with generosity, pri-

vate ambition with civic engagement, self-interest with care of oth-

ers, and present exploitation of the world’s people and resources

with future needs and consequences. It should come as no surprise

to the Salesian educator that accurate understandings of spiritual

capital in education and life offer major transformational poten-

tials, potentials to serve individuals and the world.

The Institution as Servant

There is another wing to servant spirituality: the institution as

servant. Today caring is mostly offered through institutions, large,

complex, powerful, often impersonal, at times corrupt and incom-

petent. How do we take care of the institution? How do we ensure

that it remains a servant? Part of the answer is institutional renewal

and regeneration. The task is the move the institution to a higher,

even extraordinary, distinguished level of quality and service. Don

Bosco changed a seedy neighbourhood. What have we changed?

Are we even up for change? What examples of such change can

you identify?

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The twin difficulties tend to be complacent neglect

and a shifting of standards of service complicated from

time to time by an ethos of collusion and disinterest, es-

pecially in the absence of participative models of leader-

ship. The servant spirituality of an institution is readily

undermined by idiosyncratic, unpredictable, unaccount-

able and dominator styles of leadership. Nor is it helped

when change of personnel leads to unexpected and un-

necessary interruptions and discontinuities of service.

Such are the forces that so often undercut the qual-

ity of servant spirituality in institutions. The postmod-

ern turn to individualism is another complicating factor.

Instead, servant spirituality within institutions demands

interacting builders and prophets rather than individu-

alistic bureaucrats and line managers. We need caring

visionaries and servant administrators working together

who truly care for the institutions and the people they

serve. Servant leaders must be influential but they

must also be ready for an evaluating task if the qual-

ity of service is to grow.

There is a paradox here: the ability to stand fully

within an institution and yet maintain an objective,

discerning stance, something that is difficult to do,

especially when someone has thrown themselves

heart and soul into the work. Discernment requires

both responsibility and the willingness to change,

factors that are often absent in reality, especially

when self-protective omniscience is at play in insti-

tutional leadership. Imagine what happens when de-

fensive omniscience is partnered by the burden of in-

decisiveness and personal disinterest! Imagine what

happens when indecisiveness and disinterest damage

creativity!

Salesian Education & the Church’s Mission

Education is integral to the mission of the Church

and the Church challenges every educational estab-

lishment to be a place of encounter with God’s love

and truth (Spe Salvi 4). The Salesian school, then,

faithful to the vision of Don Bosco, is meant to be

a place where personal encounter, growth in knowl-

edge, and the reality of Christian witness weave

something beautiful in the life of each student. It of-

fers them moments of encounter with God’s beauty,

reflective moments to savour God’s delightfulness.

With Don Bosco we are convinced that faith-based

education nurtures the soul of a nation, helps its spirit

find just form in the world. Salesian educators serve

God’s desire to be known in the world. At the same

time we support the deep-seated human desire to

know God; we support the human search for liberat-

ing truth.

The Salesian school is unafraid of a religious,

faith-based stance even when mainstream socio-cul-

tural thought and the dominant social media favour

faithless, materialistic and atheistic choices, choices

influenced by the rampant rationalism, naturalism

and materialistic humanism at work in the self-sec-

ularising societies and populations of the Western

world. Salesian educators understand that faith and

reason lift the human spirit and challenge it to see

through the illusions that obscure divine truth. In the

words of Blessed John Paul II: 5

Faith and reason are like two wings on which the

human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth;

and God has placed in the human heart a desire

to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so

that, by knowing and loving God, men and women

may also come to the fullness of truth about them-

selves cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn

3:2

(Fides et Ratio, Introduction).

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All of this has to do with self-knowledge as a journey of

We also believe that the contemporary

discovery, a journey that critically embraces the delectabilia crisis of truth is a crisis of faith, a crisis of

divina, everything that is good, true, beautiful and delightful choice, a crisis of self-centred individualism,

about God; itself what John Paul II called the diakonia of the a crisis of commitment and a crisis of self-

truth (Fides et Ratio, 2). For the Salesian, education, when it transcendence. With Don Bosco we want to

is grounded in authenticity, always and inevitably involves an create and support contexts in which a loving

encounter with God’s wisdom, a wisdom that brings us to a God’s active presence in human affairs is rec-

deeper, more complete understanding of the world in which ognised and celebrated. We want to create a

we live. We are unafraid to encounter the sacred in an unen- context where human dignity and human life

chanted world.

is set before everyone as worthy of respect. We

also want to deal with the prevailing timidity

We are unafraid to encounter the transcendent dimen- of many Christians in the face of the catego-

sion of cosmic reality of which we are a natural part and in ries of the good, the true, the beautiful and the

which we encounter the vast luminescence of God. As the delightful. We want to challenge the aimless

Book of Proverbs puts it, those who acquire wisdom also ac- pursuit of novelty and entertainment, even in

quire sacred understanding (Proverbs 4:5), a force that lib- spirituality.

erates and informs us in our encounters

with the different faces of human truth.

