7_eng_reshaping_revitalisation


7_eng_reshaping_revitalisation

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FLASH
Salesian Youth Ministry Animation
Number 7. November 2024
Reshaping and revitalisation
of salesian presences
Guidelines for Provincial
Accompaniment
Fr. Miguel Ángel García Morcuende
Youth Ministry General Councilor
YOUTH MINISTRY SECTOR
Salesiani di don Bosco SEDE CENTRALE SALESIANA

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Reshaping and revitalisation
of salesian presences
Guidelines for Provincial Accompaniment
Fr. Miguel Ángel García Morcuende
Youth Ministry General Councilor
1 Importance of the Topic
The Congregation (and the Provinces) are living
realities that are evolving over the years and
according to the needs of the times. We are
living in an era of rapid change and the new
challenges of our societies drive us towards
new evangelizing responses. Structures are
limited and temporary and must always be
at the service of the evangelical life and mis-
sion. It is not enough, therefore, to main-
tain what already exists, but it is necessary
to revitalise works that are useful to the mis-
sion that our times require. Our institutional
history and our charismatic journey have
their own pace: time goes by relentlessly.
A pace that we cannot change.
Listening to God’s will requires carrying
it out in the times in which we are living in
these circumstances, with the people we are,
with our possibilities, and with our limitations.
Asking what the Lord wants from us today
requires revitalisation, discernment, restruc-
turing and consequent renewal.
Revitalisation and reshaping/restructuring
are words that define this process with differ-
ent nuances. ‘Revitalisation’ indicates the goal
and objective to be pursued; ’reshape’, the
relevant means.
The Congregation, by its very nature, wants
all Provinces to enjoy vocational, formative,
spiritual, apostolic and economic well-being.
In this context, the Salesians have always felt
seriously challenged in the project of “reshap-
ing” and “restructuring1”: the decrease in avail-
1 Cf. Cfr. GC 19; CGS 20, 398; GC21, 154-161; GC22, 6;
GC23, 226-230; GC25, 193; GC27, 26,69,6; GC28, 13, 45.
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Fr. Miguel Ángel García Morcuende • Reshaping and revitalisation of salesian presences
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able forces or the increase in works or their
complexity can create urgency or a climate of
never-ending emergency that crushes peo-
ple and breaks the delicate balance between
apostolic mission, fraternal communion and
the practice of the evangelical counsel in which
our consecration consists.
This situation, moreover, hinders our abil-
ity to find new responses to the new challeng-
es of evangelisation and makes it enormous-
ly difficult for us to focus on what is essential:
the quality of evangelical life and the evan-
gelising mission. The main concern is to
ensure the continuity of the presence of our
charism - according to the criterion of “signif-
icance” (GC23 226-230) – and not the surviv-
al of current structures.
In order to choose on which pastoral edu-
cational fronts we are called to remain, with
which modalities, with which strengths, and
in view of the choices of reshaping or reor-
ganising our works and presences, Father Juan
Vecchi offered some discernment criteria that
are still relevant today2.
In some Provinces, in fact, there is a need
to downsize or restructure the activities and
Works. This consists of a reorganization or a
painful process in which, however, we are called
to discover a moment of grace in order to
make an attempt to restore meaning to what
we already have.
Discerning involves deciding with a
horizon and deciding with conviction,
that is, deciding by looking beyond one-
self, one’s own well-being, one’s own com-
fort, one’s own affections. Without this gaze
at the horizon, there is no discernment, but
only mere pragmatism.
This is, quite simply, the aim of this basic
guide: to give guidance to those starting out
in this field on the keys that should be pres-
ent in every process but also to warn against
those possible mistakes or oversights that can
ruin our efforts.
2 The Goals of Reshaping and
Restructuring
[a] Redesigning is the ability to rethink
our presence in a new way, to reorganize
and redevelop our mission, and to rein-
vigorate our Works and Communities.
