Pastoral and pedagogical applications

As is customary, the Strenna – and in particular the Strenna for 2006 – provides an opportunity to offer to the whole Salesian Family some pastoral suggestions and pedagogical applications.
I have seen and value the successful efforts of some Provinces to express in the form of educational programmes the Pastoral Plan that I linked with this Strenna, as I did earlier with that of 2004. In addition the review Notes on Youth Ministry has produced a special issue which goes into the theme at greater depth and offers suggestions and valuable supporting material. I invite you to be aware of all this material, which can be of great use to you, while here I set out once again the main guidelines for the pastoral plan.

Here then are my suggestions
To ensure that special attention be given to the family in our plan of education and evangelisation, the following necessary points among others are required:
* The guarantee of a special commitment to education to love within Salesian educational practice and in the journey of education to the faith proposed to our young people .
The GC23 presented education to love as one of the crucial points manifesting either the incidence of faith on life or its lack of relevance in practice. The typical experience of Don Bosco and the educational and spiritual content of the preventive system prompts us:
* to give special importance to the creation around the young of an educational ethos really conducive to affective communication,
* to prize the authentic values of chastity,
* to foster relationships between boys and girls of respect for themselves and others, mutually enriching, and expressive of the joy of free self-giving,
* to ensure the presence in the educational environment of clear and joyful witnesses to love, especially through self-donation in chastity.
* The follow-up and support of parents in their educational responsibilities, by fully involving them in the implementation of the Salesian pastoral and educational plan.
The GC24, in connection with the involvement of the laity in the Salesian mission, acknowledged the duty of parents and the role of families in our works, but asked us to intensify our collaboration with the family as having the first educational role for sons and daughters (cf. GC24, 20. 177). For this reason it wanted us to esteem more highly the indispensable contribution of parents and families of the young, encouraging the setting up of committees and associations to ensure and enrich Don Bosco’s educational mission by their participation (cf. CG24, 115).
* The fostering and preparation of the Salesian style of the family: in individual families, in the Salesian community, in the educative and pastoral community.
The Salesian family spirit is a characteristic of our spirituality (cf. GC24, 91-93) and is expressed:
* in unfailingly listening to others,
* in freely welcoming others,
* In the animating presence of the educator among the young,
* In dialogue and interpersonal and formal communication,
* In shared responsibility for a common educational plan.
* Growth in the spirit and in the experience of the Salesian Family for the fostering of an educative and pastoral commitment in the service of the young.
The Salesian Family asks us especially for a combined commitment to provide every young person with an adequate and particular vocational plan (cf. GC25, 41 and 48). For this reason there needs to be growth in the Family through:
* the effective functioning of the consulting group of the Salesian Family,
* the presence in it of young people.
* Initiatives and activities that lead the Salesian Family to work ever more in the manner of a spiritual apostolic movement.

Some practical proposals
* In the scheme for the formation of the young, prepare a gradual and systematic programme for education to love, that will help adolescents and young adults:
* to grasp the human and Christian value of sexuality,
* to develop a mature and positive open relationship between boys and girls,
* in the light of the dignity of the human person, to face up to the values of life and the criteria of the Gospel, and the various questions arising at the present day about human life and sexuality,
* to be open to God’s plan as a practical way of living their own vocation to love.Special importance will have to be given to this aspect in formation programmes in the groups and associations of the Salesian Youth Movement and in the personal guidance of the young.
* Promote among the young adults where we are involved (leaders, volunteers, young collaborators, etc.) practical formation schemes for the discernment and follow-up of the vocation to Christian marriage. This will require the effort to obtain the collaboration of Christian couples already belonging to the lay groups of the Salesian Family.
* Encourage in our works the setting up of groups, movements and associations of couples and of families that can help in the living and deepening of their own vocation to marriage and in actively taking on their educative responsibilities.
In the Salesian Family there already exist groups of “Don Bosco Families”, “Hogares Don Bosco”, promoted and animated by the Salesian Cooperators, but there are also several other family associations, such as the “Christian Family Movement”, “Matrimonial Encounters”, etc.
* Support the parents of our youngsters in their educative responsibilities through the setting up of parents’ associations, courses for parents, etc. with a concrete and systematic plan for formation and sharing in educational matters.
* Strengthen in all our works and activities the educative and pastoral community, giving particular attention to personal relationships and a family atmosphere, to wide participation and to the sharing of Salesian values and the objectives of the educative and pastoral plan. In this way the Salesian work will become a place where the youngsters feel at home and will be at the same time a support for the families involved.
* Involve the families in the process of education and evangelisation that we propose and organise among the youngsters, through initiatives such as sharing sessions between parents and children, family catechesis, the involvement of parents in the organisation of groups of the SYM, joint meetings and celebrations, and Christian family groups as a point of reference for the journey of faith proposed to the young, etc.
* Encourage, prepare and accompany our lay people in promoting and defending in society the rights of the family in response of harmful laws and situations.
* Deepen the sense of the Salesian Family among the various groups present in the same locality, through the knowledge and sharing of the “Identity Card” and “Mission Card”, and the functioning of the “Consulting Group of the Salesian Family” at various levels.