CHAPTER 2: SITUATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SDBs AND LAITY

1. DESIRES AND REALIZATIONS

1.1 Positive aspects of the relationship

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New awareness in the SDB community

The Provincial Chapters revealed a notable convergence about the need for a deep relationship at an operative and existential level between SDBs and laity.

There has been a positive outcome almost everywhere. The Provincial Chapters have produced unexpected results. Many lay people were involved at local and provincial level in sharing with the SDBs a reflection on the theme of the GC24.

The Salesian community is ever more aware that it has a precise role and task of animation and formation with respect to the Salesian Family and the lay people with whom it shares the mission.

In various contexts of the Congregation significant experiences are reported. Many communities are slowly rediscovering their task and, after a first period of uncertainty, have found positive results after entrusting areas of responsibility to the laity.

To the extent that this new sensitivity is growing and emphasis is given to the process being followed by the community and by individual Salesians, there is an insistent call for a more decisive change of mentality, so as to reach a welcoming acceptance of the presence of lay people and a new attention to women, recognizing and accepting the values of complementarity and reciprocity.

In some countries in which women are relegated to a subordinate role, it has been found that their involvement is not only an innovation but has also a prophetic element.

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Settings for closer relationships between SDBs and laity

Reflection in common, a shared project and relationship with the laity are positive experiences, especially in the so-called new presences, as a prompt response to the problems raised by youth unease, emargination, etc. It is in such settings as these that are being developed the best forms of lay participation and volunteer work.

Relationships too are closer in parishes, schools, oratories and youth centres open to the neighbourhood. Here too there is increasing space for the laity.

In the missions lay protagonism is a consolidated fact. It would be useful however if more thought could be given to their systematic formation.

Because of its educational significance, a special mention is due to the commitment of parents and the role of the family in many of our foundations; this is sometimes expressed in the form of associations recognized also at provincial and national level.

[21]

Progressive involvement of the laity

The involvement of the laity in the Salesian spirit is a progressive process towards communion. More often than not it begins with a more or less chance contact with Don Bosco and his work. From this develop many attitudes, ranging from an empathy roused by a first contact with Don Bosco, his environment and the Salesian style, to an interest in getting to know more about the charism; from the assumption of the values and form of life of the Salesians to communion in the spirit through the discovery of a vocation.

This is the manner in which the discovery and growth of their vocation happens for many lay people; it is a call to live lay values in a Christian and Salesian vocation: an offering of time, energy and competence for the mission.

[22]

Participation of the laity in the mission

Participation in the Salesian mission also appears as a gradual and progressive variegated reality: from the simple obligatory presence of one who does paid work, offering skill and nothing more, or one who is a member of a Salesian parish, to collaboration for motives of work or free choice, and to the shared responsibility of one who takes on with us the common mission.

The process of involvement leads to communion in spirit, to shared responsibility, and then to sharing of the Salesian mission. Communion and sharing, involvement and shared responsibility, these are the two faces of the same medal.

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Variety among lay people

In sharing the mission to the young and poor, the Salesians enter in fact into a relationship with a great variety of lay collaborators: Catholics who are fully conscious of their identity, Catholics who practise their religion more or less constantly, non-Catholic Christians, those belonging to other religions, adherents of religious groups which may be Christian but with fundamentalist tendencies, and laity who are agnostics or religiously indifferent.

In all parts of the world there are more than a few lay people who share the commitment for the young as members of a structured group of the Salesian Family.

All those who do so, through love of the young and of Don Bosco, are consciously or unconsciously members of a "vast movement of persons who in different ways work for the salvation of the young"¹

[24]

Commitment of the young

Throughout the Congregation there are ever clearer prospects of a broad panorama of a youth commitment which manifests new sensitivities and promising perspectives. This new season of youth involvement in the Salesian mission takes its rise from the discovery of a category of animation lived as a modern reincarnation of Don Bosco's shrewd perception of "the young as missionaries of other youngsters".

At the present day numerous young people are committed with the SDBs in oratories, youth centres, schools, ecclesial communities, parishes and mission centres. They are catechists, group animators, representatives of categories, in charge of various pastoral, cultural, artistic. musical and liturgical initiatives.

Many provinces have invested time and resources in the formation of the young. Classes and courses for youth animators, forms of coordination at local, provincial and national level, youth consulting groups and committees, teams for youth pastoral work, publications of various kinds as means of linkage, annual meetings, youth festivities, are all initiatives that have begun and are continuing in many parts of the Salesian world.

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Significant contribution of women

The new forms of the Salesian mission and the progressive discovery of feminine values, the openness of the community to the locality and to the local Church, and not least the diminution of Salesian personnel in our works, have opened up many educative and pastoral opportunities for women in the Salesian mission. Hence the new climate following Vatican II has led to a greater involvement of women in the activities of the SDBs

The presence of women in our traditional educational environments, especially in schools and colleges, as well as in parishes, oratories and more recent educative and pastoral settings, and with tasks of high responsibility, has enriched the practical realization of the preventive system; it has created a more natural and serene affective atmosphere, with specifically feminine traits at the level of sensitivity, relationships, and manner of thinking and acting.

