STRENNA 2008

by Pascual Chávez Villanueva

EDUCATING

WITH THE HEART OF DB

THE EDUCATIVE/PASTORAL COMMUNITY

“The animating nucleus of the EPC [Educative-Pastoral Community] is becoming composed ever more of other subjects (young and lay people, members of the Salesian Family, representatives of the local Church and neighbourhood) who share our spirituality and mission committing themselves to animation. Within it the Salesian community plays the role of the charismatic point of reference from which all take their inspiration.”¹

Fundamental for the carrying out of the Salesian Educative Pastoral Plan (EPP) is the Educative/Pastoral Community (EPC): a group which “involves young people and adults, parents and educators… so that it can become an experience of Church and a revelation of God’s plan for us.”² From the earliest days, around Don Bosco this family community was being formed, in which the young people themselves played a leading role and shared responsibility. Within it there was an atmosphere imbued with the values of the Preventive System, with well-defined spiritual and pastoral characteristics, clear objectives and a convergence of roles thought out and coordinated with the young people in mind. The complexity of the social, cultural and religious circumstances of young people today requires the existence and successful functioning of such a community, so as to make educational activity possible. Education is a social phenomenon the result of the coming together of individuals, procedures and, competences, according to a shared plan. The Salesian system requires an atmosphere of real involvement and of genuine friendly fraternal relationships in which the sharing of the values of Salesian spirituality is the foundation of communication and of participation in the mission. In this sense, the EPC is not just the subject but also the object of Pastoral Ministry and therefore requires a constant effort at formation on the part of all its members. Unfortunately young people often feel themselves lost and at a loss, noticing that what happens around them on the streets, in the family, at school or in the youth centre doesn’t always coincide, nor do they have the same educational objectives.

 The EPC is not a new structure but a community of people, in which the same vital values are shared and contribute to forming an identity in which all are happy to participate. It is called educative because at its centre is the concern to promote the all-round development of the young, to bring to maturity their potential in all areas: the physical, psychological, cultural, professional, and the transcendent. And it is called pastoral because it opens up to evangelisation, it walks beside the young, brings about an experience of Church, in which the values of human and Christian communion are to be found. In a secularised and secular world, the EPC aims to be an outstanding Christian community, leaven in the locality in which it is possible to present, to live and to celebrate the faith. In addition to the Salesian community (the guarantee of its identity and of communion), and to the young people (we work for them, among them, with them and through them), the parents belong to it as those primarily responsible for education. The family, in fact ought to be considered the fundamental and primary setting for education and evangelisation. In this sense it becomes the object of the educational and pastoral concern of the EPC.

 Many lay people are involved in the educative community in various capacities especially members of the Salesian Family who are working in the locality. All of them collaborate at different levels in drawing up the educative plan which is the focus of all the various activities: they work together in the educational process itself. Keeping themselves professionally and pedagogically up-to-date and spiritually motivated, is one the main concerns of the EPC and all the members and all the various categories involved in the educational process. The ongoing formation of the educator is a basic requirement. It is necessary to invest time, resources and people in the formation of all those engaged in educative/pastoral work. The EPC is a living organism, the subject and the object of education and of pastoral work, a work-shop where the needs and the challenges of culture, the anxieties and the hopes of the young people converge and where an effort is made to find, create and dream solutions. In the face of so many disappointments, it needs to bear witness to the fact that nowadays education is the best way to transform society, preparing the new generations and persuading them that peace, solidarity, ,justice, respect for human values and for creation are possible; convincing the young that God has a dream for each one of them and that discovering it and making it a reality means filling one’s life with sense and meaning. 