| DeDear Provincial Delegates,
I am writing to you to offer some reflections which we have been sharing
together in the Youth Ministry and Formation Departments with regard
to vocation promotion.
Our mission requires that we help every young person to discover and
to implement the life plan that God has for each of them. In this sense
all youth ministry is vocational; therefore this aspect should always
be present at every stage of what we are planning and carrying out.
In particular for the vocational guidance of those young people who
feel called to Salesian religious life it is necessary to create a link
between youth ministry and formation. In this regard we are asking you
to begin a process of discussion and collaboration at provincial and
regional level about the aspirantate. On this account we are proposing
a common frame of reference.
1. Criteria for vocation promotion
Our Constitutions have three articles which present the fundamental
criteria for understanding the different levels on which vocation promotion
operates in youth ministry and which help to identify the links between
vocational guidance and initial formation. These levels of guidance
require different stages of vocational maturity.
* Human and Christian Vocation
In different ways every Salesian, the whole educative and pastoral community
are responsible for vocational promotion through their witness, what
they say, personal support, prayer, so that each young person may discover
his human and Christian vocation.
“We educate the young to develop their own human and baptismal
vocation by a daily life progressively inspired and unified by the Gospel.
The family atmosphere of welcome and of faith, created by the witness
of a community which gives of itself with joy, is the most efficacious
setting for the discovery and guidance of vocations. This work of collaboration
with God’s design, the crown of all our educational and pastoral
activity, is sustained by prayer and personal contact, above all in
spiritual direction.” (C. 37)
* Apostolic Vocation
The Christian vocation should mature into an apostolic vocation. Salesian
youth ministry therefore should help the young to open themselves to
discern and to develop their own vocation in the Church. It is committed
to nurturing lay, consecrated and priestly vocations.
“To meet the needs of his people the Lord continually calls some
to follow him, and enriches them with a variety of gifts in the service
of the Kingdom. We are convinced that many young people are rich in
spiritual potential and give indications of an apostolic vocation. We
help them to discover, accept and develop the gift of a lay, consecrated
or priestly vocation, for the benefit of the whole Church and of the
Salesian Family. With equal zeal we nurture adult vocations.”
(C. 28).
* Salesian religious vocation
Special attention should be given to those young people who show the
signs and the desire for a Salesian religious vocation, with programmes
and specific help that will prepare them to make a clear and responsible
choice.
“To anyone who is thinking of becoming a Salesian, an environment
and suitable conditions are offered to enable him to discern his own
vocation and to mature as a man and a Christian. In this way, and with
the help of a spiritual guide, he is able to make a choice with greater
awareness of what he is doing, and without any external or internal
pressures.” (C. 109).
2. Occasions for the maturing of a vocation
In the Constitutions we have seen that vocation promotion exists on
three levels; consequently, the maturing process of a vocation requires
separate stages which help the young person to discover and develop
his human and Christian vocation, his apostolic vocation and perhaps
even his Salesian religious vocation. The Regulations refer to these
stages in practical terms especially when they speak about apostolic
vocations and about Salesian religious vocations.
* Vocational Culture
The first stage of the maturing process consists in creating a vocational
culture. It is a question of developing the vocational aspect of youth
ministry so that each young person may discover his own human and Christian
vocation. There is a common call to all, and each one has his own vocation.
Every Salesian centre ought to develop a vocational culture, which needs
to have certain features:
§ an educational atmosphere with significant witnesses who are
living life as a Christian vocation;
§ educational and professional guidance which helps each young
person to discover his own talents and gifts;
§ an experience of grace through the sacraments, prayer, entrustment
to Mary;
§ the presentation through examples of the different vocations
in society and in the Church;
§ the opportunity for experiencing some form of selfless service
on behalf on those in need as an exercise in generosity;
§ vocational attitudes of listening, availability and service;
§ accompanying the vocational search of adolescents and young people.
* Vocational guidance
The second stage regards the nurturing of apostolic vocations. It is
a question of providing opportunities and guidance for an apostolic
vocation in the Church and in the Salesian Family. The General Regulations
contain two articles in this regard: one about vocational guidance and
one about centres for vocational guidance.
“With the help of trained educators and a programme of suitable
activities, due attention should be given to the vocational guidance
of young people. Special regard should be paid to the discovery, and
subsequent follow-up by suitable initiatives, of those youngsters who
show signs of lay, religious or priestly vocations” (R. 9).
“Vocational guidance centres welcome and keep in touch with young
people who feel called to some commitment in the Church and in the Congregation.
This service can also be carried out by organising local and regional
meetings, by means of activities of special groups, or by inserting
young people in one of our communities.” (R. 16)
Vocational guidance is conducted through:
* the further development of human formation: self-knowledge, fostering
basic vocational attitudes such as service, generosity, a sense of responsibility,
formation to love … ;
* help in Christian and spiritual formation through an introduction
to prayer, to listening to the Word of God, frequenting the sacraments,
taking part in the liturgy and Marian devotions;
* active participation in the life of the Church community through apostolic
groups or movements, considered as the ideal places for Christian and
vocational development;
* meeting and having contact with witnesses and communities representative
of the different vocations of special consecration in the Church and
in the Salesian Family;
* times for reflection and further examination of life as a vocation
and of the different vocations: vocation groups, vocation meetings,
vocation retreats, summer camps;
* a specific community to accompany and reflect more deeply on the process
of human formation and education to the faith with a vocational slant.
