APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

Message of His Holiness JOHN PAUL II

for the beginning of the GC24

To the Very Reverend

Fr JOHN E. VECCHI

Vicar General of the Salesian Society of St John Bosco

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1. It gives me particular pleasure to send to you and to all the salesian confreres, especially those gathered together in the Congregation's 24th General Chapter, my cordial greetings and good wishes.

How could my first thoughts at this time fail to be of the late lamented Fr Egidio Viganò, who was Rector Major of the Salesian Congregation for so many years? I think of him with gratitude and emotion as I recall his prodigal commitment in disseminating the renewing wisdom of the Second Vatican Council in both the Society of St Francis de Sales and the wider areas of the Church at large, taking an active part on several occasions in great and important ecclesial assemblies.

While I recall his faithful service to the Church, I pray that the Lord may grant him the peace of his Kingdom, and imbue the entire Institute with renewed apostolic and missionary spirit in view of the third Christian millennium which is already imminent.

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2. It is in the perspective of the Great Jubilee that this General Chapter is taking place, an event of fundamental importance in the life of the Congregation. Every General Chapter has always a double objective: on the one hand that of looking back over the previous six years to assess the commitment made by the various communities for the realization of what was decided on by the previous Chapter and, on the other, that of planning in the light of the original charisma the life of the Congregation in the period now beginning. The original charism, in fact, must never be lost sight of.

In this context, and in these years of notable and rapid social and cultural changes, the specific educational and pastoral vocation of the Salesian Congregation finds in the Chapter the means and occasion for reaching decisions for the benefit of the young and of the whole Christian community, which awaits a renewed evangelical and missionary impulse. A great responsibility is this! In its light, while praying that the work of the capitulars may be effective, I remind them that the assembly has a character of particular urgency in the context of the contemporary world.

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3. With the down-to-earth approach of the educator and the far-sightedness of the saint, Don Bosco put before his sons a precise apostolic objective: 'The preparation of upright citizens and good Christians'. Without any doubt the Salesian Congregation has frequently reflected on the significance of these words, even to the extent of making them a slogan; it reminds educators of the path they must follow and propose to the young who avail themselves of salesian education in the various sectors of activity: a kind of challenge able to give sense to their existence.

The results of an educational method of this kind can be seen in a history which is by this time more than merely secular in nature. The Salesians can count on a great number of friends of Don Bosco scattered all over the world, with different denominations but all linked with the Saint of the young; they can count on numerous Past-pupils who still look to the Father and Teacher of their younger days as an important reference point in their family commitments and their obligations in society; they can count on Cooperators who give effect to their Founder's dreams of education and evangelization, as they continue to spread abroad Don Bosco's genuine spirit and salesian spirituality.

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4. The reference to those who ask Don Bosco and his salesian sons to help them to live as "upright citizens and good Christians", provides me now with an opportunity for a more explicit reflection on the theme of the present capitular assembly: the relationship between Salesians and lay people.

In recent years the world of the 'laity' has attracted special attention on the part of the Church's magisterium, and before and after the Synod dedicated to the "vocation and mission of the lay faithful in the Church and in the world" I myself have made several pronouncements in this regard. In the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici which followed the Synod, I gathered together in an organic manner the needs and perspectives which have arisen in recent years in the Church, so that "the rich 'theory' on the lay state expressed by the Council can be translated into authentic Church 'practice'" (n.2). Speaking of the risks to which the witness of lay people is exposed in today's world, I wrote: "Two temptations can be cited which they (the laity) have not always known how to avoid: the temptation of being so strongly interested in Church services and tasks that some fail to become actively engaged in their responsibilities in the professional, social, cultural and political world; and the temptation of legitimizing the unwarranted separation of faith from life, i.e. a separation of the Gospel's acceptance from the actual living of the Gospel in various situations in the world" (ibid.).

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5. At the school of Don Bosco, who wanted to make "upright citizens and good Christians" it is possible to help the lay faithful to overcome these two risks. In their tradition, in fact, the Salesians have efficacious means for creating harmony and balance between the various demands of contemporary life.

I would like to recall three elements in particular.

In the first place, the ability for educational follow-up. You can call it assistance, animation, family spirit, or whatever you like, but it is always a matter of being present among the laity and among people in general as a "stimulus to the growth of the person in his own environment" leading to a "common search" for a project of life. Hence the urgent need for salesian communities, rich in numbers and spirituality, ready to accompany all and respond to needs and demands. Collaboration between Salesians and laity must aim at forming "educative communities", in which personal talents are shared for the good of all. Who could ever forget Don Bosco's extraordinary ability to gather around him so many persons in a unity of purpose?

The second element consists of a dynamic organization, adroit in its strengths: of individuals in groups of common interests, in associations of civil and religious commitment, and in vast educative and spiritual movements. I repeat what I said on an earlier occasion: "There is no doubt that this ecclesial tendency towards group apostolates has a supernatural origin in the 'charity' the Holy Spirit instils in hearts (cf. Rom 5,5). However, its theological value matches the sociological need that in the modern world leads to the organization of combined efforts in order to reach pre-established objectives. (...) It is a question of combining and harmonizing the activities of those who aim at influencing the spirit and mentalities of people in various social conditions with the Gospel message. It is a question of putting into practice an evangelization that is able to exert an influence on public opinion and on institutions; and to reach this aim, well-organized group action is required" (Gen.audience, 23 March 1994, n.2). Truly Don Bosco was a master in the organization of diverse forces, asking from each one what he was able to give, and bringing all of them into concrete, practical and visible convergence.

And the third element on which to rely is the spiritual indication which stems from Don Bosco's experience at Valdocco and which has extended beyond the limits of the salesian community. Lay people of the present day have need of a deep spiritual life. This is required by the nature of the tasks they have to carry out: as their commitment increases to the building of God's Kingdom, so too do the obstacles standing in the way, and the need becomes clear of a deeper interior apostolic conviction. Modern culture needs convinced and active believers who will be in the world a leaven of kindness and of what is good. For this reason the formation of the lay faithful is one of the priorities on which the efforts of the community must converge. Formation helps lay people in the discovery of their particular vocation, it provides them with the means needed for their ongoing maturing process, and introduces them to the ways of the Spirit of the Lord. It builds up the "union which exists from their being members of the Church and citizens of human society" (Christifideles laici, n.59). "A faith that does not affect a person's culture is a faith 'not fully embraced, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived'" (ibid.).

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6. Don Bosco placed much emphasis on spiritual formation, understood as learning to live the whole of one's personal existence, in its various expressions, in the presence of God and the active construction of the Kingdom. A similar formation will prepare the laity of the new era to be able to respond to the formerly unknown challenges of our time, so as to create a future rich in hope for all humanity. The work of the recent Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the consecrated life has emphasized the relationship existing between the spirituality of a religious Institute and the spirituality of the lay people who take from it the inspiration for their life and activity. This is the perspective in which it is intended that the reflection of the capitular assembly will take place; it will not fail to indicate lines of apostolic cooperation between consecrated and lay persons who are called to be in the world courageous witnesses of the Gospel.

I entrust the work of the Chapter to Mary Help of Christians, who continues to watch over the dreams and aspirations of the sons of Don Bosco who are working, sometimes at personal risk, in territories of first evangelization. There it will be possible to work efficaciously, even with lay people who do not belong to the Catholic Church, provided that there is the ability to live to the full the experience of Don Bosco and to put forward in an integral manner both his educative system and his apostolic spirit.

In invoking the protection of Don Bosco and the salesian Saints upon all who dedicate themselves to so fascinating but demanding a mission, from my heart I send to you, to those taking part in the General Chapter, to all the confreres in the various communities, and to the whole Salesian Family, a special Apostolic Blessing as a mark of my esteem and confidence.

From the Vatican, 31 January 1996, Feast of St John Bosco

JOHN PAUL II

APPENDIX 2

Address of POPE JOHN PAUL II

to the members of the GC24

received in audience in the Clementine Hall.

1 April 1996

Dear Capitulars

of the Salesian Society

of St John Bosco,

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I am very pleased to have this long-awaited meeting with you, representatives of the Salesians spread throughout the world. Attending in such numbers, you witness to the marvellous expansion of the work of St John Bosco, whose charism remains living and vital in the contemporary world.

First of all, sharing in your joy, I congratulate the Rector Major, Fr Juan Edmundo Vecchi, whom you have elected to take charge of your spiritual family, calling him to succeed the late Fr Egidio Viganò, so distinguished for the work he carried out with such clear thinking, totally dedicated to the good of the Church and the Institute. I pray the Lord to accompany the new Rector Major and his collaborators in their important task, so that they may lead the Salesian Society and Family into the new millennium with St John Bosco's apostolic zeal and all the freshness of his charism.

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2. With this view of the future and with the challenges of the contemporary world before my eyes, I would like first of all to express my grateful appreciation of your family's active and faithful participation in the Church's mission. You consider yourselves a living part of the ecclesial community, fully integrated in it and entirely at its service in the various parts of the world.

In the footsteps of your founder, who passed this "sensus Ecclesiae" on to you as a precious heritage, you are carrying out your mission in an extraordinarily important area: the education of youth, ~the most delicate and precious part of human society", as Don Bosco said. In the Letter Iuvenum Patris which I sent you on the occasion of the centenary of the saint's death, I reminded you that ~the Church has (...) an intense love for young people: always, but especially in this period so close to the year 2000, she feels invited by her Lord to look upon them with a special love and hope, and to consider their education as one of her primary pastoral responsibilities~ (Oss.Rom., English edition, 8 February 1988, p.1). I therefore urge you to persevere in this noble and sensitive task which is certainly the focus of your Chapter's attention, since - as your Constitutions state - "like Don Bosco, you are all called on every occasion to be teachers of the faith" (n.34).

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3. To fulfil this mission, your Chapter devoted special attention to the laity who, in your family, have various roles

in the education of the young. Don Bosco himself understood the importance of having collaborators who were prepared to help him in different ways with his great educational task and who shared with him the principles and practices of his preventive system. He also understood the importance of having people who shared the Congregation's spirit more deeply, bringing it into the Church and society. This is why he founded the Association of Salesian Cooperators, associated with the Society of St Francis de Sales, with the precise aim of cooperating in its mission to save young people. He considered it "a most important association which is the soul of our Congregation" (From the Minutes of the First General Chapter). In addition to the Cooperators, many other lay people, more or less closely connected with the Congregation, have joined forces in the vast undertaking of education and evangelization: alumni, parents, friends and benefactors, volunteer workers, men and women of good will, all united in the love and service of youth.

Continuing on the path marked out by St John Bosco and attentive to the signs of the Church of our time, especially in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles laici, you desire to give new impetus to your involvement with lay people, growing with them in the communion and sharing of Don Bosco's spirit and mission. This is certainly a

theme directed to the future in the context of the new evangelization, which will help the Congregation and the entire Salesian family to enter the third millennium, now at our door, with numerous effective forces.

