B) UNION, COMMUNION, AND DIVERSITY IN THE FAMILY ("in the strict sense") (one body with different complementary parts)

1. Common elements

If we wish to trace out the elements which the various groups of the Salesian family have in common, we must bear in mind that basically they can be reduced to the fact that all are called to the same salvific mission as Don Bosco, a mission to be achieved in accordance with his spirit.

It can be said that the mission inspired by Don Bosco is one, but that it is carried out through a wide diversity of pastoral and apostolic forms. Let us first of all take a brief look at the common elements.

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a) The consecration through baptism (and confirmation) is the basic element which all members of the Salesian family have in common. In virtue of this consecration they are called by God to Christian holiness. "All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or stature, are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity."¹⁴

In this sense all Christians are called to share the spirit of the evangelical counsels,¹⁵ translating and incarnating it in their own state of life. For the Salesians and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians this is evident in their profession of the religious vows, but this spirit animates the life of the co-operators too. In their regulations, Don Bosco indicates a certain similarity and mutual attraction between the life of the Salesian religious and that of the co-operators: "No particular external apostolate is prescribed for the Salesian co-operators, but so that their lives may bear some resemblance to that of those mho live in religious community they are recommended to observe modesty in dress, frugality at table, simplicity in furnishing the home, control of the tongue, and exactness in the performance of the duties of their state." In other words, "on becoming Salesian co-operators, they can continue to live in the midst of their normal occupations, in their own family, and yet live as if they were in fact members of the Congregation."¹⁶

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b) Common vocation and mission. All the members of the Salesian family receive from the Holy Spirit a special grace of enlightenment and decision in view of the concrete needs of poor and abandoned youth. These two movements of ‘vocation’ and ‘mission’ are correlative and sustain the particular decision of the person who replies positively to this grace. This reply, it will be noted, is expressed in a different manner according to the state of life of the individual (religious man or woman, member of a secular institute, or baptized Christian).

This common vocation (in the groups referred to) is directed towards the same object. It is sufficient to quote a few words from the Regulations of the Co-operators: "The Salesian co-operators work in the same harvest as the Congregation of St. Francis of Sales with whom they intend to be associated."¹⁷

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c) The common ‘Salesian spirit.’ This is the special spirit and typical style with which the Salesians, in God’s Church, bring Christ’s saving love to the youth of today: This was the will of our holy Founder when he wrote "Now it is necessary that we should have friends and benefactors in the world who live completely the spirit of the Salesians whilst remaining in their own families. This is precisely what the Salesian co-operators do."¹⁸

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d) According to a form of apostolic fraternity which takes its rise in their common zeal for the salvation of youth, and expresses itself in different ways. The action of all the members of the Salesian family (understood as the integral development and education in the faith of poor and abandoned boys) is both communitarian and fraternal, and is based on the principle of co-responsibility.

However, differences of time, place, and person will determine the various ways in which this complex apostolic action is expressed. This variety is essential when one considers the diversity within the movement itself of the groups which make it up, and their mutual relationships, and also the inclusion of Salesian action within the pastoral activity of parish, diocese and region.

In such a wide variety, of expressions the ‘family style,’ characteristic of Don Bosco, is an element of unity amongst the members of the Salesian family, and a trait which typifies their apostolate.

The type of consecration and the way of life proper to each individual member of the Salesian family give rise to the different ways in which the Salesian mission is realized and the ‘Salesian spirit’ lived.

A plurality of graces, apostolates and works¹⁹ in view of a common mission is an aspect of the catholicity of the Church. The same is true within the Salesian family. At the source we always discover a different, particularized vocation.

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a) The Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. Since they have received from God the gift of a religious vocation, a greater commitment in fulfilling the Salesian mission is expected of them in accordance with their type of consecration. Their chastity, embraced for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, is a clear sign of an individual love for Christ and becomes "a stimulus towards charity, as well as a unique source of spiritual fertility"²⁰ in the world of youth today. God’s call to Poverty, reminding man that ultimately, progress consists in our "participating as sons in the life of our living God"²¹ makes them grateful and sensitive to the requirements of poor young people. Finally, with the profession of obedience "following the example of Christ who came to carry out his Father’s will, and in union with him... they are bound more closely to the service of the Church and their brethren"²² and this is achieved in a communal life.

Within the Salesian Congregation and in relation to the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians the one religious vocation receives a further diversification from the fact that it is lived on the basis of the sacramental consecration of baptism, confirmation and priesthood, or baptism and confirmation only.

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b) This is also true for other female religious institutes whilst the secular institutes, for instance the "Volunteers of Don Bosco," carry to maturity, their baptismal and confirmation consecration by the profession of the evangelical counsels, united by the Salesian spirit in the particular work of charity to which they are dedicated. They achieve this without a life in common, but like the leaven which animates the Body of Christ and causes it to grow, they are immersed in the world’s structures: "In fulfilling this secular consecration, the ‘Volunteers’ take their inspiration from the spiritual message of Don Bosco, whose ideals they share, through the Servant of God, Don Philip Rinaldi."²³

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c) Salesian co-operators. The Christian commitment resulting from baptismal and confirmation consecration receives a fresh orientation from its connection with the Association of Salesian Co-operators. Hence the co-operators are immersed in temporal activities²⁴ with special emphasis on the integral education of poor and abandoned youth — without however, the specific responsibility entailed by religious and secular consecration.

