Pascual Chavez Villanueva – “Vocation and formation: gift and task” in “Acts of the General Council of the Salesian Society of St John Bosco”

In this letter, the Rector Major addresses concerns regarding vocation and formation within the Congregation. They highlight issues such as psychological fragility and vocational inconsistency, despite efforts to maintain quality in formation programs. Emphasizing the importance of initial formation, they call for collective responsibility from all members, local communities, and Provinces in fostering ongoing formation. The letter concludes with a call for renewed reflection and action to uphold Salesian identity and unity.

Contents:

• Vocational consistency and fidelity, challenges for vocation.
  • Motivations.
  • Anthropological opportunities and challenges.
    • Authenticity.
    • Freedom.
    • Historical context.

• • • Experience.
    • Human relationships and affectivity.
    • Postmodernism.
    • Multiculturalism.
    • Renunciation.
    • Fidelity.
• Vocation and formation, gift and task.
  • Vocation: grace at its origin.
    • Life as vocation.
    • Life, Word of God.
    • Life a response owed to God.
    • Vocation a life-long task.
    • Vocation, a mission through dialogue.
    • The mission, the home of and the reason for formation.
  • Formation: grace as a task.
    • Charismatic identity and vocational identification.
    • Objectives of formation.
      • Sent to the young: conforming oneself to Christ the Good Shepherd.
      • Made brothers by the one mission: making common life the location and the object of formation.
      • Consecrated by God: bearing witness to the radical nature of the gospel.
      • Sharing formation and mission: animating apostolic communities in the spirit of Don Bosco.
      • At the heart of the Church: building the Church, the sacrament of salvation.
      • Open to reality: inculturating the charism.
    • Formative methodology.
      • Reaching the person in depth.
      • Animating a unifiying formative experience.
      • Ensuring the formative environment and the co-responsibility of everyone.
      • Giving formative quality to daily experience.
      • Giving quality to formative accompaniment.
      • Paying attention to discernment.
  • Formation: the absolute priority.
• Concluding prayer

Reference time period: 2013

Reference institution:
Direzione Generale SDB