We live in a world of faces and voices

It should come as no sur-

We want to question approach-

es to moral education based on

that can quickly drown us in a welter prise that Salesian educa- risk. We believe in what Benedict

of contrasting concerns (Fides et Ratio, tors are concerned about XVI calls intellectual charity:6 our

28). Truth can be cast into doubt, it can ideologically driven efforts responsibility as educators after

be set aside; but it can also be recovered to separate faith and reason, heart of Don Bosco to lead young

in the presence of mystics, prophets and religion and spirituality. people to truth is nothing less than

the friends of God (Wisdom 7:27).

an act of love, a prophetic act ener-

gised by a heart that is a furnace of

It should come as no surprise, then, that Salesian educa- love, a well of service. We want to uphold the

tors, following in Don Bosco’s footsteps, are concerned about unity of knowledge in difficult times of frag-

ideologically driven efforts to separate faith and reason, re- mentation. We want to uphold its depth in a

ligion and spirituality. We want to create educative environ- time of shallowness and superficiality.

ments where truth is loved, where exact understandings are

sought, so as to bring the true, the good, the beautiful and the

As followers of Don Bosco, as mystics,

delightful closer to ourselves, and the young people we serve, prophets and servants, we believe that the

in all the saving power of truth, in all their splendour and in sacred has an educative function. We believe

all their deep simplicity. We believe that the identity of our that the absence of the sacred, the exclusion

schools and centres is fundamentally a question of convic- of the sacred, not only impoverishes a culture;

tion:

more to the point, it impoverishes the lives of

the young. We set ourselves in loving contrast

• about ourselves, our origins and destiny;

to educators, who, in the name of a desacral-

• about Christ and his word as it is lived in the faith

community;

ized world, not only deprive the young of ac-

cess to the sacred, but leave the door open to

a welter of contemporary idols: consumerism,

• about faith made tangible in real lives;

relativism, reductive materialism, self-centred

• about spirituality lived in practices of authenticity

and solidarity that mirror prophetic mysticism, ser-

visions of humanity, and the cult of celebrity

to name but a few.

vice, justice, ecology, liturgy, prayer, community, the

common good and a capacity to be for others.

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Don Bosco’s Preventive System

Don Bosco developed a true system of education.

It views the young person as someone whose identity

and freedom are still developing, who still needs the

support and encouragement of education. Don Bosco

was sensitive to the fact that young people need ongo-

ing assistance and guidance in their development and

growth. They need support and patience, acceptance

and affection in keeping with their levels of aware-

ness, maturity, and motivation.

The Letter from Rome (1884) shines a light on the

heart of Don Bosco’s approach: educative love, what

Don Bosco summarised in the word, amorevolezza,

loving kindness: the assurance of unconditional love

lived in a warm network of family style relationships

supported by understanding, acceptance and credible

conversation.

What Don Bosco discovered is a joyful, creative

love that responds to the lives and dreams and hopes

of the young, to their dramas and tragedies, to their

anxieties and loneliness, to their loss of meaning and

emptiness, to their complex and cumulative forms of

poverty; in a word, to their demand for caring pasto-

ral-educative accompaniment.

All of these factors are best offered in a familiar

context which values. The repressive systems to which

Don Bosco compared his approach view the young per-

son as already fully constituted in his or her identity,

freedom and responsibility: a young adult fully respon-

sible for his or her actions.

Don Bosco did not develop a fully worked out the-

ory of education. His method is operative, practical and

project-based, an effective proposal open to develop-

ment rather than a theory. In its origins it was assisten-

tial and social, a characteristic that is coming back into

play today. It served a variety of interweaving purposes

in Valdocco. Don Bosco’s response in the Oratory was

educational and re-educational, but it was also pasto-

ral, a pastoral-educative response to the profound social

changes taking place at the time that led him to use four

intriguing words to describe the young people he him-

self met: poor, abandoned, in danger, and dangerous, a

word we shy away from today.