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4. In this perspective, in your Chapter you proposed the objective of widening involvement and promoting participation and shared responsibility. Yes, this really is the way to go if all the forces of good are to be joined in active collaboration, in which each, according to his own specific vocation - priestly, religious or lay - contributes his own riches, in a mutual exchange of gifts for the fulfilment of the educational mission.

For my part, I would like to stress the demanding task of formation which, in the Exhortation Christifideles laici, I presented as a fundamental aspect of the life and mission of the lay faithful, as ~the call to growth, and a continual process of maturation, of always bearing much fruit~ (n.57). On the one hand, it is necessary to remember that formation is a task that involves everyone together, because it is mutually received and shared - and this is all the more true in a spiritual family where participation in the same charism and collaboration in the same mission require putting shared formation into action. On the other hand, however, it is also necessary to stress the precise responsibility incumbent on the ones who, through a special gift of the Spirit, are called to educate those who are responsible for formation. This is a demanding task for you, sons of St John Bosco: to help form your lay people as teachers of youth, in the spirit of St John Bosco's preventive system.

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5. As I reminded you in my opening Message at the beginning of your Chapter, a crucial point in this formative commitment is the spiritual programme which stems from Don Bosco's experience at Valdocco. It is at the same time the source and goal of the way offered to all those - young people and adults - who share the saint's educational method. Allow me to insist here on the primacy of this spirituality which permeates your life and mission and must shine forth particularly in your testimony as consecrated apostles, the "signs and bearers of God's love for the young" as your Constitutions state (n.2). Lay people, who share with you the spirit and mission of the salesian experience, cannot but feel a similar need in the task they are called to carry out as teachers. As gradually as necessary and respecting the faith convictions of each, you are called to help them grow towards ever loftier goals in the discovery of their own vocation, to the point of introducing them into the ways of the Spirit of the Lord.

In the Letter Iuvenum Patris I pointed out how, in the figure of Don Bosco, there is an admirable interchange between education and holiness: "He realized his personal holiness", I wrote ~through an educative commitment lived with zeal and an apostolic heart and (...) at the same time, he knew how to propose holiness as the practical objective of his pedagogy" (n.5). Dear Salesians, I hope you will be able to imitate Don Bosco in his ability to transmit Gospel values, involving your collaborators in the educational mission and the young people themselves to whom it is directed. Thus you will succeed in making the educational community a true experience of the Church, the appropriate environment for a journey of growth towards authentic Christian maturity.

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6. Holy Week, which has just begun calls to mind the Message that your beloved Rector Major, Fr Egidio Viganò, addressed to the Salesian Family last year precisely at this time. On Good Friday, 14 April, he wrote: "I feel especially close to you on this sacred day of mystery and sacrifice. I have been in hospital for weeks, but I had never experienced Good Friday as an extraordinary day of Don Bosco's charism. To be immersed in the mystery of Christ's love, overwhelmed by the sufferings of the flesh: there is no more suitable moment to be with young people, to encourage our brothers and sisters, to intensify the Salesian Family". With these sentiments Fr Viganò offered everyone his Easter greetings "in the victorious Lord".

Dear Capitulars, I invite you to look to this splendid witness of faith and Christian optimism, in order to draw from it inspiration and courage in the decisions you are called to make. The lesson left you by Fr Viganò is quite clear: the secret of courageous and fruitful apostolic activity lies in adhering without reserve to the crucified and risen Christ.

I invoke upon all of you the heavenly protection of Mary Help of Christians. May she be for you, as she was for Don Bosco, a teacher and guide in your mission as educators.

I impart my heartfelt Apostolic Blessing to you, to your confreres, to the lay members of your educative communities and to all the members of the Salesian Family.

APPENDIX 3

Address of Cardinal Edoardo Martinez Somalo

Prefect of the Congregation

for the Institutes of Consecxrated Life

and the Societies of Apostolic Life

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Dear Salesians of Don Bosco, animators of the great Salesian Family, I greet you most cordially, and let me say at once that I feel very much at home among you, as in a family.

I offer my greetings too to their Eminences the Cardinals, to their Excellencies the Archbishops and Bishops, and to all those in charge of the different branches of the Salesian Family, gathered here at the beginning of your 24th General Chapter.

My words are addressed to each of you individually, hoping if for no other reason to confirm you in the tradition of Don Bosco and his successors, and inviting you to continue at the threshold of the 3rd Christian Millennium your incomparable service as "Missionaries of the young".

Allow me to begin with a quite special reference to the Rector Major who left us last June: Fr Egidio Viganò, an authentic son of Don Bosco, and for that very reason a wise and faithful servant of the Church.

To him the Church owes a debt of gratitude for the ever more progressive and closer service he gave: from his duties as a teacher in the Catholic University of Santiago-Chile, to his presence as an expert at the Second Vatican Council, to the Assemblies of the Latin-American Bishops Conferences; from posts of responsibility in the Salesian Congregation to his participation in the Synods of Bishops and his collaboration with the Departments of the Roman Curia! We thank God for so faithful and competent a service. To you goes the challenge of continuing with the same fervour and optimism his following of Don Bosco - a fervour and optimism which must accompany your work in this 24th General Chapter.

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1. Your General Chapter, an event of communion.

Your Capitular Assembly is a grace of the Holy Spirit for fostering a flourishing communion and sharing among you, whom the God of every vocation has gathered together "to live and work together", of Don Bosco's educative and pastoral charism. marked by a predilection for the young who have most need of affection and of the Gospel.

A climate of communion is necessary to be able to communicate, and in turn cordial communication is necessary to be able to bear effective witness. Harmony of mind and heart is essential for mutual enrichment through multiple Christian experiences fused into unity of intent, as fruits of the best that comes from all parts of the world, where as Salesians you are present and working.

That you come from different cultures is clear at once from your features and languages, but equally evident is your unity in spirit and intent:

- You are linked together in chapter to be strengthened in the unity of your salesian patrimony and to share it with lay people who want to commit themselves with you in the mission of educating and evangelizing the young.

- You are in communion to increase ever more the unity of all the members of the Salesian Family around the rock which is Peter, in the challenge of the New Evangelization. And who can ever forget the love Don Bosco had for the Pope?

- You are united around the sacrament of the Eucharist, another great love of Don Bosco - the Eucharist which St Augustine calls "the sign of unity and bond of charity" (Commentary on the Gospel of John, 26.6.13) - to bring about in the different cultures in which the Gospel is implanted, the objective Don Bosco himself had so much at heart, i.e. to raise up in society "upright citizens and good Christians".

- And you are united in harmony, so that the riches of the salesian charism will maintain all its substance, while becoming embodied in all the positive realities present in the most widely differing cultures.

You well know, my dear Salesians, that "outsiders" who look on you with affection want you to be ever more: a light which enlightens others; a warmth which humanizes through the preventive system and makes Christians of the young and older people who gravitate around you; an attraction to others to follow Christ as did Don Bosco and with him, with the same thirst for souls, I would day: "Da mihi animas!"

This is a kind of communion which will always be in harmony with a healthy plurality, seeking every day new expressions of truth and prophecy as a service to the New Evangelization.

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2. A Chapter for launching the Salesian Congregation into the Third Millennium.

You all know how much the Holy Father has been urging the Church to prepare for the Great Jubilee of the year 2000, so that the Christ event, yesterday, today and the same for ever, may enlighten with the light of his countenance, strengthen with the truth of his word, and enliven with the hope of his paschal victory, the way of humanity through the paths of the new Millennium.

This Chapter has the task of launching your Congregation into the next century, of taking up its challenges with the same pastoral heart of Don Bosco, and of being for the young in a special manner "signs and bearers of the love of God".

May the Holy Spirit therefore, who has brought you together from all parts of the world as in a renewed ecclesial Pentecost, unite your wills, your energies, your toil, your intentions and your desires, so that the salesian spirituality (which is pastoral charity with educative love) may be a significant and generous contribution which you offer to the task of the whole Church.

May the same Holy Spirit, the Consoler, weld you together by the breath of a renewed spiritual youthfulness; may he fill your hearts with the inexhaustible joy of Don Bosco and confirm you in that down-to-earth apostolic realism which is proper to your educative and pastoral methodology, which forges Saints.

May he give you a unity of spirit and of planning for approaching the young, wherever you may find them, to accompany them and help them to reach that maturity in Christ (cf. Eph 4,13), being made new beings in him (cf. Eph 2,15; 4,24).

Faithful to the spirit of St John Bosco and in continuity with your history, you will contribute in this way to the salvation of the young by inserting yourselves actively and effectively into the vicissitudes of our times, as was recalled by the recent Synod on the Consecrated Life.

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3. An apostolic osmosis between Salesians and Laity.

From the standpoint of communion and the sharing of Don Bosco's mission, the lay member of the faithful will be at the centre of your capitular work. The common vocation to holiness and mission - this double dimension which then reduces to a single one with two aspects, bringing in all the members of the Church. The names given to the different members have their root in the functions which each group is called upon to carry out in fulfilment of the one vocation.

To note once again that the attainment of sanctity and the call to the mission come to the same thing, the same norms and practices, the same spiritual outlook, will help you to a deeper and more adequate understanding of the significance of "communion and sharing" and to accept the consequences.

The norms and dynamism of the vocation to holiness and to the mission pass, as we are well aware, through the interiorization of the life of the Trinity in each one of us, nourished by the regular use of the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, by prayer, by ascesis and by a life passed in rectitude of intention for the glory of God.

The working together therefore of Salesians and Laity implies a distinction between consecrated and lay persons but in unity of spirit and salesian mission, with each one in the identity of his own vocation, in working contexts which may at times be different, but all of them at one in the project which God entrusted to Don Bosco through Mary. Unity and distinction. communion of objectives but reached through different apostolic activities though always with the same fervour and educative method: in a word, with the same passion for Christ and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In this way your consecrated life takes on the value of a sign and becomes for the laity an element drawing them to the mission; while their presence - as we were reminded by the recent Synod - will contribute to the giving of a more organic image to the Church and to her mission in the world.

These relationships, the 1994 Synod recalled, are founded on the ecclesiology of communion, developed by Vatican II, which recognizes nonetheless that every Christian has specific functions and ministries.

It is not my intention to separate the ones from the others, but a distinction is necessary even though we are all called to be evangelizers.

The laity have the ability, by special title, to bring out the evangelical possibilities hidden in the realities of human social life, provided they act in unity with and as part of the Church under the influence of the Holy Spirit, by means of Christ.

To you it belongs to help the laity to mature in the awareness of their salesian mission, and to form them to the ability to discover levels and practical directions which are proper to them.

