acg_439_2023_lay-managed_salesian_works_eng


acg_439_2023_lay-managed_salesian_works_eng

1 Pages 1-10

▲back to top

1.1 Page 1

▲back to top
2. GUIDELINES AND DIRECTIVES
2.1
LAY-MANAGED SALESIAN WORKS UNDER PROVINCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
Fr Miguel Angel GARCÍA MORCUENDE
General Councillor for Youth Ministry
Turin 27 January 2023
1. Background: meaning and motivations
Vatican II outlined an “ecclesiology of communion” as a suitable
framework for reawakening a sense of shared responsibility. This was
a new understanding of the Church as a people whose unity derives
from Trinitarian communion. This ecclesiology of communion,
directly linked to the doctrine of the Church and the guidelines of the
Congregation, has helped us to grasp the right response that the
expectations of the laity in the Church deserve and, therefore, also our
provinces: expectations that concern the “universal vocation to
holiness” as the real call of all the faithful to develop the fundamental
“consecration” wrought in them by the Spirit, and a more ecclesial
view of “consecrated life”. This is open to the complementarity of
distinct vocations, promotes them in mutual spiritual and apostolic
enrichment and highlights the EPC, the proper and effective place for
the shared responsibility of the laity to be exercised in the one mission
that refers to Don Bosco.
Over the past 301 years the Congregation has already expressed
the need, in this regard, to rethink the shared responsibility of the laity,
1 Constitutions and Regulations of the Society of St Francis de Sales (C&R);
General Chapter of the Salesians of Don Bosco (GC); Salesian Youth
Ministry. Frame of Reference, 2014 (FoR); Animating and Governing the
Community, 2019 (AnGC).

1.2 Page 2

▲back to top
a qualifying component of our apostolic mission, in a new and
effective way. As is known, the SDB/Lay relationship had reached a
significant degree of maturity in GC23 (1990). GC24 in 1996 then
delved into some aspects concerning2 the gradual shared
responsibility and formation of the laity, who are active players in our
charism on the basis of the common Salesian vocation.
To give continuity to our educative and pastoral mission and out
of charismatic fidelity to Don Bosco in their way of involving the laity,
some Provinces have been careful to implement different experiences
of lay shared responsibility in the management and educative and
pastoral animation of the works. It is clear that such a solution (works
entrusted to lay people as part of the province’s planning) is feasible
only if there are certain criteria and specific guidelines to guarantee
Salesian charismatic quality and give continuity to the mission.
In the letter of convocation of the GC283 the Rector Major referred
to “Works under shared management or entrusted to the laity”,
stressing that “for our part this requires vision, capacity for reflection
and decision, because otherwise the urgent demands of life will lead
us down unthinkable paths.”
In fact, some provinces have articulated this mode of works
managed by lay people in the distribution of human resources and
activities, making “a great effort of reflection and creativity to face the
challenge of accompaniment.”4 It is not a subsistence solution, nor
something reducible to pragmatic management, but a response of
charismatic hope, apostolic commitment to the local area and
institutional realism.
The practice in some Provinces is that well-formed lay people,
who have already carried out project and management coordination
tasks in various capacities and at various levels within the structured
organisation of Salesian work, are gradually called upon to take over
2 GC24 (1996), 39, 44-47, 180-182.
3 Turin, 24 May 2018.
4 GC28 (2020), 34.

1.3 Page 3

▲back to top
the entire management of some works, under the ultimate
responsibility of the Provincial and his Council.
From what has been said, it is clear that only great trust in the
skills, value and close attachment of adequately formed lay people can
enable a natural transfer of functions and competencies. Over recent
decades we have gained experience that makes us aware that the real
pathways for sharing by lay people require not only time, but also
investment in their formation, and that they are the result of pathways
shared with confreres who have been able to enable lay people to
acquire the ability to internalise values and approaches. Today we can
say that there are many mature, well-formed and reliable lay figures
in many of our Centres.
2. The practice of charismatic management: ongoing experiences
There are different kinds of relationship between the SDB
religious community and the Salesian work in the Congregation. There
are:
a) works or sectors of works entrusted jointly to the SDB religious
community and the laity.
b) works where pastoral animation, but not management, is
entrusted to an SDB religious community that resides nearby, outside
the work;
c) other works where there is an SDB confrere who accompanies
the work carried out by the lay people responsible for the work.
d) works entrusted only to lay people without SDBs, and who are
part of the provincial plan. In the latter case, there are works without
an SDB religious community, or with a religious community but
where the number of SDBs does not allow them to have ultimate
responsibility for pastoral animation.
In this regard, and listening to this explicit need, the General
Council is invited to develop an arrangement that provides for the
transition of some works to lay management. It should be emphasised
from the outset that these guidelines are not intended to encourage or

