The Salesian Family of Don Bosco is therefore a charismatic reality; in other words, it is a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church, destined to grow and extend itself among the People of God; it has a determined and constant scope that transcends the changing circumstances of time and place.²⁷

The secret of its unified energy and life is the charism of the Founder, which is a manifestation both supernatural (not of flesh and blood) and created (hence human) — a manifestation of the same uncreated Gift, the Holy Spirit, in the Church.

The expression charism of the Founder has taken on the significant meaning of an experience of the Holy Spirit that is singular, rich and transmissible.²⁸ The Vatican II documents had not yet used the expression charism of the Founder: they referred to the spirit of the Founder in the general sense of his spiritual, apostolic and distinctive ethos; or even to his primordial inspiration, particular vocation, distinctive character or particular purpose.²⁹ Hence these terms are used with a certain amount of elasticity to signify the Founder’s common heritage.

It may help to understand the uniqueness of the charism of our Founder if we set it up beside the founding charisms of other spiritual Families in the Church such as the Augustinians, Benedictines, Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits, and so on.

The spiritual Family of Don Bosco seeks its inspiration in the positive humanism of St. Francis of Sales, though it has its own special methods, its own distinctive character. In a sense Don Bosco wears the garb of our true mentor and source of a unique charismatic experience; he is the necessary point of reference for all those called by the Spirit to share his destiny and mission at this point in history, each according to the particular circumstances of his state in life.

There is a living force that binds the members of a charismatic family together. It is something held in common and it creates a kind of consanguinity, a spiritual kinship, between them; it becomes the very soul of their life-style, their special way of viewing their activities, the source of their mutual communion.

Don Bosco was eminently practical and a patient organizer and constantly worked out practical ways to ensure that his experience of the Holy Spirit (his charism, his spirit of the Founder) should be passed on and perpetuated in a systematic communion with stable structure and harmonious operation. For this reason he had to research, intuit, revise, experiment and adapt in accordance with the suggestions and possibilities of the times. Today we would betray his charism if we limited ourselves to the juridical and ecclesiastical methods for an association: for (as has been noted) these are subject to change, being dependent on social needs and ecclesiastical dispositions. Still we must admit that his practical concern for internal coherence in communion and activity was an integrating influence on his foundation plan. Indeed this concern is constantly in evidence in the lengthy founding process by which he set about translating his experience of the Spirit into reality. However, let us now reflect on the intimate nature of the charism of the Founder.

• The source and driving force of this charism is charity, that "first and most necessary gift"³⁰ of life and holiness in the Church.

Charity is in the very heart of a Founder and directs everything — his ideals, his anxieties, his plans, his concerns, his quest of ways and means; it gives them their special form and guides them to their goal. It is the projection of his charity that draws people to him, co-ordinates and harmonizes the different functions, the many gifts, the various states and ministries; it sublimates differences into a well organized and fruitful unity.

However, in each Founder charity manifests a uniqueness with specific characteristics. In other words, the vital force of the charism of a Founder is, after all, a type of charity that flows from his heart into a vast and congruent field of action.

Every Founder living out and developing his charity to the full emphasizes certain aspects and thus gives rise to different spiritual styles and characteristics. Hence it is that Founders manifest distinctive ways of practicing charity that indeed proclaim the amazing depths of this virtue: "the Church is beautified with the manifold gifts of her children, like a bride adorned for her husband (v. Rev. XXI 2), and manifests in herself the multiform wisdom of God (v. Eph. III 10)".³¹

At this point we should take special note of the unifying force that carries within itself the type of charity lived out by the Founder. It is vitally real, it has a fascinating power of attraction, and it is capable of gathering people together in ever-growing numbers and uniting them into a mystical kinship. It cannot be identified with the spiritual characteristics of a ministry (such as priesthood or diaconate, etc.); nor with a particular state of life (such as celibacy, marriage, widowhood). It is a divine force that permeates the vital tissue of life and makes possible the gathering and unifying of different characters, different functions and different situations.

In the Church, the Holy Spirit (who is uncreated Charity) unites, vivifies and inspires all the various structures and functions of the Body of Christ: and by analogy (though to an infinitely lesser degree) the charism or distinctive type of charity of the Founder (which is a created gift of the same Holy Spirit) unites, develops and orients the different persons and values that are assembled together to make up a spiritual Family.

Here we see different temperaments and tastes, diverse talents and personal gifts, fused into a single communion; and even different spiritualities that go with the various ministries, states of life or inspirations in the Church — all are subordinated to the essential membership of the same Family.