You Salesians in fact are already in possession of an educative method whose power and strength must be applied for the formation of the laity to collaboration; they will thus be helped in the work of the redemption of human activities, so as to restore in them the crystal clarity of the divine design.

From this emerges with new emphasis what Don Bosco used to say: "form upright citizens", i.e. people who are competent in the fields of lay activity, such as science, technology, culture, work, art, politics, etc.; and to "form good Christians", i.e. people who will live and act as Christians.

Dear Salesians, it is my hope and prayer that the exchange of gifts of intelligence and practical methods which will take place in this General Chapter may lead you to focus on the fundamental points for an authentic communion and sharing with the laity in the spirit and mission of Don Bosco.

I put, for your attention and my own, four points. all of them emphasized in Synodal interventions, which must never be lost sight of when there is a question of authentic communion and sharing, of interaction between a Community of consecrated life like your own and the laity.

1) Always cultivate with the laity a deep and authentic ecclesial communion: agere cum Ecclesia starts always from esse in Ecclesia and is fostered by vivere pro Ecclesia.

2) Bear witness to the call to holiness, and propose it together with groups of committed lay people. Let your sharing and your communion become the setting where the vocation to holiness is clearly proposed, manifested and encouraged in the face of any wearying passivity.

3) Be yourselves, and allow the laity to do likewise. The irradiation of your charism presupposes, in fact, that individuals and communities are firmly anchored in their own consecrated identity. Don Bosco's charism, his mission to the young, the spirituality and method of the preventive system, will be effective and flourish only to the extent in which you are convinced and transparent witnesses.

But you must also help the laity to be themselves. In the communion and sharing of the salesian spirit and mission they are called to emphasize aspects which are specifically theirs, rooted in their lay status, in fields and environments in which they are competent. This specific nature of theirs is a source of riches for you and for the mission to youth.

4) And finally, Salesians and Laity together, look at the enormous challenges stemming from young people and their contexts. With the sensitivity of an "oratorian heart", make yourselves their friends, brothers, teachers, and promoters of initiatives, which prolong in time the solicitude of the "father and teacher of youth".

And with this I will finish. I have referred to two of the three great loves of Don Bosco: the Eucharist and the Pope.

Last but not least, let me recall his other great love - for Mary Help of Christians.

May she protect you, bless you and assist you.

As the Seat of Wisdom, the wise and prudent Virgin, may she increase in each of you those virtues which must emerge in an assembly of high level like the present one. May she, the Mother most amiable, be your encouragement and support when her loving presence is needed; may she help you now and always to be faithful. courageous and joyful witnesses for all the lay people activities.

for whom you work and who collaborate with you in your educative May Mary Help of Christians, who guided Don Bosco with motherly concern and predilection, guide you also in bearing witness to the apostolic mission the Church is expecting from you.

THANK YOU!

Rome, 19 February 1996.

APPENDIX 4

Address of the Vicar General

Fr Juan E. Vecchi

at the opening of the GC24

Your Eminence Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo,

My Lord Cardinals and Bishops,

Mothers, Sisters and Brothers representing Groups of the Salesian Family,

Members of the General Chapter.

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We are beginning the 24th General Chapter of the Society of St Francis de Sales which will start us out on the path leading us to the great Jubilee of the Redemption.

I am happy to be able to offer grateful greetings to his Eminence the Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. His presence is a sign of our communion with all those in the Church who have accepted the invitation to undertake the radical following of Christ.

I thank our Salesian Cardinals and Bishops for their fraternal participation in this function. Your salesian vocation placed at the service of high pastoral responsibility reminds us of the ecclesial character of our Congregation and of this assembly of ours.

We are grateful too for the representation here today of other branches of the Salesian Family, and particularly to Mother Marinella Castagno, Mother General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, to the Coordinator General of the Cooperators, to the World President of the Past-pupils, and to the Superiors General of the Don Bosco Volunteers, of the Salesian Oblates, and of the Sister Apostles of the Holy Family.

And to you, members of the Chapter, gathered from all over the world, I offer a warm welcome and best wishes for the success of your work.

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1. An ecclesial event

What it is that brings us together today we are told by our Constitutions. Our General Chapter is the principal sign of unity of the Congregation: a sign in the sacramental sense which such unity manifests and at the same time produces and strengthens.

The unity is revealed in the visible fraternal encounter in which we intend to carry out a communal reflection to keep ourselves faithful to the Gospel and the charism of our Founder and sensitive to the needs of time and place. Gospel and charism are our common and constant points of reference, but they are not static points. Times and places are the terrain where they are sown so that they may germinate, flourish and produce new fruits. The will of God, sought for in discernment, is what we are looking for to guide us in the practical choices we have to make.

In this way the General Chapter comes to be the means through which the Salesian Society in its totality seeks to know, at a specific point in history, what service it is called upon to render to the Church and to youth.

This is a matter of considerable importance. In fact the objectives already mentioned - discernment of God's will, adherence to the Gospel, fidelity to the charism, spiritual and practical unity, sense of the present time, adaptation to places - are at the root of our human existence and the foundation of our consecrated life.

It is true that they imply tasks which are demanding but at the same time both noble and joyful, and this all the more so when we can count on excellent fellow-travellers: the Holy Spirit, Mary most holy, and Don Bosco.

The same image of the General Chapter given us by the Constitutions is also revealed in our history. The past 150 years gave seen 23 great assemblies before this present one. Although there were many differences between them they opened up a perspective, made concrete a certain trait, strengthened a dimension, and perfected a method. The combined result has been not only to ensure our charismatic unity with the passage of time but continually to enrich it.

For us Salesians, therefore, the present moment is pregnant with significance and possibilities, but is also dense with realities already achieved.

This would seem to be something that concerns only our Congregation, or at the most our Salesian Family. But art.6 of the Constitutions opens up further horizons. It invites us to turn our gaze on the Church and feel ourselves immersed in its mystery: "The salesian vocation", says the article, "places us at the heart of the Church and puts us entirely at the service of her mission". It is the Church herself that considers our General Chapter not just as a private happening in a religious Institute but as an ecclesial event, when in her own law (can.631) she lays down its character, compass and main objectives.

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We are gathered together here as Church, called together in her name and for her service, in virtue of that charism which with other gifts of the Holy Spirit constitutes the mystery of the Body of Christ and the principal energy of its mission.

This ecclesial dimension has been underlined by the filial and welcome acceptance of the message of the Holy Father, who according to our Constitutions is our highest Superior, to whose authority the members, even when gathered in General Chapter, are always filially submissive, even by force of the vow of obedience.

Precisely because of its spiritual and ecclesial significance, the General Chapter has the highest authority in the Congregation. This it exerts in extraordinary form, especially in the fulfilment of its three tasks of legislating, electing and deliberating.

Every capitular, once he has been elected by his Province, becomes a member of the General Chapter with full and exclusive personal responsibility. He is not bound by directives or choices of his own Province or Region, as though he were merely a spokesman. The General Chapter is not, in fact, an assembly of representatives, but a collegiate body of extraordinary government whose authority derives from the Constitutions (cf. C 123).

The first and principal term of reference of every capitular is the General Chapter itself, its objectives and purposes and the process of discernment pursued in it. To this process each one brings his personal experience and cultural sensitivity, and in it he allows himself to be moulded in the light of the charism.

This belongs to the very nature of the General Chapter: it looks at the Congregation in itself in the first instance, and then in its parts, from the standpoint of the unity, fidelity and vitality of the whole. It is a powerful reminder for all the members to place the charismatic dimension and world perspective before any particular ones.

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2. The 24th General Chapter

Our present General Chapter (the 24th) is the largest in numbers in salesian history. There are 210 capitulars from 89 circumscriptions, with this latter also the highest number yet achieved. Those present will actually number 208, but with them we link a grateful and deeply felt thought for Fr Egidio Viganò, who would have presided over the Chapter, and for Fr Martin McPake, Councillor General for the English-speaking Region. To the capitulars there have also been added seven observers, who have been invited to ensure a more consistent presence of coadjutor brothers.

The preparatory stages indicated by the Constitutions and General Regulations have been duly implemented: the convocation and presentation of the theme, formation of the technical commission, provincial chapters, appointment and work of the precapitular commission, the sending out in due time of the scheme of work, and the designation of the juridical commission for checking the validity of the elections. We believe therefore that as far as human responsibilities are concerned the preparation has been well done.

The GC24 follows the line taken progressively by the General Chapters of the period following Vatican II: after an overall reflection on the salesian identity and the subsequent promulgation of the renewed Constitutions, they went on to study more deeply certain particular aspects of our life: the evangelization of the young, formation, our pastoral practice or the preventive system, animation of the community, and the figure of the members. Subsequently they focused on points still more precise and capable of verification: the journey of faith to be proposed to the young, criteria of functionality of our works, salesian youth spirituality, the configuration of the subject of pastoral activity, i.e. the educative community with the Salesians as animators and the laity as participants in salesian educative and pastoral interests.

It is precisely through this last point that the GC24 is linked with and almost visibly joined to its predecessor. The intention, in fact, is to clarify and make more concrete the sharing of responsibility which the laity can have in Don Bosco's mission and spirit, always for the evangelization of the young and especially those who are poorer; and this in the context of the educative community, of the Salesian Family and of the vast movement of the friends of Don Bosco or of persons interested in education in a Christian sense.

At first sight this may seem a completing or crowning of what we have already said about pastoral practice, but it is in fact an invitation to rethink the whole new perspective of the Church as the people of God which has matured in recent times.

It may also seem to be a further effort at spreading the salesian spirit, but it is in fact a spur to a reexamination of everything with a view to the discovery of dimensions which have so far remained hidden. In this sense the path we have already followed is most useful to us in discerning the further road we see indistinctly as lying ahead. And this is something indispensable if we are to understand and render fruitful at the present day what we have developed so far.

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And then our General Chapter, like its predecessors has the duty of electing the Rector Major and his Council. I think it hardly necessary to emphasize the importance of an act of this nature. Our communication services have sensitized communities and confreres in a more intense manner than in the past. We are therefore sustained by the prayer and solidarity of many in our process of discernment.

What appears as a legitimate interest for everyone becomes, for each capitular, a fact of conscience for which he is personally responsible before God and his confreres. The Lord wishes to make use of our personal and communal mediation to indicate the one who will become a sign of the presence of Don Bosco, with his closest collaborators. In this we are asked for purity of heart and a joint effort at serene seeking.

Patient enlightenment, the ability to listen, detachment from superficial motivations, autonomy in giving one's own vote, will find their most genuine sources in prayer and in charity towards all. We have thought it well to precede the elections by some days of discernment and the invocation of help to obtain that interior peace and tranquility which will ensure us God's help.