1.4 Page 4

▲back to top
promote this organisational approach, diminishing the essential role
of the religious community within the educative and pastoral
community. It is intended, however, to offer an approach that gives
indications on how to organise and proceed in the event that a province
deems it the case that it needs to begin to further explore and broaden
a shared reflection in order to arrive at this model of shared mission
where the laity manage the Salesian presence.
In any case, for those Provinces that take the first steps in this
situation, initially it is advisable to start one or more of these works ad
experimentum, where the opportunity arises, also to help reflection
and certainly create a new provincial mindset.
This is why we have kindly asked the provincials to send us, if
they are in possession of such, the reflections initiated and/or the
processes in place in their reference documents: resolutions of
Provincial Chapters, Provincial Directories, the Overall Province Plan
(OPP), processes for reorganising or reshaping the provinces, and the
Salesian Province’s Educative and Pastoral Plan (SEPP) where there
are relevant aspects regarding this matter.
A look at our works allows us to see the different operating models
in place today. The way things are currently reflects the variety of
situations, forms and approaches that differ considerably between
regions and provinces.
Reference is made in this document to assigning a work entirely
to the laity, while remaining part of the Province’s planning and
responsibility. We are not talking here about situations where the
Province entrusts an activity, a work or sectors of it and the use of
properties owned by it to some legal entity (foundation, association,
cooperative, company) . In this latter case, the link with the Province
and the Congregation must be established with regard to their project,
their objectives and their statutory framework.
3. Guidelines and criteria for organisational models involving lay
management

1.5 Page 5

▲back to top
3.1. Definition
Lay-managed works are those in which the mission and
responsibility are entrusted directly to a group of lay people with the
accompaniment of the Province, which continues to be the owner of
the activity from a civil point of view. It is therefore the responsibility
of the Provincial with his Council, to draw up the model of animation
and governance of these works in order to guarantee their inclusion in
the Overall Province Plan, the Salesian Province’s Educative and
Pastoral Plan and in the Provincial Directory:
– Works under lay management have a lay director, appointed by
the Provincial with the consent of his Council, who exercises the
functions assigned to him. He is the local person in charge of the
Work, accountable to the Provincial.
– The Provincial ensures accompaniment for these works through
his Delegate, normally a member of the Provincial Council.
– Where possible, there is also a Salesian with an appropriate
background from a nearby Salesian house who is integrated into the
pastoral animation and other leadership bodies of the Work.
3.2. Principles for ensuring adequate charismatic quality
To initiate a process of discernment in the lay management of the
Salesian Work, we are guided by the following three essential
principles, based on our reflections as a Congregation:5
– Ensure the creation and maintenance of an educational
environment inspired by the Salesian Preventive System, where “the
criteria of identity, communion and Salesian significance must be
ascertained.”6
– Formulate a provincial project to give a charismatic and legal
structure that specifies the responsibilities and functions of the various
people responsible and bodies designated to manage and animate these
works.
5 Cf. GC24 (1996), 180-182; GC26 (2008), 120;FoR, 118. 271; AnGC, 126.
6 GC28 (2020), 41.

1.6 Page 6

▲back to top
– Ensure the “constant and competent accompaniment of the
Provincial and his Council”7 for the lay people who manage and
animate these Province works.
3.2.1. Ensuring an educational environment inspired by the Salesian
Preventive System
We believe that an activity or Work directed by lay people can be
considered as belonging to the Provincial Project if it can ensure some
fundamental conditions for the charismatic sustainability of such
works, that is, if it meets the criteria of charismatic identity,
communion and significance of Salesian activity.
In this regard, the success of lay-managed works requires that the
criteria just stated be spelt out in practice in three areas: 1.
evangelisation and education is central, 2. an Educative and Pastoral
Community is established and 3. a local Salesian Educative and
Pastoral Plan is drawn up and implemented.
1. The centrality of evangelisation and education
Evangelising intentionality and educational sensitivity are our
raison d'être and what we are called to pursue wherever we are
present.
Evangelisation implies a multiplicity of aspects in all Salesian
works: presence, witness, explicit proclamation of the faith, call to
personal conversion, formation of the Church, catechesis; and also
inculturation, inter-religious dialogue, education, preferential option
for the poor, social promotion and transformation of society.8
The Salesian understanding of evangelisation is characterised by
attention to the integrity of the interventions and by an educational
concern for the growth of the whole person. Education is the human
place where we present the Gospel and where it acquires a typical set
of features.9
7 Idem.
8 Cf. FoR, 57-58.
9 Cf. FoR, 59

