GUIDELINES

5. GUIDELINES

5.1 With reference to the consecrated communities

[167]

The Salesian community should:

frequently verify the incidence of its consecrated and communal life as a dynamic force in the education and animation of the CEP;
exploit occasions for presenting and explaining to lay people and youngsters the specific aspect of consecrated life in respect of its educative importance;
offer possibilities and experiences for others, and especially young people, to share the life and prayer of the community.

In the various phases of initial formation the young SDBs should be helped to deepen the identity of their consecration and to develop solid convictions about the educative value of consecration itself.

[168]

In the CEP the Rector should always be effectively present; with the consecrated community he constitutes its animating nucleus. To the consecrated members should be assigned those roles most in keeping with their educative and pastoral identity.

5.2 With reference to the CEP

[169]

Practical models for the CEP

The Provincial with his Council, keeping in mind the realities of the province and the consistency of the various educative settings, in dialogue with the local Salesian community, shall:

determine the concrete models for the realization of the CEP;
define for each work whether there shall be a single CEP for the whole work, or a CEP for each sector;
indicate for the various kinds of work the functions of responsibility and animation to be entrusted to lay people.

In all this the Provincial and the local community must be careful to safeguard the unity of the Salesian project in the area and in the local Church.

[170]

Verification of the functioning of the CEP

Every local community, in continuity with the deliberations of the GC23¹⁵ must verify the functioning of the CEP.

In this task it should be supported by the Provincial with the collaboration of the provincial organisms of animation.

The Rector Major, through his teaching and the help of the competent Departments shall foster the deepening of this verification and stimulate it.

[171]

The Council of the CEP and/or Council of the Work

The SDB community should set up or consolidate the Council of the CEP and/or The Council of the Work, as the central organism which animates and coordinates the whole Salesian enterprise, through reflection, dialogue, and the programming and revision of the educative and pastoral activity.

These Councils should be made up of those SDBs and lay persons who have roles of responsibility in the CEP, in line with the criteria defined at provincial level.

For the Council of the CEP or the Council of the Work, the Provincial with his Council shall:

determine the criteria of composition,
define the competences,
establish the levels of shared responsibility and the areas of decision,
indicate the method of the necessary linkage with the local council of the Salesian community.

[172]

The Rector in the CEP

The Rector, as the one with primary responsibility for the apostolic activity and the administration of the goods of the community,¹⁶ has also the primary responsibility for the CEP: in it the final word, after patient research, will belong to him,¹⁷ always in dialogue with his council.

When the work has a single CEP, the Rector presides over the Council of the CEP. When there are more than one CEP, the Rector is a member by right of the Council of each of them and presides over the Council of the Work.

In the CEP, the Rector in particular:

animates the animators and is at the service of unity;
fosters the charismatic character of the PEPS, in dialogue with the Provincial and in harmony with the provincial project;
promotes formative and relational processes;
activates the criteria for the convoking and formation of the lay people indicated by the province;
maintains the linkage between the Council of the Salesian community and the Council of the CEP (or Council of the Work).

[173]

Quantitative consistency of the Salesian community

To carry out its role of animation, the Salesian community needs a quantitative and qualitative consistency which helps to make its activity visible and significant.

Numerical consistency is better for sustaining formation, spiritual and fraternal life-comparisons and pastoral quality, planning and dialogue with the area and the local Church.

Following the indications of R 20 and R 150, we undertake to give greater numerical consistency to the Salesian communities. This means reducing or overcoming the dispersion of the confreres who work individually in activities or works, as also redimensioning the Salesian presence in an area in line with the criteria indicted by the Constitutions (art.6) and Regulations (art.1).

[174]

Qualitative consistency of the Salesian community

Qualitative consistency means that in the community there must be confreres able to remain present among the young, accompany them and educate them to the faith; capable also of animating individuals and groups, of formation of lay persons, of giving attention to the neighbourhood and the local Church and to the Salesian Family and Movement.

In the next six years the qualification of the SDBs in these matters must be attended to, with educative, relational and pastoral ability receiving preference over administrative, bureaucratic and organizational skills.

The significant and complementary presence of Salesian priests and brothers in the community should be guaranteed as an essential trait of its physiognomy and apostolic completeness.¹⁸

5.3 With reference to the bringing in of lay people

[175]

Every province must see to it that the basic and growth criteria indicated above are integrated into its "Lay Project".

Contracts with public or private entities are to be drawn up by the Province in dialogue with the local community.

[176]

The local community shall clearly define:

the role to be filled by the lay person,
the duration of his engagement,
the period of trial,
the process of formation.

5.4 With reference to female presence in the CEP

[177]

Collaboration with youngsters' families should be intensified, since parents are the primary educators of their sons and daughters. To this end they should be offered in our works an educative climate rich in family values, and in particular an educational team with a harmonious integration of men and women components.

[178]

In this context one must emphasize the significance and prophetic force of the Salesian (SDB): not only does he play his part in education with his male values but, by living his celibacy with joy and fidelity, he bears witness to a particular quality of love and fatherliness.

For this reason, from the first years of formation confreres should be helped to develop a serious and mature attitude with regard to the opposite sex.

To build a healthy and balanced environment of coeducation care should be given to the affective and relational formation of both the SDBs and the lay members of the CEP.

[179]

Without detriment to the requirements of different contexts, the need should be emphasized to overcome an artificial parallelism of tasks in which the education of boys is entrusted to men and that of girls to women.

It is urgently necessary that at provincial level and in the local CEP a serious reflection be made:

on the values and possibilities of coeducation;
on how to live the preventive system in a coeducational environment;
on how to foster sexual identification in the integral development of the individual and education to love.

In the context of coeducation, the province should aim at a healthy balance of boys and girls among those for whom we work, as well as among our collaborators.¹⁹