GREETINGS FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF TURIN, MGR. CESARE NOSIGLIA,
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL CHAPTER OF THE SALESIAN CONGREGATION
(Turin, from Archbishop’s House, 22 February 2020)
Dear Friends,
I thank you for choosing Turin as the place to hold the General Chapter of the Salesian Congregation. Here you have your roots and returning to reflect and to be together in this place hallowed by the presence of the mortal remains of St John Bosco, in the Basilica he himself wanted to honour Our Lady Help of Christians, enriches even more your work in these days as it deals with spiritual, ecclesial, and pastoral issues. The Church of Turin owes a great deal to your Congregation, and even today it is living with the Salesian spirit, bequeathed by the holy Founder, which in particular guides its commitment to and on behalf of young people.
The theme of the Chapter is very important and critical in planning your journey in today’s world: “What kind of Salesians for today’s youth?” In this regard I want to recall what Pope Francis said precisely on this subject, in the address he gave in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, to the whole Salesian Family present for his visit to Turin in 2015, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of St John Bosco.
The Pope pointed out how the example of Don Bosco is still relevant and uptodate nowadays, and is a fundamental point of reference in guiding every Salesian in his educational approach to young people. Towards them Don Bosco acted with firmness and constancy, in the midst of difficulties and fatigue, with the sensitivity of a generous heart. “He took no step, he said no word, he took up no task that was not directed to the saving of the young...Truly the only concern of his heart was for souls.” (Salesian Constitutions 21) Don Bosco’s charism leads us to being educators of the young putting into practice that pedagogy of the faith that can be summed up as “evangelizing while educating and educating while evangelizing” (General Catechetical Directory, 147). It is question of evangelizing the young, educating them fully, starting with the weak, abandoned ones, using a method of reason, religion and loving kindness valued everywhere as the “preventive system”.
And so I encourage you to press ahead with courage and confidence with all the manifold activities on behalf of the younger generations: oratories, youth centres, technical training centres, schools and colleges. Without forgetting those who in Don Bosco’s day were called ‘street kids’, those who were his favourites because they were in need of everything, of hope, of being taught the joy of Christian life. Today the Church is turning to you spiritual sons and daughters of this great saint, and in a practical way she invites you to go out, once again to find those youngsters and young people where they are living on the outskirts of the great cities, in physical and moral danger, in situations where so many material things are lacking, but especially where there is no love, no understanding, no affection, no hope. Go to them with that overflowing fatherliness of Don Bosco.
Don Bosco’s oratory came into being when he met the ‘street kids’ and for some time it moved around some of Turin’s districts. May you proclaim to everyone the mercy of Jesus, making everywhere an “oratory” especially in the most inaccessible, having in your hearts the oratorian spirit of Don Bosco and your gaze set on ever wider apostolic horizons. From the sound roots he planted two hundred years ago in the soil of the Church and of society so many branches have sprung up: thirty religious institutions are living the charism, sharing the mission and bringing the gospel to the outskirts of the suburbs. The Lord has blessed this service raising up among you during these two hundred years a large group of people the Church has declared saints and blesseds. I encourage you to continue along this path imitating the faith of the many who have gone before you.
Dear friends, from the wealth of experience Don Bosco has bequeathed to us again today we can trace the essential features of every kind of educational undertaking: the strong influence of the educator, the centrality of a personal relationship, education itself as an expression of love (“a matter of the heart” as Don Bosco used to say) the all-round development of the individual, co-responsibility in the building up of the common good. Nevertheless, compared with his days what have changed nowadays, in a swift and disturbing manner are some of the points of reference, once fixed and clear, which modern culture and society are challenging, resulting in what is being called a real “educational emergency” Educating has never been easy but nowadays it seems to many parents, teachers, priests, catechists to be a very difficult, if not at times impossible undertaking. On the other hand many unexpected opportunities are there for those who are prepared to become involved with a sense of commitment and responsibility and who know how to build educational relationships in new ways and are not afraid to confront the problem, sustained by faith in God, in the one who is the first educator and who never deserts those who confidently place their trust in Him. However, it is necessary to study in a careful and well-balanced manner the deep roots of this emergency in order to discover the appropriate responses to the challenge.
This is what you are being called to deal with every day, whether it is in the oratories or in the training centres or in all the other places where as Salesians you are carrying out your service to young people. May the Chapter you are holding. sustained and placed under the guidance of Mary Help of Christians, enable you to face this challenge and to find the best ways to deal with it, as always inspired by the hope that Don Bosco taught us and on which he built his fruitful apostolate among the young.
+ Cesare Nosiglia, Archbishop of Turin.
Translation: Fr Bernard GROGAN