1. Formative Process and Itinerary

The Provincial Formation Commission is a consulting group that studies, plans, and evaluates the formative processes of the San Francisco Province. The Commission is set up by the Provincial and his Council. Membership includes: the province delegate for formation (who presides over the commission); the director of the formative community of St Joseph Rosemead; the director of the formative community and house of theology Don Bosco Hall Berkeley; the province delegate for Youth Ministry; the province delegate for Salesian Family; other confreres from the province at large, among whom is a Salesian Brother. 

Formation for the Salesians of Don Bosco develops through several stages: 

• Candidacy (normally 1 year)
• Pre-novitiate (1 year)
• Novitiate (1 year)
• Period of Temporary Vows (6 years), includes: 
• Post-novitiate formation (2 years)
• Practical training (2 years)
• Preparation for final commitment (2 years)
• Specific Formation for Brothers and for Priests (begins after practical training, and may be concurrent with preparation for final commitment) 
• Specialization for Salesian Brothers (e.g. professional or pastoral qualifications, advanced degree). 
• Specialization for Priesthood Candidates (4 years of theology studies in view of ordination). 

2. Initial Contact

The vocation director, who brings the candidate to meet the director of the prenovitiate community, introduces a prospective candidate to the program. 

The prospective candidate becomes familiar with the community, the program and its requirements, and the opportunities of pastoral ministry. He meets the local formation team, prenovices and other prospective candidates. All applying candidates must be free of past or present criminal record, free of chemical dependency, free of any prior bonds or legal dependents, and free of financial debt. They must supply proof of legal status in the United States of America (citizenship, permanent residency, et. al.) and provide recommendations from current pastor. 

3. Candidacy

Candidacy is a period of discernment that is characterized by accompaniment and takes place within the context of close relationship within a Salesian community. 

Candidacy is most often a lived-in experience of Salesian religious life. The applying candidate is invited to live within a community setting to live the rhythm of prayer, work, and fellowship and to experience firsthand the daily, Salesian life. 
A candidate who has not completed college will be encouraged to make the completion of a four-year undergraduate degree a priority while living in discernment. This is preferably done while living in the context of a Salesian community. 

4. Prenovitiate

The province specifically has established St Joseph Salesian Youth Renewal Center, Rosemead, as the Community responsible for the preparation of candidates to the novitiate. 

The formative process begins with an experience of community life where study, ministry and spiritual direction help the candidate discern his attraction for religious life. For one who desires Salesian religious life, the process directs him to prepare to enter the novitiate. 

The specific objective of the prenovitiate is to verify whether the candidate has the necessary suitability to enter the Salesian Society and begin the novitiate. To accomplish this, this program is flexibly structured according to the circumstances giving the candidate the chance to deepen his own vocational choice. Prenovices deepen what they have already begun during their candidacy. 

5. The Novitiate

The designated community for the novitiate is St Joseph’s Youth Renewal Center, Rosemead, California. The novitiate was canonically erected on June 7, 1989. 

The novitiate begins the Salesian experience of Consecrated Life – a life lived in the following of Christ. Novices experience the Salesian lifestyle as a Religious, and form their minds and hearts in its spirit. At the same time, the religious community evaluates their commitment and suitability. 

The novice director is “the spiritual guide who coordinates and animates all the work of formation of the novitiate. The novice acknowledges his own responsibility for his formation, which is not a short-term exercise, but life-long. To help him in this realization, he is encouraged to formulate a personal plan of life. In this plan he draws on his own experience as well as the mission and charism of the Salesians of Don Bosco. He returns to this plan at key moments in life to reflect and evaluate his progress. 

The novitiate experience invites the novice to examine what first attracted him to Salesian life and mission, to purify and strengthen his motivation. He deepens his capacity to enter into healthy relationships, he takes an active part in the life of his community. His program of studies builds on the courses taken during the prenovitiate, and centers on the Constitutions, the life of Don Bosco, and Salesian traditions.

Pastoral ministry during the novitiate is mainly a learning experience. As novices learn the practice of the Preventive System, they also learn to recognize God’s presence in the various situations of life and ministry. 

