For Don Bosco his lay Salesians were to work in the workshops and
trade schools, in the office and in the city, in the classrooms, on the
building site and the farm, and on the missions, in fact in all areas
where work was to be found.
The Salesian Brother could fill any area of work.
But he must be properly trained. Both professionally and
spiritually.
The only place the Brother could not go was that reserved
specifically for the Priest by his ordination.
Michael Rua 1888 – 1910;
“Our Society is so constituted that it offers abundant possibilities
for apostolic ministry not only to its priestly members, but also to its
dear Salesian Brothers… the forming of personnel is vital to the
work of our Society… many have high school diplomas, college
degrees and teaching credentials… ”
Paul Albera 1911 – 1921:
“In the older religious orders lay-brothers form a kind of second
order… Don Bosco did away with such dualism. All Salesians share
the same rights and privileges … they are fully Salesian religious,
with the same Salesian vocation, and the same apostolate as the
priests, except for that which pertains to the ordained ministry.
He was a Salesian presence representing Don Bosco where clerics
were not able to go due to the anti-clerical atmosphere of the time.
What about now? Is there an anti-clerical feeling now? Where do we
fit in today?
I think even in the Church today there is a new realization of the
clericalism within the Church and the harm it has done.
Clericalism puts the Church hierarchy in a position of power over the
laity, which can be abused.
Clothing:
From the very beginning Don Bosco wanted the Brothers to dress
neatly as laymen.
Curiously in some provinces in the past and even today, there has
been a tendency for the Brothers to dress almost as clerics wearing
black and white and sometimes even a clerical collar! I have heard
of Brothers dressed in albs and cassocks!
But Don Bosco wanted us to be religious in shirtsleeves.