2.2. OUTLINE FOR REFLECTION AND WORK ON THE THEME OF THE GG26

In this outline several suggestions and proposals are made which might be useful to focus the attention of individual confreres, local communities and the Provincial Chapter on the theme on which the GC26 wants to reflect and the aims it intends to achieve.

2.2.1. Letter convoking the GC26

The starting point will be the study of the letter convoking the GC26. In this the Rector Major recalls the presence of the Holy Spirit and of Mary to whom he entrusts this important moment, “a new Pentecost” in the life of the Congregation. He then calls on Don Bosco, in whose name he convokes the GC26 and to whom he addresses a final prayer.

In addition to indicating the theme and the aims, the letter also presents the methodology for the GC26. What is required is a study of the theme not so much from a doctrinal point of view, as from a planning point of view, so as to encourage “steps to be taken,” “mentalities to be changed,” “structures to be changed,” (ACG 394, n. 3.6) and so our becoming more credible in our life and mission.

The letter has four parts: the convocation, the context, the theme, the prayer of the GC26. The first and the third contain the presentation of the theme and the aims, with the reasons, structure and further reflections. The second part offers a wide-ranging view of the current context. The final part proposes an atmosphere of prayer to accompany the process.

2.2.2. Process of preparation for the GC26

The Provincial Chapter is not limited to its actual celebration, but is a process which the Holy Spirit begins in the heart of each confrere and which helps to awaken a sense of responsibility, availability and potential, especially if certain considerations are taken into account.

• The Provincial Chapter as a spiritual event

As is the case with the General Chapter, the Provincial Chapter cannot be effective if it is not seen as a spiritual event and as a new Pentecost (cf. ACG 394, n.1). Therefore the first thing to do is to accompany the process with prayer: «gathered around Mary, in a common prayer, attentive to the voice of the Spirit» (ACG 394, n. 4).

This applies particuarly to the GC26 and to the Provincial Chapters that prepare for it, in which we are called to make of da mihi animas, cetera tolle «a prayer addressed to God by one who, in the commitment and fatigue of an apostolic challenge taken up in God’s name, renounces all self-interest and wishes to take on the burdens of everyone» (ACG 394, n.1.1) and so carry out the mission as prayer in action.

Only by our being open to the Spirit will there be a new vitality, which will help us to overcome situations of staleness, to strengthen the charismatic identity, to reawaken the heart. This demands that the whole process be accompanied by prayer, both personal and in community, and with the involvement of the Salesian Family, lay people and the young. The celebration of the PC should also include times for prayer and a climate of listening.

• The Provincial Chapter as personal conversion

The GC26 requires a process of personal conversion. The main technique to be employed therefore is that of listening to the Word, to life, to others, to the young. The contents are to be accepted as the basis for meditation, which is meant above all to foster a change of heart and of mentality. Therefore with the PC we enter upon a state, a process, a season of more intense ongoing formation.

Personal discernment is a state of purification of the heart and a process of conformity to the will of God. The da mihi animas is an invocation of the gift of the mission; it is seeking souls; it is apostolic zeal. The cetera tolle demands an assessment of one’s purity of intention, the ability to be detached, total availability. Through such discernment evangelical choices can be made.

This process requires the daily practice of personal lectio divina, day by day fidelity to the examination of conscience, the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. No less important can be discussion with and listening to members of the Salesian Family, lay people, and the young who can tells us of their expectations and offer us their suggestions.

• The Provincial Chapter as a continuing living out of the charism

The theme of the GC26 encourages every confrere in the context of his personal vocational fidelity, to go to the roots of Don Bosco’s apostolic zeal. It is a theme that, rather than being just added to others, is meant to go deep and reawaken hearts to take up Don Bosco’s plan of life, to make Don Bosco present today in every Salesian confrere.

At the present time following the Chapters on fidelity, on the mission, on sharing with lay people, on the Salesian community, we now come with GC26 to a Chapter on the Salesian’s plan of life, on his identity, on his heart, on his charism, on the example of Don Bosco. It cannot but be another vital stage in the charismatic progress of our ongoing history.

The path already followed by the Congregation therefore needs to be kept in mind. For example, the role of the Salesian community in the EPC, attention to faith journeys, the planning mentality, community day, the personal plan of life, the community plan, commitments responding to new forms of poverty will all help to reinvigorate the charismatic identity and apostolic zeal.

• The Provincial Chapter as a planning process

GC26 began when the Rector Major communicated the theme and each confrere felt himself at once challenged and offered his first response of being open to conversion. Therefore the GC26 puts down its roots first of all in the heart of each confrere and then in the successive stages that will evolve in the local communities and in the Provincial community.

It is an oversimplification to limit the PC to the drawing up of contributions to be sent to the GC26. The process of the PC is the first step in the Province of taking up Don Bosco’s plan of life. Then there will be the GC26. When it is then time for the next PC the Province will resume the path begun in the PC in preparation for the GC26 and, in the light of the guidelines of the GC26 itself, it will try to assess and improve on it, developing what has already been set in motion.