The assimilation, nevertheless, of the values of feminine complementarity and reciprocity is a slow process.

Significant help in this direction comes to us from the FMA. In several contexts, in fact, different forms of sharing in pastoral work has been going ahead for some time, with full respect for the specific identity of each group.

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The Volunteer Movement

The Volunteer Movement is a widely spread reality among young people and adults, and is of great relevance at the present moment in history. It is felt in the Congregation, in the Church and in society, as a new style of a life of "openness to others". It is a privileged and practical means of meeting lay persons who are formed and motivated. This is a challenge which the laity - Christian or not - raise against rampant injustice and selfishness.

The manner of realization of the volunteer movement is of various kinds:

• within one's own country or province, or outside it abroad;
• short-term or long-term (for a period varying from at least a month to several years);
• in approved projects financed by public bodies, or outside them (sponsored by private organizations: communities, provinces, local entities, non-government organizations, etc.).
  

The volunteer movement frequently constitutes a significant vocational outcome and a valid endorsement of the educative process followed by young people with SDBs, and of the plan to provide other openings for youth in pastoral work.

The young animators, in fact, show themselves sensitive and solid with the world of poverty and youth emargination: the needy in general, street children, youngsters at risk, drug addicts.

Availability for service leads to various kinds of volunteer work and other committed life choices. Youthful creativity and verve in this field is a challenge to us and stimulates us to extend the already consolidated experiences.

The youth volunteer movement sometimes requires that the young people remain in the Salesian community. Experiences in this area are generally positive. After a period of direct contact with the Salesian community and mission, more than a few young people have opted for the Salesian life.

Moreover, in recent years many of our communities have lived experiences of activity in missionary territories with young animators. In the verification of such experiences it has become clear that the first persons to benefit from them have been the young volunteers themselves.

There are places too where the arrangements for conscientious objectors allow military service to be replaced by a gratuitous and well defined period of commitment to educative or social service, especially in favour of the young.

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Lay management and the Provincial Project

The Provinces fulfil their mission through activities and works animated normally by a local Salesian community. In recent years, however, various provinces, after a careful evaluation of the situation have decided to entrust some activities or works to the management of lay people, within the project and responsibility of the province itself. There have also been cases in which certain activities or works of education originally set up and managed by lay people have been absorbed into the provincial plan and responsibility. In some of these the Salesian community is present, while in others it is not.

In some cases the relationship between SDBs and laity is recognized by law: as for instance the 'partenariato' and 'tutela' in Italy.

The term 'partenariato' indicates the kind of participation, present in some of our works, regulated by a contract in which the lay person is normally placed on the same level as the religious as far as the assuming of responsibilities is concerned.

The 'tutela' is a particular kind of 'partenariato'. Responsibility for the organization, management, pedagogical and didactic matters are completely in the hands of the laity. The SDBs remain as guarantors before the local Church of the Catholic and Salesian ethos of the school.

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Motives for making a choice

The reasons which have prompted certain provinces to make particular choices are many:

• the new ecclesiology of communion which recognizes and fosters the dignity, vocation and mission of the "Christifideles laici";
• the availability of prepared lay people to take part in the mission of Don Bosco with direct responsibilities;
• the need to render Don Bosco's charism present in a particular area;
• urgent youth problems of an area;
• requests of local Churches, educative agencies, or other institutions;
• the desire not to close an activity or work which is valid and appreciated, through lack of qualified SDB personnel.

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Formative and organizational requirements

These situations have created new formative requirements to enable lay persons to guarantee the Salesian identity of a work or activity, and to help the Salesians to recognize the involvement of the laity in Don Bosco's spirit and mission.

Such situations clearly require new organizational models; the normal ones, though corresponding to many concrete circumstances, can no longer cover all Salesian activity.

The Salesian community itself must seek adequate criteria to guarantee the charismatic identity of these works managed by lay people, and also draw up new practical guidelines.

1.2 Resistances and difficulties in the relationship

Alongside the many signs of a positive growth in the relationship between SDBs and lay people, the Provincial Chapters do not conceal the fact that difficulties and problems persist.

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Difficulties of the SDBs and of communities

The communities do not always have the necessary flexibility in their lives to accept stimuli and innovations coming from lay people.

In some situations a defensive attitude may prevail, which makes the laity feel held back, so to speak, in their apostolic intentions. In others, the community as a whole fails to establish significant relationships with the laity.

In addition the availability for accompanying and animating them meets difficulties because of the reduced numerical presence of the SDBs, many of whom are absorbed to a considerable extent in organization and administration, and especially because all this can lead to insufficient significance of the SDB community.

In the matter of difficulties in relationships between SDBs and lay people, some provincial chapters pointed to different cultural horizons and levels of life: a different perception of the values of life as lived by the Salesian community and by the laity in their families, social and economic conditions, especially in developing countries, and notably different social levels.