1.7 Page 7

▲back to top
– A Salesian Work is significant when it explicitly demonstrates
sensitivity and commitment to the situations of poverty of young
people in the neighbourhood in which it operates.
2. The establishment and functioning of the Educative and
Pastoral Community
– A Salesian Work is called to become a welcoming home for
young people. By seeing to the shared responsibility of the people in
the Educative and Pastoral Community (EPC),10 we seek to form,
wherever we are present, a community oriented to the education of
young people, which can be an experience of the Church for them and
open them to personal encounter with Jesus Christ.11
– The EPC ensures the style of communion and participation
typical of a Salesian house, “loyalty and trust being the basis of our
mutual relations.”12
– A Salesian Work is relevant when it is willing to create spaces
for youth ministry and vocational animation, and where the whole
EPC is ready to welcome those young people who wish to see and
experience Salesian life, inspired by the charism of Don Bosco.
– The Salesian Family and the Salesian Youth Movement are
essential charismatic elements to guarantee the existence and life of
the Salesian charism wherever there is a Work with one or more
settings.
3. The development and implementation of the local SEPP
– Salesians and lay people together experience communion and
sharing by developing, implementing and verifying the local SEPP at
the service of Salesian unity and identity and, in particular, to respond
to the needs of young people and ordinary folk.
– A planning mentality guarantees the educative and pastoral
criteria in the mission field, in order to achieve unified and
comprehensive activity.
10 Cf. C. 47.
11 Cf. FoR, 109.
12 C. 39

1.8 Page 8

▲back to top
– The project or plan is the concrete instrument that makes our
Salesian action prophetic, involving all the people of the EPC in a
shared style of responsibility and in an attitude of discussion and
discernment.
3.2.2. Those responsible, and management and animation bodies
The Provincial and his Council
The Provincial with his Council are entrusted with responsibility
for seeing that the provincial community is involved in discernment
regarding fulfilment of the apostolic mission in the area.13 Therefore,
it is up to the government of the provinces to undertake future-
oriented processes, accepting the challenge of being significant within
this time that the Lord has given us.
As a consequence, the Province has the responsibility of
accompanying and guaranteeing the Salesian identity of all the works,
even those managed by lay people, as part of its overall plan. In
particular, the Province is ultimately responsible for:
– the identity, direction, animation and management of the work.
It is accountable to the Congregation, the local Church and the Civil
Authority;
– the appointment of the lay director of the Salesian Work and its
Council (Provincial with his Council), accompanied by a formal letter
of appointment;
– the appointment of the heads of the main sectors of activity of
the house (Provincial with his Council);14
– the definition of the duties of the lay Director with particular
reference to: proper financial remuneration; duration of positions; the
powers, delegations and operational limits and decision-making
bodies.15
– all activity involving the responsibility of the Salesians of Don
Bosco.
13 C. 161; cf. C. 44.
14 Cf. R. 183.
15 Cf. GC28 (2020), 45.

1.9 Page 9

▲back to top
These works remain part of the Province and refer to it for ordinary
and extraordinary management like any other work. Hence the
Province takes initiatives of animation and government similar to what
happens in the EPCs with a Salesian community, such as: 1. the
provincial visitation; 2. evaluation of the local plan; 3. the connection
of the lay director of the Work with the Provincial; 4. regular
involvement of the Provincial’s Delegate in the Director’s council and
EPC council; 5. the organisation, together with the lay people, of a
carefully planned formation curriculum regarding Salesian
charismatic identity;16 6. a stable and defined link with a nearby
Salesian community or with the Province Centre in accordance with
the decision of the Provincial and his Council, especially regarding
charismatic and ministerial aspects.17
The Director (male or female) of the Work
The term of office of the Director of the Work is normally three
years, and renewable. In extraordinary situations where it is intended
to extend a six-year period of service by one or more years, the
approval of the Rector Major and his Council is required. In the event
that the position is not renewed, legal regulations in force will be
respected. To this end, it is important for the Province to provide a
way for lay people to change and alternate in leadership roles.
The Director may also have other responsibilities in one of the
areas of the Work.
The following characteristics must be verified for the appointment
of the Director of a lay-managed Work:
– personal: it is essential that the individual has the capacity for
relationship and leadership; that they are prepared in terms of
formation for personal and group accompaniment; that they
professionally master the working environment they are leading
(school, associations...); that they are in a personal and family situation
that allows them to carry out the service requested with quality and
continuity; that they have a professional curriculum of experiences
16 GC24 (1996), 164.
17 Cf. GC24 (1996), 181.b.