Indeed charism and spirituality are not the same thing. In practice, various spiritualities of different ministries or states of life can live harmoniously within the same charism. Thus in a spiritual Family there can be gathered together in complete compatibility and in various quantities the spirituality of the priest, the lay person, the religious the married, the single, the oblate, the victim, and so on.³²

It is surely a fine and enriching experience to be a member of a spiritual Family where the variegated differences help towards a clearer self-identification and a greater harmony — not by blurring or smoothing out the differences but by giving a fillip to the individual identity of each.

The kind of charity that gave life to Don Bosco’s charism is a pastoral charity distinguished by its special quality we call Salesian. This means that we must find the unifying force of our Family in that kind of priestly love characterized in Don Bosco by an overwhelming passion to help the young and by his special way of perceiving, living and communicating the values of the Gospel and translating them into his plan of operation. He himself summed up this way of charity as a kind of motto on a coat of arms: Da mihi animas, caetera tolle.

At this point we must clear up a misunderstanding that could cause spiritual deviations.

In every truly apostolic life pastoral charity permeates the very being of the person: before becoming action it is a way of life; it is a participation in the very love of God, a uniting with him, a self donation and self-annihilation so as to belong utterly to him and be totally available for working for his Kingdom. Pastoral charity must not be superficially identified with altruism. First and foremost it is an intrinsic change of life through which a person lives in intimate union with the God-Savior and totally at his beck and call for action.

It would be well to ponder this concept, for it gets to the very root of a genuinely apostolic spirit. Reflection makes it obvious that the famous dictum agere sequitur esse (action follows existence) should never be taken to mean a division, or a belittling of action in favor of existence. Sertillange writes with great acuity, "Action is only a form of existence. When I act I am the agent. In other words, I take on a form of activity which is by this very fact a form of being. The conditions of my being therefore are also the conditions of my action".³³

The activity of pastoral charity is not separate or inferior to its being: rather it accompanies it, reveals it, sheds luster on it, fulfills it and expresses its genuine verity. It does not come after but resides within as an element of its dynamic identity. It is radically interior insofar as it is a participation of the love of God.

Thus it is that in the depths of an apostolic experience of the Holy Spirit (St. Francis de Sales "ecstasy in action") we find after all a form of the interior life.

This is indeed an illuminating reflection for us. It makes it ever more clear why pastoral charity is the very heart of the charism and spirit of Don Bosco.³⁴ Thence flows that supernatural and interior energy that unites us, gives us our distinctive character, nourishes and enthuses us, brings us together in communion, invites us to self-donation and holiness, and gives us that spiritual and instinctive urge for work, inventiveness and sacrifice.

• From this center or primary spring there flow the specifically Salesian traits of the pastoral charity of Don Bosco as the elements of his charism. We already know these various elements well, but it is worthwhile recalling them briefly: they help to better grasp the nature of the unifying force that molds us into a spiritual Family.³⁵

The traits of the Salesian communion shared by the sons and daughters of Don Bosco are as follows:

• first of all, as a living spring, the special covenant with God according to the kind of pastoral charity described above; this means firstly an intimate union with God the kind Father concerned to implement a merciful and pedagogical design for salvation, and secondly a love for our neighbor poor and needy, with a predilection for the young.
• then the Salesian spirit: it dominates our thinking, our conduct, our attitudes, our tastes, preferences, priorities, our very way of reading the Gospel.
• our mission for the young: it is our specific participation in the manifold works of the Church for the salvation of the world.
• the Preventive System: this is our practical and distinctive way of pastoral action that takes all the above three characteristics (charity, the Salesian spirit and our mission of salvation) and translates them in concrete form among the young.
• a practical merger-plan: this means a lifestyle and action that can accept the different community structures of the various groups and transform them into a certain communion of forces of all the Salesian Family.

These elements of the charism of Don Bosco equip the Salesian Family for a specialized activity, making it ready and able to share work together in the " everyday apostolate of the Oratories".

With the driving force of his charism Don Bosco unifies into a single concordant and apostolic Family priests, layfolk, celibates, married, widowed and religious, with all their various ways of witnessing to the Beatitudes. No one loses his specific spirituality, whether priestly, lay or religious. The charism of Don Bosco is a superior, overall and existential force: it accepts individual spiritualities with their special situations and functions, classifies them and impresses its special character on them without adding to or subtracting from anything in their natures; indeed it strengthens and enhances their own special character.

