DIREZIONE GENERALE OPERE DON BOSCO

Via della Pisana 1111 - 00163 Roma

The General Councillor forYouth Ministry

The General Councillor forYouth Formation

Rome, 26 July 2011

Prot. 11/0377

To the Revv.

Fr Provincials

For information

To the Revv.

Provincial Delegates for Youth Ministry

Provincial Delegates for Formation

Subject: Guidelines for the Aspirantate Experience

Dear Fr Provincials,

We are sending you the Guidelines for the Aspirantate Experience which we have drawn up with the collaborators in our Departments for Youth Ministry and for Formation. They have been approved by the Rector Major with the General Council.

In harmony with the GC 26 which asked the Rector Major with his Council to encourage through the Departments for Youth Ministry and for Formation reflection on new forms of aspirantate and offer opportune directions (Cf. CG26 73), we have undertaken a consultation process in the Provinces about the contents, the methodology and the conditions for the Aspirantate Experience.

Having received and taken into account the various suggestions, we are now offering the following directions so that they may be of use to the Provinces in carrying out their own reflections and making their choices regarding the aspirantate, an experience to be offered to the young men who aspire to Salesian consecrated life with Don Bosco.

The Aspirantate is an experience typical of Salesian vocational pedagogy, in which young people are accompanied in their discernment about their lives before God. At present new forms of accompaniment are being developed. This requires a change in their way of thinking by Salesians and the co-involvement of lay people and of the families of the young.

The vocational accompaniment of the candidates to Salesian consecrated life forms part of youth ministry; for this reason it requires a process of full growth in maturity in Christ (GC23 112-157). At the same time in the aspirantate experience this accompaniment opens the way to the formation procedures envisaged by the Congregation in the “Ratio” and follows its discernment criteria.

It is our wish that these Guidelines be taken up by the Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry, so that he may accompany the Province vocation promoters and their Commission and may review that part of the Provincial Educative Pastoral Plan which concerns provincial vocation promotion. In this Plan it is also necessary to identify a model of vocation promotion at the local level that can draw in the Salesian communities and the educative pastoral communities.

This sort of work also requires close collaboration with the Provincial Delegate for Formation, together with the Commission for Formation, so as to ensure the human, spiritual and Christian, intellectual and pastoral foundation and the formative conditions for those who intend to respond to God’s call to the Salesian consecrated vocation. This collaboration between youth ministry and formation in fact is beginning to produce good results.

Let us undertake this vocational commitment motivated by the Rector Major’s Strenna for this year and as preparation for the Bicentenary of the Birth of Don Bosco!

Thanking you for your attention and closeness to us,

With our heartfelt greetings,

Fr Fabio AttardFr Francesco Cereda

Councillor for Youth Ministry Councillor for Formation

ASPIRANTATE EXPERIENCE

I. NATURE AND PURPOSE

1.When a young person wants to discern in a responsible manner the motives for his vocation and his apostolic commitment in the Salesian consecrated life¹ the Province offers him an appropriate environment. The Constitutions say: “To anyone who is thinking of becoming a Salesian an environment and suitable conditions are offered to enable him to discern his own vocation and to mature as a man and as a Christian. In this way, and with the help of a spiritual guide, he is able to make a choice with greater awareness of what he is doing and without any external or internal pressures.”² The environment, the suitable conditions, the process and the accompaniment proposed to the young person inclined to Salesian consecrated life are what constitute the aspirantate experience.

Our Regulations use this term and offer some suggestions regarding this experience: “The aspirantate … keeps itself open to the neighbourhood and in contact with families, and helps older boys and young men who show an aptitude for the religious and priestly life to know their own apostolic vocation and to correspond with it”³ (Reg. 17). Aspirantate is a general term, which “may vary according to places, cultures and susceptibilities.”⁴

Those young people begin the aspirantate experience who, in ordinary circumstances, have already undertaken a process of developing maturity in the faith⁵ and of vocational guidance⁶ within the Salesian youth ministry programme aimed at fostering apostolic vocations for the Church and for the Salesian Family. Other young people also begin this experience who are attracted by Don Bosco’s charism, and who have not lived in a Salesian educative pastoral community. To all these candidates the Province offers specific accompaniment by means of one of the various different forms of aspirantate which best corresponds to the needs arising from their personal background and their present situation.

