Presentation

Don Bosco's educational system or, more comprehensively, Don Bosco's preventive experience, is a project: it grew, gradually expanded and became more specific in the different and various institutions and undertakings carried out by his many collaborators and disciples.

Understandably, its vitality can be guaranteed in time only by being faithful to the law which governs any authentic growth: renewal, in-depth study, adaptation in continuity.

The renewal is entrusted to the persistent ongoing theoretical and practical commitment of individuals and communities. Renewal never ceases.

Continuity, instead, can be assured only by a keen engagement with the origins.

The aim of our rapid summary is to provoke an enlivening contact with the primitive roots of Don Bosco’s preventive experience as well as its features.

Our summary has no intention of offering immediately applicable programs; we simply wish to describe essential original elements which despite their circumstances and limitations can inspire valid and credible projects now and in the future for very different contexts and settings.

This is essential if the legitimate aspiration of working “with Don Bosco and with the times” is to happen without a break in continuity.

This third edition is significantly restructured and expanded; more care has been given to historical data, less space to certain flights of fancy, more light shed on things that might be useful for an inevitable revision and revitalisation, something hinted at by an updated bibliography.

12 September l998

Fr Peter Braido

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A translator's note: Fr Vincenzo Zuliani, a member of the United States Province of St Philip the Apostle SUE, and who has now gone to his eternal reward, was the first person brave enough to tackle this translation. He did so with much good will, excellent recall of his native language, a commendable knowledge of English and a rudimentary grasp of 'porting' all this into today's technology, viz., text- based programs which might then be easily manipulated for several channels, printing included. Shortly before he died he sent me what he had done on a floppy disk, and a ream of handwritten footnotes!

I have largely re-translated the work, but it was of immense assistance to have his efforts in a largely recoverable digital format – not all of it was so easily recoverable and it first needed to be returned to a 'text only' format. Such are the perils of working with what are by now antiquated proprietary formats. Let that be a lesson for the future! However, knowing the genesis of this translation the reader can understand why there might occasionally be inconsistencies; if I found a section which seemed pretty much accurate, I left it as Vincenzo had first translated it. We can all be eternally grateful to him. Julian Fox sdb

2012-10-07