The phenomenon of youth marginalization, aggra-

vated by economic, social, cultural, affective, moral and

spiritual poverty encountered by Don Bosco formed a

cumulative complex of forces that still exists and op-

presses young people in many places today. Think for a

moment of boy soldiers and the industrial exploitation

of children, think of child hunger and mortality, and

then reflect critically on the prophetic, servant nature

1.10 Page 10

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DON BOSCO: EDUCATOR

Page 10

of contemporary Salesian responses. Are such re-

sponses possible in the absence of mystic fire? Don

Bosco would say no.

Don Bosco’s focus is on tried and trusted meth-

ods that accord with principles of action grounded

in his own personal knowledge, experience and

study. In this way he developed an approach to

education that gave the young a relatively complete

Christian and human formation inside and outside

of the classroom, in the school and in the youth

centre. Over time he was able to offer those who

worked with him an organic and unified pastoral-

educative proposal.7 Note the word proposal in

Braido’s description. It sums up so much of Don

Bosco’s approach as an educator and helps us un-

derstand a key element of his style.8

Don Bosco’s approach9 makes use of three in-

teractive forms of educative conversation. A close

examination of them helps us understand why he is

a mystic, prophet and servant of the young.

• Living witness that gave the young oppor-

tunities to observe and interiorize things of

value to their lives;

• Narratives of many different kinds that

helped the young understand underlying

principles;

• Simple but principled accounts meant to in-

spire the young and guide their life choices.

...he developed an ap-

proach to education that

gave the young a rela-

tively complete Chris-

tian and human forma-

tion inside and outside

of the classroom, in the

school and in the youth

centre.

As we try to come to terms with what it means to be

mystics, prophets and servants among the young today

we need to meditate deeply on the three terms Don Bos-

co used to describe his preventive method: reason, reli-

gion, and loving kindness, words pregnant with meaning,

symbolic words, root metaphors that ground the mean-

ing of every other metaphor in our Salesian spirituality.

Let us play with them reflectively for a moment.

Reason: rational, reasonable, persuasive, wise, logical,

intelligent, sound, realistic, well-based, level-headed, se-

rene, even-handed, fair, open, sensible, prudent, discreet,

discerning. What other words would you add to the list?

Religion: God, spirituality, charity, faith, hope, fire,

joy, conviction, belief, mystical, prophetic, holiness, trust,

assurance, passion, happiness, prayer, worship, church,

reverence, veneration, fidelity. What other words would

you add to the list?

Loving kindness: sincerity, affection, care, accep-

tance, concern, warmth, openness, welcome, hospitality,

approval, kindness, gentleness, compassion, thoughtful-

ness, benevolence, service, understanding. What other

words would you add to the list?

2 Pages 11-20

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2.1 Page 11

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DON BOSCO: EDUCATOR

Page 11

Summary

Totality

Sprituality

Don Bosco’s idea of the educator is total: total in

terms of his pastoral-educative activities, total in terms

of his vision of the need for Christian education.10 More

to the point, he understood the educator as someone

consecrated to the wellbeing of his students. It should

come as no surprise that for Don Bosco education in-

cluded everything: food to eat, shelter, clothes to wear,

teaching a trade, playing games, teaching class, cate-

chising, singing songs, going for walks, praying, hear-

ing confessions, preaching, celebrating the Eucharist.

They were all elements of Don Bosco’s vision of pas-

toral-educative assistance. In all of these interweaving

activities loving kindness played the central role and all

were focussed on the human and spiritual wellbeing of

the young.

Wellbeing

For Don Bosco the wellbeing of the young person

is not brought about by a pedagogical strategy. It re-

quires something more, and that more, for Don Bosco,

derives from a vision of the world grounded in faith

and reason. Informed by 1 Corinthians 13, Don Bosco

wove together the language of the heart and the lan-

guage of attentive, caring friendship: a friendly word, a

kindly correction, win the heart, win their affection, a

word in the ear, such were common phrases used in the

pastoral-educative guidance Don Bosco gave young

Salesians.

Loving-Kindness

For Don Bosco educative loving kindness is the

supreme principle of his pedagogical approach, a lov-

ing kindness that the young need to see, an educative-

pastoral love they are well capable of recognising. Even

corrections were seen in a similar light: sensible, rea-

sonable and friendly words of advice intended primar-

ily to help, intended to win the heart, intended for the

young person’s wellbeing. Loving kindness allows the

educator to accept the condition of the young and to

respond to it with attentive kindness and persuasive

gentleness.

For Don Bosco education was always a thing of the

heart, something grounded in the educator’s spirituality,

something taught by God the true Master. Don Bosco

reminds us that we will achieve nothing as educators if

God does not first give us the key and that key leads us

to the name Don Bosco gave his pastoral-educative ap-

proach: preventive.

