Chapter 5
YOUTH PASTORAL MINISTRY ANIMATION STRUCTURES
1. PASTORAL ANIMATION
One of the characteristics of Salesian Youth Ministry is the style of animation. To animate is “to give a soul to” that is:
- to motivate people deepening their sense of identity concerning the values, criteria and aims of the salesian pastoral project, promoting the unity and the worldwide character of the pastoral plan, guiding the choices and activities;
- to create a sense of communion and unity around a shared plan, to bring together and foster a spirit of cooperation and communication, promoting collaboration and helping the growth of a sense of belonging.
1.1. The importance of animation structures
The way animation is carried out is not a trivial matter, it reflects a way of thinking which either encourages or hinders a style of animation. The SEPP can become a real stimulus and force of pastoral animation and of guidance, if the organization of pastoral animation is appropriate.
These days the structures of animation need to respond to two great challenges:
- the growth of a multiplicity of fronts and places in which to operate, and the tendency for these to organize themselves in ways and with a dynamism and with their own resources which do not help in overcoming an inward-lookng approach;
- the change in ways of thinking and acting regarding pastoral animation that needs to be fostered in salesian communities and among lay collaborators.
To respond to these challenges animation structures need above all:
- to look after the organic unity of Salesian Youth Pastoral Ministry, continually encouraging interaction between the four dimensions which characterize it and fostering a close collaboration between the different works and services in view of this unity:
- to support each local community in the daily realization of the unity and totality of the salesian pastoral process.
1.2 Some characteristics of pastoral animation
* Animation is linked to the service of government.
To animate as we have said above, is more than governing, managing and organizing: for this reason, those people who do not have direct responsibility for government, can carry out an important role of animation in the EPC and in the Province.
But the style of salesian government is steeped in the spirit of animation: governing by animating, that is keeping informed, communicating, motivating, involving, making co-responsible, continually discovering spiritual energies, forming people…
*Salesian animation is spiritual and apostolic.
Salesian animation is not merely a mechanism, it is a spiritual animation which brings to educational activity that breath of the Spirit capable of giving meaning to the development of people and to the efforts to change society. The educational system matured and transmitted by Don Bosco is at the same time a process of youth spirituality.
*Pastoral animation needs to be closely connected with the animation of other aspects and sectors of the province, in a mutually beneficial collaboration.
This can be promoted through a Structured Provincial Plan, which helps to direct all the aspects of the life and action of the communities and the works towards the unified and significant realization of the salesian mission. This Structured Provincial Plan should indicate the priority areas for action to be developed, the more important working criteria in order to make the action and life of the communities and works significant, the general aims which should guide all the plans and projects of the different sections of the life and action of the Province, the lines of policy regarding the formation of personnel and the economic and structural resources etc. The SEPP of the province should be drawn up along these lines, in the same way as the projects of the other sectors of the life and action of the Province.
*Animation that is undertaken in connection and collaboration with other provinces and with the local Church.
The necessary exchange of experiences and of styles of pastoral ministry makes it essential that there is agreement regarding aims, objectives and strategies among the different provinces in the same region, the various local Churches and other social and educational institutions in the area.
2. PROVINCIAL ANIMATION
It is through the Province that the Congregation "organizes" and animates a life of communion and the implementation of the mission in a certain territory.
The provincial community is the unifying element - for the local communities themselves, with other provinces, with the world community and with the local Church.
The provincial community is the pivot for ongoing renewal.
The effort to energize the pastoral activity of a province can be uselessly dissipated in one-off and infrequent activities or focused on unimportant issues, if particular areas for activities are not clearly established. In fact it is not a matter of “getting things done” nor of giving the impression that “everyone is doing a lot of work,” but rather of constantly uniting the communities and enabling them to respond effectively to the youth situation.
In the pastoral animation of the province preference should be given to these approaches:
2.1.1 The actual assumption of joint animation and pastoral government of the Province by the Provincial Council under the direction of the Provincial.
The Provincial with his council has the primary responsibility for the animation and pastoral government of the province. (C. 161) He is responsible for formulating and putting into practice the SEPP (R 155).
A fundamental role in directing the life and pastoral activity of the province falls to the Provincial and his council: to provide direction, according to the situation and resources available, for the objectives to be achieved, the priorities to be observed, the strategies to be adopted, the resources to be developed etc… This means that the provincial council is a pastorally reflective and decision making body, with the primary responsibility for unifying pastoral practice in the province, as expressed in the provincial SEPP.