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d) Other, possible groups which may come together under Don Bosco’s inspiration, and whose form is recognized by the Congregation, can be efficaciously present in this family, with their values and precious ministry.

a) The Holy Spirit is the bond of unity of those ‘called together.’ The foundation of our Salesianity is the call of the Holy Spirit to realize in an organic though complex way, the salvation of poor and abandoned youth according to the spirit of Don Bosco. In this sense, all the members of the Salesian family, feel that their reciprocal bonds are authentic. Don Bosco expressed this in the Regulations for Co-operators "The members of the Salesian Congregation will consider all the co-operators as brothers in Jesus Christ.²⁵

The Salesian co-operators are aware of this common vocation and express it in the "message to the members of the Special General Chapter:" "We believe... that the time is ripe for the establishment at every level between Salesian religious and Salesian co-operators a mutual relationship of true fraternity. From now on, this will constitute a new style of Salesian life, both within and outside the educative communities duly open to the co-operators."

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b) Institutional unity. The various elements which make up the Salesian family all require some external institutionalized expression. We know with what insistence Don Bosco wished to unite publicly (even if, with great flexibility) the efforts of his various collaborators. This is not the place to determine the concrete forms this visible unity and organization will assume. It is sufficient to affirm the principle — which is beyond discussion.

The autonomy of each group of the family is guaranteed, so that each may fully express its own riches. But the external and functional link between the groups — expression of a common Salesian vocation — is likewise reaffirmed.

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c) The particular role of the Salesian society. Stemming from the Holy Spirit who inspired Don Bosco to fulfill a determined mission with a certain spirit, we take a look at the part played by Salesians in the Salesian family. In the first place, their function is one of ‘stability:’ they live the Salesian mission and spirit through religious consecration according to the fullness of Don Bosco. Their profession of the evangelical counsels provides them with those helps necessary for stability and coherent creativity (as demanded by their Salesian mission and spirit) in the Church on the one hand, and amongst the groups that make up the family on the other.

They also have the function of being ‘animators.’ The Salesians, since they achieve the fullness of their consecration (by baptism, confirmation, and for some by holy orders) are bearers and animators, in the Church and in the Salesian family itself, of our mission seen in its integrity: — human development to the fullness of Christian life.

Finally they exercise a ‘unifying’ function both within the various groups in virtue of the animation referred to above, and externally because, in a spirit of service they bind together the individual groups and the groups among themselves.

 

C) INTERCOMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

The reflections we have made ought to lead each group to communicate its riches, so that they may become the riches of all.

Dynamic fidelity, to the Spirit and its gifts demands this, so that the original and inventive form of each group might achieve the ‘common cause’ of the Salesian family. By means of this sharing, we shall all be enlightened on the relevance for today and the authenticity of the gift made to Don Bosco and of the gifts which the 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 experience of the gospel — to our mutual enrichment.

Dynamic fidelity to Don Bosco through sharing and collaborating will extend the influence of his pastoral intuition and his paternity. This will shine all the more brightly because every increase in fraternity, unity, and commitment on the part of those who consider themselves his "sons" adds to his stature. This paternity will assume ecclesial dimensions. Don Bosco is in fact the source of male and female religious, committed lay-folk, and consecrated members of secular institutes, resulting directly from his work or the sanctity of his sons.

Through co-responsibility and dialog the unstifled natural qualities of individuals and the variety of apostolic endeavors will help to avoid uniformity on the one hand, and will achieve and strengthen unity on the other.

Those who exercise the service of authority have the duty of stimulating such a contribution, which builds up the Body of Christ.²⁶

a) Content. Possible objects for mutual collaboration and communication between the various groups could be:

1. the present situation in the preaching of the gospel message to the young and the working classes according to our mission;²⁷

2. relations with other organizations in view of a joint pastoral action within the local church;

3. the means that will be useful for our common formation and information in view of the mission assigned to us.

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b) Method. Communication and collaboration are not to be equated with dependence of the different groups on the Salesian Congregation. We reaffirm the internal and administrative autonomy of the various groups in their different forms.

Sharing and collaboration must take place in the Salesian apostolate within the local church. The pastoral situation in the local church and the specific nature of the Salesian apostolate will determine the forms which, by mutual agreement, this interchange will take.

The capacity to manifest unity in mission and Salesian spirit expressed in a plurality of forms, and the creativity, of each group for the benefit of the others, will make us more acceptable in the Church, the communion of salvation, more effective in our apostolic work, and richer in personal fulfillment.

"Hence the group apostolate of Christian believers happily corresponds to a human and Christian need, and at the same time signifies the communion and unity of the Church in Christ, who said: ‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’"²⁸

Notes

28. Mt 18, 20; AA 18.