Therefore:
•  Apostolic consciousness requires revitalisa-
tion. A constant evaluation of our lives is
also required of us by the symptoms of
unease in our communities and EPCs that
tell us that we need to revitalise and renew
our presence. “One must see to it therefore
2 Vecchi, J.E., The Significance of Salesian Presence in AGC
340 (1992)
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FLASH • November 2024 YOUTH MINISTRY SECTOR Salesiani di Don Bosco • Sede Centrale Salesiana
that the Salesian does not become overbur-
dened with a multiplicity of organization-
al, material and administrative functions
because of the reduction in our numbers and
an uncontrolled expansion of our works”3.
•  Reshaping and restructuring must be done
not only for practical reasons (we have beco-
me fewer), but above all to be a permanent
attitude to respond to the signs of the times,
i.e., events, words, trends, attitudes, silen-
ces, absences..., from God’s point of view.
•  The central point is not (only) on the houses
to be closed, and/or confreres to be transfe-
rred to other communities, but on knowing
how to interpret those existential periphe-
ries that are challenging the Congregation.
•  To respond to God’s calls to us today through
the signs of the times and places, Provinces
3 Ibidem, p. 34.
must initiate processes of redesigning and
restructuring in order to:
–  promote the quality of evangelical life
and the witness of the confreres in the
communities, which are called to become
a “sign,” a “school” and an environment
of faith (GC23 216-218);
–  “ensure consistency in the number and
quality of communities” (GC27 69.6);
–  give new dynamism to evangelical and
apostolic life, opening up room for new
“models of pastoral intervention” in
response to the needs of the poorest
young people of our time;
–  remain open and available to establish
new presences or launch new services,
replacing others already in place, required
by emerging ecclesial and socio-cultural
changes.
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Fr. Miguel Ángel García Morcuende • Reshaping and revitalisation of salesian presences
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[b] Another fundamental aspect of rede-
signing is the conversion of people from
a mature, serene and balanced consecrat-
ed life and the commitment to restore
strength to the charism expressed in the
mission.
Therefore:
•  Conversion or the conviction that change and
transformation are necessary to overcome
routine, devitalizing communities and dys-
functional services. In an age of rapid chan-
ge, living the gift of the Gospel and giving it
back to the world, as Salesians, requires us
to have permanent discernment, a serious
review of our practical choices, and the cou-
rage to initiate new paths of presence and
witness. Neither conversion nor discern-
ment are automatic realities. We are asked
to take risks with confidence because the
faith-filled reading of reality is by no means
simple or clear.
•  It is believed that change depends on an
administrative act, a legislative measure, or
a change of people. Positive and construc-
tive attitudes toward redesigning and res-
tructuring need to be fostered among the
confreres, helping them to grasp the pre-
sent kairos that leads us to discernment and
to concentrate on the values of the Gospel
and our charism.
3 Motivations of Those
Opposed to Reshaping
•  “The Province has its own specific identity
which must be saved.” This attitude usually
mistakenly includes the belief that structure
is more important than the evangelical life of
people. The justification is that people come
and go and structures remain. An apostolic
and community life without questions and
therefore without answers. On the other
hand, there are those who have had painful
experiences in other restructurings and have
not overcome the trauma caused by them
(thus, people with prejudices that need to
be overcome).
•  “Reducing the presences decreases the
contact and integration among people and
therefore weakens youth ministry and the
birth of new vocations.” This means focu-
sing more on quantity than quality, thus
blocking renewing changes. But also eva-
ding the analysis of the situation: regarding
people, their age, their preparation, their
skills, the actual possibilities of the Province,
without losing perspective and a sense of
reality when we are caught up in a thou-
sand apostolic commitments.
•  “Closing a home means resigning oneself
to one’s own death,” that is, to the fear of
the unknown. There are three aspects that
usually produce the most obstacles: spa-
ces, affections (experiences, passions) and
objects. Let’s face it: decisions are made
about the future, not the past. However,
when we discern and decide, we tend to
consider the past rather than the future,
rather than leaving our land, as Abraham
did (cf. Gen 12:1, 4a).
•  Resistance and obstruction by bishops, family
fathers, teachers, civil authorities, etc.: res-
tructuring usually involves the suppression
of representative or otherwise important
positions because of their qualified servi-
ces performed in the Church or in socie-
ty. Therefore, discernment is needed so
that particular interests do not prevail over
universal ones; the interests of a particu-
lar Church over the good of the universal
Church; the interests of a people or a few
families over those of other people and
families who are more in need; so that the
good of a few individuals does not prevail
over the good of the Congregation.
