Formation

Province Pastoral Plan 2004-2007 Formation
Preamble: As we read both in our Constitutions and in our Province Mission Statement, we Salesians of Don Bosco, while we live together in “caring, respectful and fraternal communities,” are called by God to be “signs and bearers of his love for the young.” We also know instinctively, as well as from both past and recent documents of the Congregation, that without a solid Salesian formation, initial and on-going, neither our community life nor our mission to the young will be authentic, fulfilling or fruitful. As Juan Vecchi clearly says in his letter Towards the 25^th General Chapter (AGC 372), “It is fundamental, therefore, that we give back to the Salesians a sense of the priority of formation.”
Themes	Goals	Strategies	Tactics
Call to Holiness (Holiness and God’s Primacy)	1. To form and renew ourselves through the Word of God and the Constitutions, consciously centering our lives on God.	1. By praying with the Scriptures and with the Constitutions in the style of the lectio divina.	1. The formation commission will prepare resources for the “August Leadership Meeting” that teach a Salesian style of the lectioin community. 2. The formation team of each formation house will initiate the process of teaching the lectio to those in initial formation. 3. The Director and house council in all active communities will schedule lectio divina into the regular rhythm of community prayer. 4. The Director and house council will calendar at least two sessions of community reflection on the Constitutions in lectio style each year.
		2. By adding a process of faith-sharing into the ongoing flow of our lives.	1. The Director and his team in formation houses a process of faith-sharing as a normal part of our community life. 2. The Director and house council will structure one community day each month to include theological and pastoral reflection: is God present in our ministry? what is God calling us to in this community?

Fraternal Community	1. To form members who can move from a functional common life to communio, i.e., being “one in mind and heart.”	1. By coming together intentionally, to plan and to strengthen our identity as Salesians in community.	1. The Director calls the community together in the Spring to create a community calendar for the coming year in order to schedule formative moments of reflection and sharing; they review it at the beginning of the new academic/pastoral year. 2. The Director calls the community to review the monthly calendar at the beginning of the month. 3. The Director with the community builds an evaluation process into community and fraternal life, with at least two evaluation days each year similar to the scrutinium orationis and scrutinium paupertatis.
		2. By calling the house council to meet regularly to reflect on the needs of all the members and to foster a more evangelical style of community life.	1. The house council calendars its meetings and community assemblies for the entire year during the provincial planning days in August, also taking into consideration the province yearly calendar. 2. The house council animates the community to responsibility, inviting members to reflect periodically: How do I build up the community? How do we call each other to participation?

Significant Presence with Youth	1. To ensure that an ever more effective and evangelizing presence among the young is our priority in formation.	1. By fostering a mentality of planning and a climate of formation.	1. The Province Director for Ongoing Formation will identify confreres who can be sent for professional qualification or advanced degrees in areas of identifiable need for the province. 2. The Provincial and his council will build qualification into their planning for personnel development. 3. The Province Director for Ongoing Formation will identify confreres who can be sent to other countries and other ministries for new experiences to enrich the Salesian mission in our province.

Formation	1. To ensure that the ongoing formation in the province (and in all the houses) takes place.	1. By naming and providing funding for a member of the formation commission who is specifically in charge of this sector.	1. The Provincial will name a Director for Ongoing Formation and Continuing Education by August 2004. 2. The formation commission will assist the Director for Ongoing Formation and will offer resources to the communities for their community days and formation evenings.

Resources: Personnel and Finances	1. To ensure that the ongoing formation in the province (and in all the houses) takes place.	1. By naming and providing funding for a member of the formation commission who is specifically in charge of this sector.	1. The Provincial will name a Director for Ongoing Formation and Continuing Education by August 2004. 2. The Director for Ongoing Formation will articulate a budget for ongoing formation by March 15, 2005.