It is a matter therefore of living this time of the PC not only as anticipation and preparation, but already as the beginning of its implementation. It is necessary to create continuity between the present PC, the celebration of the GC26 and the later PC. The PC in preparation for the GC26 does not have a doctrinal but rather a planning character, with a view to the application to the life of the Province of the theme da mihi animas, cetera tolle.

2.2.3. Structure of the theme the GC26 key topics

Studying the letter convoking the GC26, five key central topics can be indentified, which could be considered as modules for reflection and planning. It would be appropriate for the confreres, the local communities and the Provincial Chapter to focus their attention on them.

• Return to Don Bosco

Each confrere represents Don Bosco today; through each one of us Don Bosco returns to be among the young. This requires on the part of each one a greater knowledge of him and of the Constitutions and the taking up of his plan of life, expressed in the motto da mihi animas, cetera tolle. This will help us to rediscovery our charismatic identity, especially as regards Salesian pedagogy and Salesian spirituality, fan the flames of our apostolic zeal, encourage us to be present among the young, increase our sense of belonging and make our lives more credible.

• Urgent need for evangelisation

Following Don Bosco’s example, every confrere and community makes an explicit commitment to evangelisation. This commitment demands that we give a fresh impetus, courage and the depth of faith to our youth ministry which runs the risk of being merely recreational activity or social development. We need to reawaken the awareness that the Gospel is the source of true human growth and that for us evangelisation is carried out mainly in the field of education. We need to be able to move with greater flexibility to where the mission is calling us and to know how to identify and respond to the challenges evangelisation poses in our local and provincial contexts.

• Need for recruitment

Every Salesian, if he identifies with Don Bosco and has apostolic zeal, if he recognises the needs for evangelisation, cannot fail to invite others to consecrated Salesian life. We are convinced that for the fruitfulness of the charism there is the need for a nucleus of identifiable consecrated persons. It is therefore important to learn how to suggest to young men that they should remain with Don Bosco always. Then it is important that every Province has an organised form of accompaniment for candidates to Salesian life in its two main forms, priestly and lay. Special attention needs to be given to the vocation of the Salesian Brother in his identity, visibility, formation and promotion.

• Evangelical Poverty

Every Salesian, like Don Bosco, devotes his life to the young without reserve and therefore is ready for cetera tolle. There is great need today for a credible witness to evangelical poverty. The consumer society approach and the search for comfort leads to individualism and a weakening of pastoral effort. Our asceticism is in view of apostolic action. In our spirit poverty is expressed in work and temperance, but also in an austere, simple and basic style of life. There needs to be a prophetic poverty practised by individuals but also by the institute, as well as an openness to fraternal sharing, to solidarity with the poor, to the responsible management of resourses.

• New frontiers

Following Don Bosco’s example, every Salesian is concerned about the needs of the young. We need to be free to be able to go to the young and be where they are. We have not yet sufficiently analysed what is keeping us away from them and managed to discover what will facilitate our being with them. Structural changes are needed that will help us to concentrate more on the priorities of the mission rather than on managing works, on significant presences rather than operating on all fronts. It is necessary to identify the new forms of poverty around us. It is necessary to think about alternative models of works and of managing complex works; looking again at the roles of Salesians in carrying out the mission; making courageous management decisions that will give credence to our convictions.

2.2.4. The technique of community discernment

The letter convoking the GC26 proposes that the local communities and the PC should make use of the technique of community discernment. It is the same technique of working guidelines used in the GC25 (cf. GC25 n. 184). For each of the five key central topics, the local communities and the PC are invited to carry out a process of discernment which unfolds in the three stages already familiar from various projects: God’s call, the situation, courses of action (cf. AGC 394, n. 3.6).

God’s call expresses those appeals from God that come to us from the Gospel and from the charism, from the current situation and from the context; it requires an interpretation that is theological, spiritual and pastoral, of what, in the main, it is demanding of us. Starting from personal, community and provincial experience, this call will be further clarified by what the Rector Major suggests to us in his letter.

The situation opens up a reflection on how the confreres, the communities and the province stand regarding these appeals. It is not a matter of analysing the context but just of seeing how we stand faced with God’s call. The situation is considered from the point of view of its strengths and potential as well as of its weaknesses and difficulties. This stage prepares for the decisions to be taken in the next.

Courses of action need to be linked to the two previous stages, since they are a response to the appeals and to the situation. They need to be made practical in steps to be taken, mentalities to be changed and structures to be changed (cf. ACG 394 n. 3.6). They can be expressed at personal, community or provincial level. In some cases they can provide suggestions and recommendations for the whole Congregation.

The process of discernment in its three stages will be described in a written document, which should proceed from a planning and not a doctrinal point of view. As well as expressing the clear and open commitment of the Province regarding the theme of the Chapter, this can be its contribution to the GC26.