The GC24, in line with its legislative task, can also verify in accordance with law and within the limitations of its competence those norms which need urgent adaptation: i.e. the Constitutions and General Regulations. Its authority is supreme, but is neither isolated nor limitless. It takes place and is completed in association with other organisms of government. It would be a waste of time to take up secondary problems or those which ordinary government can deal with more easily through experience.

For the validity, not least at a charismatic level, of the conclusions concerning each of the three tasks indicated, there must be absolute juridical correctness, beginning from the elections in local communities, going on through the realization of the Provincial Chapters, and finally in the merit and procedures of the General Chapter.

Ours is not just a gathering of friends or pastoral workers, nor is it a meeting of experts. It is the point of convergence of some 17,000 confreres, each of whom has in this General Chapter his own shared responsibility laid down in norms resulting from wisdom and long-studied considerations for the expression of communion.

Its legality is therefore far more than an external formality. It belongs to the substance of the General Chapter with its contents. As the SGC20 declared: "The religious life is of its nature charismatic; for this reason it has a spiritual dimension and here its vitality is to be found. But from the very fact that religious are human and have specific goals to attain together, there is the need to have an organization as in any other society, and this has need of structures" (SGC 706, 1).

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3. The context of the GC24

The Chapter does not isolate us from the world, but inserts us in it with greater awareness and greater foresight and caution. It is called upon to become the occasion for taking note of the point in history at which we are living, so as to be part of it in a more evangelical manner through a service, but especially through a prophetic presence. There are some coordinates which mark this climate of the world.

The first is the new evangelization: it includes a reading of the times, the feeling of an urgent need for the proclamation of Christ, and the ecclesial proposals and movement already taking place. It is like the concrete expression in pastoral practice of the whole process of reflection which the Church has made through Synods and documents of the period following the Council. It appears as a lucid awareness of cultural tendencies, of world problems and human aspirations; and at the same time as the response which Christ's disciples intend to give by their words, but more especially by their lives. And this not only to guarantee salvation after death, but also to defend personal dignity in history. As educators both aspects are of concern to us; they become fused together in our intention to evangelize by educating.

The second coordinate is the discovery of the riches brought to the new evangelization by each of the vocations: that of the lay person, that of the ordained minister, and that of the consecrated individual. And this not in isolation but in their interaction, in their mutual enrichment and working together for the evangelical leavening of the world. It is not a matter of conforming to a single pattern, of watering down our identity, of being less consecrated, but of being so more radically and openly, so that the laity too may live the Gospel in a more radical manner within secular realities. We are asked to draw new light and energy from our situation in total transcendence and love, so that the laity may feel themselves led to the leavening of worldly realities from within, in line with the laws involved, by directing them to the Kingdom.

The third coordinate is the Jubilee of the Redemption of the year 2000. This is more than a mere anniversary, even though it be an exceptional one. The figures are full of significance, such as the urgent need of prophecy in our own time, the reawakening in believers of hope in him who was, who is and is coming again, a glimmer of "what lies beyond" for those who are unbelievers, the calling of all churches to unity and of all religious experiences to commitment for mankind. The digits 2000 are merely a chronological indication of the year, but as a point in history it comes laden with possibilities. And to the examination of these we too are called, even as a General Chapter.

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4. Conclusion

The nature, purpose, tasks and context require from each capitular and from the Chapter as a whole, vision and concreteness, a utopian outlook and a practical approach. It may be that these two dimensions are incompatible from the outset. There will be some who want something prophetic and charismatic, open to God's future, without limits of perspective. And there will be others who are looking for something practical, almost of an administrative nature, restricted to the possibilities of the present time, prudent in the face of dreams for the future. To the capitulars it belongs to make a synthesis of the two. We must not let ourselves be so blinded by distant horizons that we do not know what to do today; but neither must we let our view be so imprisoned in immediate needs that we do not see the light of the perspectives ahead and fail to aim at their realization.

As religious and educators we have to be at one and the same time specialists in both dreams and the understanding of possibilities, in the utopia of the Kingdom and the nitty-gritty of daily work.

* * *

From her who was given in a dream to Don Bosco as the Mistress of Wisdom, we ask for inspiration and guidance in the work we are about to undertake.

APPENDIX 5

Address of the Rector Major, Fr Juan E, Vecchi

to His Holiness John Paul II

during the audience granted to the GC24

Rome, 1 April 1996

Most Holy Father,

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Gathered here before you are 230 participants in the 24th General Chapter of the Salesian Congregation. Some are members by right; others have been invited, and among the latter are some lay people who share with us Don Bosco's spirit, form part of the Salesian Family, and collaborate in the mission to the young and the poor. I would like to present them to you one by one. They are working in as many different parts of the world in the new evangelization and today they represent the realization of Don Bosco's charism.

During these past weeks all of them, Salesians and Laity, have been working solidly in the important event of the Congregation, which is the General Chapter. And subsequently they will take to others and put into effect what has been decided.

In the name of all of them I express to Your Holiness sentiments of gratitude for the attention, affection and confidence you have always shown towards our Family. Your messages and addresses to our last three General Chapters, together with the letter Iuvenum Patris which you sent us on the occasion of the centenary of Don Bosco's death, constitute for us an anthology. They remind us of the originality of our spirituality and of our style of education, which we want always to place totally at the disposal of the Church's mission, and particularly in this last part of the century which leads us to the third millennium. Indeed we consider this period as a challenge and an opportunity for apostolic educators. In this we are encouraged by your own encounters with young people, the hopes you place in them, and your words of guidance.

We know too of your fatherly interest in the development of our General Chapter, and your expectation and anticipation of the "white smoke", as we have heard from our confreres who work in the Vatican.

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This audience which you have kindly granted us, taking time from the multiplicity of your engagements, is something we have long desired and awaited. It gives rise to a joy we have been striving to contain. We ask the indulgence of those responsible for Vatican protocol and order if some of those present should be led by their exuberance to offend in some way against established usage. There are several here from oratories, and they act on the principle that spontaneity should not be repressed but guided.

The joy stems from our filial adherence to the Vicar of Christ, which is easy for us because it has its root in faith and a pastoral sense. We have absorbed into our family traditions the sayings and examples of Don Bosco and the gestures of those who formed us. Today is a date which easily takes us back to our roots, because it is the anniversary of the canonization of our Father and of the birth of Mamma Margaret.

In our work with the young and in Christian communities, we live and present the ministry of Peter as a gift of God to the Church for unity and to the world for ethical and social guidance, in difficult times which have need of points of reference.

This is a dimension of our spirituality which the Constitutions - our project of life in God - recommend to us in these words: "We feel ourselves a living part of the Church, and we cultivate in ourselves and in our communities a renewed ecclesial awareness. This we express in an attitude of filial loyalty to Peter's successor and to his teaching, and in our efforts to live in communion and collaboration with the bishops, clergy, religious and laity".

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Because of this ecclesial sense, our 24th General Chapter has decided to deepen the relationships of communion and sharing among consecrated and lay persons in the charism and mission of Don Bosco. In this we have been encouraged and enlightened by your Apostolic Exhortations Christifideles laici and Pastores dabo vobis. But at the present time especially, after its recent publication, we are profiting by the Exhortation Vita consecrata, for which we are grateful to Your Holiness, because it gives us the unending dimension of our choice and indicates the conditions for rendering it significant in the world of the present day.

It is our wish that the gift which God has given in Don Bosco to the Church for the evangelization of youth, be extended and shared by the greatest possible number of people, so that a continual and fruitful dialogue may be undertaken with young people in the traditional settings of education, but also in today's new and youthful versions of the areopagus.

We entrust these desires to the heart and prayers of Your Holiness. And while we offer you our most sincere congratulations for your priestly Jubilee, we are ready to receive your words into our hearts, and we invoke upon ourselves, our communities and projects your Apostolic Blessing.

APPENDIX 6

Address of the Rector Major

at the conclusion of the GC24

Dear Chapter Members,

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Through the grace of the Holy Spirit we have reached the conclusion of the 24th General Chapter. This concluding capitular Assembly is the final stage of a path we have followed together in our shared search for the road our Congregation is called upon to follow, together with numerous collaborators, in the challenging years that lie ahead in our mission on behalf of the young. In this solemn and significant moment, while we recall in synthesis all that has slowly matured in two months of the Chapter's work, we feel how important it is that each of us accepts and makes his own the guidelines and deliberations of the Chapter, so as to be able to live them and pass them on to our educative and pastoral communities.

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1. Sense of gratitude

The first feeling that arises spontaneously is that of gratitude. First of all to God, who has accompanied us and guided us with the constant presence of his Holy Spirit: to him is due our praise for the wonders he has worked and continues to work in our Congregation, and which have been made manifest once again during this Chapter. To Mary Help of Christians, our Mother and Teacher, always close to us and attentive to our needs and those of the young; to our Father and Founder Don Bosco, to whom we have incessantly made reference at every stage of our work.

The Eucharist which we shall soon celebrate, in the joyful atmosphere of the paschal liturgy, is the fullest expression of our gratitude, in union with the unending praise which the Church offers through Christ to the Father.

Our thankfulness then extends also to all who have committed themselves with constancy and self-sacrifice to the work of the Chapter, and first of all and especially to the Moderator, Fr Antonio Martinelli, tireless, foreseeing, ever present and attentive in everything, and to those who collaborated with him more directly; to the Chairmen and Secretaries of the Chapter, so capable and precise; to the various Commissions headed by their Presidents and Spokesmen and to the drafting group, who combined to give us a rich and stimulating document; to the assiduous and tireless translators; to the lay people who shared with us part of the Chapter's proceedings; the Rector and confreres of the Generalate, who accompanied us by their generous service and kindness; and in particular the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and their girls who provided for our daily needs with such availability and courtesy. Our heartfelt thanks go to all of them: we shall not easily forget the experience we have lived through and which we can well refer to as a reciprocal exchange of gifts.

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2. The GC24: an event of the Congregation

on the threshold of the Third Millennium

The General Chapter, as I said in my opening address, is an event of the Congregation; it is a landmark in its history and launches it towards the future. Although celebrated institutionally in Rome it involves, in fact, the whole of the Congregation in all its structures and expressions; and we have experienced in this Chapter more than in preceding ones the closeness and involvement of confreres and communities in the event, not least because of the better quality of communications.

As well as an event of the Congregation, the General Chapter is also an event of the Church, not only because through the charisma we have received from the Holy Spirit we feel ourselves to be a living part of the Church (cf. C 13) and at its service, but also because the Chapter event has its consequences on the Church's mission in today's world in which we collaborate.

And from this standpoint we cannot fail to emphasize its particular character. With its celebration on the threshold of the year 2000, it inserts us in the course the Church is following to develop a renewed evangelizing capacity in the new millennium. Pope John Paul II, in the audience he granted to the General Chapter, pointed out our task of "leading the Society and the Salesian Family into the new millennium with the apostolic ardour of St John Bosco and with all the freshness of his charism".