2. Nowadays we recognise that the maturing process takes much longer and that individuals’ rhythm of progress are different. Many factors contribute to this situation. However, it is not a question of prolonging the formation process but of changing pedagogical methodology. The aspirantate experience can help to strengthen the maturing process and the procedures.

3.The aspirantate experience offers the candidate a vocational process which helps him to reach the following objectives:

• to develop his human and Christian maturity;

• to have an experience of the Salesian vocation in spiritual, community and apostolic life;

• to undertake a discernment process so as to arrive at the option for Salesian consecrated life⁷ or to exclude it;

• to complete pre-university or university studies or to enhance his intellectual preparation.

II. VOCATIONAL AND FORMATIVE EXPERIENCE

4.The vocational and formative experience of the aspirantate accompanies the candidate in his all-round human and Christian development, and in giving greater depth to his vocational choice. The process of education to the faith⁸ supports this experience just as the dimensions of Salesian formation provide it with a frame of reference with regard to the suitability and the vocational maturity of the candidate.⁹ We now describe this vocational and formative experience.

Human Dimension

5.“The educational process in which the objective is the development of the whole person is the best setting for presenting the faith to the young…It is a setting in which due importance is given not only to ‘religious’ events, but also to everything relating to the growth of the individual to maturity.”¹⁰ Human maturity is the basis for the vocational development of the candidate. It aims at achieving the objective of mental and emotional equilibrium and of an harmonious and holistic development, giving particular attention to being aware of any possible psychological fragility and employing sound measures to overcome this.

6.In the aspirantate experience the candidate matures in:

- his self-knowledge and awareness of his life story, of his abilities and limitations; the control of his affective sexual life; the acceptance of a new balance in relationships with family and the community starting by gradually detaching himself from the family and from the church background from which he comes;

- the experience of community life, cultivating good relationships with the other candidates, with Salesians and lay people, and with the young; developing the capacity to share, solidarity and communal work; the ability to give himself in order to put himself in God’s hands and at the service of others;

- a sense of responsibility and a capacity for manual work, and the use of time; the exercise of leadership and a sense of initiative; appreciating daily life as the setting for growth in maturity; living life to the full with an appreciation for recollection and silence; the development of cultural and artistic talents such as music, art, painting, etc…;

- assessing his state of health with medical check-ups before the prenovitiate;¹¹ the following of good habits in taking care of his health: sport, personal hygiene, orderliness…

Spiritual Dimension

7.“The journey must be planned keeping well in mind two points of reference: on the one hand the difficulties and suffering the young must face in forming their personalities; and on the other the express reminder of Christ to build that personality according to the revelation manifested in Him.”¹² Faith, and in particular a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, is at the heart of the vocation to Salesian consecrated life; for this reason the candidate commits himself to a process of youth catechumenate inspired by Salesian spirituality which leads him to meet Christ and to base his life on the demands of the Gospel. This is not an easy task, given that today’s world is marked in some regions by a strong secular tendency or by religious indifference, and in others by the lack of a sound basis of faith. In many traditionally Catholic families education to the faith and Christian practice are quite weak and schools and parishes struggle to offer a sound catechesis to the young generations.

8.Inspired by Salesian youth spirituality the candidate grows in the following features:

- a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus and the discovery of the beautiful experience of meeting him in the “lectio divina”; prayer which makes him live daily life joyfully; the liturgical life with the sacraments of the Eucharist and of Reconciliation taking a central role, and the liturgy of the hours; the Rosary;

- the appreciation of community life from the vocational and spiritual perspective;

- catechesis, which leads him to a deeper experience of the faith as knowledge and love; the development of a Christian moral conscience; knowledge of vocation and especially the Salesian consecrated vocation; knowledge of and a personal rapport with Don Bosco, seen especially in the period of the growth of his vocation;

- an openness to the practice of personal accompaniment; reading books which can help his growth to spiritual maturity; the ability to draw up his own personal plan of life.