1.10 Page 10

▲back to top
and tasks appropriate to the circumstances of the Work they will lead
and direct;
– charismatic: it is preferable to have someone who demonstrates
that they have adopted a personal choice of life according to gospel
values from a Salesian perspective; who attests to believing and
actively participating in the educative and pastoral life of the Work;
who identifies with the Salesian educational style; who is informed of,
knows and is attuned to the guidelines of the Congregation and the
Province.
As Director of the Work, their role consists of the following
functions and responsibilities:
a. Concerning the Salesian work:
– sees to the charismatic identity of the Work, in dialogue with
the Provincial and in harmony with the Provincial guidelines:
Overall Provincial Plan (OPP), the Province’s Salesian
Educative and Pastoral Plan, the Provincial Directory and
others;
– follows up and accompanies the general running of the Work,
ensuring that the unity and integrity of Salesian pastoral care
is maintained in all its activities;
– convenes and leads the Director’s Council and the Council of
the EPC/Work;
– part of the parish council if the main activity is the parish;
– chairs the Institute’s Council (if the main activity of the Work
is a school or a VTC [Voc. Training Centre]); hires employees
and accepts/expels students in collaboration with the Province
Delegate and the person who coordinates studies; participates
in teachers' meetings and class representative councils,
offering guidance.
b.- With regard to animation of individuals in the EPC:
– animates the Educative and Pastoral Community: this means
they not only manage (assets, facilities and structures) or make
decisions, but also see to the spiritual life of its members, deal
with pastoral choices and ensure that the oratory criterion runs

2 Pages 11-20

▲back to top

2.1 Page 11

▲back to top
through the life of the whole Work, promoting fraternal bonds
and giving attention to the most needy young people;
– promotes the development, implementation and review of the
local SEPP and proposes common objectives for the entire
Work;
– coordinates the different settings of the Work, guaranteeing
cohesion and unity;
– supports the accompaniment of those responsible for the
different settings and facilitates the flow of information and
understanding between them;
– promotes the formation processes, implementing the criteria for
convocation and formation of the laity and ensuring the
formation of Salesian identity, as in any Salesian Work;
– involves the Salesian who pastorally accompanies the work and
the existing pastoral team;
– appoints the members of the Council of the Work/EPC.
c. With regard to other particular matters regarding management,
assets and external relations.
The Director of the lay-managed Work must:
– respect and ensure respect for rules in force both in civil and
canonical matters relating to the entire Work, taking into account the
rules of universal law, our own law and the criteria in force in the
Province;
– ensure compliance with the staff selection criteria established by
the Provincial and his council or by Province rules;
– submit budget and final balance to the Province for due
approval18 in the time and manner established by the Province, and
reporting to the Provincial and the Provincial Economer whenever
required;
– participate in province meetings in areas of competence;
18 R. 196.

2.2 Page 12

▲back to top
– see to relations with other ecclesiastical and civil institutions;
– establish agreements or conventions concerning the entire Work
with external natural or legal persons, according to the guidelines in
force in the Province regarding the administration of temporal assets
(accounts, budgets and final balance, acts of ordinary and
extraordinary administration, authorisations);
– maintain direct communication with the Provincial and his
Council through the Provincial’s Delegate for Works under lay
management and the various provincial delegations.
The Director of the lay-managed Work is also responsible for:
– the custody and supervision of assets (movable and immovable
property), the administration of assets, the management, distribution
and use of areas usable by the different groups of the Work according
to the criteria established by the Provincial and his Council19 or by the
Provincial Directory;
– the Work, and relations with third parties (defining the criteria)
and for collateral activities (such as involvement in calls for tenders,
hospitality, occasional leases, etc.);
– aspects related to security and privacy. Likewise, the Director
must know and make known the guidelines for the protection of
minors and vulnerable individuals (Code of Ethics).
Collegiate Bodies
a. Council of the Director of the Work
In lay-managed works under the responsibility of the Provincial
and his Council, a management and governance team is created called
the Council of the Director of the Work. This body assists the Director
of the Work in that person’s decisions, so it is ordinarily a consultative
body with the task of examining, analysing, studying the main issues,
informing and dialoguing, discerning, leading as far as possible to a
convergence of views, operational guidelines, planning and
19 C. 161.

