LETTER OF RECTOR MAJOR - Fr. EGIDIO VIGANO'
THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE LAY PERSON IN THE SALESIAN FAMILY
ACG 317
Rome, 24 February 1986
An invitation
to renew our identity card. - Who are the laity who share the mission with
us. - The new ecclesial mentality. - Vatican II our guide in a "pilgrimage
of discovery", - A valuable initiative of communion. - What our objectives
are. - Giving life to a "spiritual movement".
My dear confreres,
The
theme expressed in the Strenna for 1986 is deserving of careful consideration
in the Congregation.
The
vocation and mission of the lay person at the present day is one of the great
fronts of renewal opened up by Vatican II. The Council's action of analysis
and relaunching has its repercussions also on our Family, which detects in
the development of this vocation an enriching experience of returning to its
origins. Don Bosco in fact always involved a large number of lay people in
his mission for the young and the poor.
An invitation to renew our identity card
In
putting forward this theme we are not prompted by an eagerness to feel up-to-date
(which could be nothing more than a fleeting and short-lived attitude), but
by docility to the Spirit of the Lord and fidelity to the apostolic project
of our Founder.
Failure indeed
to follow this line would mean that we had lost interest in our vocational
identity. After a hundred years of life we need to rejuvenate our salesian
features, so that our authentic physiognomy may be more evident and attractive.
Little
by little, in fact, a certain involution was taking place in this sector which
would have converted us into self-sufficient administrators of the works
already existing rather than animators of an apostolic movement in a Church
which is on the move: more tutors of pupils than missionaries of the young.
Fortunately
the Council produced a lot of fresh air which reached the lungs of our General
Chapters, and in particular the Special one. Today we have available a rich
and striking doctrine on the laity with practical and stimulating guidelines,
and to some extent we have already committed ourselves to them in various
provinces.
Something
is certainly happening. We saw it, for example, a few months ago in the 2nd
World Congress of the Cooperators. It has been evident for some time in work
with the Past Pupils. We watch with fresh attention theLay Collaborators
and theFriends of Don Bosco. But in some provinces progress is very slow;
they find it difficult to get going.
What
is lacking? A renewed conciliar mentality? A greater sense of the Church
as communion? A more objective social sensitivity? A more courageous and
compelling vision of our commitment to the young and the poor? More drive
from our spiritual batteries?
One thing is
quite certain: if Don Bosco were alive at the present day, with the vast horizons
of Vatican II available to him, he would immediately set about involving
a multitude of the laity in his working plans.
And
why should not we do the same, we who are his sons and who want to show, for
the coming centenary celebrations of his death, that the charisma of the Oratory
is still fully alive and up to date?
The lay people who are with us in the mission
We
want to foster the vocation of the laity involved with us in the service of
the young, and we want to do this on the basis of the genuine spirit of the
Council. But when we approach the matter from a different angle, and instead
of speaking of the laity according to the Council we pass to a consideration
of the lay people with whom we ourselves deal and work, we find that a strange
difficulty arises from the elastic nature of the meanings given to this term.
We seem to be on different levels, which obscure the true ecclesial concept
of the lay person, and reduce our consideration to a generic kind of idea
which seems to rule out the possibility of speaking explicitly ofvocation
andmission.
The
trouble is due to the many different meanings currently attached to the term
lay; the variety is now so firmly rooted in our common way of speaking
that if we are not careful we ourselves may become victims of mistaken ideas.
Let me give
you some examples of the way in which this term is used (at least in the Italian
environment). We speak oflay collaborators, but what meaning do we attach
to the expression? The newspapers often refer to thelay parties in politics,
and what does it mean there? Or why is it that one can speak of a 'lay'
State but is suspicious of the term 'lay' morality. There is a real difference
of meaning in the two cases.