Intellectual Dimension

9.For a candidate who aspires to become a consecrated Salesian, and therefore to be an educator and evangeliser of the young, a sound intellectual foundation is indispensable so as to be able to reflect, to judge and thus be critical of the world around him. In the face of a multiplicity of messages and opinions, it is nowadays very important to know how to sift the various ideas and to form for himself convictions to guide his life. The ability to understand and to discuss with others requires, among other things, a knowledge of languages. An understanding of the faith, reflection on the Word of God and the assimilation of the Salesian charism are not possible without real intellectual effort.

10.For this reason the candidate for Salesian consecrated life undertakes:

- a serious commitment to study in order to complete his pre-university or university studies; the acquisition of a good basic level of general knowledge and the filling in of any gaps; learning the language used in Salesian formation;

- the acquisition of good habits of study, reflection and sharing; a taste for reading; the ability to study on his own and in a group, and to be challenged; the ability to read, understand and to have a good command of his own language spoken and written.

Educative pastoral dimension

11.“The youngster trains himself to generosity and availability. These are two attitudes that give rise to joy: to gain life you have to give it.”¹³ Wishing to embrace Salesian consecrated life, from the beginning, the candidate enthusiastically commits himself to the practice and the methodology of Salesian apostolic work. He finds enjoyment in developing his gifts and trains himself to be generous and available. Exercising the apostolate also serves in the discernment of his Salesian vocation; he makes an assessment of himself and of the gifts he has received in relation to the services rendered. Generously giving himself in the service of his brothers, he becomes more and more aware that a vocation involves him totally: his preferences, his relationships, his energies, his strengths.

12.For this reason his educative pastoral development comprises:

- initiation into educative pastoral service with an apostolic purpose; sensitivity in hearing the appeals of the young, especially the poorest ones; direct experience of the Salesian apostolate within a Salesian community;

- love for the Church and for its mission of evangelisation; the joy of being apostles among his own companions and in his own surroundings; participation in the initiatives of the Salesian Youth Movement; reflection and sharing about the pastoral experiences undertaken;

- a balanced approach to the digital world and to social communication.

III. ACCOMPANIMENT AND DISCERNMENT

13.In order to be admitted to the aspirantate, it is necessary that the candidate has previously followed a process of vocational guidance, has expressed the desire to live according to the charism of Don Bosco in Salesian consecrated life and therefore is prepared to pursue the path in order to assess whether the initial attraction is indeed a call from God, and to discern whether he has the requirements of suitability to accept it. In this process accompaniment and discernment are important.

Accompaniment

14.The aspirantate is an experience of accompaniment. In fact, the candidate is offered first of all a community accompaniment. This consists in a combination of relationships, an environment and a favourable atmosphere and a pedagogy, which are those of the Preventive System and which include not only the close proximity of the Salesians responsible for the aspirantate but also discussion, guidance and support throughout the vocational and formative process.

In addition to this accompaniment, it is important to introduce the candidate to a personal accompaniment. This takes various forms, such as for example accompaniment in his studies which helps the candidate to combine study and vocational development, and pastoral accompaniment which guides his apostolic activities in such a way that they help with his acquisition of an apostolic sense. There is the helpful relationship involved in “counselling”, which fosters self-knowledge and is nowadays more and more necessary for everyone, and also the sacrament of Reconciliation which brings the help of God’s grace to the decisions made in personal freedom.

Among the forms of personal accompaniment, spiritual accompaniment takes on special significance. It takes the form of personal talks with the spiritual guide which helps the candidate to come to know his own gifts, motivates his commitment, gives a stimulus to a series of options in harmony with the Gospel, sustains him in difficult moments, fosters the assessment of the progress made and helps in discerning the will of God.

Discernment

15.Linked with accompaniment, another fundamental aspect of the whole aspirantate experience is discernment regarding the Salesian consecrated vocation. It is a question of a process which on the one hand ought to assess suitability and on the other should deepen the motivation of the candidate. During the aspirantate, the focus is on Salesian consecrated life, without however disregarding its two forms.