2.3 Page 13

▲back to top
evaluation. Its role is indispensable for joint responsibility and also for
effective involvement in the governance of the Work.
The Director needs the consent of this Council to:
– Approve the annual programming of the Work and the sectors
of the Work in accordance with provincial guidelines.
– Approve the local SEPP and its revision at the proposal of the
Council of the Work/EPC.
– Present the Provincial with new experiences, projects or
substantial changes in the structure of the Work.
– Approve the budget and final balance of the Work and the
budgets of its individual sectors (if any) to be sent subsequently to the
Provincial and the Council for confirmation.
– Create/propose a new role with subordinate role/function within
the organisation chart of the Work.
– Appoint and/or dismiss personnel of the Work.
The Constitutions20 explain what the general task of the local
Council of the religious community is, that is, to collaborate with the
Rector in the animation and governance of the religious community, a
commitment that concerns the entire field of religious life and
apostolic mission.
In this case, in the absence of the religious community, the
commitment of the Council of the Director of the Work under lay
management clearly concerns only the essentially educational and
pastoral value of the Council: more than an administrative body, the
Council is a team that shares responsibility with the Director for the
fulfilment of the mission.
To this end, the composition of the Council of the Director of the
Work is very flexible and adaptable to different concrete needs. In
principle, however, it comprises the Director of the Work, the
administrator, the coordinator of pastoral care and the directors and/or
those responsible for different settings.
The functions of the Council of the Director of the Work include,
in addition to the above:
20 Cf. C. 178.

2.4 Page 14

▲back to top
– supervising the Salesian identity of all areas of the Salesian
Work and establishing the appropriate procedures to ensure its proper
functioning, more concretely, with regard to formation and direct
participation;
– identifying and examining the most important problems,
collaborating in the processes of reflection and decision-making;
– informing and reflecting on financial sustainability and making
viable proposals;
– bringing important questions to the attention of the Provincial
Council: those relating to property, financial support, personal
situations and pastoral guidelines;
– ensuring transparency in the selection and management of
personnel in accordance with the criteria established by the Provincial
and his Council or by Province rulings.
In ordinary operational terms the Council is convened to participate:
– at ordinary meetings, at least once a month;
– province review and planning meetings, together with other local
councils;
– the visit by the Provincial or Provincial Councillors;21
– any further meetings if necessary at other times, at the discretion
of the one responsible and also meetings of the Provincial and his
Council if the matter so requires.
The contents and decisions of the meetings must be included (with
documentation) in a minutes book to be kept locally, available to the
Provincial, his delegates and canonical visitors.
The Provincial and his Council ratify the composition of this
Council and the appointment of its members.
b. The Council of the Work/EPC.
It is necessary to put the Council of the Work/EPC in place when
a Salesian Work consists of various settings and sectors of activity.
This body animates and coordinates the Salesian Work through
reflection, dialogue, programming and revision of educative and
21 Cf. R. 146.

2.5 Page 15

▲back to top
pastoral activity,22 without prejudice to the competences established
for the various councils, teams and bodies of the various settings,
sectors and groups.23
The purpose of the Council of the Work/EPC is the coordination,
at the service of unity, of the Salesian project in the area where the
Salesian Work is located. It is “the engine and heart of the entire
educative pastoral community, because the smooth running of the
work depends on its quality and proper functioning.”24
The Council of the Work/EPC is made up of the main individuals
who are together responsible for the settings or sectors of activity, and
who share jointly in the various responsibilities arising from the
management of all the settings of a work. Among others, young
people, Salesians (if present), parents and lay people who are
responsible in various capacities, and colleagues who work within the
Salesian work should be part of it, including members of the Salesian
Family (if present) in the first instance. All these individuals are
identified with the mission, the Salesian educative system and
spirituality, and jointly take on the task of calling on, motivating,
involving those who are interested in a Work to form the EPC and
carry out a project of evangelisation and education of young people.25
The number of members depends on the circumstances of each
Work and the settings it involves. The number shall be proportionate
to ensure the involvement of all members and the proper functioning
of the Council.
At specific times other members may be invited to attend meetings
as the Director of the Work deems appropriate.
The Council of the Work/EPC, among other things has the
following functions:
– fostering communion and collaboration in order to respond to
the common needs of the Work;
22 GC24 (1996), 160-161, 171; QdR, 268-269.
23 GC24 (1996), 17.
24 GC28 (2020), 39
25 Cf. FoR, 118; AnGC, 121-122.

