3. LINES EMERGING

[83]

Involvement of apostolic forces

Though conditioned by the ecclesiology of his time, Don Bosco and the Salesians have propagated the charism, trying to involve all sorts of persons in the education of the young.

Thinking back over recent times:

• The GC19 looked at the laity with prudence, accepting some externs as teachers and choosing them from the best of the Cooperators and Past-pupils. The key posts in the educative structure were reserved to Salesians.
• The SGC rethought the Salesian project and mission in the light of Vatican II, seeking "a wide grouping of apostolic forces linked together in the unity of a family".⁸
• The GC21, drawing inspiration from the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, put before the Salesian community the challenge of evangelization. The community was always considered as the animator of the CEP in the realization of the PEPS. In it the Salesians and lay people were both evangelized and evangelizers.
• This openness was confirmed and extended by the GC22, in the definitive text of the Constitutions.⁹
• The relationship between SDBs and Laity matured significantly in the GC23, focusing on the education of young people to the faith. The SDB community became responsible for the animation and formation of the CEP and of the Salesian Family,¹⁰ with the specific task of drawing up the Lay Project.

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Lay animators

The persons who from Don Bosco onwards have shared in the Salesian mission, felt the need for a spiritual convergence, in the awareness of having received a gift which they must pass on to others.

A big number of them felt it their duty to give embodiment to the charism with Don Bosco and the times. They shared the objective of education, and laboured generously to prepare young people to take a worthy place in society.

For many, the involvement and shared responsibility involved also the objective of evangelization, thus fully realizing the project of the preventive system.

Among these there are some young people who commit themselves in various ways to animation for the benefit of their peers. In this way there has grown in recent years the Salesian Youth Movement and in particular the new experience of the Volunteer Movement.

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Lay friends of Don Bosco

Don Bosco always had many friends, scattered all over the world and in the most varied environments. Their number has not decreased with the passing of time, nor has the bond become weaker between them and our Father and Founder.

They want to keep Don Bosco's spirit alive and ensure the extension of the Salesian mission. They offer themselves to help the Salesian Family to know the real situation of youth, and to try to respond to the challenges they present. These friends are enthusiastic and want to collaborate, making available their time and financial possibilities.

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Lay people outside the structures

Thanks to the determined efforts of so many lay people the Salesian mission has passed beyond institutional limits and is spreading beyond Salesian structures and works. In this way it comes in contact with other ecclesial realities, with civil society and especially with youngsters in difficult situations, dialoguing with cultures and popular traditions. In consequence the charism is spreading everywhere.

⁸ SGC 152

⁹ C 5.47

¹⁰ GC23 235