Above all, discernment needs to carry out a first assessment regarding vocational suitability. This could be defined as an aptitude for Salesian consecrated life; it is a requirement prior to the formation process and not an objective to be achieved. In this regard the candidate, together with the spiritual guide, sets out to know and to evaluate the signs and the aspects of his own personal reality through which he comes to perceive God’s plan for his life. In order to verify “the presence of the requirements of suitability and the absence of counter-indications”¹⁴ it is important to make use of the “Criteria and Norms”.

In addition, discernment requires a first examination of the vocational motivations. The Rector or the one in charge of the aspirantate together with the candidate need to recognise the needs, desires, interests, and the internal and external forces inclining the candidate towards Salesian consecrated life or to a different choice; in other words, it is a question of identifying the true and “deepest motives”¹⁵ of one’s choice. This assessment, together with that regarding vocational suitability, begins in the aspirantate and is perfected in the prenovitiate.

In the course of the aspirantate vocational discernment occurs in different ways. The candidate is helped by those who accompany him to know himself. He also compares himself with the other candidates. He receives advice from his confessor and is personally accompanied by his spiritual guide. He takes advantage of the opportunities offered to him for recollection and prayer. Towards the end of the aspirantate experience, he is helped by the spiritual guide to carry out the concluding discernment regarding his vocation. If he feels called to Salesian consecrated life, the candidate writes to the Provincial asking to begin the prenovitiate. On their part, those responsible for the aspirantate express their opinion in writing to the Provincial, whose competence it is to admit the candidate to the prenovitiate. Those candidates, who discover that Salesian consecrated life is not their vocation, can be directed towards other vocations.

IV. CONDITIONS TO BE ENSURED

Community life

16.The formative experience and the discernment proper to the aspirantate highlight the need for community life. This experience takes place on various levels: in the group relationship between the candidates and the Salesians who accompany them, in the relationship with the Salesian community, and in the relationship with the educative pastoral community. Various psychological, social and cultural reasons could make the requirement of a community experience for the aspirant difficult, but it is important to make every effort to arrive at this gradually and progressively.

Living together with other candidates who are going through the same experience is a help, an occasion for measuring oneself in relation to the others, and an encouragement; it fosters a better quality of vocational accompaniment; it makes possible communication and reciprocal familiarity between the candidate, those who accompany and the community, and therefore a more soundly based discernment. The young person can carry out a real discernment regarding the Salesian consecrated vocation, from direct personal experience, especially of community life, and of his ability to live and work together with others who come from different cultures, ethnic groups and countries.

17.The community setting of the aspirantate has an oratorian style: it is lively and open, simple and friendly, joyful but demanding. Of special importance are the friendly and familiar relationships with the Salesians and among the candidates themselves. In community a strong Christian life is experienced and one finds joy in carrying out one’s duties, in the commitments of the apostolate and in the generous service of the others. Following the crowd and uniformity are to be avoided; instead, an atmosphere of healthy freedom and responsibility is fostered in order to favour growth. The life of prayer too shared on some occasions with the Salesian community and also with other young people helps in the overcoming of formalism, seeks simplicity and fosters participation.

To achieve an easier process of maturation, conviction is certainly to be preferred to imposition, testimony to simple observance, co-responsibility to childishness, making motivations one’s own to the simple carrying out of tasks, respect for the individual and his evolution in a personalised process of accompaniment to mass-production and an impersonal approach. Obviously, an experience of this kind requires a limited number of candidates which allows for personal interaction, or when there are numerous candidates, their organisation into groups.

18.The choice of the community to which to send the candidates is important; sometimes this is determined by the needs of the candidates themselves regarding study or work. The preferred option would be for a community which is responsible for a significant Salesian work, or which at least is close to one; in this way the candidates can easily have contact with the Salesians, with other young people and with the Salesian mission; their life in community retains an “openness” to the youth scene, to cultural and social events, to relationships with the family, with the locality, with the country and with the world. The aspirantate can be located in the same community as the prenovitiate, on condition that there are different formation programmes: this could facilitate the continuity of the accompaniment and the consistency of the team of those who accompany.¹⁶

Accompaniment Team

19.The effectiveness of the aspirantate depends to a great extent on the Salesians chosen to be responsible for this experience: cheerful, enthusiastic about their vocation, and above all prepared for the not easy task of offering to the candidates a personalised accompaniment for their human and Christian development, that is to say, at the level of their motivations, convictions, affections, fears and expectations. Their commitment to and agreement with the aspirantate as a shared project of the community are important.