Within the setting of our Family we have also relived, during the Chapter, the humble and prophetic episode which was at the beginnings of our history: on 12 April 1996 in fact we commemorated the 150th anniversary of Don Bosco's arrival at Valdocco, to the Pinardi shed so poor and yet so pregnant with hope, where the Oratory found a stable home and from which it spread, through the protection of Mary Help of Christians, to every continent. The memory of this event placed all our capitular reflections in the light of the origins.

Some other significant facts and features characterized this Chapter at the end of a millennium. They remain engraved in our minds and hearts, and we take them with us as a substantial content of our capitular experience.

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In the first place there is the depth and manifestation of communion within our capitular community. Though coming from a wide variety of contexts and having to face problems which of necessity implied different outlooks, we have experienced the fellowship of living and working together (C 49). Our charismatic identity, the "grace of unity" of our apostolic consecration. common prayer, harmony of hearts, the effort to reach convergence in frank and always respectful discussion: all this has been an authentic manifestation of salesian worldwide communion. For this reason, as we finish our work, we feel supported by this "practical unity" as bearers of the Chapter's message.

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Another characteristic feature of the GC24 has been the openness of the Congregation to the world at large, which has been manifested ever more clearly, with due and constant attention to preserving the unity of spirit and mission. This openness to the world is revealed in particular in the intercultural and transcultural vision of the charism, in the approach to realities and problems of specific contexts, in the concern for ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue, in the exploitation of different languages. Even in the reflections which led to the new arrangement of the groups of province, attention to intercultural and international exchange was one of the criteria from which the Assembly drew its inspiration.

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Against the background of openness to the world we can also see the growth in missionary awareness, discernible in the Chapter. Even though "missionary" activity was not specifically on the agenda, its impact on many aspects of the Chapter theme, together with the communication of experiences of Provincials and Delegates from our missionary territories, contributed to a revival of the missionary aspect of the Congregation; and this in a double sense: in becoming aware of the missionary commitment lived by our communities, and in acquiring an ever better understanding of the urgent need of missionary frontiers "ad gentes" with the missionary heart of Don Bosco.

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An innovation of the GC24, which calls for special mention, has been the presence of lay people, who not only contributed to a deeper analysis of the Chapter's theme but enriched it by their fraternal presence, the contribution of their experiences and the witness of the gifts of their specifically lay vocation, within the Salesian Family or Movement.

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An important fact and significant coincidence during the course of the GC24 was also the promulgation of the Apostolic Exhortation "Vita Consecrata". The Exhortation had been long awaited after the Synod, and has become inserted in the work of the GC24 as a stimulus to the ever better understanding of our specific vocation in the Church, the gift of the charism we have received through the Founder, and the great horizons now open in the Church and in the world to us who are consecrated apostles. Within the theme of the Chapter, the Apostolic Exhortation has helped us to perceive more deeply our own contribution as religious priests and lay religious in the educative and pastoral community, of which we want to be animators together with our collaborators.

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And we must remember too the novelty of the discernment process which in this Chapter has helped us to listen to the Holy Spirit, open to different possibilities, internally free and available, for choosing those who would be called to animate the Congregation during the coming six years. This experience is a valid indication also for provincial and local communities as regards the path to be followed in making decisions or deciding on orientations concerning our life and the carrying out of our mission.

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In pointing to these aspects, while rightly emphasizing the resulting innovations and the progress that has been made, we cannot fail to stress also the sense of continuity which has accompanied such development. In fact when we examine the reflections and proposals of the provinces we have become aware that they have moved in harmony with the Constitutions, in the effort to give effect to the apostolic project expressed in them, in a form better corresponding to the situations and needs of today's youth, but in complete fidelity to the mind of Don Bosco. Even in respect of sharing with the laity, the GC24 has recognized that this is an already existing reality or one in process of being started up, and must be stimulated and made more alive and active.

Finally we must underline the quality of communication which has marked this Chapter: both the official communication using the equipment and professional competence of our Salesian News Agency (ANS) in close collaboration with the Chapter Commission for information, and - an important fact - private communication which used updated technology to reach confreres and communities immediately. This is an aspect which will certainly be kept in mind by future General Chapters.

3. Some orientations which have emerged

After recalling some outstanding features of the event, I would now like, without re-reading or summarizing the Chapter document, to dwell for a while on some indications which I consider fundamental for our progress in the coming six years.

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3.1 Lay people: a grace, and a task to be performed

The focal point of our reflections has been the salesian charism, mission and spirit, as a possibility still to be discovered of communion and shared responsibility in the service of the young. We must not forget this because from this gift of the Spirit stem the riches and original forms of the cooperation which we hope to achieve.

The subjects involved are simultaneously the Salesians and lay people. But the novelty of the perspective stems from the sudden entrance of the latter into the salesian horizon and of the insertion of their experience as freshly understood in the heart of the charism.

For the Salesians this implies not just a marginal addition, but a new light involving the whole of their vocation. In living this vocation with renewed awareness and enthusiasm they will find the resources to enable them to put into practice the conclusions of the GC24.

The new attention to the laity leads in the first place to the recognition and exploitation of the reality of which they are bearers: children of God, temples of the Spirit, members of the people of God. They act in the world with the prophetic grace which points others towards the Lord, with the sanctifying power which heals and reconciles, and with royal energy which creates, orients and transforms. They are called to holiness, which is the human fulfilment of communion with God. If these points are repeated it is because they need to be considered again and again in the real terms of daily life.

The secular condition of the lay person, used as a key for a new understanding, broadens and enriches the vision of the salesian mission: it makes it clear that, although it has an identity, this has no limits as regards extension and can integrate aspects, initiatives and ever new forms conformable to the movement of the world; it can be expressed through a whole range of persons who, while living in different parts or working in different environments, are nevertheless linked by an identical spirit and purpose.

The lay perspective also leads to a discovery of the possibilities regarding the communion which salesian consecrated life can create around spirituality, education and pedagogical praxis. It indicates to us numerous groups of persons in which these things can be active and leavening: from the Cooperators, who take and mould their lay salesian identity under the gaze and spiritual guidance of Don Bosco and are today our main partners, down to those who share with us human values, a religious attitude and concern for education.

The presence of lay people also makes us give renewed thought to secular, human and Christian experience, and situations in which this is expressed: family, professions and politics. These realities and values are naturally associated with them and form an indispensable part of the content of education, which is our own field of work.

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In this fresh understanding emerges the identity of the woman and her contribution to culture, education, ecclesial and salesian life, which calls on our part for welcome acceptance, exploitation and reciprocity. But we shall certainly draw from it too advantages for our consecrated life, for communion and for our pastoral work.

And so with the presence of the laity our vision becomes broader and deeper, as well as increasing our practical possibilities. We know that there are many people who have been moved in spirit after coming into contact with Don Bosco. And we know too that his plan of life in the spirit offers infinite possibilities for realization at both institutional and individual level.

But Christifideles Laici, at n.2, reminds us: "In reality the challenge embraced by the Synod Fathers has been that of indicating the concrete ways through which the rich theory on the lay state expressed by the Council cam be translated into authentic Church practice".

For us too the test lies in the practice, in which the first step is the welcome, the attitude of availability and pleasure, at the emergence of the laity in the field of the charism. It is true of course that the practice has need of ecclesial and salesian reflection, constantly enriched and strongly motivated. And it must not be taken for granted that such reflection has been internally accepted and projected into reality by every Salesian.

As regards the laity, provincial and local communities are invited by the GC24 to pass from fragmentary realizations to a complete and organic project. All the elements and situations which past experience had revealed were highlighted by the GC24, and now they have to be rethought as a whole and their problems solved, counting on the laity not as mere temporary help but as our companions all along the way.

We have to pass from different individual evaluations to a communal shared mentality. A period in which ideas and practices concerning the participation of the laity was left to the judgement of individuals has been replaced by another in which this has become the conviction of all, a criterion for all institutions and programmes.

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3.2 The salesian mission

Don Bosco's experience, which we recalled in our celebration of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of his work at Valdocco, underlines an important fact: impressed and attracted by his relationship with poor boys and by his work for their benefit, various lay people began to gather around him. More than a few of them, perhaps, were already concerned about the youth situation and wondered how they could respond to it as Christians. But they needed a spark to prompt them to action, an example, a sign, a project, a setting. And they found it in the choice made by Don Bosco and in his first steps towards its realization. Their contributions were of various kinds: educative collaboration, financial support, close help and friendship, acceptance in social circles which could cooperate, the exploitation of his work in local churches.

And with his youngsters in mind and whatever could be done for them, Don Bosco extended far and wide his invitation to share in working for them. And even today boldness in the expression of the mission calls into communion and provokes the collaboration of those moved interiorly by the Spirit.

On the modern realization of the more original features of the mission, therefore, must be concentrated the efforts of provincial and local communities.

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The setting of the young and the poor, which is a fundamental characteristic of our mission, suggests that we go more decisively in the direction of needy youth and poorer neighbourhoods. Youthful distress appears today in many different forms. Everywhere the Church has made a preferential option for the poor. Service for their benefit still has an unrivalled ability for bringing people together, and rightly so! It represents hope for those who feel themselves abandoned, and in this sense is an eminent manifestation of the pastoral love of Christ.

The educative dimension opens us up to all and leads us to welcome those who are poor in life or interests, those looking for a path to follow; it enables us to offer them plans leading simultaneously to human advancement and to evangelization. Attention to the faith from the outset is certainly an essential point which we can never renounce. In it we find the energy for human growth and for meeting Christ, who leads to an understanding of the mystery of God and of man. But at the same time we work in the vast spaces of advancement, of culture, of social dynamism. Nothing that is human finds us indifferent. Such an option is natural to the lay dimension and allows for an unlimited insertion of lay people at different levels.

The mission always bears the stamp of the preventive system as a synthesis of aims and methods, as a model of relationships and educative communication, as the ability to form a community of the young and the poor with specific characteristics, as a criterion of perception and assimilation of the values involved, as a vision of the resources of the individual.

Ever since the GC21 the preventive system has been stimulated to reformulation in the light of the youth condition and culture of the present day. Renewal of the system is an ongoing task, but today it appears almost as a turning point as well.

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Finally the oratory appears as the prototype of the presence and activity of Don Bosco's mission: at one and the same time it provides welcome, cultural growth, preparation for life, and maturing in Christian spirituality. This it does with an integrated programme, made concrete and vital by an environment of spontaneous participation.

With reference to the overall mission of a province and of the Congregation, every foundation tends to be significant: in planning, attracting, radiating and enticing through the quality of its educative style and the relevance of what it offers. Preceding General Chapters have emphasized the need to make of every foundation an evangelical innovation suited to the condition of the young, the needs of the Church and the situation of society - an innovation expressed especially in the evangelical witness given by the community and individual members when in fraternal unity they show that they are close to the people, dedicated to their task, with a positive attitude toward the locality and an influence on its mentality and life.