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Difficulties prevalent among the laity

Some difficulties noted by the laity in relationships can be attributed to differences in the manner of interpreting the concept of education, with a resultant lack of knowledge of the consecrated life and of pedagogical and didactic formation.

Sometimes it is economic matters that create between Salesians and lay people difficulties in dialogue, attention and reciprocal understanding, and so compromise the sharing of the mission.

[32]

Difficulties of young people

The relationship between SDBs and young lay people is not always rich and deep.

The young would like the SDBs to be less occupied in organizational matters and to have more time and tranquility for meeting and guiding them.

On the other hand the SDBs sometimes complain that the commitment of the youngsters is lived more as a simple experience, more like a parenthesis, and does not become a premise for more demanding options.

Many difficulties arise none the less from the fact that what the SDBs expect does not coincide with what the young people offer or are able to offer.

Sometimes in fact the prevalent factors are the limitations arising from the youth condition itself: the volubility, inconstancy and fickleness typical of their age.

[33]

Slow integration of women

The integration of the woman brings with it modifications to the institutional culture and pastoral activity, it incorporates new aspects and specifically feminine values and provokes a new understanding of the male identity. This can be a source of difficulty for both the SDB and the woman, both of them called to work in the same project. We must be aware that here we have a problem which touches not only on ideas but on affectivity, relational ability and habits, with evident consequences on the formation of the Salesian, and also on the particular style of the presence of the woman in our environments. We must recognize that there has not yet been sufficient opportune reflection on this reality. The presence of women in our works is sometimes more a consequence of cultural and social situations than of reflexive and commonly agreed options. It may be useful also to point out that the presence of women in our works sometimes becomes prevalent, among both the educative and pastoral agents and those to whom our work is directed. In some cases this preponderance could develop into a problem of 'feminization' of Salesian work.

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Problems of the Volunteer Movement

The experience of the volunteer movement is not without its problems either.

The more serious ones are found in developing countries but, though in different forms, they are present also in experiences lived in one's own country also.

It should be noted in the first place that the volunteer does not always keep up a close relationship with the community from which he came, nor is there sufficient communication between the communities sending and receiving him, either in the preparatory phase or in those of the experience itself and the return.

Particularly important are the problems of the volunteer on his return:

a) a juridical and economic problem: insurance and place of work, health aspect etc. The volunteer frequently finds it difficult to obtain employment, especially in the case - as is desirable - of a work in continuity and harmony with the experience he has gained and with his fundamental life-choices;

b) a problem of a vocational and apostolic kind: insertion into the local, provincial and ecclesial educative and pastoral plan. Sometimes the community is not sufficiently sensitive to the cultural riches which the returning volunteer brings with him and wants to offer to his new environment;

c) psychological and affective problems: acceptance on the part of the community as an expression of appreciation of the experience made and concern for his reinsertion at family, apostolic and working level and in volunteer groups, possibly linked with the Salesian Family. Particular attention needs to be given to affective links and bonds of friendship which the volunteer has developed on the missions; in this too he needs the follow-up and help of the community.

1.3 The relationship between SDBs and laity in particular situations

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Plurireligious and pluricultural contexts

In some parts and contexts of the Salesian world, one may note an impressive fact: the considerable presence of lay people of different cultures and beliefs who take part in our mission. This is especially the case in Asia and Africa, where such people may even form the majority, but it is possible that their number will increase even in traditionally Christian countries.

In many of them, what is particularly striking is the contribution they offer, their strong sense of belonging, and the esteem and veneration they have for the figure of Don Bosco and the Salesian mission.

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Variety of situations

Even among Christians there are members of other denominations and those who call themselves Christians but belong to various sects. Some, unfortunately, prove to be indifferent or even hostile; and finally there are still others who are persons of good will who are respectful of our faith. Cultural and religious pluralism conceals unsuspected riches and can facilitate an exchange of gifts with mutual advantage. But it can also give rise to a facile syncretism, and can become the cause of tensions, hostility and even of violence, as sadly happens in present day society.

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Towards unity and belonging

Despite all this, there is a craving in the human heart for unity in diversity, to reach a convergence and move ahead together. Among our collaborators there are those who feel very strongly aspirations of this kind and ask to be more closely associated with us in the sharing of the mission to youth. Some of them have a vivid desire to feel themselves part of our Family, but find difficulty because of tensions arising from different lines of thought, of living their life and giving to it an ultimate meaning.

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Provocations and responses

These different and problematic situations raise certain questions:

• What kind of relationship should we set up between SDBs and lay people of this kind?
• How can we make of the CEP, the PEPS, and other initiatives, occasions for contact and growth, for mutual enrichment, and a means of greater efficacy for the mission to youth?
• How can we ensure the Salesian identity of our works and activities?
• How can we give them recognition in the Salesian Movement?

These are questions which constitute a real challenge for Salesian communities.

¹ C 5