The size of the accompaniment team in the aspirantate experience will vary according to the number of the candidates, but there needs to be at least someone in charge; this person can be the Rector or another confrere of the community who has the preparation to take on this task of the accompaniment of the aspirants, both as a group and individually, and who can devote sufficient time. To avoid even the discernment becoming too personal a matter, it is better to have a team and not just one confrere responsible.

In the team it is appropriate that there be Salesian priests and Salesian Brothers, precisely in order to foster a knowledge of and appreciation for the two forms of the Salesian consecrated vocation. There could be someone in practical training to provide an animating presence among the candidates. It would also be well to have a confessor who is readily available. It is also useful to add to the formation team a skilled lay person or a member of the Salesian Family and a psychologist familiar with “Criteria and Norms for Salesian vocation discernment,” who make their contribution in collaboration with the Salesians providing the accompaniment.

Vocational and formation plan

20.The aspirantate experience, even when there are few candidates, needs to have a plan, which is at one and the same time vocational and formative, because of the twofold purpose of the aspirantate which is an experience of vocational development and a linking in with the beginning of the Salesian formation process of the prenovitiate. The plan ought to help the candidate to correspond with the grace of God present in his life in the activities of study, prayer, sport and apostolate that he carries out in his group, in the Salesian community and in the youth community.

From this arises the need for each Province to have its plan for the aspirantate, with all the due flexibility. Even though responsibility for the plan rests with the Provincial and his Council it is up to the Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry together with the Province vocational promoter and the Provincial Delegate for Formation with the collaboration of their commissions to assume the task and to draw it up. The Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry accompanies the implementation of the plan and evaluates it, communicating the conclusions to both the Provincial Delegate for Formation and the Provincial with his Council. It is also opportune that there be some form of communication between the aspirantate and the prenovitiate.

Relationships with the family

21.Aware of the importance of the family, the candidate maintains suitable links with his, and starting from the vocational choice he intends to make learns to establish new family relationships. On their part, the parents follow the vocational and formative path of their son with their affection, interest and prayer; they too, as far as is possible, engage in a journey of faith and formation. Where family pressures persist, the vocation journey becomes difficult.

The Salesians with responsibilities in the aspirantate or for Provincial vocation promotion establish good relationships with the family of candidate. Ordinarily no candidate begins the aspirantate without there having been previous contact with the family. By means of visits and contacts they come to a knowledge of the family and social situation, which is useful both for personal accompaniment and for discernment regarding suitability. They help the parents to accept in a positive manner the vocational choice of their son and to be open to the will of God in the discernment of his vocation.

V. FORMS OF THE ASPIRANTATE

22.The GC26 is helping to create in the Provinces a mentality which is more attentive to the need for the aspirantate experience for candidates. Becoming more and more convinced that God calls young people to Salesian consecrated life in a variety of ways, the confreres feel the duty to accompany them so as to bring to maturity the seeds of the vocation the Lord has sown in them. The process of discernment in the aspirantate accompanies the maturation of each candidate taking into consideration age, background, culture, circumstances, level of education and many other factors.

23. It is opportune that the Province spell out the fundamental elements making up the profile of a candidate at his entrance into the aspirantate experience. What is looked for is a young man:

- coming from a family providing a stable background;

- of good physical, mental, emotional, psycho-affective health;

- with a real experience of sacramental life;

- with an openness to personal accompaniment;

- of adequate intellectual level to be an educator and pastor;

- an aptitude for community life, a sense of initiative, an ability to work in a team;

- readiness for apostolic work with the young, especially the poor;

- with experience of an apostolic youth group: altar servers, youth leaders,..

