Salesian Youth Ministry Department – “Educative and pastoral community: make the house a family for the young” in “Salesian Youth Ministry”

Salesian Youth Ministry requires agreement of purpose and conviction on the part of all those involved in the planning and implementation of the Educative-Pastoral Community. In this  chapter we shall examine the community identity, how it works, the style of shared  responsibility and the way it is animated. The community is called to invest in the fi gure of the Salesian educator. In trying to discern and renew each activity and work, we look to the  Salesian style, the “oratory criterion” that connects us with the practical insights of the charism (our way of living together in communion) which have become part of our shared patrimony,  and are applicable to all contexts where Salesians operate. Importance is given to the way we  offer signs of the Gospel in everyday life, and the way we cultivate authentic relationships and 
communication.

SUMMARY:

• 1. Salesian Youth Ministry: a community experience
  • 1.1. Community experience in the Salesian spirit and mission
    • Communion at the service of the same mission
    • The Salesian way of being present among the young
    • The EPC involves many people in the Salesian Educative and Pastoral Project
    • The EPC and family
    • The EPC as a meaningful experience of the Church in a particular area
  • 1.2. Animation of the EPC
    • An accompanying environment
    • Group Accompaniment
    • Personal accompaniment
  • 1.3. A specific service of animation: the “animating nucleus”
    • A group of people in mutual enrichment
    • New organisational models
• 2. The Heart of the Salesian Educator
  • 2.1. An inner apostolic spirit is essential
    • Enter more deeply into the Gospel
    • The first form of evangelisation is witness
  • 2.2. Salesian Charismatic Identity
  • 2.3. Animation is the best form of Education
    • Priority is given to the person in the growth process
    • The active presence of educators among the young
  • 2.4. Pastoral Intelligence to give life to the SEPP
    • Read the present youth situation from an “educational
      perspective”
    • A patient commitment to change and formation
• 3. The Preventive System in practice: the Salesian style of education
  • 3.1. Don Bosco’s Oratory, criterion for all our works and activities
    • The “oratory criterion”, inspiration and model for our activities and works
    • General indicators for discernment and renewal
  • 3.2. Ways of sharing life and communion in the Salesian style
    • A home that welcomes – the experience of family spirit
    • A parish that evangelises- religious experience and gradual religious  development
    • A school that prepares them for life – holistic growth through education
    • A playground to meet up with friends and be happy (the pedagogy of joy and celebration)

Reference time period: 2014

Reference institution:
Direzione Generale SDB