The House Council assesses the novices every three months, to evaluate progress and suitability of the novice. The novice director and the novice use these evaluations as tools for growth. At the end of the year, the House Council holds a final evaluation in which the novice himself participates. It is at this point that the House Council decides whether or not to recommend the admission of the novice to first profession. 

The period of temporal profession normally lasts six years. Ordinarily the novice making vows in the San Francisco province, makes first profession for two years. At the end of the postnovitiate, he applies to profess for two years as he begins practical training. At the end of that period, he professes for two more years. At the end of six years of temporary vows, he ordinarily applies for perpetual profession. 

6. Postnovitiate

The Postnovitiate is the first stage of formation in the period of temporary profession. The purpose is a) to build on the experience of the novitiate; b) to continue one’s intellectual and cultural formation (completion of a degree program), integrating it with the Salesian vocation; c) to prepare for the practical training, which is the next phase of formation, but also to prepare oneself for a lifetime of learning.

Ordinarily the postnovitiate period lasts two years and, in collaboration with New Rochelle, the designated community is Don Bosco Residence, Orange, New Jersey. The postnovitiate period is the time to integrate spiritual development with the demands of work, both intellectual and physical. Studies during this period must provide a strong philosophical, pedagogical and catechetical foundation that enters into conversation with the dominant culture. 

For undergraduates, it is important that they pursue a Liberal Arts degree with a specific major in an area that relates to the Salesian mission to young people. Salesians preparing for priesthood are required to take 24 units in Philosophy, in keeping with the directives of the Holy See and the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

Salesian students who are Brothers also work to further their studies, either in a degree program or by earning professional credentials to work in Salesian programs and ministries. They strengthen their background in religious studies and liberal arts. Some may pursue technical courses at educational institutions of the area. 

During the postnovitiate phase of formation, the process of guidance and personal evaluation continues. The periodic evaluations or scrutinies take place every three months. The manner may vary. 

7. Formation during the Summer Months

Each Salesian is assigned to a summer ministry of the province. The director of the community to which the confrere belongs during the year, works with those in formation to plan for the summer (in written form). In addition to summer apostolic initiatives, the plan includes a province-sponsored annual retreat and vacation time. 

Once the Province Youth Ministry Delegate has determined the sites for province-sponsored summer ministries, the Provincial consults the Formation Director and the local Directors of the sending and receiving communities before assigning the Brother to one of these ministries. 

The Salesian Director will assist the student Salesian in his experiences with the Preventive System, and help him to integrate his religious life with the apostolate. 

The Province Formation Director, or member of the Province Formation Commission, will visit each young confrere during his summer ministry. 

The Province Formation Director, in consultation with the Province Youth Ministry Delegate, will oversee the evaluation of the summer ministry experiences, both in terms of field education and pastoral formation. 

8. Practical Training

Practical Training is designed to help the young Salesian grow in his vocation by living and working, full-time, among young people in an active, pastoral community. Daily contact with young people allows the young Salesian to apply the Preventive System first hand, develop his personal talents and aptitudes, and grow in his sense of pastoral responsibility.

Practical training takes place in an active, pastoral community. The young Salesian learns how to identify with the community to which he is sent. Essentially, he learns to live the preventive system. 

The first criterion for choosing a community in which to place the Salesian for practical training is the formative goal of this stage of initial formation. The community that accepts the confrere offers him a variety of pastoral experiences according to his abilities and preparation. The confreres take a personal interest in him, offering fraternal guidance, understanding, and encouragement. 

Practical training is not simply a period for work experience: it is considered a time for Salesian “field education.” Whenever possible, is carried out in groups. Experiences that can foster growth in this period will call the young Salesian to participate as a member of a team: to reflect, plan, organize, program, implement and evaluate specific events.

The Director makes it a point to meet the young Salesian, personally and frequently. It is his responsibility to ensure that the confrere is properly guided. Guidance also includes the challenge to integrate work and vocation, prayer and community. 

9. Preparation for Perpetual Profession

About a year before the expiration of his temporary vows, the Salesian explicitly expresses his intention to begin preparing himself for perpetual profession. He does this by writing a letter, addressed to the Provincial, in which he petitions for acceptance into the program of preparation.

