Exploring the Document

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Salesian Youth Ministry

• Exploring the Document

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BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
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THE DOCUMENT

• SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY
• A BASIC FRAME OF REFERENCE

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Initial Reflections

• Provides a comprehensive overview of the Salesian
  mission
• Provides a language for discussion and reflection
• Presumes a collaborative, community-based context
• Presumes a dynamic understanding of charism

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Nature of the Document

• Its purpose is to offer a systematic compilation
• It draws from work of 30 years of revision and
  reflection
• It is an instrument of study

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STRUCTURE

• Part One Fundamental Elements
• Salesian Youth Ministry
• Salesian Educative-Pastoral Project
• Salesian Educative-Pastoral Community

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STRUCTURE

• Part 2 A Working Model
• Applies the basic framework to a variety of
  different contexts of Salesian Youth Ministry
• ORATORY or YOUTH CENTRE
• SCHOOLS and TECHNICAL TRAINING CENTRES
• PARISHES
• SERVICES TO YOUNG AT RISK
• NEW FORMS OF SALESIAN MINISTRY

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SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY

• SYM is characterised by
• Experience of Don Bosco and the Oratory
• Preventive System
• Salesian Youth Spirituality
• Salesian Youth Ministry

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DON BOSCO AND THE SALESIAN MISSION A HISTORICAL
FRAME OF REFERENCE

• Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Don Bosco was
  acutely aware that God called him for a unique
  mission on behalf of poor young people.

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The mission to which God called Don Bosco is
characterised by

• Its focus on the young, especially the poorest of
  them
• Don Boscos realisation that his mission was to
  reveal the love of God to poor young people
• A style of ministry particularly suited to his
  mission the approach of the Good Shepherd
• Other people sharing in the mission to evangelise
  the young

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The Mission Continues

• God continues to call many others to carry on and
  share in Don Boscos educative and pastoral
  mission for the total well-being of young people,
  especially the poorest

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PREVENTIVE SYSTEM

• Don Boscos mission and life project, shared by
  the Salesian Family, find their expression in a
  specific style of life and action, the Salesian
  spirit, centred on pastoral charity and
  characterised by that youthful dynamism which was
  revealed so strongly in Don Bosco and at the
  beginnings of our Family.
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• The Salesian spirit is embodied and manifested in
  the spiritual and educative experience of Don
  Bosco in the first Oratory at Valdocco. He
  called it the Preventive System. It is a rich
  synthesis of

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PREVENTIVE SYSTEM

• A spiritual experience
• A proposal for evangelising the young
• A pedagogical methodology

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A Spiritual Experience

• Centred in the love of God
• An encounter with God in the young
• Educative relationship based on pastoral charity

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A Proposal for Evangelising the Young

• Encountering the young where they are
• Recognising the gifts of the young and developing
  their positive resources
• Priority to the poor
• Organised experiences of faith
• Offering a particular form of Christian life and
  youthful holiness

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A Pedagogical Methodology

• Will to remain with the young
• Unconditional acceptance
• Preventive criteria
• Centrality of Reason, Religion and
  Loving-kindness
• A positive environment rich with opportunities

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SPIRITUALITY AT THE ROOT OF SALESIAN YOUTH
MINISTRY

• Appropriate for young people
• Daily life as the place of encounter with God
• Paschal spirituality that delights in activity
  and encourages hope
• Christian life as a journey

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SPIRITUALITY AT THE ROOT OF SALESIAN YOUTH
MINISTRY

• Personal relationship with Jesus through prayer,
  Word and sacraments
• Communion with the Church
• Responsible service
• Marian spirituality

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SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY

• Is a participation in the ministry of the Church
• Through the gift of the Salesian charism it
  enriches and brings this action to the world of
  young people.
• It is the way of living out the Salesian mission
  with Don Boscos spirituality and Preventive
  System
• Serves the Churchs mission of evangelisation

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SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRYKey Characteristics

• A Decisive Choice The Young, Especially the
  Poorest
• The Task To Educate by Evangelising and to
  Evangelise by Educating
• A Community Experience

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SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY Key Characteristics

• A Specific Style Animation
• Holistic Pastoral Work Unity in Diversity
• A Significant Presence in the Church and in the
  World

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A DECISIVE CHOICETHE YOUNG, ESPECIALLY THE
POOREST

• Don Bosco consciously chose the poorest, those at
  risk, those who live on the margins of society
  and of the Church.
• He sought them in the places where they were to
  be encountered, proclaimed the Good News to them,
  accepted them, recognised and respected what they
  had within, journeyed with them and adapted his
  pace to theirs.