Preventive

The term preventive refers to gospel-inspired near-

ness, the being near of an adult who bears real traces

of God’s loving presence, an adult whose being near is

wholesome, dependable, mature, balanced, open, mo-

tivated by rich ideals and life-choices, but most of all

consistent and congruent, integrated and whole. Such

being near is a question of divine vocation, of call and

response.

Goodness in the Young

Don Bosco recognised the spontaneous move to-

wards the good evident in the young and sought to en-

courage this inner disposition with all the kind-heart-

edness and warmth at his disposal. For Don Bosco the

educator’s task is to uncover this point of goodness and

build on it. Yet he also knew that an educator could

love much and yet achieve little if the young do not see

that the affectionate concern educators have for them is

real, that their being near is honest. Trust and percep-

tion played and continue to play key roles here. So does

caring presence, committed presence, nearness with a

heart.11

Open

There is another characteristic of Don Bosco’s we

should not forget: his desire to be at the forefront when

it came to making use of whatever proved educationally

helpful. Remember his saying “in the things that are of

advantage to young people in danger or which serve to

win souls for God I run ahead even to the point of te-

merity.”12 The implications for us today are not difficult

to discern.

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DON BOSCO: EDUCATOR

Page 12

A Concluding Examen

Are we reasonable in our conversations with the

young? Are our modes of persuasion reasonable? Do

we offer friendly advice and make friendly propos-

als? Or do we prefer dominator or autocratic styles

that simply demand obedience and make no effort

to understand?

Do we value religion as an essential component

in Don Bosco’s life and approach? Is religious faith a

personal value for us? Do we care for our own inte-

riority and spirituality? Do we have a personal rela-

tionship with God? Or have we self-secularised?

Have we an awareness of the “little virtues” that

underpin Don Bosco’s understanding of loving kind-

ness, especially wholesome affectionate presence,

sincerity, and a readiness to share in the world of the

young? What about the “great virtues”, especially jus-

tice, charity, respect, readiness to encounter the face

of the other, non-exploitive and non-manipulative

modes of relating? Are we aware of the power gra-

dients in teacher-student relationships? Do we un-

derstand that loving kindness requires the presence

of reason and religious commitment? Finally, are we

aware that for Don Bosco religion always grounds

loving kindness, giving it the qualities of respect, fi-

delity and hope?

What do we understand by good Christian and

honest citizen today? How alert are we to the pas-

toral-educative challenges of globalization and the

revolution in the social media? How aware are we

of the challenges to social and ecological solidarity?

How aware are we of the need to educate people to

austerity in the use of the world’s resources and of

the human need to walk lightly on the planet? In our

pastoral-educative work what do we do to go beyond

mere descriptions of injustice, especially in our work

with the Salesian family and adults? Or are we con-

tent with moralizing? If that is the case where is the

mystic fire, the prophetic commitment, the servant

spirituality?

Some Further Questions:

How do we honour soul in the classroom, youth

centre, or parish? What signs indicate the presence of

soul? Do you notice and acknowledge tones, gestures,

flickers of feeling, the dropping of masks, the sharing of

joys and talents, hints of inner life, hints of depth, the

longing for something beyond a fragmented existence?

How do we honour the voice of the young? How do we

deal with questions of meaning and purpose and the

big questions of life? How do we support deep connec-

tion with self, the other, community, heritage, nature,

the Divine? How do we honour the weave of silence

and stillness and solitude and spiritual intelligence?

What happens when we meet resistance?

What about rites of passage and ritual? Do we en-

courage joy and delight, gratitude and celebration?

What happens when joy and sorrow meet? How do

we deal with suffering and death? How do we encour-

age awe, wonder and reverence for life? How open are

we to joyful play, movement and rhythm? How do we

support the transforming power of creativity? Are we

able to recognise and respect flashes of intensity and

deep absorption? How do we support transcendence:

self-transcendence, transcending prejudice, stereotyp-

ing and gender polarizations? What about the hurtful

words and actions of teachers and elders?

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DON BOSCO: EDUCATOR

Page 13

May God’s creative love enfold you in light!

May the love of Jesus curl warmly around you and open every heart for you!

May Spirit clasp you by the hand and move you to wonderful deeds for the young!

May you experience God there with you as you rise up and lie down!

May you experience Jesus there with you, protecting you in every encounter!

May you experience Spirit kindling your heart anew today and every day!

May you experience Mary’s wise presence guiding you in all your ways!

And may angels guard your every step along the sacred way!