Just as in the Church everybody possesses all, each in his own way, so in our Salesian Family everybody possesses all of the charism of the Founder, each participating and expressing it in his own way according to his vocation and the measure of the Spirit’s gift. The wealth of a spiritual Family that flows from the unifying force of the Founder’s charism is immense: it extends to such proportions that it is not possible for each member to live all its elements to the full. All can implement them up to a point, but each concentrates on certain specific elements for his own sanctification and the service of others. When all the members join forces the Family is able to live to the full every one of its values.

Thus it is that in our Salesian Family we are able to share a veritable wealth of values, hearten one another, and benefit from the example of others: and each becomes more staunch and enthusiastic in his vocation. We see the consecrated groups emphasizing the energy and drive of the radical Gospel message. The non-consecrated group proclaim the centrality of the human person, the importance of temporal values and the close and indispensable link between the consecrated life and the task transforming the world.³⁶ The priestly members live pastoral charity in a special way by the exercise of their sacerdotal ministry;³⁷ other members, in their many life-styles and lay commitments at all levels, are able to perform many specialized services in our vast and complex mission to the young. Furthermore there is a wide range of spiritual aspects in the different groups: these should be present in every Salesian heart, but they are more characteristic and more in evidence in certain individual groups. The Salesian Family as a whole is able to put these special facets at the disposition of all. The following list is very incomplete but serves to exemplify this.

The Salesians: kindness and happiness, educational initiative, untiring animation, research into the common Salesian heritage, missionary courage.

The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians: feminine Salesian perspective and delicacy, loyalty and sacrifice after the example of Mary, service of motherly and sisterly intuition, profound prayerfulness.

The Co-operators: realistic view of life (ability to use daily tasks and professions as a means of apostolic commitment, active contribution to all people and society.

The Don Bosco Volunteers: profound significance of secularity, importance of creature values, quiet leavening of the masses, individual personal witness.

The Past Pupils: binding force of Salesian education, cultural area a central element for us, importance of an updated and adequate pedagogy to suit the changing times, pressing need of special care for the Christian Family.

Other Institutes of Salesian Sisters (such as Fr. Variara’s Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and Bishop Cognata’s Oblates of the Sacred Heart): special spirituality of suffering and oblation as already instanced in Father Andrew Beltrami. These Sisters remind all the other members of the Salesian Family that self-oblation and patient suffering are indispensable for all in life’s vicissitudes, misunderstandings, illnesses, forced inactivity and old age.

Other groups: all have their own specific characterizations.

The unifying force of Don Bosco’s charism has indeed given rise to a spiritual Family that is unique, variegated and possessing many branches; it constitutes a kind of atmosphere of spiritual serenity from which no one is excluded; it is open to all races, nationalities and pluralistic cultures; no continent is excluded. Each one with his own temperament, his own talents, his own Christian vocation, can cry out, " In this spiritual Family I am at home".

Every quality, every ecclesial spirituality and every ministry is respected and promoted. The spirit of the Founder does not change or suppress the differences: rather does it accept them and further them so that they can be lived with more enthusiasm and in accordance with their particular way of holiness and activity in the harmonious union of the same kind of charity.

Praised be the Lord and our Mother Mary for raising up the charism of Don Bosco as a great wonderful gift for the Church. All together we, various groups of the Salesian Family, are the heirs and the bearers of this gift.

With Vatican II came a new awakening in Church and an in-depth rethinking of its mystery. It renewed its mission in conformity with the times; it completely refurbished its doctrine of charisms and invited the spiritual families to reactivate their gifts of the Spirit by journeying to their origins in quest of the crystalline waters of their true vocation, renewing it in answer to the needs of times.

The General Chapters and Assemblies of various groups of our Salesian Family have spent some years of serious study and painstaking work to implement this exacting task. To us Salesians first of all by virtue of our vocation and traditional responsibility³⁸ fell the task of researching Don Bosco and the common experience of first century of our existence.

I have already noted how our Special General Chapter and 21^st General Chapter gave careful attention to our vocation with reference to the Salesian Family. The SGC set out in Document I,³⁹ Chapter 6,⁴⁰ the directives and basic doctrine for the direction renewal should take. GC21 appointed a Councilor for the Salesian Family: the modified article in the Constitutions reads, "The Councilor for the Salesian Family has the task of sensitizing and animating the Congregation for the role entrusted to it in the Salesian Family in accordance with article 5".⁴¹

By the appointment of this special Councilor the Congregation has renewed and boosted Don Bosco’s desire that the Salesian spirit should make the greatest possible impact on the world. He himself had used practical means such as the media for this purpose, and in a special way he made use of dedicated people who sympathized with his mission for the young and the masses — and these were the members of his Salesian Family.