This presupposes:
- going beyond purely administrative roles and especially taking on all the tasks of discernment, reflection and planning;
- studying carefully the situation of the communities and above all the youth situation in order to understand the urgent pastoral needs;
- deciding on criteria and formulating priorities for action, promoting in the confreres and communities a unified pastoral mentality and a combination of forces and activities in the service of the young;
- assisting in the setting up of the provincial SEPP and periodically assessing the results;
- using the time available and specific resources for this animation and coordination of provincial and local youth ministry.
2.1.2 Continuous formation of the workers.
It is useless to propose some kind of activity when the one who is supposed to carry it out has not been prepared. It is also useless to prepare plans or to encourage people in a general sort of way for a project when they lack the basis needed to put the plans into operation.
This pastoral formation means providing the confreres with guidance to reflect on their experience of the grace of unity, to renew their pastoral approach and to update their working skills.
Three important phases in this pastoral formation are:
Initial formation through the study of Salesian Youth Pastoral Ministry and the exercise of the ministry which helps the young confrere to:
Assume a unified pastoral mentality, a style of animation and a planning method;
Combine reflection and pastoral activity, overcoming any temptation to improvisation and superficiality;
Overcome any temptation to compartmentalisation or a too generalized approach in the pastoral ministry.
Specialized formation for workers to help them become better as educators and pastors
° the provision of personnel specifically prepared in various areas of Salesian Youth Ministry, and therefore in the life of the province (the provincial plan for the formation of personnel):
- to deal especially with the area of pastoral and educational science;
- with a theoretical, practical and experiential specialization.
° ongoing pastoral formation:
- developing the cultural and pastoral role of SDBs through a renewed commitment to culture, study and professionalism;
- deepening of Salesian spirituality in order to live it and to be in the position to propose and share it (GC24 239-241; 257);
- giving importance to the main occasions of community life, and making daily life the ordinary means for ongoing formation;
- promoting a formation process with lay people (GC24, 138-146).
2.1.3 The involvement of communities, confreres and the EPC.
The object of animation is to encourage co-responsibility and make it function all the time. All the confreres together with the lay people in the EPC are involved not only in implementing, but also in studying and formulating pastoral criteria and aims.
For this reason, animators and animating bodies, rather than undertaking a large number of activities, ought to be guides, promoters and sources of information who facilitate and support the communities in undertaking and fulfilling their responsibilities.
Points of strategy for this:
° ensure the quantitative and qualitative consistency of the local communities (GC24, 173-174);
° closely and systematically support the communities, especially those which have most difficulty in carrying out their mission of pastoral animation, and those responsible for the different pastoral sectors;
° promote frequent pastoral communication and exchanges between the communities and the workers to encourage a sense of belonging, the assimilation of common criteria and aims, collaboration and mutual enrichment;
° follow with special care certain occasions of particular significance in pastoral animation, such as the process of formulation and assessment of the local PEPS, the definition of pastoral roles and the responsibilities of the educative and pastoral animation teams, the programming of formation for pastoral workers etc.
2.2 Criteria, aims, and requirements in the organization of services and of provincial structures for pastoral animation.
The institutional and organizational elements can greatly facilitate the realization of the aims proposed in the SEPP; concentrating forces, favouring areas, promoting a specific style and methodology of working, ensuring the necessary and the appropriate means (of personnel, organizational and financial etc.)
a) The creation of structures and organizations of pastoral animation in the province follows the following criteria (cf. GC23, 240; 244-246):
° unity: promoting unifying structures rather than structures for separate sectors;
° organic: responding to the large areas - works, according to the nature of the educative and pastoral plan, integrated and complementary;
° direction: supporting the activity of the salesian religious communities and of the EPC rather than directly organizing many initiatives;
° homogeneity: acting in such a way that in provinces in similar circumstances, the organizations are homogeneous in order to facilitate coordination and collaboration;
° net-working: with provinces close by and with civil or ecclesiastical organizations or associations that are concerned with Youth Ministry or have some connection with our target groups.
b) According to these criteria the provincial organizations of animation have these aims:
° to train workers;
° to create a theoretical and operative consensus;
° to indirectly coordinate the community's activities;
° to stimulate creativity;
° to support activity with doctrinal and practical reflection material;
° to be significantly and pro-actively present in the area (civil and ecclesial).
c) The organization of the province is at the service of the realization of the salesian mission expressed in concrete terms in the provincial SEPP (cf. C. 121; 157), and this requires:
° a clear understanding of the overall nature of salesian pastoral activity in the SEPP;
° types of coordination and collaboration between the different sectors of provincial animation (Formation, Salesian Family, Economy, the Youth Pastoral areas) to ensure unity of pastoral action according to the aims of the SEPP;
° systematic reflection and comparison between the reality and the aims set: a continuous process of study, reflection, setting of priorities, planning, assessment…;
° wide-spread participation and co-responsibility: sense of community, team-work, appropriate and sufficient sharing of information.