In addition to presence among the poor, greater significance attaches at the present day to initiatives for young people looking for sense in life, missionary and solidarity commitments, and journeys of faith. They help to bring to maturity capabilities raised up by the Spirit for the service of the Church, and insert us into the movement of the new evangelization of the young, which strives to create a leaven and sign. To these must be added initiatives linked with new expressions of the Areopagus, like social communication, carried out with communal criteria, with prospects of progressive and competent continuity, with due regard for aggregation and dedicated to the elaboration of messages of culture and evangelization.

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3.3 The SDB Community

The salesian community, as the Constitutions declare (C 44), is the subject of the mission, even when it does not directly manage all the initiatives. It is true that many others participate in Don Bosco's charism, but the latter is concentrated in the SDB community in a special way by virtue of the force of consecration, the plan of life (profession), and total dedication to the mission.

The community, therefore, is always the animating nucleus, even though not by itself and not necessarily of the local setting. It is the point from which come the vast majority of impulses for initiatives, proposals for formation, stimuli for the constitution of a wider community. What enables it to fulfil its role of animation is especially its experience of the Spirit, who is found in the primacy given to the sense of God, to the following of Christ, to pastoral charity which places it at the service of the young in its transparently fraternal character, in its salesian educative and spiritual patrimony. All this must naturally be translated into relationships, into a project of work, in a form which gives proper value to culture, and into pedagogical method. It is strengthened further by the richness of the complementary vocations of the priest and the brother. The first has a privileged channel in the ministry of the Rector who, with the other confreres, points the way to Christ, indicates the reality of his grace, and fosters membership of the people of God. The second makes visible our closeness to the world and our confidence in secular realities coming from the hands of God the creator and redeemed by Christ.

Animation is a task which goes naturally with the Spirit's gift, but it can be carried out fruitfully only under certain conditions. Hence certain elements must be attended to which are essential for fruitfulness. We have this at heart much more than the simple management of works.

Numeric and qualified consistency is necessary whether the community has to animate a work or is entrusted with a collection of initiatives. We run the risk of being too much conditioned by an individual management of roles. This renders the planning and experience of communion more difficult, as also does the thinning out of the active community which becomes accustomed to carrying out its services in an individual form.

Clarification and order of importance are also needed among the objectives of salesian animation: an adult sharing of responsibility on the part of all; the Christian, salesian and professional formation of the components of the educative and pastoral community; the constitution, unity and dynamic thrust of the overall community; planning in line with the mission and salesian spirit, orientation towards action and the main decisions, direct and competent contact with adults and young people according to the particular possibilities, and the careful application of criteria laid down for the involvement of lay people in the educative community.

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Certain objectives too must be pursued with perseverance, even when forces are reduced:

-The solid concept of the task of animation. The real participation of all members of the community according to each one's possibilities is enriching: animation can take many paths, even unusual ones. What is important is that no one draws back, opts out or leaves everything to others.

-Preparation of each one for the task of animation. What the GC23 recommended must be taken up again and given effect: "Every province... will prepare confreres especially for the work of education to the faith, the animation of pastoral communities, and the formation of lay people" (n.223).

-A rethinking of the role of the Rector and Council in animation, so as not to deprive the organisms of the educative and pastoral community of their natural attributions, and not limit them solely to the internal religious aspect which would lead to a loss of the unity between spiritual, pastoral and pedagogical aspects which is characteristic of our experience.

- The adopting of a form and rhythm of life which fosters and almost predisposes to animation: communication, discernment, planning, verification, and shared prayer. Particular importance seems to attach to cultural sensitivity and the educative and pastoral enthusiasm of the salesian group, and its ability to make contact with the young. The community is called, in fact, to be a sign, school and environment of faith.

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This General Chapter provides a reminder of the role of the province in promoting religious life, in prompting the awareness of the community, and in activating pastoral creativity. The path we have followed in recent years is more than satisfactory, and prepares us for what we have to do in the immediate future. The Province not only gathers local communities into one which is broader but, as the subject of the mission in a much wider territory, can take on initiatives and activities to be carried out by lay people, properly formed and followed up. It is up to the Province to discern, applying the criterion of quality and to the extent that this makes it possible, how to distribute salesian resources in line with the importance attaching to each initiative and its involvement in the work.

We need to strengthen the sense of the provincial community and its inter-communication with the educative and pastoral community, the convoking and formative ability of the province, so that the laity also may have a point of reference for communal membership over a very wide range. For this reason the arrangement of the organisms is important as also is their convergence; this was recommended by the GC23 (cf.nn.239-246). But still more important is the line and tone given by the Provincial and Council to their own governing activity. Their priorities must be those of animation; their trust must be placed in the spiritual and professional qualiication of Salesians and laity rather than in material means and structures.

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3.4 Spirituality

In every part of the Chapter's preparation and work there has been appropriate reference to "spirituality". It emerged strongly in the proposals of the Provincial Chapters, both in lay and salesian form. And this is a sign of the vitality and assimilation of the proposal on Salesian Youth Spirituality, which the GC23 pointed to as the energy, goal and criterion of evaluation of salesian educative processes.

The discussion on the report on the state of the Congregation led to the recognition of a priority: the formation of the Salesian, understood as a preparation for the "living and communication of spirituality".

The GC24 arrived at the discussion of spirituality in its search for a source of communion between laity and Salesians. There is a widespread awareness in the Congregation that our linkage with lay people needs a more robust spirituality if we are to face up together to the difficult challenges which the salesian mission presents at the present day. Spirituality leads not only to sharing in the work of education but also in the motivations which underlie it. It represents the common ground for discussion between lay values - be they of Christian or natural inspiration - and those of consecrated life.

It has been pointed out that the term 'spirituality' does not belong to our traditional language, which in general has preferred to speak of 'spirit'. But its emergence must be considered as a response to a need, and today it is indispensable for a meaningful approach to culture.

Spirituality, in fact, is "a concrete programme of relations with God and one's surroundings, marked by specific spiritual emphases and choices of apostolate, which accentuate and re-present one or another aspect of the one mystery of Christ" (VC 93).

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With the reappearance of forecasts on the eclipse of what is sacred, and the failure of promises of uninterrupted progress and wellbeing for all, and the revival of a utopia of rapid and universal justice and equality, faith has faded in the ideology, techniques and political organization in which were seen, not entirely without reason, the signs of modern civilization. All this and much more has made it quite clear that human growth is to be sought rather in conscience than in consumerism, in being rather than in having.

Young people, even though deceived by so many temptations, are not insensitive to those who are able to put before them pathways of contemplation and commitment, of rediscovering the mystery of man, of Christ, of God.

Many lay people who in recent years have been our travelling companions in work have shown their appreciation of the style of Christian life linked with Don Bosco's experience of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata tells us: "Today, often as a result of new situations, many Institutes have come to the conclusion that their charism can be shared with the laity. The laity are therefore invited to share more intensely in the spirituality and mission of these Institutes" (VC 54).

We conclude the GC24 with the conviction that to propose the salesian spirituality to them is the proper and adequate response to a pressing calling and the offering of a desired gift. In any case, the demand for spirituality prompts us to discover our family treasures, to develop and analyze more deeply those traits which Don Bosco has left us and which are so extraordinarily efficacious.

The entire salesian mission is the mature fruit of a spiritual seed. We all know by experience the gratification that follows the success of educative work, the simple joy of being in the midst of the young who have a certain charm, the satisfaction of using our own resources in a significant setting; these do not separate us from our apostolic commitment; but there is much more to it than that.

Before all else the mission is a work which the Holy Spirit carries out within us: "our Transfiguration", the Vita Consecrata suggests, which makes us "signs and bearers of the love of God for young people, especially those who are poor" (C 2): "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor" (Lk 4,18).

Without an experience of the Spirit no mission exists, either on our own part or on that of the laity. The contemplation of God who loves and saves man is the powerful spring which impels us towards the young and the people of God.

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Da mihi animas is primarily an invocation, a prayer, a cry for help addressed to God that he may himself accomplish what he has asked us to do.

It is an invitation to involve the laity in a spiritual adventure, rather than merely implicate them in the many mansions of an educative and pastoral service.

But are we capable of such an adventure, and do we really want it? Could it not be that a certain weakening in our missionary thrust is due to spiritual tiredness? "Consecrated persons, because of their specific vocation, are called to manifest the unity between self-evangelization and witness, between interior renewal and apostolic fervour, between being and acting, showing that dynamism arises always from the first element of each of these pairs" (VC 81).

And so let us not be surprised that spirituality is at the heart of the GC24. It is called to be the soul of the educative and pastoral community, the core of the formative journeys we have to make together in an atmosphere of the exchange of gifts. We communicate it through our daily life, coming down - as Don Bosco suggested - from the teacher's desk to the playground so that our words may be the exegesis of our life.

The GC24 invites us to make explicit the lay dimension of salesian spirituality, with a deeper examination and updating of those elements which, for Don Bosco, mould the "upright citizen and good Christian".

We are asked to qualify our presence in the educative and pastoral community as bearers of a pedagogy with a strong spiritual validity. It is expressed in the model of the kind of man to be attained - Jesus the perfect man, in the motivations which nourish the desire, in the goal to be achieved and the methods used for the purpose.

With regard to the world, the GC24 commits us to the discovery of those "semina Verbi", which the Spirit has spread everywhere in abundance and which enable us to enter with hope into ecumenical dialogue of both an inter-denominational kind and with all men and women of good will. It will be a lived spirituality that helps us "to look for and find in the history of individuals and of entire peoples traces of God's presence, a presence guiding all humanity towards the discernment of the signs of his saving will" (VC 79).

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3.5 The pastoral and cultural quality of the Salesian

The new aspect of lay people (in quantity and the taking of responsibility), the significance of the mission, the obligation to be a solidly attracting nucleus, require in the Salesian almost a qualitative leap forward in what concerns his general preparation and specifically as a pastor and educator.

Varied are the cultural and professional qualities which must find a place in this new preparation: the ability to discern reality, a mentality that can plan ahead, team-work, habitual updating, the knowledge of new languages.

Others are specifically connected with the pastoral dimension: the continual re-understanding of his own Christian, consecrated and ministerial identity; a deeper study of the themes from which pastoral work draws its inspiration, so that such work may not rest on external elements or become limp under the weight of technical and professional applications; the enrichment of the spiritual life, and the ability to welcome and guide individuals, groups and communities in the faith.

In our life some of these aspects are more exposed to wear and tear or to sclerosis and need particular attention. Culture evolves rapidly, knowledge becomes more extensive, new information is continually fed in, while the mentality on the values and concepts of life present ever new questions. The cultural dimension is one that calls for patient and unceasing effort. Its urgent need and stimulation needs serious attention in the process of initial formation. But it also calls for the including of time for study during the years of full commitment to activity.