At the end of this stage of guidance the paths diverge. For someone
aiming at a Salesian religious vocation, there is the possibility of
the aspirantate. For those who are thinking of other forms of vocation
Christian, lay, consecrated or priestly, specific paths for the maturing
of their vocation need to be offered. In particular, it is important
to identify the paths for those who are aiming at the vocation of Christian
marriage.
* Aspirantate
For the young person who is aiming at the Salesian religious vocation,
there is the experience of the aspirantate.
“The aspirantate is a centre of Salesian vocational guidance.
Its keeps itself open to the neighbourhood and in contact with the families,
and helps older boys and young men who show an aptitude for the religious
and priestly life to know their own apostolic vocation and to correspond
with it.” (R. 17)
The aspirantate is a necessary stage for the discerning and maturing
of a possible choice for the Salesian religious life. It is primarily
an experience of personal guidance and discernment, in which candidates
to the Salesian religious life are assisted.
There are different kinds of aspirantate: secondary school aspirantates,
aspirantates for university students, aspirantates for those undertaking
vocational voluntary service, open community, … There can be more
than one aspirantate in a Province, according to the different situations
in which the candidates find themselves and according to the possibility
of having vocational directors to guide them.
This kind of aspirantate experience requires:
§ a lively and open community, in which friendly relationships
with the Salesians are evident;
§ a community which helps with the development of the necessary
human and Christian qualities and the personal growth in faith;
§ a community open to the candidates family, to its own surroundings
and to the Province’s youth ministry so that a choice can be made
free from any undue pressure;
§ a community which provides a serious academic and cultural programme;
§ a community in which knowledge of Don Bosco is deepened and Salesian
life and mission experienced, so as to help the candidate to come to
know his suitability for them;
§ a community which offers a community experience with other candidates;
§ a community which provides specific vocational guidance and helps
the candidate to discern his own choice of vocation, to draw up a personal
plan of life, to get to know the two forms of Salesian vocation, and
to prepare himself for the prenovitiate.
3. Vocation Work and initial formation
The aspirantate is a phase in which there is a vocational journey and
a formative experience. The “Ratio” requires that before
the pre-novitiate the candidate has made a “serious vocational
journey” (FSDB 329) and is admitted to the pre-novitiate “only
when he has made his option for the Salesian life and shows in the judgement
of those responsible a corresponding human, Christian and Salesian maturity.”
(FSDB 330).
Great importance therefore attaches to the progress made before the
prenovitiate; in particular the choice of the aspirantate is of strategic
importance in the provinces (R. 17). There cannot be a good formation
process without the aspirantate experience (AGC 385 p. 44 - 45). It
is not possible during a year of pre-novitate to acquire the human and
Christian formation needed to enter the novitiate. The aspirantate is
also necessary for the discernment process; with this experience the
candidate is in the position to make a option for Salesian life before
beginning the prenovitiate.
The community experience and the personal guidance in the aspirantate
ensure a process of human and Christian development and help to overcome
any cultural and family deficiencies. At the same time they help in
the process of getting to know the candidate and his family. For an
improved evaluation of motives, the higher age, the limited cultural
preparation of the prenovices all need to be better monitored and this
suggests that an attempt be made to find new solutions regarding the
aspirantate.
The aspirantate is the link between youth ministry and the formation
process. At Provincial and Regional level it is necessary that the Provincial
Delegates for Youth Ministry and Formation get together with the vocation
directors, those in charge of the aspirants, those in charge of the
prenovices to look into the question of how human and Christian formation,
and the option for Salesian life before the prenovitiate are dealt with.
Dear Delegates, through this letter we hope to encourage greater collaboration
between Youth Ministry and Formation in the area of vocational promotion
and in particular that of the aspirantate. The Youth Ministry Department
will later be offering a more detailed proposal on the subject of vocation
promotion.
Thank you for your attention. We wish you every blessing on your work
and send you our best wishes.
Fr Antonio Domenech Fr Francesco Cereda
General Councillor for Youth Ministry General Councillor for Formation
Collaboration between youth ministry and formation with regard
to the aspirantate
At provincial and regional level the Provincial Delegates for Youth
Ministry and for Formation study together some issues with regard to
vocation promotion. In particular they consider and adopt common critera
and guidelines regarding the aspirantate:
- elements for a vocational and formation project in the aspirantate:
its nature and purpose, the kind of experience, vocational and formation
requirements;
- criteria for the selection of candidates to begin the aspirantate
experience;
- vocational and formation programmes in the aspirantate;
- methods of providing personal guidance and of discernment;
- proposal for aspirants to the vocation of the Salesian Brother;
- personal plan of life for the aspirant;
- preparation of vocation guides for the aspirantate.
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