2.3. Provincial services of pastoral animation.
2.3.1 Different levels of provincial animation
It is possible to identify three levels of responsibility in the provincial service of pastoral animation: they are three different but inseparable levels:
* the level of government (the Provincial and his Council) who needs to make the fundamental decisions as the one primarily responsible for the animation and pastoral government of the province (C. 161)
* the level of unity and pastoral direction (the provincial Delegate with his team) who needs to ensure the organic unity of the pastoral activity carried out in the province and its direction according to the provincial SEPP.
* the level of practical coordination of the work (the commissions or advisory bodies in the different sectors) who ensure the coordination of the various pastoral activities carried out in the different sectors
These three levels interact and complement each other, while it is the second which in a particular way ensures the salesian identity of the pastoral activity decided upon and coordinated by the others.
2.3.2 The Provincial Delegate for Youth Ministry and his team.
The Provincial “will appoint a delegate for the youth pastoral sector, who will coordinate the work of a team which will ensure the convergence of all activities on the objective of education to the faith, and render possible practical communication between the provinces.” (GC23, 244).
The Youth Ministry Delegate
He is the Provincial’s delegate and works in agreement with him and with the provincial council. His first subjects are the confreres, the salesian communities and the EPC. He is not the one in charge of the initiatives nor of a single area, but the one who ensures a structured pastoral operation in the province and pays attention to all aspects.
Normally he dedicates himself full-time to provincial pastoral animation. It is convenient for him to be a member of the provincial council, where he normally represents pastoral issues and concerns.
Job Description:
° he helps the Provincial and his council in the formulation of the SEPP and of common pastoral directives and guidelines;
° he coordinates in collaborative fashion the functioning of the provincial youth ministry team and helps each member to carry out his task;
° he supports the local communities in their pastoral planning, implementation and assessment, attending to the development of the four dimensions of the SEPP in their various settings;
° he keeps in contact with the workers to guide their activities according to the unified plan of the SEPP;
° he directs the joint community projects proposed in the SEPP;
° he sees to the realization of a structured educative-pastoral formation plan for the confreres, the lay collaborators and the young animators;
° he keeps in close contact with members of the Salesian Family who are working in the province, with the local church, and with the Department.
The provincial Youth Ministry Team.
The provincial youth ministry team collaborates directly with the delegate in his tasks: i.e. reflection, planning, coordination, evaluation of youth ministry in the province, according to the directives of the Provincial and his council and the provincial SEPP.
Its main purpose is to ensure the integrity of the pastoral activity (the coordinated presence of the four dimensions) and the convergence of the various activities. For this reason it is important that in the team there are people with special competence in the four dimensions of the plan, so that between them they can guarantee their balanced and unified development in the various programmes and pastoral processes developed in the province and in the communities.
It is important that those responsible in the province for the Missions and for Social Communications also take part in the work of the team.
Job Description:
° to collaborate with the Delegate in his responsibilities;
° to guide the communities towards an interdisciplinary view of problems and a combined effort to resolve them;
° to foster the presence and the interconnection of the different aspects of the SEPP in the different works and sectors of the province.
This requires:
- specific theoretical and practical training for the members;
- time for reflection and discussion;
- competence in making contacts and coordination, with realism and with the ability to motivate;
- a specific plan of work (e.g. for the year) based on the SEPP, following the priorities laid down by the Provincial and his council.
2.3.3 Provincial appointees for works and areas and their teams.
For the guidance and animation of the different sectors of Youth Pastoral Ministry in the province (Oratories-Youth Centres, Schools, Parishes, the marginalized, Volunteers, SYM, etc) the Provincial appoints a representative usually assisted by a group.
Job Description of those responsible for a sector:
° to help the EPC of these works and sectors to customize the provincial guidelines for youth ministry in line with the SEPP and the working plan of the delegate and his team,
° to study and reflect on the educational and pastoral aims, the real situation, the problems, the scope of the works;
° to animate, direct, help each work to achieve its specific aims.
It is important that those in charge of the pastoral works or sectors of the province work together systematically under the guidance of the provincial delegate and his team to:
° foster a sharing of information and projects;
° coordinate the different activities in line with the SEPP and provincial planning;
° preserve the structural unity of youth ministry in the whole province.
3. INTERPROVINCIAL ANIMATION AND COORDINATION.
At the service of the pastoral planning and animation of a group of provinces there are organizations for contacts and for coordination: interprovincial teams for Youth Ministry, national or regional youth ministry delegations, national centres for Y.M etc. These organizations or teams are set up and directed by the respective Provincials in a group of provinces or a region, counting on the collaboration of the Youth Pastoral Department.