In this area too the set-up of life and work in the local and provincial community will be decisive. Social and inter-personal communication provide opportunities for following the evolution of culture. But a personal habit of study is indispensable, as also is concentration on areas of specialization in theory and practice, without rigid divisions.

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At provincial level it will be well to consider the advisability of university studies for all who are capable of them in an ecclesiastical or secular setting, and the permanence with the necessary flexibility of confreres in the sectors for which they have been prepared. There is little point in spending money on obtaining qualifications if they are not subsequently exploited and perfected.

The urgency which we feel is shared by all Institutes of consecrated life, traditionally the leaven of Christian life through faith and charity, but no less through the education of the mentality and presence in culture.

The Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata reminds us of this in n.98 from which I want to quote at some length: "The need to contribute to the promotion of culture and to the dialogue between culture and faith is deeply felt in the Church today.

Consecrated persons cannot fail to feel challenged by this pressing need. In their proclamation of the word of God, they too are called to discover the methods most suited to the needs of the different social groups and various professional categories, so that the light of Christ will penetrate all sectors of society and the leaven of salvation will transform society from within, fostering the growth of a culture imbued with Gospel values.

But in addition to this service of others, within the consecrated life itself there is a need for a renewed and loving commitment to the intellectual life, for dedication to study as a means of integral formation and as a path of asceticism which is extraordinarily timely, in the face of present-day cultural diversity. A lessened commitment to study can have grave consequences for the apostolate, by giving rise to a sense of marginalization and inferiority, or encouraging superficiality and rash initiatives.

With all respect for the diversity of charisms and the actual resources of individual Institutes, the commitment to study cannot be limited to initial formation or to the gaining of academic degrees and professional qualifications. Rather, study is an expression of the unquenchable desire for an ever deeper knowledge of God, the source of light and all human truth. Consequently, a commitment to study does not isolate consecrated persons in an abstract intellectualism, or confine them within a suffocating narcissism; rather, it is an incentive to dialogue and cooperation, a training in the capacity for judgement, a stimulus to contemplation and prayer in the constant quest for the presence and activity of God in the complex reality of today's world".

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3.6 The principal investment: formation

Cultural qualification, professional approach and spirituality all direct our attention to formation.

The demands for a renewed commitment to formation emerged very strongly from the analysis of the state of the Congregation and from the deeper study of the theme of the Chapter.

The reflections of the GC24 have pointed to the need for the formation of the laity and of our own formation with the laity. But the Chapter emphasized no less strongly that the formation of the Salesians should include specific periods, contents and methods appropriate to our particular vocation. This latter point was made by the lay people themselves, as though to endorse the fact that communion and sharing will be the more intense and contagious the more the Salesians live their vocation in a transparently authentic manner.

The GC23 had already led us to undertake a positive process in the field of ongoing formation, pointing to the importance of the local community and the quality of daily life and work; this is a task which must continue.

Not less urgent is decisive action in the field of basic or initial formation. The youth condition and the cultural context, the challenges arising from the project of religious and priestly life, the problem of those leaving, and especially the profile of the Salesian of tomorrow, all require very clearly that formation must be based on quality.

To do this it would seem necessary to give primacy of attention to three points.

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- The first is practical consistency or the conscious application of salesian formative practice. The Congregation can count on a practice of formation that is well tried out and codified. The objectives, manner and conditions of the formative process are sufficiently well defined: formation communities, role of formation guides, maturing processes, practical experience of the aspects which constitute spirituality and life, personal follow-up. More than new formulations, what is needed is adequate formative back-up: the training of formation guides and providing each formation community with a sufficient number of them, constant verification of the experience, the promoting of a purposeful pedagogy, attention to the problems of life and to evolutionary processes, and the ability to provide constant follow-up at a personal level. The incidence of formation is linked with "the ability to establish a method characterized by spiritual and pedagogical wisdom, which will gradually lead those wishing to consecrate themselves to put on the mind of Christ the Lord" (VC 68).

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- Next comes attention to the new demands of evangelization and inculturation. Thy have a deep effect on every project of religious life and pastoral mission. For our own Congregation, which is becoming ever more universal and pluricultural and is in contact with the young, they are indeed vital. Our formation process, in fact, has its starting point in the "youth culture" and the intention is to lead to the assumption of a project of apostolic consecration which refers back to the realization of the mission in a cultural context which is complex, fragmented and in constant evolution.

The objectives of formation and formative pedagogy must therefore be constantly attentive to cultural situations and to pastoral evaluation, and those in charge of formation must make themselves capable of a dialogue which takes account of both elements.

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- For this reason, particular importance must be given to intellectual formation. What we have said earlier becomes impossible without an updated cultural preparation which enables the vocation to be lived in a conscious manner, leads to an adequate vision of reality, creates habits of reflection and provides opportunities for further study.

A solid intellectual preparation - says the Ratio - "is of indispensable assistance for a full and efficacious living of the characteristics proper to the salesian vocation and its mission" (FSDB 210). This we have already emphasized, speaking of the pastoral and cultural quality of the Salesian.

All this reflects back on the commitment the GC24 urgently asks for with respect to the formation of the laity. As the Pope said in his initial message to the Chapter: "The formation of the lay faithful is one of the priorities on which the efforts of the community must converge".

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What are the implications for us of this commitment, which represents a challenge to the formative and motivating ability of the community and of every confrere? Without repeating the words of the capitular text, I will emphasize certain lines of action:

- The first is to make of daily sharing a formative element. It is made up of relationships, shared intentions and responsibilities, an atmosphere, organization and interventions, and of communion in the preventive system. It exposes the Salesians to the gaze and verification of those who participate in the educative experience. To make it formative means that it be communicated by the manner of life and integrate everything in the Christian, educative and salesian vocation of the individual, be he religious or lay.

- It will be necessary therefore to give back to the Salesians the sense of the priority of formation. We are called to be animators of the growth of individuals. It is a service imposed on us by our vocation as consecrated persons and educators and by the priestly ministry, a service which finds an opportunity in every encounter, but is concentrated at specific moments for which all should be prepared.

Of this the Pope reminds us in his initial message: "Formation helps lay people in the discovery of their particular vocation, it provides them with the means needed for their ongoing maturing process, and introduces them to the ways of the Spirit of the Lord. (...) Don Bosco placed much emphasis on spiritual formation, understood as learning to live the whole of one's personal existence, in its various expressions, in the presence of God and the active construction of the Kingdom".

- Hence follows a third suggestion: strengthen a plan of action. A series of initiatives must be programmed at local and provincial level, corresponding in content and duration to the different situations of collaborators and members of the Salesian Family.

The GC24 asks us to make of formation our chief investment, from which we expect the greatest profit. Investing means laying down and maintaining priorities, ensuring conditions, working according to a programme which gives pride of place to persons, communities and mission. Investing in time, personnel, initiatives and financial resources for formation is a task which is of importance to all of us.

It is an obligation for every confrere since he has the prime responsibility for his own formation. It is a duty of every community, which must take "the time necessary for attending to the quality of its life" (VFC 13). It must be attended to by the Rector, arranging a priority among the expressions of his service. It must be done particularly by those responsible for provincial government who must keep in mind the formation and qualification of personnel, the consistency of the communities and the significance of the various works.

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3.7 Communication

Communication is becoming the expression of the "global village" towards which our planet is heading. It is being spoken of as the "new power" which will belong to those who have the most up-to-date "data banks" and the most sophisticated means of reaching them. The conscience of modern man is being progressively moulded by them and continually stimulated to broaden its outlook to world range, becoming instantly in touch with the events, dramas and hopes of the entire world. This new communication is showing its capacity for creating aggregations, spreading new ways of life, confronting different cultures, and generating a new context with which the traditional media (books, newspapers, radio, TV etc.) will have to come to grips.

The Church has recognized in this complex phenomenon a new Areopagus which the modern Christian cannot ignore but must rather accept the fact that he is inserted in it as an active and responsible protagonist. "The means of social communication have become so important as to be for many the chief means of information and education, of guidance and inspiration in their behaviour as individuals, families and within society at large. In particular the younger generation is growing up in a world conditioned by the mass media. To some degree perhaps this Areopagus has been neglected" (RM 37).

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Our Congregation has always shown itself sensitive to the phenomenon, but has not always found the best means for extracting from it the possible fruits for education and evangelization.

It has understood, from the time of Don Bosco himself, that it could not prescind from the means of social communication in its efforts of cultural animation and work of evangelization, and that the "pastoral charity", which is at the root of our mission, is also able to orientate the new technologies in the service of mankind and of the Gospel.

At the same time it has recognized the fact that in so sophisticated a field it cannot enter without adequate formation. And it has understood that the educative dimension of social communication can be developed only if supported by educators (Salesians and lay people) who are competent in the formation of "discerning listeners and expert communicators" (VC 99).

For this reason it has started up ISCOS, which appears rich in promising developments; it has a General Councillor responsible for social communication; it has fostered social communication in the animation of the provinces; it has sought a technological renewal of its central services and has provided for the formation of competent confreres.

The awareness of the phenomenon of communication (understood in an interpersonal, communal and social sense) is already an integral part of educative awareness.

All this naturally draws attention to the quality of the communicator (an individual or community), who is committed to witnessing to what is expressed with a radical ability to provoke questions, strike the imagination and touch the heart. This is why true witnesses prove to be excellent communicators. Don Bosco was one of them because of the force of his message, the totality of his dedication, and the daring nature of his initiatives.

Such awareness verifies also the quality of the message, personal or communal, and its intelligibility on the part of ordinary people. It becomes understandable when it is an event and not just an outpouring of words or display of eloquence. And it should be noted that holiness frequently endows such an event with unusual communicative force.

Modern human sciences have highlighted the elements which render communication efficacious. It seems only natural that we Salesians should be attentive and interested.

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The reflections of the GC24 could not bypass these matters, because of the very nature of the theme it had to address. Communication is an indispensable vehicle of communion within the educative and pastoral community, the Salesian Family, the Salesian Movement, and among the Friends of Don Bosco.

Don Bosco had an intuition of all this when he founded the Salesian Bulletin, and we are all witnesses to its enduring validity in different languages.

Moreover, it is not difficult to recognize in the field of communication a privileged area in which lay sensitivity and professional competence can be exploited for the service of the salesian mission. We already have a lot of experience of this in the Congregation and it is still growing.

Reflecting on the story of Don Bosco, we discover the close linkage that exists between his mission, the radiating of his charism and the involvement of lay people. For him communicating meant making the entire world, so to speak, a "salesian work" in which the preventive system, the problems of the young and his concern for their salvation were at the centre of his attention. By communicating, Don Bosco made it clear that his was a "mission without frontiers", which reached everywhere where there was a youngster in need and someone who undertook to take care of him.