2.6 Page 16

▲back to top
– being attentive to the needs and requirements of the youth
context in general;
– seeing to the process of drawing up and revising the Educative
and Pastoral Plan, in agreement with the provincial SEPP, and
guaranteeing the application of the SEPP in all settings;
– promoting information and communication among the various
circles, groups, activities and initiatives;
– establishing joint activities within the framework of the annual
programming, to build a sense of unity.
To carry out all this, the Council of the Work/EPC can make use of a
permanent committee or ad hoc working committees. In addition, for
its operation, the Council of the Work/EPC:
– meets at least three times a year: at the beginning for the annual
planning; halfway through to define interventions and review the
process; and at the end of the year for the evaluation (the timing of
meetings of the EPC council is not defined; this is left to the initiative
of the Director).
– may be convened by the Director of the Work on an ordinary or
extraordinary basis at the request of at least one third of its members.
– meets to approve the SEPP of the Work, which needs the positive
vote of the Director and the Council of the Work. The approved draft
will be sent to the Provincial and his Council for ratification.
– requires the Director of the Work to keep the members of the
Council of the Work/EPC informed of any changes that the Council
of the Director intends to make to the management and operation of
the Work.
The Council of the Work/EPC is chaired by the Director of the
Work. The members of the Council are appointed on the basis of their
responsibility in the setting in which they work. They always ensure
regular presence. The Council shall appoint a secretary who shall draw
up the minutes of the meetings.
At the beginning of the year, the names of the members of the
Council of the Work/EPC are communicated to the Provincial and his
Council.

2.7 Page 17

▲back to top
3.2.3. Provincial accompaniment of lay-managed works
In the light of the above, there are two complementary methods of
accompaniment which are necessary and not mutually exclusive: one,
by the Provincial and Provincial Council, and the other, a local
accompaniment.
Provincial delegate for lay-managed works
When the number of lay-managed works so requires, the
Provincial appoints a Salesian (normally a member of the Provincial
Council) to perform this service on behalf of the Provincial in the lay-
managed house(s) for which the Province is responsible. He shall
maintain contact with the Provincial and the other members of the
Provincial Council and shall act in accordance with the criteria and
guidelines laid down by the Council.
The Provincial, together with the Delegate for the Salesian Family
and the Delegate for works under lay management, will study, on a
case-by-case basis, the specific way of looking after the Salesian
Family involved in the Work.
Each Provincial Community draws up or revises its own Lay
Project (or any other name you want to give it) required by GC2326 to
define and guarantee procedures for cooperation, participation,
integration and formation of lay people in the works.
The criteria and methods of entrusting Salesian works to the laity
are indicated in it, drawing attention to the drafting of the Statutes or
Regulations: “Since contexts and civil legislation vary so much, every
Province must define the models of management for different kinds of
works entrusted to the laity within a provincial project, with particular
reference to tasks of responsibility, nominations, duration in office,
decision-making organs and the competence of the Provincial. For this
purpose the Province will propose regulations or statutes for the
activity or works concerned.”27
26 GC23 (1990), 238; cf. GC24 (1996), 145.
27 GC24 (1996), 182.

2.8 Page 18

▲back to top
Local accompaniment
Where possible, the Provincial will appoint a Salesian (SDB) to be
present in these works managed by lay people, but resident in a
Salesian community.
In general, when possible the SDB will actively participate as a
member of the Council of the Work/EPC and in the various animation
teams, always respecting the authority of the lay Director. At the same
time, he will provide direct pastoral accompaniment in areas that – in
agreement with the lay leaders – are established as priorities.
The charismatic presence of the SDB, who will be close to and
fatherly with regard to the young people and educators, must
contribute to the reflection and pastoral processes of the place. It
becomes essential for him to be available for accompaniment,
listening and sacraments for both young people and lay people (in the
case of a priest), without reducing the Salesian’s service to a purely
ministerial or sacramental role. The service that is requested from the
SDB is much more: to be present, to accompany, encourage, promote
teamwork, build community, generate communion.
4. Conclusion
Concluding these reflections. We are even more aware that
Salesian life is a gift and a commitment, a grace and a responsibility
which has its source in God’s call and its explicit fruitfulness in the
mission among young people.
Today the animation and governance of provinces involves a
demanding effort and requires a far-sighted look at the path to be
followed. These guidelines on the entrusting of the work to lay
management under provincial responsibility and accompaniment, are
intended to enlighten us in reshaping provinces and in revitalising our
identity and charismatic apostolate.