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FLASH • November 2024 YOUTH MINISTRY SECTOR Salesiani di Don Bosco • Sede Centrale Salesiana
4 Six Principles for Reshaping
and Restructuring
Restructuring must be in view of revitalisa-
tion and our life on the Gospel. This involves:
[a] Making a thorough discernment of the
priorities of the various types of activities by
the communities and the Provincial Coun-
cil, so as to understand:
•  the structures (religious community or edu-
cative-pastoral activities, for example) that
must continue (indispensable);
•  the structures (sections, courses, activities,
sectors) that need to be adapted, transfor-
med or have a different purpose;
•  the new structures that need to be “inven-
ted,” in response to new needs (e.g., Works
of lay management, the possibility that
several Works operating in a synergistic and
integrated way can refer to a single Salesian
community);
•  the presences that need to be “initiated”
and the ones that need to be “concluded”
where the implementation of the SEPP does
not seem to be effective with and for young
people, it is not consistent with reality and
does not have prospects for the future, and
where a restructuring of the Work according
to the Provincial criteria appears difficult.
[b] While reshaping is necessary, it is not in
itself the solution to the problems. On the con-
trary, at times it may worsen them, bringing
about in the confreres and co-responsible lay
people a sense of mistrust, the feeling that the
end is approaching. Reshaping must be pre-
ceded and accompanied by the development
of a common plan, that is, an idea of the future,
a moment of hope, of missionary spirit, with a
realism filled with faith, hope for the future and
the revitalisation of the charism.
For this to be successful, the process
requires an appropriate pedagogy: all con-
freres must be involved and in particular
those of the Works to be reconsidered, so
that they are sensitized, conscious and
therefore able to make shared decisions.
[c] Devising a plan with progressive stag-
es and proceeding without haste, but also
without pauses, in order to be able to make
meaningful choices that meet the needs of
the environment and our charism.
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Fr. Miguel Ángel García Morcuende • Reshaping and revitalisation of salesian presences
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[d] We have gained experience in recent
decades that makes us aware of the true paths
of lay participation: Lay-managed Salesian
Works under Provincial responsibility (AGC
439). These proposals require not only time,
but investment in formation, and are the fruit
of shared paths with religious figures who have
been able to ‘not bind them to themselves’
but make the laity mature in their ability to
interiorize values and methodology. Today
we can say that there are, within our Works,
some mature, trained and reliable lay figures.
If the Salesian Work is not only an econom-
ic structure, but first and foremost a presence
with charismatic conditions of significance, then
the relationship with lay people will also have
to be redesigned, being able to incorporate
them within the local pastoral plan. Yet always
a relationship whose aim is not solely the con-
tinuity of a job (for lay people) or the conser-
vation of patrimonial value (for the Provinc-
es); it must see the Salesian charism as a meet-
ing point, a compass that allows us to find ways
to redesign the continuity of presence between
tradition and innovation.
[e] Always keeping in mind what must drive
any process: realism, lucidity, boldness,
vision of the future. In this regard, it is worth
mentioning that discernment tends to ensure
the honesty of our research, and not so much
its infallibility or even its effectiveness.
[f] Ensuring that the whole process is led
by a leadership team, composed of the Pro-
vincial Councilors.
The purpose is, firstly, to draw up a work
plan for the entire process and monitor it;
secondly, to involve the confreres in this
process by sending materials for discern-
ment, questionnaires, consultations, etc.;
and finally, to periodically inform the con-
freres on the status of the process.
5 Stages, Procedures and
Guiding Criteria
STAGE I: RECOGNISING
Instrument 1:
History of the House and Current Reality
A simple, not detailed, but very informa-
tive study on the development of the
House, which should not exceed three or
four pages.
1. The origin of the House, and its primary
purpose.
2. The most relevant historical moments in
which the House has undergone import-
ant changes (services provided, number
of recipients, allocation of facilities,
moments of social relevance, evolution
of the number of Salesians in the com-
munity, etc.).
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FLASH • November 2024 YOUTH MINISTRY SECTOR Salesiani di Don Bosco • Sede Centrale Salesiana
3. The current reality of the House:
3.1. The current configuration of the
community.