For each of the key central topics it would be best that the written document to be sent as the contribution of the PC to the GC26 should not be longer than two or at most three pages. By way of example, in order to facilitate the process of discernment in its three stages some questions referring to each of the key topics are now suggested.

2.2.5. Example of questions for the discernment process of the key topics

The proposed questions are only indicative; therefore a reply to each one is not necessary. They are open questions; others could be added. For each topic, however, the three stages of the discernment process should be followed: God’s call, the situation, courses of action.

• Return to Don Bosco

God’s call – Drawing inspiration from the Gospel, from the charism, from the experience of the confreres, the communities and of the Province, in our own setting and in the light of the letter convoking the GC26, to what is God calling us in order to be Don Bosco today and to live our charismatic identity and apostolic zeal in a credible manner?

Situation – Bearing in mind what God is calling us to do, what positive elements are there in favour of our identification with Don Bosco’s charism and what are the obstacles that get in the way?

Courses of action - What courses of action, i.e. what procedures to adopt, ways of thinking to modify, structures to change, are to be encouraged so as to acquire the spiritual and apostolic approach of Don Bosco, in order to bring to fruition a new way of identifying with him and with his charism, to live according to the Constitutions?

• Urgent need for evangelisation

God’s call - Drawing inspiration from the Gospel, from the charism, from the experience of the confreres, the communities and of the Province, in our own setting and in the light of the letter convoking the GC26, to what is God calling us in the face of the urgent needs of evangelisation in order to respond to the challenges this presents us with?

Situation - Bearing in mind what God is calling us to do, what positive elements are there in favour of our response to the urgent needs of evangelisation and what are the obstacles that get in the way?

Courses of action - What courses of action, i.e. what procedures to adopt, ways of thinking to modify, structures to change, are to be encouraged so as to be open to the new needs of evangelisation, to make explicit and credible the evangelising approach in all our works so as to overcome the danger of a pastoral activity limited to recreational activities or only social development?

• Need for recruitment

God’s call – Drawing inspiration from the Gospel, from the charism, from the experience of the confreres, the communities and the Province, in our own context and in the light of the letter convoking the GC26, what is God calling us to do with regard to proposing Salesian life to the young, to providing accompaniment for candidates and to the vocation of the Salesian Brother?

Situation – Bearing in mind what God is calling us to do, what positive elements are there in favour of the proposal of Salesian life and the accompaniment of candidates, and what are the obstacles that get in the way?

Courses of action – What courses of action, i.e. what procedures to adopt, ways of thinking to modify, structures to change, are to be encouraged so as to make the proposal of consecrated Salesian life, lay or priestly, credible, to ensure the accompaniment of candidates to consecrated Salesian life, to encourage the identity, visibility, formation and the proposal of the vocation of the Salesian Brother?

• Evangelical Poverty

God’s call - Drawing inspiration from the Gospel, from the charism, from the experience of the confreres, the communities and the Province, in our own context and in the light of the letter convoking the GC26, what is God calling us to do with regard to living in a simple and basic manner and giving a prophetic and credible witness to evangelical poverty?

Situation - Bearing in mind what God is calling us to do, what positive elements are there in favour of the credibility of our poverty and our openess to cetera tolle and what are the obstacles that get in the way?

Courses of action- What courses of action, i.e. what procedures to adopt, ways of thinking to modify, structures to change, are to be encouraged so as to remain available for the mission, to make our witness of poverty more visible and credible, to live a simple, basic and austere life, and to ensure that resources are managed in a responsible and generous manner?

• New frontiers

God’s call - Drawing inspiration from the Gospel, from the charism, from the experience of the confreres, the communities and the Province, in our own context and in the light of the letter convoking the GC26, what is God calling us to do in the area of the new frontiers of the Salesian mission and of our presence among poor young people?

Situation - Bearing in mind what God is calling us to do, what positive elements are there in favour of our openness to new frontiers and to our presence among poor young people and what are the obstacles that get in the way?

Courses of action - What courses of action, i.e. what procedures to adopt, ways of thinking to modify, structures to change, are to be encouraged so as to be able to put on one side what could prevent our responding to the needs of poor young people and to the new requirements of the mission, in order to avoid the risk of a management of the works that is merely administrative and bureaucratic, in order to bring about really effective changes to the structures of community life and the carrying out of the mission?

2.2.6. Contributions to be sent to the Moderator of the GC26

The various contributions, which can be of three different kinds, must reach the GC26 Moderator by 15 July 2007:

• Contributions from the PC on the theme of the GC26 “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle”; these contributions will refer to the five key topics; each of these has its own pro forma which will be made available by the Moderator of the GC26;

• Contributons from individual confreres or from groups of confreres on the theme of the GC26 “Da mihi animas, cetera tolle”; these contributions too will refer to the five key topics and will be written on an appropriate pro forma;

• Other possible contributions from the PC, individual confreres or groups of confreres on issues regarding the life of the Congregation, the Constitutions or Regulations; these contributions also will be written on an appropriate pro forma.