It would be greatly helpful, dear confreres, to study again, privately and in community, this Chapter of the SGC: it is still the basic guiding text for the regenerating of our Salesian Family.

A careful perusal of the capitular document will highlight two complementary movements that renewal must pay heed to: a progressive clarification of the identity of each individual group, and a growing process of integration and communion with some kind of supporting basic uniting principles.

The first of these movements calls for each group to spell out more accurately its own distinctive characteristics as members of a Family that does not seek uniformity but a harmonious co-ordination with one single spirit. This will make for a clearer awareness of individual autonomy⁴² and the need for a common frame of reference.⁴³

The second movement calls urgently for greater communication and collaboration.⁴⁴ It also demands the recognition, defense and renewal of a common basic structure that is regulated by a statute of practical principles - even if reduced to an indispensable minimum. This statute would adequately preserve and promote unity in our charismatic communion.

Nowadays relationships multiply daily between one person and another; the need for communication and united effort becomes more necessary; and it would seem more urgent than ever to unite all the sons and daughters of Don Bosco together and regenerate our Salesian Family. In this way " the riches of each group will become the riches of all", and our common mission to youth will increase in strength and effectiveness. "We shall be enlightened on the relevance for today and the authenticity of the gift of the Spirit made to Don Bosco and of the gifts that the same Spirit in like manner bestows on us. We shall have a better appreciation of the force and apostolic fruitfulness of our mission and of the method to be adopted. Through sharing and collaboration we shall live the Gospel to our mutual enrichment. Dynamic fidelity to Don Bosco through this sharing and collaboration will extend the influence of his pastoral insight and fatherliness. This will shine all the more brightly, because every increase in brotherliness, unity and commitment on the part of those who consider themselves his children adds to his stature".⁴⁵

From the preparations for the SGC up to today there have been nearly twenty years of work put into initiating and developing what we could call the renewal plan for the Salesian Family. Anyone examining this period would be struck by the obvious presence of the Holy Spirit. The "project" had its beginnings when the Salesians set about the renewal and updating program required by Vatican II. The first step was to explore the will of the Father. The efforts of Don Bosco to unite the forces of good for the benefit of the Church and society became more obvious, more pressing, more relevant than ever. It was also clear that although cultural and evolutionary changes have modified the mode and structure of the union between the Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and Co-operators of Don Bosco’s day, the deep-down values have remained unchanged. Factors today make that union even more necessary and relevant: modern ecclesiology favors communion, the requirements of evangelization call for it, the new problems of youth and the masses need it. From the two sessions of Special Provincial Chapters the pre-capitular commissions received the proposal to renew the Salesian Family. The request came from the grassroots, i.e., individual confreres and communities, and it became one of the projects of the capitulars.

The SGC went into the various facets of this project with great thoroughness. It finally came up with the formula we all know.

Between SGC and GC21 several Institutes spontaneously embraced the Salesian Family. It was clear that far from considering the project as a possible intrusion into their lives or a diminution of their autonomy (by the role played by the SDBs) they considered both project and SDB role as a grace that would help them be more faithful to Don Bosco. These sentiments were more than mere words: the "incorporation" found its way into quite a few Constitutions and Regulations and the many were many requests to join the Family. There we meetings and live-ins at all levels, and bulletins of communication and fellowship. Practically everywhere enthusiasm and definite spiritual fervor abounded. Whatever shadows there were due rather to the novelty of the venture and its lack of structures — but they were weak repercussions and in no way comparable to the positive reactions.

This was the state of affairs when GC21 convoked. Its agenda made no reference to the Salesian Family, but the matter came up automatically: first there was the assessment of how SGC’s directives had been implemented, and secondly there had been specific requests by some fifteen Provincial Chapters. A novelty to be noted was the intervention of various groups whom the SGC had accepted as members of the Family. They sent messages which all had one common denominator: the request that the Congregation take steps to fulfill its animating and pastoral role towards then and carry out its liaison duties; and consequently create the necessary apparatus therefor. In fact they had their representatives in certain commissions and in the Chapter Assembly.

