Pina Bellocchi Angelo Santorsola Damas Salesianas

COMMON MISSION STATEMENT

CHAPTER 3

EDUCATIVE AND PASTORAL MISSION OF THE SALESIAN FAMILY

 

INTRODUCTION
 
We have set ourselves the task of consolidatingthe topics dealt with in Chapter 3, in three parts, associating with each part topics we think are related to one another. In the first part we find topics such as  the Salesian mission and new evangelisation; in the second,  contemporary society and the family, and the final topic, the role of woman and communication. In Part I, we refer to the model that Don Bosco left us of "saving souls" through the mission of the Salesian Family, a model which is the raison d'etre of our effort and, with respect to new evangelisation, which we dare suggest is an "ongoing accomplishment" of it. We justify this suggestion on the basis of the need to create new approaches faced with the complexity and uncertainty of today's world.

Part II refers to the impact on the family by an ever changing society because of surprising scientific and technological development with both positive and negative effects.

Finally, in Part III, we discuss, on the one hand, the importance of the role of women, brought out of anonymity thanks to Don Bosco's inclusion of women from the 19th century, at a time before women had gained awareness of their true value, and on the other hand, we refer to the development of the role of social communication, technology and globalisation which through so many networks enables information to cover vast distances in seconds and covers all areas of human endeavour. Don Bosco advises us to use communication as a mechanism for reaching the young, which is the real purpose of our mission.
 
PART I – The Salesian Mission and New Evangelisation
 
The Salesian Family in Venezuela carries out educational and social work inspired by those beautiful words Don Bosco addressed to the Lord, "Give me souls, take away the rest". These words encompass the entire scope of our mission. Despite the time that has passed since Don Bosco was amongst us and now, the felt need for so many souls to gain the Life which the Word of God speaks of and which comes through the dedicated Salesian mission, has not changed. It is the daily challenge we encounter in the human face on the street, in poor areas, or in rich suburbs. There is a "hunger" for love, understanding, respect, solidarity. Don Bosco limited the field of mission and spoke of and on behalf of the young, especially those with few resources. In the final analysis, these are the men and women of tomorrow.
 
We ask ourselves, why the young? And it seems we can almost hear Don Bosco's voice telling us, if we don't pay attention to the young with few resources, one of the weakest groups in society, they run the risk of being trampled on. This gives rise to resentment at the injustice and inequality of society, and without doubt, this doubt will show up in the mistaken route to addiction, theft and crime. The young person is the beneficiary par excellence of the Salesian  mission.
 
New evangelisation is essential in a world that is moving faster than society can give responses to its problems. Humankind has changed in such evident ways over the past century, with respect to preceding centuries and this rapid change brings with it uncertainties and complications which go beyond previously acquired understandings. Meanwhile we cannot continue with the same functions and carrying out the same actions as we did in the past century. What is needed is an ongoing evangelisation, with new ideas, strategies, methods, new skills, greater intelligence and creativity, and a praxis that implies a drastic positive change in our way of seeing the world.  
 
 
Part II – Contemporary society and the family
 
Beginning with the Second World War, social changes came about which impact on contemporary society today. Post-war Goverments did not only tackle the rebuilding of destroyed cities, but tried, besides, to rebuild lost bonds of solidarity and harmony betewen human beings and to build a new order of values and principles which would achieve  a profound change in human behaviour. Exceptional developments came about and continue to happen in this new society: a giddy growth  in knowledge, innovations in  communication networks on earth and beyond, huge increase in information channels, evolving science and technology, a necessary  economic globalisation, not just in the markets, and many other developments which have given the human being a pragmatic sense of existence.
 
If, on the one hand, the scientific development has been positive for the human being, on the other hand, it has also presented a negative set of circumstances in the sense that this giddy  production of knowledge  complicates human existence since it takes so long to digest the quantity of information that comes our way. This being the case, it is impossible to consider the family apart from contemporary society, developed, complex, materialistic as it is and, without needing to say it, estranged from God. Today more than ever before our mission is important in the sense that it demands that we are close to the family, that we sense its needs and sow the Word of God there.
  