This period of formation focuses on the key areas of one’s (a) intention and motivation, (b) prayer life, (c) self-knowledge, (d) sense of balance, and (e) meaning of perpetual commitment

The House Council, in its role of formation and animation, helps the confrere to evaluate his progress and growth. Several months prior to the application for vows, the local community is consulted as to the brother’s readiness for vows. The brother is apprized of the feedback received as a way to help him in this important phase of formation. 

10. Specific formation

    10.1 Salesian Brother

As the Brother makes his definitive option for Salesian life and prepares himself for perpetual commitment, he is given a period of time to assess the progress he has made in his vocation since beginning initial formation. This is the time when he reaffirms and strengthens his own Salesian identity by reflecting and studying, and by qualifying himself in the theological and pastoral aspects of his Christian faith and in his Salesian consecrated life.

In dialogue with his local director, the province formation director, and provincial, he outlines a program of study or professional qualification in an area of personal interest, taking into consideration also the ministerial needs of the province. 
It is essential to keep in mind that this period of specific formation ordinarily lasts two years. In addition to professional development, the brother gives attention to his growth as a person, his spiritual development and his pastoral-educative development as well. 

    10.2 Specific formation of the Salesian Priest

The specific formation for candidates to the priesthood follows the norms and guidelines of the Church and the Salesian Society. The aim is to form priests after Don Bosco’s own heart: shepherds and educators of the young. The goal of this phase of formation is to prepare a Salesian to fulfill the mission to young people as a priest within the Salesian Family. 
At the end of practical training, the Salesian who is a priesthood candidate, makes an explicit request to begin the study of theology. In doing so, he writes a letter to his director and house council, declaring his intent to prepare for the priesthood 
Salesian theology students enroll in the four-year academic Master of Divinity (M.Div) program at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, a member school of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, California. 

As a theology student concentrates on developing the priestly character of his Salesian vocation, he is conscious of developing those human qualities that foster personal maturity. At the same time, he strives to integrate his spirituality with his pastoral, educational, communal experiences. Studying theology, ideally, helps the young Salesian to grow spiritually – beyond the devotional. 

Theology students must cultivate the ability to create experiences of Faith Formation. This fosters a sense of the Sacred in every-day life, which is the core of Salesian Youth Spirituality. 

For two summers during theology, each student will be available to help in the summer ministries of the province as the provincial assigns him. One summer during theology studies, the student of theology, in consultation with the provincial and his council, may, for instance, take part in another ministry that will enhance his pastoral skill, go to a developing country to be immersed in the culture, or study for an advanced degree. 

   10.3 Ministries and Orders

The ministries of lector and acolyte, for those preparing for ordination, have educational value in our Salesian tradition. They point to the ministerial dimension of the Church itself, and are a call to community, communion, participation, service, and charity. 

For the Salesian, the call to ministry is made in terms of the Salesian spirit and mission – to deepen his pastoral and educational vocation through a gradual but experiential process. 

The theology student makes an official application to be admitted to the ministries of lector and acolyte, according to the process for admission outlined in the Ratio. Admission to the diaconate and priesthood is carried out in all seriousness, with concern shown for a careful process of discernment and the shared responsibility of all those taking part.

11. Ongoing Formation

Each Salesian is responsible for his own human, spiritual, intellectual and professional growth. Ongoing formation is an aspect of community and apostolic life. 

In the same way, each Salesian Community is responsible for creating a climate of ongoing formation. The community does this through organized moments (gathering, study days, reflecting, prayer times), and through spontaneous moments (that grow from shared life and work). 

Ongoing formation is the way we accomplish our mission among the young, recognizing and discerning the call of the Holy Spirit through the events and experiences of each day. 

It is a community experience. This calls for a life of living and working together, sharing faith, fostering communication and interpersonal relationships. 

Each community needs to establish a yearly program of ongoing formation that takes into account all the formative moments and means that daily community life has to offer. The religious community ensures that formation takes place together within the educative and pastoral community through reflection, planning and evaluation, and initiatives shared with other members of the Salesian Family.