3.2. The evolution of the Salesian envi-
ronments of the mission.
3.3. The involvement of lay people in
leadership positions.
3.4. The current reality of the House
(groups and Salesian Family, involve-
ment in the Work and vitality).
3.5. ...
4. Possible challenges for the future.
It can be very useful to analyze the records
of the Provincial and Extraordinary Visitations
of recent years: the strengths and opportuni-
ties that appear most frequently and repeat-
edly in the various records; the weaknesses
and threats that appear most often and repeat-
edly in the various records.
Instrument 2:
Guiding Criteria for Discernment
With regard to practical discernment, the
restructuring must take into account the
following criteria. They must be examined
their entirety, without any one of them
being considered exclusive, in the sense
that their absence implies the rejection of
a Work. However, priority must be given
to Works that meet a greater number of
criteria or are significantly in one of them.
[1] Mission-related Criteria: Which Works
should be Prioritized?
•  Profile of the Beneficiaries of the Work
Priority is given to Works that meet the
needs of young people, including those
belonging to the working classes, or the
abandoned or those at risk; in particular,
those that respond or can best respond to
the need to integrate young people into
society and the labor market.
•  Charismatic Density
The degree of application of the Oratorian cri-
terion (cf. Const. 40) that the Work has achie-
ved and, specifically, the possibility of fruit-
ful evangelisation work. Preference is given
to works in which, because of the existing
educational team or the structure of the
work, a pastoral ministry consistent with
the Framework for Youth Ministry has been
developed, so as to organically combine the
four dimensions of the Oratorian criterion
(home, school, playground, parish).
•  Vocational Criterion
Relevance of the educative-pastoral offer,
whose indicators are the effective presen-
ce among young people, personal accom-
paniment and the promising environment
for the elaboration and implementation of
one’s own life project, centered on the spe-
cific vocation.
•  Overall View of the Province.
Any hypothesis of reshaping Salesian pre-
sences, if it is not intended to be merely a
rationalization in the distribution of human
resources and activities, must be articula-
ted according to the overall vision of the
Province. One risk could be the progressi-
ve depopulation of the territories (following
the closure or restructuring of the Houses)
and the disproportion between the confre-
res present in a city or region and in the rest
of the Province. On the other hand, there is
the danger of charismatic impoverishment
due to a privilege only in certain sectors or
environments of pastoral animation.
Hence the Province’s obligation to take care
of the qualification of a sufficient number of
confreres in a planned manner. The crite-
rion guiding this plan must be according
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Fr. Miguel Ángel García Morcuende • Reshaping and revitalisation of salesian presences
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to the current possibilities of the Province,
but also according to a prudent forecast of
the pastoral needs of tomorrow.
•  Complementarity with the Work of the
Church.
The permanence of a Work in an area should
be considered according to:
–  the ecclesial presences operating there
(first and foremost the Salesian Family
groups, then any other religious educa-
tional institutes, and finally realities that
fall under the local Church) evaluating
every possible collaboration and avoid-
ing any unnecessary overlapping; in oth-
er words, priority is given to works that
serve sectors or populations where there
is no other Church presence offering the
same service;
–  the presence of the youth population,
particularly youth in difficult situations;
–  the ability to plan and implement net-
works and collaborations in both civil and
ecclesial environments.
[2] Criteria of Sustainability of Human
and Economic Resources.
•  Economic Sustainability
Priority is given to Works that are economi-
cally sustainable on their own, in the man-
ner chosen. We must take into account
the economic situation: it is not the most
important criterion, but it is also the gua-
rantee that a downsizing can have a future.
In some cases, the Province considers inves-
ting economically in the Work out of a stra-
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FLASH • November 2024 YOUTH MINISTRY SECTOR Salesiani di Don Bosco • Sede Centrale Salesiana
tegic or prophetic choice, even if the Work is
not self-sustaining.
•  Sustainability of Human Resources
The main resources of the Congregation
are the Salesians whom God has called to
live their consecration and mission among
the young. Both their quality and quanti-
ty are crucial factors in order to be able to
live the communion and apostolate in a
meaningful and fruitful way. The redistri-
bution and sharing of personnel is beco-
ming increasingly necessary, especially in
Provinces suffering from a lack of person-
nel. A good human resources policy will only
be successful if it is not improvised, but well
thought out, prepared and planned.