Don Bosco, a visionary, anticipated the uncertainty and complexity of the centuries to come. Today Don Bosco reminds us of the importance of the family, first place for socialisation to occur,  and he asks us to educate to the fundamental beliefs of our religion and more: to show the meaning of family, using concrete examples, so parents can appreciate this fundamental value or moral principle (the young are victims of a lack of this value), instruct young couples concerning the role of the home where life and love are born.
 
We are aware of the difficulties our mission faces in an environment where most families live in a disorganised state, single mothers, abandoned spouses, separated families, lack of attention for the elderly, adolescents who leave the family hearth before achieving their majority. Our country has not escaped this reality. On occasions, our mission falls behind the needs, and the gap can be closed by a declared interest in evaluating our performance and in catching up on the effectiveness of our mission. The mission can be carried out as a transformation that can occur in all areas of the Salesian Family and would be characterised by being: a catalyst, intuitive, foreseeing, competitive, decentralised, able to bring together intentions, and always inspired by the charism of Don Bosco.
 
Our task as members of the Salesian Family requires, faced with globalisation and transfer of values, to work as an association/movement, as our being family demands, without overlap of specifics or attributes, or strategies, or approaches, but always keeping in mind the ultimate purpose, "to save souls". We emphasise the importance of having more effective bonds amongst members of the Salesian family, like knowing how each of the branches is structured and functions.
 
Part III – The role of women and communication
 
Today's 21st Century is considered as the century of women and knowledge. A saint and another on the way to canonisation, Don Bosco and Pope John Paul II, recognised the value of women and claimed that they have intellectual potential and abilities which merit their exercising civil and political rights in circumstances equal to that of men. Women play many and different successful roles, besides their skills, through the natural affection and compassion they have for their neighbour. Not in vain, John Paul II coined the term, "woman's genius" in recognising the innate qualities women possess.
 
Mamma Margaret shaped Don Bosco's compassionate heart. The Preventive System he used as a tool for teaching young people has a basic feminine component to it and is part of Salesian life. Reading, studying, internalising, meditating on the lives of  Mamma Margaret and Mother Mazzarello are essential for introducing us to understanding the influence of the holy women in Don Bosco's life. They are examples which enrich our mission.
 
Similarly, beginning from the second half of the 20th Century, women began to emerge from the private sphere where they were kept in anonymity, domesticity, without a face, a voice, and came into the public sphere once reserved only to men, a sphere where there is the right to participate, have a voice and be seen. Don Bosco not only recognised the value of the role of women, but gave them membership of the Salesian Family, with a voice, a vote, participants in his mission. How could we not but respond with enthusiasm and pleasure to this emancipating saint?
 
Globalisation exists thanks to the development of communications, the impulse to convert the world into a huge market with all the social moral and political implications both positive and negative, and which as a result homogenises us. Information now reaches most villages and towns and news comes into homes, reaching all ages, forming or deforming minds. Social communication provides information in great quantity but not always of quality and advertising creates "needs" in the human being that we did not have before  and the "modelling effect" brings about imitative behaviour from other countries and cultures which is not always desirable.
 
Again, Don Bosco the visionary, taking into account the world's development, intuited the value of social communication as a means to approach the young and their youthful tendencies in fashion, music, sense of justice, and through this approach to educate and  evangelise, which characterises our mission for the simple, the little ones.
 
A practical conclusion for all members of the Salesian Family: a) have a clear sense of mission; b) steer more and paddle less; c)  delegate authority and responsibility; d) fewer rules and more incentives; e) assess consequences; f) measure the results in terms of the happiness of the beneficiary. Our task cannot wait.
 
Many thanks.

 

Caracas, 19 November 2008

Directorio Internacional de la ASOCIACIÖN DAMAS SALESIANAS-ADS