GC21 made some extremely important decisions for the Salesian Family: it instituted a Councilor to animate the Congregation at world level and to link together the various groups; it reaffirmed validity of the project agreed on at the SGC; it called for a vocation apostolate for the Salesian Family; it included the Salesian Family in formation programs; it re-emphasized that preference be given to lay-helpers who had had adequate formation; it committed itself to the training of good animators for all the groups — this was stressed as one of the priority tasks of all Provincials in the closing address of the Chapter.⁴⁶

During these last four years, in meetings and joint visits of the Rector Major with the Provincials throughout the different cultural areas of the world, animation of the Salesian Family was always one of the essential matters discussed.

There is proof in plenty that there is no longer any lack of conviction or acceptance in the Congregation and that great progress has been made in putting theory into practice. Studies have been undertaken, and there have been many initiatives involving animation, collaboration, communion and communication. Important events involving the Salesian Family have increased in number: the Salesian Missions Centenary, the Centenary of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Centenary of the death of St. Mary Mazzarello, and various other anniversaries with the Rector Major present. Furthermore there are ever-increasing requests for his spiritual direction for the various groups. There has been greater collaboration in studying and researching the Salesian vocation and in seeking common areas of commitment such as Project Africa. All this is clear proof that the Salesian Family with its glorious past holds fascinating promises for the future.

My dear confreres, we are all called (especially we Salesians) to work with energy to achieve a genuine and creative reinstatement of the Salesian Family in the Church. It was Don Bosco’s wish that the binding influence, the stabilizing factor, the driving force in the Salesian Family, should be the Salesians themselves, and hence we must dedicate ourselves in all seriousness "to arranging fraternal exchanges and studying together in the context of the joint pastoral plan of the local Church the best ways of carrying out a practical and effective evangelization and catechesis".⁴⁷

This responsibility should be assumed and carried out in the first place at world level and by Provincial Conferences and particularly by Provincials and their Councils. More than anyone else these latter have "the capacity to manifest this unity in mission and Salesian spirit in its plurality of forms and the creativity of each group for the general benefit of the others". These are indispensable elements that will "make us more acceptable in the communion of salvation (the Church), more effective in our apostolic work, and richer in personal fulfillment.⁴⁸

This renewal will grow and progress only if we are faithful to the origins of our vocation; these we must cherish deeply, viewing them historically and objectively and with the insight of Don Bosco’s sons.

These two concepts, forging ahead and together aptly describe the way we should tackle the task of re-establishing the Salesian Family. This is a challenge to us to boost our communion and mission, and we must heed it. Forging ahead refers to our mission; together indicates our communion. So let us forge ahead together in our communion to achieve a more effective mission.

Our mission among poor youth and the masses must expand in undertakings, in new foundations, in apostolic creativeness.

Our communion as a Family must develop in authenticity and organization. Certainly every group has its own identity and corresponding autonomy; but for us today, the accent is on communion. We have our historical origins to salvage, that union Don Bosco wanted, and we must revive it, increase it, renew it.

My contacts with the various groups in the different continents prompt me to suggest that we forge ahead together with the four practical objectives that follow:

• OBJECTIVE I: Stepping up our knowledge of Don Bosco and consequently our pastoral charity.

This is a valid and holy objective. Together with the whole Salesian Family we must promote a better understanding of our common charism; and every person in every group must intensify the kind of charity practiced so heroically by Don Bosco and that characterizes and defines exactly what we mean by his "Oratorian heart".

We must bear in mind that charity is never out of date or subject to individual will or judgment: it is a living and ecclesial reality.

It is living because it is a real gift of the Holy Spirit for the present and the future. Like the Holy Spirit its author, it is essentially creative; it loves and serves the persons of today: the three Persons of the Trinity whose loving embrace enfolds the end of the century in which we live, and today’s young persons who will greet the third millennium.

It is ecclesial because it shares and expresses the life and holiness of the Church; and this close knit Body of Christ is under the vital influence of the Holy Spirit who lives within it to help it grow as a living and united organism.

Thus this charity is not only real but also guided by the Church through her bishops and in the light of the ecclesiality of Don Bosco (who belongs to the whole Church and not just to Salesians).

It is a charity vitally linked with two reference points in the Church: the bishops and the Founder.

Boosting our pastoral charity is not a of mere words and recalling the past: it means really loving; making an in-depth study of charity under the guidance of the Pope, the bishops and the successors of Don Bosco; responding creatively to the demands of persons and time just as our Founder did in the 19^th century. This is only possible if we take our holiness seriously, giving priority (as I wrote in my last letter to you)⁴⁹ to our daily and sincere encounter with Christ and our zealous commitment to holiness.