- having taken part previously in an experience of vocational guidance;

- aspiring to Salesian consecrated life;

- introduced by a Salesian who has had contact with the family.

24.At present aspirantates take different and new forms according to the various circumstances of the candidates. Here in general terms are described the main forms found in the Congregation:

- Scholastic Aspirantate. This is an experience for young men engaged in pre-university studies and attending classes with other young people. Given their declared inclination for Salesian life, the formation programme of this aspirantate is aimed at their human, Christian and Salesian formation and involves them in the apostolate. In certain cases, importance is also given to the study of the language which will be used in the various stages of formation, beginning with the prenovitiate.

- University Aspirantate. Many young people nowadays make the decision regarding their future during the period of their university studies. The structure of these aspirantates, located generally close to a university, is that of a student community with the presence of some Salesians. In a tranquil and friendly atmosphere, and with the assistance of a vocation and formation programme, and having some pastoral experience, the young men are helped to become the protagonists of their development and to undertake a process of vocational discernment in dialogue with those who accompany them.

- “Comunità proposta”, ital. (Community which offers young people an experience of Salesian life). This is the case of a group of Salesians who live with a group of candidates while they are pursuing their pre-university or university studies; among them can also be candidates who have already finished their studies. It can be set up as an autonomous Salesian community or it can be within an already existing apostolic Salesian community. It is also open to young people who want to have a limited experience of community in view of their becoming candidates. The contents of formation include the human maturing process, a personal encounter with Jesus, participation in the Salesian mission, the making one’s own of a new style of life in line with the charism of Don Bosco, that is, all the elements of the aspirantate experience.

- Vocational Voluntary service. For candidates who have completed their studies or who come from non-Salesian backgrounds, the opportunity is offered for them to be part of a Salesian community for a year or two during which they have a direct experience of Salesian life, by taking part in particular in prayer, in the mission and in fraternal life with the Salesians. There is a programme for their process of maturing which leads on to the discernment of their vocation. Crucial for the success of this form of aspirantate is the team of those providing an accompaniment who, on account of their close proximity and availability to the candidates, are capable of having a great impact on their formation. Some aspects of intellectual formation may also be added to this experience.

- “External” Aspirantate. There are candidates who because of the social, cultural, political or family circumstances, cannot immediately join a community. This is also the case with young workers. While living with their families, they form part of a vocational group which follows a plan of formation guided by Salesians. The methods used for the accompaniment of the group vary from place to place, but in general it involves formation meetings at weekends in a nearby Salesian community, various spiritual and pastoral experiences throughout the process and an intensive period of formation lasting 6 - 8 weeks in a Salesian community.

- Aspirantate for indigenous vocations. This is an aspirantate for candidates from particular ethnic backgrounds or minorities, who before being inserted in the usual formation process in a Province starting with the prenovitiate, need to be accompanied in a way which pays attention to the processes of the inculturation of the faith and of Salesian life. In some Provinces the accompaniment of autochthonous vocations still needs to be tried out; it requires openness, not only on the part of those accompanying them but also on that of the Province which is being challenged to accept a new and different way of living the Salesian charism itself.

25.The types referred to do not exhaust the varieties of aspirantate in the Congregation, and indeed one hopes that new kinds can be found to respond to the circumstances of the young, in particular of university students, workers, immigrants and the autochthonous. Today it is possible to have in a Province two or more types of aspirantate. It is up to each Province to determine the type or types of aspirantate it needs in order to respond to the diversity of the candidates and of the situations in its own territory.

GUIDELINES

26. Let every Province “study possibilities for new forms of aspirantate/candidacy in order to have one or more communities where vocational accompaniment of young candidates can take place; plan for specific vocation ministry to young migrants belonging to Catholic families or ethnic minorities and indigenous young people; take greater note of the criteria indicated in the ‘Ratio’ regarding vocation discernment” (GC26 72).

27. What the criteria for admission to the aspirantate experience should be and what the candidate’s profile for entrance should be, has to be determined by the Province: for example the age of the candidates their intellectual preparation, the duration of the experience, relationships with the family, economic aspects…