The actual situations vary but the following criteria should be taken into account:
the importance of coordination at this level: to respond to a youth problem and situation which is much broader and complex, in order to develop a more open and universal mentality in the provinces; to foster solidarity and an exchange of gifts in the context of Youth Ministry; to further facilitate the circulation of pastoral experiences and models, etc.;
being a service of support, animation and subsidiary coordination, it should not take on tasks which others in the planning process can and should undertake;
the priority of education to the faith which applies to educational programmes and activities, also applies to the organization of structures of animation (cf. GC23, 245);
all the coordination bodies ought to be structured in a convergent, integrated and organic manner, avoiding coordination in watertight compartments, sectorialism, and a bureaucratic centralization.
It is part of the coordinating role the provincial Delegates for Youth Pastoral Ministry in the various provinces of a region or group of provinces (National or Regional Delegation or interprovincial team of Youth Pastoral Ministry) who meet regularly
- to reflect together on the youth situation and the challenges present in the context of the provinces with a view to formulating joint criteria and guidelines for the pastoral animation of the country or region;
- to coordinate joint collaboration between the provinces, on common issues, such as the formation of educators and animators etc.;
- to foster the sharing of experiences, aids, initiatives and projects;
- to provide a type of combined and unified presence and action in the Church and in the national and regional territory.
Alongside the National or Regional Delegations or teams for Youth Pastoral Ministry there can be set up National or Regional Centres for YM, that is bodies for reflection and animation created by a provincial conference or group of provinces at the service of YM in the Region or Nation in order to:
- foster and develop studies and research on current YM problems;
- collect and compare the more important salesian and church experiences in the area of YM;
- publish and distribute these reflections and experiences;
- put itself at the service of the provinces and the local church to animate the process of planning and programming, especially for the training of YM workers.
4. ANIMATION AND COORDINATION AT WORLD LEVEL.
The services, the activities, the initiatives and the works which are aimed at the education and evangelization of youth find a unifying focal point in the Department for Youth Pastoral Ministry, with the General Councillor and his team.
According to the Constitutions (C. 136), his role is to animate and give direction to salesian educative and apostolic activity and to assist the provinces.
In practice:
° He offers encouragement in taking things forward, provides motivation, presents an overall view, pays attention to cultural awareness and a spiritual depth, fosters an educational dimension in the aims and programmes and technical support, promotes reflection on the criteria and pressing issues, and an exchange of experiences.
° He also tries to encourage the active presence of salesian pastoral ministry in the Church, following up its proposals and directives and offering our specific contribution;
° Within the General Council he provides a pastoral and youth viewpoint following up and determining the guidelines of the general programming of the Rector Major and his Council: maintaining working relationships of support and cooperation with the other sectors especially Formation, the Missions and the Salesian Family.
° He collaborates with the Regionals, in unifying and organizing the activities in the different provinces according to their situations and needs.
The priority subjects of his role of animation are:
- the Provincials and their councils;
- the provincial delegates for YM, their teams and those responsible for particular sectors;
- other animation groups at regional level.
5. LOCAL ANIMATION AND COORDINATION
The pastoral animation of the works and activities through which the mission is carried out in a particular place is the responsibility above all of the local salesian community, especially the Rector and the house council.
As the animating nucleus of the EPC it will make sure that in every activity and work the integrity and the unity of salesian pastoral ministry is achieved.
In the pastoral animation of a work, the salesian community gathers together the lay people and involves in a co-responsible way especially the council of the EPC and/or of the work which is “the central organism which animates and coordinates the whole salesian enterprise, through reflection, dialogue, and the programming and revision of the educative and pastoral activity.” (cf. GC24, 161 and 171)
To take this pastoral animation forward, in each EPC there is a YM coordinator with a team. This coordinator with the team plans, organizes, coordinates and stimulates the pastoral activity of the work according to the objectives proposed in the local SEPP and the guidelines and criteria of the council of the EPC or of the work in close contact with the Rector.
In practice it carries out the following functions:
- fosters and directs the participation of all the EPC in the formulation, implementation and assessment of the local SEPP;
- develops the local SEPP through specific programmes according to the different types of pastoral activity in the work, and sees to their implementation;
- fosters the coordination and integration of the different pastoral activities, ensuring their complementarity and their orientation towards education to the faith;
- promotes and develops initiatives for the formation of pastoral workers in accordance with the guidelines of the provincial plan;
- ensures the connection and the collaboration of the EPC with the pastoral strategy of the local church and with other educational bodies in the area.