Dear confreres, to reinvigorate our charism means nothing other than REPLANNING OUR SALESIAN HOLINESS TOGETHER. As Don Bosco once said, "Salesians must be holy or they are not Salesians".⁵⁰

This then is the first objective that will prosper the Salesian Family: forging ahead together to develop that kind of pastoral charity that overwhelms us with Don Bosco’s passionate call, Da mihi caetera tolle.

• OBJECTIVE II: Evangelization of the young. Salesian charity implies a special apostolic sensitivity to the needs of the young. This work should be chosen today, as it was yesteryear in Valdocco, because of a deep understanding of the crying needs of the moment. If our "Oratorian charity" is to be a practical response to the challenge of the very real needs of the young, it follows that a Family wishing to center its evangelizing apostolate among the young will never limit its educative initiative. Our action should resemble the soil in Spring from which fresh flowers continually burgeon forth.

Here indeed is an enormous task for all the Family.

We must present the Gospel so that the young see it as a genuine and indispensable message for them.

We must study together how to reinstate the faith at the center of the culture we are trying to sort out with the young so that they may rediscover the true meaning of human life.

We must help each other to find out ways of communicating by speaking a language they understand.

We must courageously and perseveringly join forces and renew our ways and means of being mediators for the young, for we know we have profound problems in this area on account of the cultural transition that has been going on for some years now.

This is a complex objective of vast proportions, and it has already obliged us to make a fresh start with our Preventive System by formulating with patience and understanding a revised educative and pastoral project; and we have also for the same reason proposed an updated scheme for youth spirituality. Let us get together in our Family’s various groups and share our ideas. It is thus that we shall make greater progress together as specialists in the evangelization of the young.

It should be noted that since the Salesian Family belongs to the Church its youth apostolate should be conceived and programmed within the structure of the local Church (national, regional, diocesan). To care for a section of the youthful flock using one’s own style of action is not being a splinter-group with no interest in the coordination or apostolic aims promoted by the bishops. Unfortunately, however, there are difficulties of this kind here and there, even among us, that smack of certain attitudes that belong to the past and should be overcome with courage.

• OBJECTIVE III: Giving priority to the specific formation of each group, and involving the laity.

It is fundamental for all the Family that each group foster its own identity and see to its specific formation and our common relationship. This is absolutely necessary for the well-being and growth of communion. Each group must have clear ideas about its own identity so that it can make its practical contribution to the general communion of the Family.

We have already seen clearly that the unity Don Bosco’s charism does not suppress these differences but rather welcomes them, leavens and enhances their apostolic output.

In addition to fostering the identity of each group there is another pressing aim that we all need to join forces to implement: we must publicize and share our Salesian values with as many layfolk as possible. Here I refer to the laity in sense defined by Vatican II.

In the Salesian Family there is an enormous area for layfolk: among the Co-operators, Past Pupils and (even further afield) among the co-workers in our various undertakings and among the many well-wishers who are happy to consider themselves as "Friends of Don Bosco". We would do well not to underrate the importance of these innumerable "Friends of Don Bosco": they are a kind of extension of the Salesian Family in the broad sense and become our friends through common interests, interior impulses, sympathies, movements and joint efforts.

Associations of Co-operators and Past Pupils could be divided into smaller groups with the aim of perfecting and stimulating their Salesian character. In fact there are some of these sub-groups already in existence: the Young Co-operators (very wide-spread), the Don Bosco "Focolari" (for married groups in Spain), small groups of Past Pupils with special commitment to cultural or scholastic initiatives, and various Marian and similar associations. Furthermore, the well-wishers and "Friends of Don Bosco " open up possibilities for doing good in many urgent ways (such as, for instance, the mass media).

n all this area special attention should be paid to the formation of these layfolk in the light of Vatican II’s abundant teachings and the post-conciliar documents of the Magisterium; and of course we must add our own special Salesian touch from Don Bosco’s charism, remembering that he would have us guide these good people into an apostolate of a practical nature. He was often heard to stress that works of charity should be directed into practical channels.

Involving the laity in this way widens the horizons of every group in our Family and is a spur to hasten and improve such coordination and collaboration. We are a Family of apostles and not enclosed exclusively within the exigencies of a here-and-now enterprise or group.

