Vision - Salesians 2115!
Well that's quite a distant Vision to envisage. Besides, at 72, I am getting shortsighted. However, I venture to 'prophesy' that within the next century, the Salesians will certainly grow in many aspects of their life and mission. The fervour and fidelity stirred to higher levels in the Bicentenary Year will hopefully yield such results. However, I see the growth of the Salesian Family with a much greater presence of the Laity (Salesian Cooperators, Friends of Don Bosco, others) involved in the Salesian Mission. If the present trend continues, numbers may drop or increase only fractionally among the religious congregations Don Bosco himself founded ( SDB & FMA). Their presence, in the Salesian Mission though numerically small, will be seen in an even more important role of genuine guides and as "Spiritual Animators" of the many and varied activities, effectively administered and managed by the laity of the Salesian Family.
Thus, through the years ahead, in my estimate, the Mission of Don Bosco and the Salesian Charism as willed by God will be successfully carried forward and continue to respond to even greater challenges of a highly technological and young Generation. This will require a selection and adequate qualification and preparation of the laity in the Salesian Family for future missionary ministry and apostolic youth services.
Sounds more like an 'illusion' than a 'vision'!
Does it? But then, 200 hundred years ago, Don Bosco's Vision was seen by not a few even in church circles, more as an illusion of a dreamer.
Call me a false prophetic, if you wish.
But, if this "prophecy" is plausible, what it would imply is firstly, that the carefully selected lay members of the Salesian Family will have to be suitably trained, qualified and well-formed in Salesian Spirituality and Principles of education. Secondly, that these lay members are entrusted with increasing responsibility in the various levels of administration and management of all Salesian activities, be they educational, socio-cultural or spiritual.
There is a definite need for a paradigm shift in the living out of our SDB Identity in the Salesian Family and in the Salesian mission itself.
The SDB Congregation particularly is challenged to shift from direct involvement in various fields of Salesian activity, and to play a more important role of empowering the various apostolic activity groups. To do this, the SDBs are called to be competent Spiritual Animators and have a deeper personal experience of God which transforms them into "Mystics in the Spirit"; as "Prophets" witnessing to fraternal life in the wider community of the Salesian Family, and responsible for formation and animation of the Salesian Family to the "Servant" ministry of the Salesian Mission in the Church.
Infact, in the last few years the call for this shift has been growing loud in the exhortations of the Rectors Major, inviting the SDBs and the entire Salesian Family to follow Don Bosco's spirituality and be men and women in " Union with God". The most recent General Chapter, GC27 has ushered us into the Birth Bicentenary Year which is not at all a terminal point of arrival but rather a celebration of the journey of the Salesian Family moving forward towards 2115 as Mystics, Prophets, and Servants.
Well that's quite a distant Vision to envisage. Besides, at 72, I am getting shortsighted. However, I venture to 'prophesy' that within the next century, the Salesians will certainly grow in many aspects of their life and mission. The fervour and fidelity stirred to higher levels in the Bicentenary Year will hopefully yield such results. However, I see the growth of the Salesian Family with a much greater presence of the Laity (Salesian Cooperators, Friends of Don Bosco, others) involved in the Salesian Mission. If the present trend continues, numbers may drop or increase only fractionally among the religious congregations Don Bosco himself founded ( SDB & FMA). Their presence, in the Salesian Mission though numerically small, will be seen in an even more important role of genuine guides and as "Spiritual Animators" of the many and varied activities, effectively administered and managed by the laity of the Salesian Family.
Thus, through the years ahead, in my estimate, the Mission of Don Bosco and the Salesian Charism as willed by God will be successfully carried forward and continue to respond to even greater challenges of a highly technological and young Generation. This will require a selection and adequate qualification and preparation of the laity in the Salesian Family for future missionary ministry and apostolic youth services.
Sounds more like an 'illusion' than a 'vision'!
Does it? But then, 200 hundred years ago, Don Bosco's Vision was seen by not a few even in church circles, more as an illusion of a dreamer.
Call me a false prophetic, if you wish.
But, if this "prophecy" is plausible, what it would imply is firstly, that the carefully selected lay members of the Salesian Family will have to be suitably trained, qualified and well-formed in Salesian Spirituality and Principles of education. Secondly, that these lay members are entrusted with increasing responsibility in the various levels of administration and management of all Salesian activities, be they educational, socio-cultural or spiritual.
There is a definite need for a paradigm shift in the living out of our SDB Identity in the Salesian Family and in the Salesian mission itself.
The SDB Congregation particularly is challenged to shift from direct involvement in various fields of Salesian activity, and to play a more important role of empowering the various apostolic activity groups. To do this, the SDBs are called to be competent Spiritual Animators and have a deeper personal experience of God which transforms them into "Mystics in the Spirit"; as "Prophets" witnessing to fraternal life in the wider community of the Salesian Family, and responsible for formation and animation of the Salesian Family to the "Servant" ministry of the Salesian Mission in the Church.
Infact, in the last few years the call for this shift has been growing loud in the exhortations of the Rectors Major, inviting the SDBs and the entire Salesian Family to follow Don Bosco's spirituality and be men and women in " Union with God". The most recent General Chapter, GC27 has ushered us into the Birth Bicentenary Year which is not at all a terminal point of arrival but rather a celebration of the journey of the Salesian Family moving forward towards 2115 as Mystics, Prophets, and Servants.
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