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Don Boscos Choice

• Don Bosco adapted his work to suit his young
  people.
• It was aimed at helping them to grasp the
  richness of life and its values, at preparing
  them for life in this world and making them aware
  of their eternal destiny.
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• The Salesian ministry is youthful not only
  because it is primarily aimed at young people
  but because its style and perspectives display a
  youthful quality.

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A Way of Ministering

• The choice of this ministry calls for a special
  way of looking at reality and a special way of
  reacting to it. Salesians learn to understand
  reality from the standpoint of the young and
• are sensitive to all that promotes the education
  and evangelisation of the young or that endangers
  their welfare
• are attentive to positive aspects, new values and
  possibilities that emerge
• develop an attitude of listening, dialogue and
  empathy for the young.  

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Practical Implications

• Aware of different situations of poverty and
  social exclusion
• Understand educational institutions
• Aware of other factors influencing the young
• Aware of young peoples attitudes towards
  religion and the Church
• Understand local culture
• Familiar with the youth condition

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The Task To Educate by Evangelising and to
Evangelise by Educating

• Salesian Youth Ministry emphasises the profound
  relationship between educative activity and
  evangelising action.
• The entire educative process is directed towards
  openness to God and conformity to Christ.
• The process contributes to each young persons
  growth in freedom and responsibility with Gospel
  values and Christian inspiration.

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Education and Cultural Sensitivity

• Salesian Educators
• Proclaim the Gospel with educative and
  pedagogical realism
• Cultivate an operative faith in the young
• Are committed to dialogue with the cultural
  milieu in which young people live
• Strive to implant and cultivate fundamental
  values, criteria for judgement, and models of
  life that conform to the Gospel

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OVERVIEW
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COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE

• Community experience is a characteristic of the
  apostolic work and educative style of the
  Salesians.
• Community is subject and agent of pastoral
  mission
• Salesians lead young people to an experience of
  the Church by having them share in the life of a
  community
• Family spirit, personal relationships, mutual
  trust between educators and young people,
  fostering youth groups and youth leadership
  these elements are characteristic of the Salesian
  style of education and evangelisation

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COMMUNITY

• Community is composed of many groups and always
  has young people at the centre
• The Salesian religious community
• Members of the Salesian Family
• Lay people sharing in the spirit and mission of
  Don Bosco
• Others who admire Don Bosco his work, mission
  and spirit

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A SPECIFIC STYLEANIMATION

• Animation means giving life to a work which
  raises questions, gives motives for hope, brings
  people together, prompts collaboration, and gives
  rise to an ever more fruitful communion for the
  realisation together of a plan of life and action
  in line with the Gospel.
• (Juan Vecchi)

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Fundamental Convictions and Practical Options

• Trust in the individual and his/her inclination
  for good
• The liberating power of educative love
• Openness to each and every young person
• The active presence of educators in the midst of
  the young

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HOLISTIC PASTORAL WORK UNITY IN DIVERSITY

• These various elements combine to form a holistic
  and unified approach to Salesian Youth Ministry,
  that has a single goal the all-round welfare of
  young people and the world in which they live
  and which is a significant presence in the Church
  and in the world.

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A Significant Presence in the Church and in the
World

• The community lives and acts as a meaningful
  presence in the Church and in the world
• As part of the Church community
• As a significant presence of the saving action of
  God in the social and political community
• As a presence of the Church in a pluri-religious
  and pluri-cultural context

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SALESIAN YOUTH MINISTRY

• Historical Experience
• Preventive System
• Youth Spirituality
• Youth Ministry