• OBJECTIVE IV: A united pastoral vocation.

Lastly let us remember that the Salesian vocation is characterized by that kind of charity that is the source of all the spiritual heritage of Don Bosco. It is basic and common to all the members of the Family, but is implemented in different ways by each group, category and person. This variegated communion offers considerable advantage in collaboration, especially in the vocation apostolate.

When we remember that Don Bosco was quite exceptional in seeking out innumerable vocations for the Church, it is a natural conclusion that his Family should also distinguish itself in the fostering of vocations among the young as a part of the Salesian Youth Apostolate. Let us never forget that duty of guiding and educating the young in the discernment of their individual vocations "is born of the young person’s right to be guided: this right comes before the particular vocation situation in the Church. This guidance is basic to a vocation, which is a divine call asking for a positive response that is linked to psychological and religious forces; these forces call for the appropriate educative and pastoral guidance".⁵¹

Then of course it is urgent to do something to better the worrying vocation situation of each group of the Salesian Family, and we can effect far more if we work together. Helpful activities are the organization of groups for prayer, study, information, planning, exchanges of experiences; also meetings in guidance centers, youth movements and so on.

The smaller sub-groups of Young Co-operators and Past Pupils should receive special care. It is presumed that there will always be good animation in both of these areas for their proper growth and development; and it is common experience that they are fruitful sources of vocations for the other groups in the Salesian Family. In the last seven years, for instance, 70 Young Co-operators have become SDB novices and 52 FMA novices; 18 have entered diocesan seminaries and 20 have applied to other Congregations.

I invite all to ponder on the vocation-findings of the 9^th Salesian Family Spirituality Week held last January. They are reprinted in these Acts on page 65.

Obviously the Salesian Family has its problems, and not all of them minor and easily solved. Don Bosco himself was confronted with many and tackled them with patience, hope and infinite perseverance, buoyed up always by his great love of the Christ-Savior of the young and always ready to meet the challenge of the new and ever-increasing needs of youth.

Our Superior Council has dedicated many meetings to solving problems where possible and seeking out guidelines for dealing with the many facets of a process still evolving and necessarily conditioned by today’s outlook. They are wide-spread difficulties experienced by both men and women in our Family and they have been brought to our attention mainly by the Councilor for the Salesian Family.

Before mentioning some of the genuine problems I should like to point out that many of the difficulties one hears of from time to time are only problems because people have not perfected their knowledge of the true meaning of the Salesian Family; and maybe this could really be our first problem to solve: at all levels of the Congregation we need to check on our mental outlook. Besides the contents of SGC and GC21 we need to read up what the other groups have said regarding the Salesian Family and the way they feel about belonging to it.

At any rate, it could be useful to refer briefly to some of the more significant problems. They are of a practical nature and may help us reflect and find ways and means to open up new prospects.

• The first problem: How can the Congregation better realize and implement its special duties towards the Family? "The members of the Society have the special responsibility in the Salesian Family of preserving units, of spirit and encouraging those friendly contacts which lead to mutual enrichment and to a more fruitful apostolate".⁵² This implies being able to give adequate encouragement to the various groups both as autonomous and specific identities and especially as belonging to the same communion having the same spirituality and the same mission. This is not an easy task and there much to be done: still, some progress has been made. Fortunately an in-depth study of the history of the Salesian Family is already in progress and the genuine thinking of Don Bosco is being researched. This month there was a Symposium at the Generalate on this very matter.

The main groups of the Salesian Family have a century of helpful matter to cull from: reports, enterprises, statements of the Holy See, directives from Superiors and numerous meaningful events. All this heritage is being studied, and this is history that will illumine us and help us to be more accurate and courageous in our animation.

For this reason the recent Ratio has given importance to the study of the Salesian Family in the formation curriculum of our confreres.⁵³

• Another problem: to establish what degree of responsibility and relationship the Congregation has or should have in regard to each group.

In the communion of the Family each group has its own distinctive link with the Congregation. Our animation must be suited to the idiom of each, although there will be a large area of animation that will be common ground for all members of the Family. For a right insistence on communion it is necessary to know and respect the autonomy and juridical status of each group, and also the different needs and requirements expected of the animation of the Congregation, so that we can render a service that is appropriate and in keeping with our practical capabilities. All this makes it necessary that structures be set up at Provincial level for formation, animation, communication, etc., for the Salesian Family.

• A particularly sensitive problem is to decide on the criteria for belonging to the Salesian Family.