What we are
concerned with is the meaning of the term in the context of the Salesian Family:
who are thelay people in it, the people referred to in the Strenna? The
answer needs to be an exact one because it is intimately connected with our
fidelity to the Council and to Don Bosco. Lack of precision here will lead
to activities which are confused and not incisive, which lack concreteness
as regards their vocational aspect and in consequence are superficial from
a salesian standpoint.
In
replying to the question therefore, we must state with deliberate precision
that by the termlaity orlay people here we mean those christians who
are members of the Catholic Church and who, while remaining in the world according
to their characteristic secular status, are disposed to live out their Baptism
in the mission with us. In other words, as is obvious, we mean to apply to
them and to make flourish in our Family the concrete description of the lay
person as was given by Vatican II.
I
consider it of vital importance to be exact about this; if we are not we shall
never launch in the Church a real spiritual movement among people.
[1] It is not a
question of excluding from our consideration and from appropriate involvement
at different levels so many other collaborators, past pupils and friends.
We know that Don Bosco sought collaborators everywhere, so long as they had
a bit of goodwill and did some good (benefactors), even if they
belonged to no religion at all. And this is a very valid trait which we have
inherited, one which must be preserved in the Congregation and which at the
present day has been endorsed by the Council's opening to ecumenism, to dialogue
with non-christian religions and even with non-believers. But this year's
Strenna does not refer to this particular aspect, which in many of our communities
is already functioning reasonably well.
What
we have to do is eliminate the dangerous superficiality of which I spoke in
my Report on the state of the Congregation to the 22nd General Chapter; it
goes with and characterizes the busybody jack of all trades who may seem
the friend of many but is spiritual father to none.
In
our Family we find lay people (in the conciliar sense), or we involve them
in fact, among the Cooperators, among those Past Pupils who (according to
GC21)have made the choice of the gospel,
[2]
and among those externalcollaborators andfriends who want to bear witness
to their Catholic faith.
The
concrete task to which we are called is a greater and better dedication of
ourselves to promoting in the first place the Association of the Cooperators
in its lay members, and to intensify our care of those who, without being
ordained or consecrated, want to be active Catholics among the Past Pupils
(in their local Associations and in the World Confederation), among the Collaborators
and among the Friends.
These
are the laity of our Family to whom we are referring. We must act in concert
with the FMA and the other consecrated Groups in the Family to make these
lay people feel the joy of living a wonderful vocation and of sharing with
us in the work of the Church's mission in the world in the spirit of Don Bosco.
The new ecclesial mentality
The
mature man must have wisdom and be open to the innovations of the Spirit.
But in recent years we have seen for ourselves that there are people who on
reaching a certain age can easily become skeptical; there is no longer anything
new for them, they sit back, they have arrived, and they settle little by
little into a comfortable middle-class life style. It is a sad experience
to meet people who are mature in age but so lacking in spirit.
I said to you
in my last letter that it has been said that the Council produced no unpublished
definitions or condemnations, but this notwithstanding there emerged from
it an extraordinarily new state of affairs:nihil no vi et omnia nova.
As regards the laity in the Church there is a great innovation that should
be noticed, and whoever is unaware of it runs the risk of not being docile
to the Spirit, and therefore of not being able to contribute effectively to
renewal.
The vocation
of the lay person, as presented by Vatican II, makes concrete demands \which
impose on all of us two simultaneous and complementary obligations: to have
a sound knowledge of the Council's doctrine in this regard, and in addition
to take another and discerning look at the thought of Don Bosco and his initiatives.
We can never separate these two aspects; if we did, we should fall into either
fleeting caprice or static rigidity.
Now, with regard
to Don Bosco's thoughts and actions we can say (or at least I hope we can)
that we have a sufficient bibliography and a living tradition which can facilitate
a serious historical assessment of the presence of the lay person in our mission.
We are all fully convinced that our Founder was always concerned to involve
the greatest possible number of collaborators in the working out of his plan,
from Mamma Margaret to employers, to ordinary good citizens, to theologians,
to the nobility, and even to the politicians of the time; he thought, he planned,
he sought the opinion of others, and finally he instituted as an organized
expression of what was in his mind the Pious Union of Salesian Cooperators.