Statistics and trends in the number of
Salesians help us to measure our real stren-
gth in terms of the life and mission that, as
Salesians, we are called to develop in the
Church, while recognising that we must
go beyond statistics or purely human para-
meters. Starting from this trust in the Lord
of history, ‘in whose hands are the times
and the destinies of persons, institutions,
peoples, and therefore also the historical
action of his gifts (cf. Vita Consecrata, 63),
and precisely for this reason, we must ask
ourselves what the human reality of the
Province will be in five or ten years, and
discern what the Lord is asking of us today.
[3] Criteria of the Quality
of Community Life.
How to live and what role we should play in
the Works we have. As regards the commu-
nities, they must all meet the Salesian crite-
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Fr. Miguel Ángel García Morcuende • Reshaping and revitalisation of salesian presences
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ria of community cohesion and care for the
person (AGC 422):
•  The cohesion of the community present
in the Work
–  The community must be able to take care
of the confreres, especially the elderly
and the sick, without conflicting with the
focus of the mission.
–  The community must be able to orga-
nize itself in such a way that all the con-
freres, especially those working in the
mission, can share life, prayer and rest.
•  Focus on the vocation of the Salesian
–  The responsibilities entrusted to each
confrere must be in line with his real pos-
sibilities.
–  The community must accompany the
spiritual and pastoral life of each confrere
(AGC 421).
•  Importance of the community
–  Witness: the community must have a
sufficient number of confreres to ensure
visibility and witness to the entire EPC.
–  Vitality: the community must be able to
ensure its influence on the Educative-
Pastoral Plan, and in particular the Rector
must be able to prioritize his role of
accompaniment and pastoral care.
–  Presence among the youth: the com-
munity must be able to ensure the pres-
ence of Salesians among the youth, with
the time to be with them and accompa-
ny them.
–  Ability to join forces together and com-
mit them to the mission: so that the
community can dedicate Salesians to the
animation, accompaniment and forma-
tion of the Salesian Family and the vari-
ous educators of the work.
–  Openness towards the ecclesial and
social territory: the community must be
able to effectively reach out to the local
Church and civil society.
STAGE II: INTERPRETING
As part of Stage II - Interpretation, it is
suggested that during one or more com-
munity assemblies, with the presence of
a Provincial Council member, we address
dynamics to help us discern the above cri-
teria.
The questions we need to answer honestly
are: What is the Lord asking of us consecrated
people here and now? How can we organize
ourselves to live more evangelically and bet-
ter serve the Lord and our young people? Whe-
re are we and where should we be? What are
the expectations of the local churches and
areas where we are or should be?
Redesigning must be accomplished accor-
ding to the criteria of sharing and discernment
and of correct and timely information at all
levels. It’s an error to act only on works while
neglecting people. All the confreres of the
community, and also the lay people involved,
must be made aware of some important fac-
tors: the initial objective data and a realistic
forecast of future scenarios, the concrete
hypotheses of reinforcing some areas, the ran-
ge of possible decisions, their careful and
timely evaluation, and the clear and correct
indication of the reasons that make us prefer
one solution over another. Experience shows
that the broader the basis of consultation,
knowledge and sharing, the broader the con-
sensus.
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FLASH • November 2024 YOUTH MINISTRY SECTOR Salesiani di Don Bosco • Sede Centrale Salesiana
STAGE III: CHOOSING
Rationale for different operational models. Proposed scenarios::
Scenario 1. The mission we are developing in the current characteristics of the Work and the
Community
–  Advantages:
–  Disadvantages or needs:
–  Vote:
Scenario 2. The mission we are developing, with the necessary redesigning measures (reorgan-
isation of environments - services and human resources) entrusted to the current community
–  Advantages:
–  Disadvantages or needs:
–  Vote:
In this scenario, it is necessary to submit SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS that are justified by
the community.
Scenario 3. The mission that is developed with the suppression of the religious community
and the continuation of the Work (lay management under the project of the Province)
–  Vote:
Scenario 4. Suppression of the Salesian work.
–  Vote:
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