Article 5 of the Constitutions includes the Salesians, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, the Cooperators (by virtue of their history and foundation) and the Past Pupils (by virtue of their Salesian education). The Don Bosco Volunteers also belong officially.⁵⁴ These groups have confirmed their membership in official declarations, in General Chapters, in Assemblies, in Statutes, Rules, Constitutions, Regulations, and also by their practical actions.

Other groups of a later vintage are related by foundational ties to the Salesians or Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and consider themselves as belonging to the Salesian Family in practice: they have modified their Constitutions and official documents to express their desire to belong in their own distinctive way to the communion of the charism of Don Bosco.⁵⁵

It was considered timely to come to an agreement on what the criteria of Salesianity should be and to draw up the lines of procedure according to which the Rector Major and his Council, in agreement with the Superiors of other groups, accept them officially into the Salesian Family. The Councilor for the Salesian Family discussed this matter with the Superiors of the principal groups and some of our researchers. They put together a number of observations and criteria that were then studied and approved "ad experimentum" by the Superior Council: these will be taken into account in such a procedure. In this issue of the Acts, page 61, will be found the Guidelines adopted by the Superior Council for acceptance into the Salesian Family.

• Another problem frequently aired: How exactly do the Past Pupils belong to the Salesian Family?

The SGC set the ball rolling by declaring that "they belonged to the Salesian Family by virtue of their Salesian education that could express itself in various apostolic commitments". It would seem that to answer the question regarding the nature of their membership and solve the resulting problems we should examine their apostolic commitments in the context of their culture and especially in the educational field (which is the natural area of the Salesian mission); also we would need to check on the values of the Preventive System, which is one of the elements of the charism of Don Bosco.

Meanwhile in many places the Association of Past Pupils is flourishing and full of energy and deserves our generous help in the way of animation.

Finally we are confronted with the profound cultural and social evolution of our times, the ecclesiological contributions of Vatican II, the renewal of religious life, the revival of the laity’s role in the People of God, the advancement of women in society and the Church, the changed youth situations, the ideological pluralism and political schemes of so many countries, the greater awareness and dynamism of nations, and the problems of certain continents with their multitudes of young persons. When we reflect on these conditions we see them as further challenges to us to be loyal to our Salesian Family identity and promote its membership, activities and apostolic effectiveness.

I have noted the above problems to help all to understand that we have much researching and assessing to carry out in an evolving process that has barely begun.

One thing however is clear: the Salesian Family is becoming ever more important with the passage of time.

In the 40s and 50s of the 19^th century God inspired Don Bosco with the embryo of a vast project. It grew and evolved true to its nature during the life of the Founder. Don Bosco was a diocesan priest in the local Church of Turin when he took the first steps to develop the embryo. He united various forces to help poor and abandoned youth, and began his Oratory apostolate. Thus, gradually and providentially, there developed the more organized, varied and stable structure of a true spiritual Family in the universal Church. In Don Bosco’s mind there was a growing clearer awareness that he was called to be a Founder in the Church. (In 1859 he founded the Salesians, in 1872 the Daughters of Mary Christians, in 1876 the Co-operators). He thus became the initiator of a new charism within the People of God, a new source of distinctive holiness and apostolate.

Already in 1899 the February Salesian Bulletin described the heritage of Don Bosco as a Founder: "We are happy to seize every occasion to point out to our Co-operators that they form with us and the Sisters of Don Bosco one large Family animated by the same spirit in the bonds of a wonderful Christian fellowship".⁵⁶

This Family now, with its distinct basic groups, is progressing and developing "in harmony with the Body of Christ, itself in continual growth".⁵⁷

After Vatican II the Family has enjoyed a much clearer awareness of its charismatic nature.

Now it is up to all sons and daughters of Don Bosco to unite and foster its identity and vitality.

In this all members are co-responsible; and we, dear confreres, have the specific task (in virtue of our vocation and tradition) of rendering the service of animation. It is our very special responsibility.

To prove our love for Don Bosco let us make every effort to have a better knowledge of the Salesian Family; let us sacrifice ourselves and with courage and understanding promote and reinvigorate its communion and its mission. Let us delve into its history and origins and do all we can to increase its fidelity and membership.

May Mary Help of Christians who guided Don Bosco in all things enlighten us too and help us.

Every blessing for a happy Easter.

Sincerely yours in the "Oratorian heart" of Don Bosco,

Fr. Egidio Viganò