END NOTES:

1. See for example, Don Bosco’s Il sistema preventivo nella educazione della gioventù, at

http://www.sdb.org/index.php?ids=10&sott=6&doc=Documenti/2004/_1_10_6_4_1_.htm&ty=3

(accessed 10/09/2012)

2. Bosco Giovanni, Rimembranza storico-funebre dei giovani dell’Oratorio di san Francesco di Sales verso

al Sacerdote Caffasso Giuseppe (Torino: Paravio e comp., 1860) 24.

3. Ibid. 51

4. You can read Don Bosco’s accounts online (in Italian) at

http://www.sdb.org/it/e_sdb/Don_Bosco

(accessed10/09/2012)

5. Jon Paul II, Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_15101998_

fides-et-ratio_en.html

(accessed 07/09/2012)

6. Address to Catholic Educators, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., April 17, 2008

http://www.zenit.org/article-22328?l=english

(accessed 07/09/2012)

7. Pietro Braido, Prevenire non reprimere. Il sistema educativo di Don Bosco (Roma: LAS, 1999) 8

8. Those with Italian who are interested in what Don Bosco himself has to say about his preventive sys-

tem should consult Braido’s critical edition: Pietro Braido, Don Bosco educatore: scritti e testimonianze

(Roma: LAS, 1992)

9. See Michele Pellerey and Dariusz Gradziel, Educare: Per una pedagogia intesa come scienza practico-

progettuale, seconda edizione (Roma: LAS, 2011) 168.

For a more complete discussion of Don Bosco’s educative approach and experience see Francesco

Casella, L’esperienza educativa preventiva di Don Bosco. Studi sull’educazione salesiana fratradizione e

modernità (Roma: LAS,2007)

10. For a recent overview of key ideas in Salesian pedagogy see Guglielmo Malizia, Mario Tonini e

Lauretta Valente, a cura di, Educazione e cittadinanza: verso un nuovo modello culturale ed educativo.

Prefazione di S. Em.za Card. Tarcisio Bertone (Milano: Franco Agnelli, 2008)

11. MB XIII, 629.

12. MB XIV, 662

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DON BOSCO: EDUCATOR

Page 14

Suggestions for Use of this Guide

With the Young

Don Bosco lived out of his conviction that young

people needed to slowly and carefully craft their

own identities and understand their rights to

freedom.

• Invite a group of young people to meet with

the Educating Pastoral Community at a

Council meeting in order to share some of

the concerns this generation of young people

face each day. Urge them to offer a presenta-

tion for this Council to better understand

their culture, their fears, and their hopes.

• Invite a gathering of young people to identify

the heroic leaders among their peers.

• Along with these named persons, assist them

in identifying those virtues and values which

have shaped those persons. Identify the

qualities which offer opportunities for interi-

orizing those things that last, those values to

guide their lives.

Community Days

There are many deep and challenging questions

offered by Fr. Jack Finnegan throughout this reflec-

tion.

• Make a list of the questions to give out to all the

confreres.

• Choose to discuss these questions throughout

this study year.

• Encourage each individual to use the same set

of questions as a personal examination of con-

science on a regular basis.

• Discuss: How might our institutions be re-

ignited by “the divine fire that purifies and

transforms?”

Coooperators

As Cooperators the Salesian Family is offered a

variety of lived-responses to the Salesian Mission

for educating the young.

• How can the local group of Cooperators

realistically and practically propose holiness

to young people in your area?

• In the creation of the Cooperators’ Pastoral

Plan complementing the Provincial Or-

ganic Plan, examine those goals that involve

educating parents and young people to social

uprightness, justice, steadfast love and com-

mitment, mercy, faithfulness, and personal

knowledge of God.

• Foster ongoing spiritual education within

the group by fostering Salesian formation in

Salesian Pedagogy.

Colleagues

Educators need education and formation! Urge your

administration to take advantage of every opportunity

to explore more deeply the Pedagogy of Don Bosco.

• Perhaps the collaborators at your apostolic site

can suggest days of reflection and study

• Contact the Salesian Administrators to explore

possible presenters for such occasions.

• Form study groups for reading and reflecting on

The Memoirs of the Oratory, Don Bosco’s auto-

biographical work.

• Integrate prayer with your work of education

by fostering moments of shared prayer, days of

retreat, moments of recollection.

• As professional educators, examine your own

motivations and renew your commitment to

the salvation of young people. This goal is best

served by striving for renewal and reconversion

in your own spiritual life.

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Page 15

anche a da re la vita» -DON BOSCO

October 2012