To communicate is to reach the ordinary people and proclaim to them the mystery of salvation; it has an incidence on the culture which every youngster automatically breathes; it points to the salesian vocation as an ecclesial charism in which everyone can commit themselves.

To communicate is to mobilize and communicate forces for good, so that together they may cultivate the hope of humanity which is called youth. Since the world of the media "represents a new frontier for the mission of the Church... the lay faithful's responsibility as professionals in this field demands a recognition of all its values, and requires also that it be sustained by more adequate resource materials, both intellectual and pastoral" (CL 44).

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3.8 Vocational capacity

Among the points emerging from the work of the General Chapter there is an indication underlying many of the aspects that were dealt with, and seems to be a signpost for the six years ahead of us. It is the vocational capacity which must distinguish every confrere and salesian community.

To give rise to vocations is one of the purposes of the Congregation's mission (cf.C 6), and to cultivate them (independently of the results we might obtain) is an essential dimension wherever we happen to be and in every project or process which takes its inspiration from Don Bosco's method of education. In fact, as the GC23 recalled, since "vocational guidance constitutes the vertex and crown of all our educational and pastoral activity, this is not the terminus of the faith-journey; it is an element always present, and one that must characterize every stage and every area of intervention" (GC23, 247). Vocational guidance comes in this way to be one of the characteristic tasks of the educative and pastoral community, which moves in the spirit of Don Bosco's preventive system.

The theme of the GC24, on the communion and sharing of Salesians and laity in the spirit and mission of Don Bosco, recalls of its nature the vocational dimension. On the one hand, in fact, it leads to a consideration of the vocation of each one - be it lay, consecrated or priestly - in its intrinsic value, based on the plan God has for every individual in his personal glance of love; it leads us therefore to be able to exploit all vocations in the Church. On the other hand the Chapter theme emphasizes the specific contribution each one is called to give through the riches of his own personal endowments: the lay person, committed to making the Gospel present in the world through his typical secular style of life, and the Salesian - lay or priest - called to bear witness by his consecrated life to transcendent values and the absolute love of God. In this way Salesians and laity are invited to share vocational commitment by their witness of life and their personal ability as educators to accompany the young in the discernment and acceptance of God's plan for them. Rightly the Chapter document includes among its practical guidelines concerning the common formation of Salesians and laity that of vocational discernment.

The privileged place for such commitment is the community: the salesian community which is responsible for the genuine nature of the charism, and the educative and pastoral community where Salesians and lay people, in shared responsibility for the educative project, are involved together in the service of vocational orientation.

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Clearly this service is open to the whole wide range of vocation in the people of God. Among them, in line with the Chapter document, we may recall in the first place attention to the family as the first and most common vocation, to the values of which we must be able to form the younger generations; then comes the care of young animators and young volunteers, disposed to give themselves freely in the service of others, and who are frequently living already an effective harmony with Don Bosco's spirit and mission. The Salesian Youth Movement has proved to be fertile territory for active participation in the spirituality of vocation and in experiencing its values.

It will be the task then of the salesian community and of the educative and pastoral community, while accompanying each young person in the discovery of his or her specific plan of life within an overall vision, to be able to present and propose also the vocations of special consecration to the religious life, to the consecrated secular life or to the priesthood. Against this background, a special commitment of the groups of the Salesian Family, which share the charism and mission, is to bear witness to and propose the vocations of the different groups, with their particular characteristics. For us SDBs, while we give effect to our mission as "educators to the faith" (C 34), we have always the challenge of bearing witness to our own particular vocation as consecrated apostles - in the double and complementary lay and priestly form - to willing youngsters, so that many can continue Don Bosco's project.

This too represents one of the priority commitments for the coming six years, in which are involved the entire educative and pastoral community and the groups of our Family.

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3.9 The worldwide aspect, a new dimension of the salesian mission

The GC24 has been an experience of the worldwide character of the Congregation, not only as knowledge and unity among the provinces but as a dimension of the salesian spirit and the possibility of working over a vast area. Numerous elements in the discussions and in the life of the Chapter have provided evidence of this wider extension: the restructuring of the Regions, inculturation, the volunteer movement, exchange of information and the reference to different contexts.

It is the fulfilment of art.59 of the Constitutions: "Religious profession incorporates the salesian in the Society, making him a participant in the communion of spirit, witness and service that is its life within the Universal Church. Union with the Rector Major and his Council, solidarity in apostolic initiatives, communication and exchange of information about the work of the confreres, all increase this communion, deepen the sense of belonging and dispose us to give our service to the world community".

Many, and still increasing, are the manifestations of this worldwide concept in the recent past; the missionary enterprises carried out with the help of all provinces, intercommunication at continental level with the involvement of all five continents, financial solidarity, formal and informal 'twinning', sensitization to the needs of distant regions, the attention and support given to the UPS and the Generalate, of which we have had further proof during the present Chapter, the visits to places which are significant for all of us, the desire to follow common paths (the Educative and Pastoral Community, the Salesian Educative and Pastoral Project, the Salesian Youth Movement).

This is a dimension which, with the world getting ever smaller as a result of communication and ease of movement and transport, is becoming an every-day component.

It offers us new space for the mission, and provides us also with elements which today are indispensable for the education of both young and adults to important values like intercultural openness, the ability to live with others at an inter-ethnic level, solidarity, tolerance, and the critical evaluation of financial systems. It must therefore be expressed in new and more abundant forms than in the past.

Leaving to the creativity of the provinces those initiatives which will gradually come into being, I emphasize some which at present seem to be the main items.

One is collaboration in missionary effort: some frontiers have still to be consolidated with specifically qualified personnel for formation or animation and with adequate educative structures; others must be opened after a careful study of the best way to use our forces. Things are happening which we can consider as signs, and fields are appearing in which seeds can be sown which promise well for the Church and our charism.

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Leading us towards international openness is the lay missionary volunteer movement, especially among young people. The first tests and orientations have already matured and seem sufficient to allow us to undertake a courageous expansion. It is an initiative which harmonizes well with all the pastoral work being done among young adults who show themselves available for such commitment.

I include also the inculturation of the salesian charism, on the basis of a careful study of its original riches. We shall have to deepen the spirit and content of the Constitutions which are our code of reference, together with the other fundamental texts of salesian history and spirituality. It is impossible to inculturate something which is still unknown, even under the guise of another culture.

There is the exploitation of international study centres and other initiatives of formation, in which we try to link together different parts of the Congregation. With some small exceptions, often repeated excessively, the net result of the frequenting of such centres by students is highly positive for individuals, provinces and the whole Congregation. We do not see any other arrangement that would be more advantageous.

The Constitutions emphasize the importance of communication with the Rector Major and his Council. It is our intention that nothing shall stand in the way of you presenting requests, impressions or - if need be - your fraternal observations, and that nothing shall prevent us from speaking clearly in due season.

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3.10 A pedagogy of practical application: guidelines, content, praxis, verification

Like all others, our own General Chapter offers the provinces inspirations and practical guidelines to help them to live our charism more fully in the Church of the present day. They have to be translated into practice by the individual provinces - a situation that is vast and variegated. It will be necessary for the indications of the Chapter to be integrated into a unified project and be converted into processes which foster their vital assimilation (mentalities, attitudes, capabilities, experiences). It is a question of bringing broad visions down to earth in daily life. And here we face a challenge: to find an efficacious mediation between inspiration and practice, between the document and its practical application.

We have not lacked practical strategies and adequate methods for translating principles and criteria into practice, nor for reaching through them to the daily life of individuals. One need only think of our various manuals, the insistence on projects and processes; the importance given to the local community, the educative and pastoral community, and the provincial community; to the repeated recommendations in favour of programming and verification, i.e. of working together to ensure unity of criteria, convergence of efforts, adaptation to situations, and the overcoming of individualism, discontinuity and fragmentation, and vagueness in action.

Progress has been made without any doubt, but the situation seems to require a further effort if we are to achieve a change of mentality and foster a personal and communal manner of living and working.

Don Bosco, educator, pastor and spiritual guide, was able to combine boldness of initiative (far-seeing horizons and motivations, creative response to innovations), practical organization (ability to combine elements into a project, a system, a stable community, and organization) and the wisdom of the pedagogue, attentive to situations and processes, able to create a climate, an environment, a style of relationships, a methodology of daily life made up of successive moments and references.

We are not short of guidelines, and equally evident is the multiplication of interventions or their realization. But despite this, the discrepancy between proposals and their achievement, the evaluation of the results of so many efforts, prompt us to verify our pedagogical practice. The fruitfulness of our work, the quality of our life, the significance of persons, communities and initiatives depend to a great extent on this intelligent pedagogical practical approach which is not disjoined from organization and from the magnanimity of the inspirations.

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Reference can be made, if example be needed, to certain environments.

As far as pastoral activity is concerned, we must decisively pursue that communion of criteria (mentality), that convergence of intentions (objectives), that organic arrangement of interventions (shared responsibility, dimensions, continuity, verification, etc.) which we call the educative and pastoral community and the salesian educative and pastoral project, and which the Chapter document presents as a powerful expression of the communion and sharing of Don Bosco's spirit and mission, as a process of ongoing formation and a condition of apostolic fertility. It is a case of going beyond mere generous activity so as to reach a sharing of criteria for action, a systematic programming, periodic verification, and the readjustment of our manner of working.

With regard to salesian spiritual experience, the need is felt to translate into a life process, into a personal pedagogy, the style of holiness which unites Da mihi animas with the preventive system; of ensuring the conditions which permit the Salesian to live his vocation in depth, avoiding fragmentation, wear and tear, the spiritual, pastoral and pedagogical superficiality, which is so often denounced; to give growth to a true communal spirituality with the sharing of apostolic experience and discernment, the making together of a spiritual journey.

In connection with the action of government at various levels, there is need of a further commitment to mobilize energies in the perspective of significance, overcoming emergency situations and pragmatic immediate and repetitive procedures, and pursuing a proper balance between quality and extension; giving unity to proposals, seeking a greater convergence of objectives and messages, fostering adherence to motivated options, ordering in importance services and interventions, and avoiding sectorialism; adapting everything to the rhythms of assimilation and to practical capacity, to.personal and communal situations.

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The prospects are demanding. The sum total of the tasks to be carried out may rightly seem ponderous and formidable. But the field before us is ever more extensive and fertile, and so the work becomes attractive, and its flourishing through the Spirit makes it joyful.

May Mary, who showed Don Bosco his own field of labour and encouraged him to cultivate it with faith, accompany us and assist us. To her today, in the name of all our confreres, we repeat with particular intensity: "We entrust ourselves entirely to thee, and we promise to work always for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls".