Rector Major’s Message to the Salesian Family

on the occasion of the Centenary of Salesian presence in India

Chennai, 4 February 2006

My very dear members of the Salesian Family

and Friends of Don Bosco,

First and foremost I have to thank you for the welcome you give me as I greet you on the occasion of my visit as the Rector Major of the Salesians and the ninth successor of St. John Bosco. Before delivering my message to you I would like to answer some questions that may be in the minds of some of you:

What does being a member of the Salesian Family mean today? How is the Lord calling us as members of the Salesian Family to respond to the needs of our world today? Where is the Salesian Family expanding and what are the reasons for this growth? Where is the Salesian Family presenting itself well and confidently and has this any relevance for the Salesian Family in our province?

First of all I want to tell you that, like all the great religious founders (Saint Benedict, St Francis of Assisi, St Dominic Guzman, St Ignatius Loyola), Don Bosco was the founder of a great Spiritual and Apostolic Family: the Salesian Family.

Certainly, Don Bosco began his work on behalf of poor boys, founding the Salesian Congregation (SDB), the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA), the Cooperators (SC). But this was like the seed in the Gospel, which although it was very small, had a great future, finally becoming a tree. There are those who speak about the tree of the Salesian Family.

Already in Don Bosco’s times, those who had been pupils at the Oratory in Valdocco began to meet together and to thank him on his feast day. In this way the Don Bosco Past Pupils’ Association was born which now counts millions of people around the world.

Today there are 24 groups officially belonging to the Salesian Family. It really is a tree with 24 branches, all of them very different: in fact, there are consecrated persons, Secular Institutes, lay people, some working in the education field, others in health care, others in human development, others in the world of social communications. However, they all have common elements that distinguish and identify them.

But in more practical terms what is the Salesian Family? I like to describe it as a Spiritual and Apostolic Movement.

It is a Movement, therefore something dynamic. This explains why it continues to grow not only in the number of its members, but also in the number of the groups. I said that there are 24 branches that officially belong, but there are at least another thirty that exist, even though for the present they are not officially recognised, and some of them are very interesting and significant. And they continue to grow to respond to the needs that are always new. I remember Fr Viganò, one of my predecessors, once told me that the Salesian Family would reach at least 300 groups. Imagine it! This means believing in Don Bosco’s charism, in thousands of its facets, in its dynamism, in its capacity to express itself in new ways. It’s certainly a fine thing to belong to this Movement.

It is Spiritual, since it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit who has inspired it and continues its creation. The Salesian Family is not the result of a plan drawn up at a writing table. Nor is it the product of Don Bosco’s genius. Our Salesian Constitutions say explicitly that it is the work of the Holy Spirit and of the motherly intercession of Mary. This is what it actually is. Put this way, it means that we are dealing with something charismatic, that is a gift of God at the service of the Church and of the world. It is certainly a beautiful thing to know that it is the Spirit that is at the foundation of the Salesian Family.

And it is Apostolic, which means that it has a mission to carry out. It isn’t a club for friends who like each other, nor is it a charitable association. It is a group of people that works within the Church on behalf of society. From this point of view one has to say that it is a vocation, that of continuing the work of Christ, though with a particular mission: the salvation of the young, especially the poor and those in difficulties by means of education.

So it is that you find members of the Salesian Family involved in schools, in oratories and youth centres; others on the missions, in the most varied and unimaginable places (forests, jungles, amazonia, deserts, mountains, cities, the suburbs); others caring for lepers; others in the world of pastoral ministry for youth, in family or social work; others in the field of radio, television and the press …

The Salesian Family is growing and expanding throughout the world. Just to think, we are present in all the continents and most of the countries in the world. This growth and expansion is the result of an apostolic zeal in looking at things as they are, especially with regard to young people, with the eyes of Don Bosco, always attentive to their needs; responding with a heart that wanted only to see the youngsters always happy, in this life and the next. With the mind of Don Bosco who was always thinking up educational solutions; with his hands always at work and totally dedicated to working untiringly.

Certainly, the growth of the groups is different in different countries. In some places the consecrated religious are numerous, in others it is the lay people who are becoming more and more involved, in others the Secular Institutes are steadily growing, in others the Past Pupils are functioning very well, in others it is the Cooperators who are the most involved. I have to say, there are no magic formulas. It is the result of a pastoral heart.

One of the most beautiful things is to see how this awareness of our being a Family is growing, that we need to know each other, and together to prepare ourselves to work together. Something that is taking place in many Provinces is the setting up of a Council of the Salesian Family made up of representatives of the different groups that there are in a given area, with the aim of planning things together. There is also the Salesian Family Day, which is celebrated on the 24th of every month, when groups get together to commemorate Mary Help of Christians.

And now I would like to place my message to you in the context in which the Salesian Family is called to move, as we launch out into the near future. I would like to call your attention to three documents which have to become our constant points of reference.

The first document is the “Charter of Communion in the Salesian Family of Don Bosco.” (Also known as the “Common Identity Card of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco”). In this Charter, the fundamental elements which form the unity of Don Bosco’s Spirit are explicitly mentioned. The Charter makes us reflect on the great criteria and the essential commitments the groups have made which lead to concrete choices and to a style of living and working that is very much Don Bosco’s way. It reminds the groups of the rights and responsibilities assumed for the growth of the group and of each member in it that, in line with its own gift, forms the Salesian Family. This Charter covers all the different groups or branches, so that each of them can discover and express what it means to be “Salesian”, finding in this the reason for their being one communion or union.

On the strength of this charism, Don Bosco harmoniously unites the one apostolic family made up of religious, lay, married, widowed, celibates and priests as different types of witnesses in the Spirit of the Beatitudes.... This communion therefore is the one and only final goal of the Salesian Family so that it lives its values with the utmost intensity. (The Charter of the Salesian Family)

This Charter, in fact, makes very clear to all the groups of the Salesian Family the need to grow and live in depth and fidelity the specific and original gift (or charism) of its own group, while at the same time seeking to be in communion with all the other groups. Only when you are in communion and sharing responsibility with the other groups of the Famil,y will your Association come to be what it is meant to be. I propose to you to make this effort to make your own the particular characteristics of the Salesian way, in order to draw on the riches of a mature Salesian spirituality, in order to enter into a dialogue with all its branches. This implies a willingness to invest effort in each group’s specific formation and in common Salesian formation. Today more than ever it is necessary “to give reason for our faith” and for our convictions so that our minds may be fully enlightened, and our hearts on fire.

The second document about which I want to remind you is the “The Charter of the Mission of the Salesian Family.” (Also known as the “Common Mission Statement of the Salesian Family”). To be an apostle is the living part of the charism of Don Bosco. “This Charter”—said Don Vecchi in his presentation— “brings us ‘here’, to our daily living, woven in communion, in apostolic undertaking, in convergence of our projects, in shared responsibility for spreading the Kingdom of God, and in our Salesian spirituality.”

We are dealing with an inspired and demanding document, which urgently invites every member of the groups of our Family to make a true Salesian discernment regarding the choice of our field of work, in our resolve to educate and to evangelize, to deepen our understanding and intuitions on the Preventive System, promoting the involvement of everyone, stressing the role of the laity and inculturating the charism and the Salesian Mission. “The vastness of the apostolic undertaking traced out by Don Bosco to his collaborators carries with it the need to multiply human resources and all the forces available.” (Charter of the Mission of the Salesian Family)

And as the third element for reflection I point out to you the Apostolic Exhortation, Novo Millennio Ineunte (“As the New Millennium Begins”), which has been the theme inspiring the last “strennas” for the whole Salesian Family. In the year 2002 it was: “Duc in Altum” (“Launch out into the Deep”), which in a way was given to us as the spiritual Last Will and Testament of Don Vecchi. And for the year 2003 it was “Let’s make every family and every community ‘the Home and the School of Communion’”. For the year 2004 it was “Let us propose wholeheartedly to all young people joy in the call to holiness as the high standard of ordinary Christian living”. For the year 2005 it was “Rejuvenate the face of the Church, the mother of our faith”, and for the year 2006, “Ensuring that special attention be given to the family, the cradle of life and love and where one first learns how to become human”.

We often define ourselves as the charism deep in the heart of the Church for the salvation of souls. These last “strennas” demonstrate the decisive resolve of the Salesian Family to place itself in consonance with the Pope’s and the Church’s pastoral plan for the Third Millenium. The Church at the moment is living through a missionary period—that of the New Evangelization. No branch of the Salesian Family should be found lacking in bringing forward its unique and original contribution of the fruits of the gifts it has received. The complete fidelity and prophetic dynamism of Don Bosco’s charism has to be involved in the three arenas of Education, Evangelization and Human Development especially of the young and the simple working classes.

“Duc in Altum” (“Go forth into the Deep”), to the open sea and the deep waters is the word of command of the Pope for the rest of the journey.

Peter’s exclamation: “Lord, we have struggled all night long and have caught nothing” seems to take into account a whole lot of difficulties, the setbacks suffered in pastoral life, and all the uncertainties in the face of a hostile culture entrenched in secularism and proud self sufficiency. The “Duc in Altum” is an absolute change in our outlook: the difficulties encountered become a challenge, and failure becomes “the great catch of fish” because the nets are cast in obedience to the words of Jesus Christ.

This is not the time to be afraid of reality. The new millenium “spreads out before the Church like a vast ocean. It launches into the deep relying only on Christ. The Son of God who out of love for mankind became incarnate two thousand years ago, even today too continues his work. With penetrating eyes we must recognize his work, and acquire the big generous heart to offer ourselves as his instruments.”

Don Vecchi offered us a detailed interpretation of the “open sea”: the cosmos, the culture, the religious pluralism, the alarming new problems of these last 50 years, and in short “the conglomeration of new realities and values which have not yet come to light, nor yet lived sufficiently in the light of Redemption, and for which we are to take responsibility, and to witness to Christ as the fulfilment and perfection of all creation, and whom the Father pre-ordained to be the Heart of all the universe.... Jesus therefore has still to redeem and liberate human reality from the clutches of sin.” (Don Vecchi; Strenna, p. 10)

But this will become possible only if there are persons who commit themselves to the word of Jesus. He was not the one who cast the nets, nor was he the one who drew the nets in with the abundant catch of fish. But he did ask for faith and confidence from his disciples, and their collaboration. Peter’s answer becomes a model for us: “At your word, I will the cast the nets....”

So, we are not speaking about doing new things, nor of changing the content of our mission, but of doing all things in a new way, with our lungs full of the breath of the Holy Spirit, in the name of Christ Jesus. In the words of Pope John Paul II, “it is to again start out from Christ, to strive for holiness as an ideal and in daily living, to believe in the Resurrection of Christ as the fountainhead of the new humanity, as the origin of a new history guiding the world to its true destiny.”

The Pope reminds us of the elements that are the heart of the most genuine and traditional Salesian Spirituality: the primacy of grace, prayer, liturgical life, the importance of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and Reconciliation, Devotion to Mary, Mother and Help of the Church.

Dear members of the Salesian Family, let us get into our boats, let us launch out into the deep, let us cast our nets in the name of the Lord Jesus. We all have the open sea before us: it is our own family, the place where we work and communicate, our social activities, political pursuits, the work among youth, and our Salesian Family. You are responsible for bringing Christian values and Salesian educational values to our society.

Dear friends, I thank you for what you are, and for what you represent. Your belonging to the Salesian Family in a responsible manner and your lives are the best monument in honour of Don Bosco’s charism and educational system. Thanks, and take courage! Our Society and the Church need you.

May Mary Help of Christians, Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello bless you and make you “tireless missionaries among the young”, and animated by the passionate motto: “Give me Souls” (Da Mihi Animas)

Don Pascual Chávez V.

Chennai, 4 February 2006

(Running heads for this article)

RM’s Message to the Salesian Family (on right hand page top with page number)