The Cooperators, he declared with conviction and hope,will be the ones
who will promote the Catholic spirit
[3] But as far as
our knowledge of Vatican II is concerned, there remains some doubt.
As
I said in the previous letter, it is the sad opinion of the Pastors of the
Church (and I think that unfortunately the opinion applies also to more than
a few religious) that Vatican II is not sufficiently known, and still less
has it been assimilated and put into practice; indeed interpretations have
been more readily followed that are superficial, reductive, partial and even
distorted.
[4] Hence the urgent need for all to go
back to the Council texts and make an ordered study of them.
[5] It
is necessary therefore, and the task falls particularly on provincials and
rectors, to organize concrete initiatives in this regard. It is a duty for
every province. Every house too must seek a practical means of acquiring a
deeper and systematic knowledge of the Council's doctrine. After the appeal
of the Extraordinary Synod such an urgent task must find a place in our plan
of life. For my own part I thought it opportune to do this even when I was
recently preaching the Spiritual Exercises to the Holy Father and the Roman
Curia.
[6] If
the Council is a prophetic event,a gift of God to the Church and to the
world,the great grace of the present century,a new Pentecost,the
Magna Carta for the future
[7] the
great Catechism of modern times,
[8]
our pastoral mentality must be adapted constantly to ever better to its great
indicational guide-lines. One of these is precisely the vocation and mission
of the laity in the Church.
Vatican II our guide in apilgrimage of discovery
In
his Message for the 1985 World Day of Peace, John Paul II declared that the
passage of man through history is like apilgrimage of discovery.
[9] Certainly Vatican
II is for believers a rich and fruitful source of discoveries. One of them
is the positive view of the World , as an authentic religious value, despite
the ruin caused by sin: the Father created it for man and loved it so much
that he sent to it his only Son.
Such a vision
brings with it an entirely new manner of looking at the Church in its overall
relationship with the world. It lives for the latter's service: in fact the
entire People of God is inserted in human history as a sacrament of salvation.
This is the
context in which the doctrine of the vocation and mission of the lay person
finds its place. The Council gave a formidable response to the prevailing
laicism; it stripped it of the banner of the lay or secular state, which it
was proudly waving as a post-christian conquest; it was purely and simply
laicism which represents the backtracking of an illuminism which is reductive
of reality.
The bearer of
the banner for the re-assertion of the true secular or lay state in the world
is, among the People of God, the lay person. In fact the rediscovery of the
World as the creation of the Father, an expression of his omnipotent love;
of the World as the story of mankind, in which Christ, the presence of liberating
love, became incarnate; of the World moving forward to its final destiny as
a plan in developing transformation through the work of the Holy Spirit, the
bearer of sanctifying love, all leads to the emergence of the fascinating
and inseparable double concept ofGod and the World.
We
do not know a God without the World, and a World without God is impossible.
The idea of
laity does not mean thinking of the World as though God did not exist: that
would be laicism; but thinking of it precisely as he created it, with its
laws, its autonomous values, the consistency of the respective ends, the regality
and protagonist of man, his tremendous task in history, his personal dignity,
his work, knowledge, technical abilityeverything harmonized in a return
dialogue of love with which man must meet God's initiative.
[10] The more one
knows of the World and human history, the more does one realize that God can
only be Love. The laicist who accepts the existence of God, but then thinks
of him as having no interest in the World reduces him at the best to an unmoved
mover but one without a heart, and that is a blasphemous caricature!
A
similar rediscovery of the World creates for us an image of the Church which
is no longer that of a pyramid, narrow at the top (the hierarchy) and broad
at the base (the laity), but that of an immense circle expanding in history,
which receives energy and stimulus from the center for continual extension.
And it is precisely
the layman who is on the circumference, on the frontier of progress, of liberation
and of transformation of the World. For this he needs Christ and his Spirit
(the center!); he needs light and grace and the values of the Beatitudes which
come to him through the service of the Ministry and the witness of consecrated
life (close to the center); he needs communion with everyone. so as to feel
himself to be a living member of the Body of Christ in history (the Church
of all, one and holy), but he is in the front line, he is truly a protagonist.
While he receives he also gives; and theministers andconsecrated persons,
while they help him, are also enriched by what his vocation gives to them.
Don Bosco had
immediately understood these values of the World and felt himself called to
work for the betterment of human society.
[11]
He dedicated himself to young people of the poorer classes, in
need and lacking care, so as to make of them upright citizens. He was a realist
and had a strong sense of history. His strategy was built on the conviction
that religion (i.e.christian faith) was an indispensable value to be inserted
at the center of culture (and in the heart of every young person) if society
was going to be renewed in line with the dignity of the human person.
With his practical
and industrious mentality he scrutinized the complex events and circumstances
of the time, and in the light of history and faith came to the conclusion
(so very clear today inGaudium et Spes) that God really loves the World,
and that he sends all christians to it to save it. In particular he felt that
he himself was sent with that purpose, with a mission to the young and the
poor. This was the reason for his rich humanism, his appreciation of progress
in science and technology, his flair for method and organization; this was
why he was so concerned to discuss matters with civil authorities; for this
reason he was so anxious to move so many people of good will to be active
and share in responsibility, and to appeal to Catholics to be united in doing
all the good they possibly could.
Without any
doubt he was a holy Founder raised up by the Lord for a prophetical anticipation
of what was to come in later times.
The Council
invites us today to rediscover this ecclesial vision so as to give a clearer
and more committed physiognomy to the salesian dimension of service to the
world's youth.
A valuable initiative of communion
One
important aspect of the innovation produced by the Council must be considered,
because it is closely related to the presence of the laity in our Family.
The
fact that the laity are in the mission with us, and we with them, is not simply
a matter of a quantitative summation of forces, and still less is it an addition
forced upon us by our losses and absences.
It is a question
of a mutually enriching communion between distinct but complementary vocations
in the Church. There is an interchange of values which improves the qualities
of each of the vocations concerned, strengthening their identity, making them
more incisive and enriching them with the element of being up to date.
It is evidently
necessary to be able to bring about between lay and consecrated persons a
true ecclesial communion of complementary vocations, founded on 'Christ, moved
by his Spirit, and nourished by convictions of faith, by mutual witness, and
by a concrete and practical choice of tasks. In other words it is a question
of a deep communion in the same apostolic spirituality.
And this brings
us back once again from another standpoint to the urgent need to root out
superficiality!
The communion
starts substantially from two distinct poles which however are related one
to the other and in mutual tension.
The Layman fulfils
his ecclesial vocation by passing from within secular values, from the World
as a starting point, to the vertex of a religious attitude. The Salesian fulfils
his vocation by moving from within his consecration towards the World, from
the religious vertex towards human values. If we keep in mind the eloquent
assertion ofGaudium et Spes that earthly activity must be carried out in
such a way ''as to integrate human, domestic, professional, scientific and
technical enterprises with religious values, under whose supreme direction
all things are ordered to the glory of God,
[12]
we shall understand the difference in direction of the two vocations
and also their mutual complementarity.
We
may think, for example, of the different and complementary tasks of parents
(lay people) towards their children, and of educators (Salesians) in respect
of the same children.
Don
Bosco reminds us of this in a fatherly letter addressed to the confreres:
Above all, if we want to be seen as desiring the real good of our pupils,
we must never forget that we take the place of the parents of the dear lads.
[13] (After the Synod of Bishops on the
theme of the family, I wrote a circular letter to you in which I emphasized
precisely the need to link youth ministry with family ministry; cf. ASC 299).
The
lay parent dedicates himself in a christian fashion to the education of the
young, but beginning from the human demands inherent in generation.
The
salesian educator, on the other hand, dedicates himself to the education of
the young beginning from the standpoint of the supernatural motherhood of
the Church.
The two movements
converge, meet, enter into communion and mutually enrich each other. How much
the Salesian has to learn from the Layman! And on the other hand, how much
the Layman has to learn from the Salesian! Both one and the other, acting
alone and merely on their own account, would find themselves very much impoverished
in their own particular vocation.
[14]
And we could give many other similar examples in which the Layman,
starting from secular values, enriches the Salesian, and vice versa the Salesian,
starting from religious values, enriches the Layman with whom he comes in
contact in the service of the young.
Between the
laity in mission with us and us in mission with them, there is a common purpose
which is the apostolate for the young and the poor. But the manner in which
the purpose is achieved is different in each case; as the Council puts it:
in the Church there is diversity of ministry, but unity of mission.
[15] Both of them draw on the same evangelical
spirit of Don Bosco, but they do so in different keys and with details which
are different but mutually correlated: they mutually enrich each other, as
in the classic interchange between celibacy for the Kingdom and marriage in
Christ.
[16]
Don Bosco lived
concretely, and has taught us to do likewise, a similar precious communion.
We were born in communion with the laity, and they with us, and our historical
growth has followed the same line.
After a Council
which has studied so deeply and launched this tremendous ecclesial value,
how could we fail to commit ourselves to its growth: to improve the quality
of communion and increase the number of those sharing in it? But it is precisely
together that we must speak of Christ, live in Christ and witness to Christ!
We have a common christian vocation of being authentic disciples of the Lord,
even though it be expressed in different ways.
What are our objectives?
If
we are to promote in our communities this precious communion we must have
certain concrete objectives at which to aim, seeking and using means which
every house has available or which the province can offer.
The first goal to be attained, and it will subsequently throw light on whatever
else has to be done, is a more organic knowledge of Vatican II with a special
analysis of its doctrine on the vocation and mission of the laity. I have
already referred to this above, and I dealt with at length in the earlier
circular.
[17] Once again I remind
provincials and rectors of their responsibility in this regard. It will be
opportune too to promote some well planned study meetings with the lay people
themselves.
As one of the fruits of this deeper study, it will be necessary to instill
in the laity the knowledge of being true committed Catholics. witnesses of
their Baptism, aware of their secular vocation, courageous members of a Church
Sacrament of salvation, in the family, in the neighborhood, in society, and
in fact everywhere.
Don Bosco sought
to bind actively and in spiritual depth with the Salesiansthose Catholics
who so desire;in these difficult times, he said,we christians must unite
to foster the spirit of prayer and charity by all the means that religion
provides
[18] The sense of
being a responsible member of the Catholic Church must become the moving nucleus
of this apostolic activity.
A third objective to be ensured is that of centering the apostolic interest
of the laity who collaborate with us on the integral promotion of young people
and on the needs of evangelization of the poorer classes. The common mission
gives to all the Salesian Family its concrete tone and defines its characteristic
place in the People of God.
Don Bosco involved
the laity precisely toremove or at least mitigate those evils which put
at risk the morality of the new generations, in whose hands lie the destinies
of civil society.
[19] The
apostolic interest of the laity for the young and for poor neighborhoods can
bedirect and immediate (parents, educators, teachers, catechists, social
communicators, etc.), or it can beindirect and mediate through participation
in cultural, social and political tasks etc. which have particular relevance
to the young and the poor. It is not a case of listing activities and functions,
but of opening horizons before apostolic desires.
And then, as regards practical kinds of apostolate we need to intensify in
the laity generosity and creativity, but keeping always in mind certain aspects
which open up a great range of possibilities.
In the first
place, insistence is needed on the daily witness which the laity must be able
to provide by their state of life and in their work or profession: this is
what gives its christian aspect to their specific secular character.
In
addition it is particularly meaningful and enhancing if the laity can be convinced
about reserving a space for apostolic activity in their free time. Whether
this be much or little, it is certainly one of the best signs of responsible
and committed membership of the Church according to the mission proper to
the Salesian Family.
The Council's
decreeApostolicam actuositatem presents threeareas of apostolic perspective:
the first concerns specific tasks in the field of evangelization, the second
(and most characteristic) refers to the christian animation of the temporal
order, and the third involves initiatives in charitable works and social aid.
[20] It is not therefore
a restrictive, closed and unilateral perspective, but one that is open to
ample possibilities of action.
The
decree also presents various possibleforms of apostolate. The two basic
ones are: the 'individual' form, which in some countries is frequently the
only one possible in practice; and the 'associative' form, particularly recommended
by the Council, becauseit is in happy harmony with a fundamental need in
the faithful, a need that is both human and christian; and at the same time
it offers a sign of the communion and unity of the Church in Christ
[21] In our Family
various possibilities can be found for apostolic work in groups or associations.
But there exists
an outstanding Association, that of the Salesian Cooperators. From the point
of view of the christian vocation of the lay person in our Family, this must
be considered the center of reference for all such possibilities, because
it is not an alternative to other associations, but rather aims at animating
those others. The Cooperators are not an association which, as such, organizes
works and specific initiatives; the Association is aware that it shares responsibility
with us in preserving in all its members and in our Family the vitality of
Don Bosco's plan, bringing to it the riches of its own secular condition.
In doing this it retains the possibility of offering animators for the identity
of any other group or association whose specific nature needs to be known
and appreciated, without prejudice to its autonomy.
On
account of this vocational character, the Cooperators' Association has ,particular
bonds with our Congregation; it is in fact called upon to ensure, in special
communion with us, the identity and vitality of the spiritual and apostolic
heritage of Don Bosco in the world.
The
Founder did not conceive the Association as being independent and made up
only of lay people, but rather as an integral part or group aggregated to
the Congregation. The great majority of its members are in fact lay, and
the Association promotes their secular character; but it also includes diocesan
priests and deacons (and even Bishops). It enjoys too its own peculiar autonomy,
which however must be efficaciously harmonized with the serious responsibility
of taking care (together with us) of the specific character and efficacy of
the salesian vocation.
If all the authentic
laity who are in mission with us (Past Pupils, Collaborators, Friends) became
members of this special Association, it would strengthen their personal salesian
identity and in addition they would bring to the other associations of which
they might be members a greater commitment in a better Family communion.
This
is what Don Bosco wanted.
Finally,
another important objective to be attained is that of making known and loved
the evangelical patrimony of Don Bosco with its specific values of his charisma
and criteria for activity. This means helping lay people to grow in the salesian
spirit and apostolic method left to as by our Founder as a heritage; but in
this formative task it is always necessary to see that everythingis in harmony
with their secular vocation.
[22]
To
achieve these objectives it will be obvious, I think, to everyone that some
priorities must be laid down for competent and efficacious action.
I
recall some of these, especially for the benefit of provincials:
To make sure that the confreres in charge of this sector are adequate in number
and quality, that they are up-to-date and have the necessary time available
for the work involved.
Constantly to promote the calling together, friendship and formation of lay
people in view of an apostolic involvement; in this connection those who are
young should not be overlooked but rather given special attention.
[23]
To help individuals to choose concrete and practical commitments in keeping
with their personal possibilities in educational, pastoral, charitable and
other works for the common good, either individually or in association with
others.
To organize
initiatives at provincial level which will create a climate of renewal and
relaunching in every community.
Giving life to a truespiritual movement
Vatican
II brought with it a vast spiritual renewal. As Paul VI said:We are living
in the Church at a privileged moment of the Spirit. Everywhere people are
trying to know him better, as the Scripture reveals him. They are happy to
place themselves under his inspiration. They are gathering about him; they
want to let themselves be led by him.
[24] Now
if the Spirit of the Lord is providing the Church at the present day with
a special period of spiritual rebirth, it would indeed be strange if we, who
are precisely bearers of one of his charismata, remained passive or were satisfied
with the simple and meager effort of repeating what had been done before:
that would not be movement, but rather a comfortable way of standing still.
In commenting
on the Strenna, I said that the life of the Church provides a yardstick for
measuring ourselves: either we launch a characteristicspiritual movement
with the contribution of the whole Salesian Family and we shall be leaders
for the future, bearing the Council towards the third millennium, or else
we shall resign ourselves to remaining in the rear, closing ourselves in nostalgic
musings on the past and running the risk of imprisoning ourselves up in a
museum of past memories.
We
need something to shake us up; and 1988 offers a magnificent opportunity for
the purpose.
A significant
majority of confreres in the Congregation are already breathing the fresh
air of this renewal, nourished and supported (for more than a year now) by
the renewed Constitutions.
And
so the conditions exist, and indeed in various provinces very positive steps
have already been taken for the growth and expansion of a characteristically
apostolicspiritual movement, which involves and catalyzes a large number
of lay people together with ourselves.
To
this end we must able to give back to our consecrated life its specific feature
ofcharisma. This means, asMutuae relationes says,bringing an element
of real originality into the spiritual life of the Church along with fresh
initiatives for action. Such a characteristic demandsa constant re-examination
of fidelity to the Lord, docility to his Spirit, prudent weighing of circumstances
and careful reading of the signs of the times, the will to be integrated in
the Church, awareness of obedience to the hierarchy, boldness in initiatives,
perseverance in self-giving, humility in the face of adversity. In a genuine
charism there is always a mixture of new creativity and interior suffering.
[25] These
expression provide us with a very useful yardstick for comparison and revision.
From
the very beginnings the charism of Don Bosco has given rise in the world to
a concrete, attractive and adequateyouth spirituality; St Dominic Savio
provides proof of this. At the present day, after the Council, the members
of the Salesian Family must renew in their own Group and in mutual encounters
with others the most genuine spirit of the Founder, so as to manifest the
existence in all of them of a dynamism of holiness, of amovement of people
which inspires, guides and sustains a genuine spirituality for young people
of the middle and lower classes.
We know that
Mary Help of Christians, Mother of the Church, was present in the origins
of many charisms in favor of the People of God; we are well aware of her motherly
initiative and particular care in the case of our own Family. Let us ask her
insistently, in view also of what we want to do for 1988, for the lights,
energy and practical gifts which will enable us to make our family in the
Church trulya vast movement of persons who in different ways work for the
salvation of the young.
[26] May
she give special help to us Salesians who, in this movement of people,by
the will of the Founder... have particular responsibilities: to preserve unity
of spirit and to foster dialogue and fraternal collaboration for our mutual
enrichment and greater apostolic effectiveness?
[27]
My greetings to all of you, with my best wishes to every community that
it may be a lively and dynamic center ofyouth spirituality.
Affectionately in the Lord,
Don Egidio Viganò
[1] C 5
[2] GC21 69
[3] MB 18 161
[4] AGC 316, p. 9-12
[5] Extraordinary Synod, Final report, I, 5-6
[6] ACTS p.37
[7] Extraordinary Synod
[8] CT 2
[9] Message of 1985, 10
[10]
GS 43
[11]
C 33
[12]
GS 43
[13]
Collected Letters, Turin 1959, IV. 201-205
[14]
C 47
[15]
AA 2
[16]
ASC 299, p. 24-26
[17]
AGC 316
[18]
Cooperators Regulations
[19] ibid.
[20]
AA 5-8
[21]
ibid. 15-19
[22]
C 47
[23]
AA 12
[24]
EN 75
[25]
MR 12
[26]
C 5
[27]
ibid.