Rome 2013

In preparation forGeneral Chapter XXIII

Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CIRCULAR OF MOTHER YVONNE

Convocation of General Chapter XXIIIThe choice of the Chapter theme Contributing towards a deeper reflection of the theme

The real world challenges us

A home to be protected and builtIn a constantly changing society The Church a living presence among the peopleYoung people searching for a home

The call to new evangelisation

Evangelisation as an encounter with Jesus Christ and life witness Education a privileged channel for evangelisation

Home a place of encounter and invitation

God lives in our homeMary home of the Living GodThe Church, a house of communion open to all people

Valdocco and Mornese: prophetic sources

Communities rooted in the Lord Jesus A home where one experiences familyA community with a missionary vision

What kind of house is needed to evangelise today?

Relationships as a way of evangelising educationThe environment as a place of encounter and mutualityTogether, we respond to deepest needs of young people

Conclusion

PROPOSED WORK PLAN

Outline for reflection on the themeThe Provincial Chapter

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

TIMELINE IN PREPARATION FOR GENERAL CHAPTER XXIII

NORMS RELATING TO THE PROVINCIAL CHAPTER

APPENDIX

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N. 934

Dear Sisters,

Gathered together as the General Council, for the plenary session and being supported by the prayers of the whole Institute, I come to you to share the process worked out in preparation for General Chapter XXIII. My great desire is that from now on we all set out on the journey towards this event that will affect all our communities and each one of us.

The echo of the Synod on the theme of The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith has reached us and involves us. The grace given to me of participating in it was, for me and for the whole Institute, both a gift and a responsibility.1 The Synod opened up before us a new horizon of hope, beauty and joy. We experience ourselves Church, called to live a new season of Gospel dynamism and coherence, together with the young people and our educating communities. New witnesses are needed who are courageous and daring, who feel St. Paul’s message burning in their hearts: «Woe to me if I do not proclaim the Gospel!» (1Cor 9,16). Our Institute was founded to live this mission and in every historic era it questions itself regarding the conditions that make this prophetic proclamation possible and credible.

In the following pages, along with the convocation of the General Chapter, you will find the reflections shared by the Sisters of the General Council on this question that resounds today with a new urgency, as an echo of the Synod and of the Mid-chapter Evaluations.

Convocation of General Chapter XXIII

With this circular letter I officially convoke General Chapter XXIII, according to Art. 138 of the Constitutions. It will begin in our Generalate in Rome on September 22, 2014. «The Chapter itself is an exceptionally important time for reflection, assessment and guidance in the common search for God’s will» (C 135).

The task of the Chapter is, «to deal with the more important topics related to the life of the Institute in order to be an ever more effective presence in the Church and in the world» (C 136). The election of the Superior General and of the General Councillors is of particular importance. As Don Bosco wrote when convoking the second General Chapter at Nizza, «the good of the Institute and the glory of God»2 depends on the election of a good Council and of a wise Superior.

For this reason, let us commit ourselves from now to personal and community prayer for the successful outcome of the forthcoming General Chapter, which will be celebrated towards the end of the journey of preparation for the bicentenary of the birth of Don Bosco, and which we entrust to the protection of Mary Our Help and of our Founders.

I have named Sr. Chiara Cazzuola as the moderator of the Chapter. All documents prepared by the Provincial Chapters should be sent to her.

The General Chapter will be preceded by a spiritual retreat in Mornese. The experience of a more intense listening to the Word of God, of prayer and dialogue with the sources of the

1 Cf. Circular letter n. 932.2 Cf. Letter to the FMA of May 24, 1886, in Appendix to the Constitutions, p.404.

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charism, of meeting with Maria Domenica Mazzarello and the first Sisters, will help us to breath the air of home, of the “house of the love of God”, which is the living paradigm of each of our communities.

The choice of the Chapter theme

Let us recall the steps taken to identify the emerging challenges and reach the formulation of the theme for General Chapter CG XXIII: attention to today’s socio-cultural context; reflection on the reality of the Provinces through the visits; listening to what emerged from the Mid-Chapter Evaluations and the proposals of the Interprovincial Conferences, the SPR Province and the communities that depend directly on Mother General; a review of the journey undertaken by the Institute in recent General Chapters (1984-2008); attention to the ecclesial perspective of new evangelisation, starting from the experience of the Assembly of the Synod and of religious life today. Thus we reached the formulation of the theme of General Chapter XXIII, which I joyfully entrust to the whole Institute:

Being with the young people today, a home that evangelises,

The theme finds its place within the context of the new evangelisation and of the problems linked to the lack of faith, of relationships, of meaningful points of reference, and of an environment in which to feel at home.3

In our communities, too, the desire is present, as well as the difficulty of giving a more human and evangelical face to our relationships. Relationship, in the Chapter theme, is considered as the privileged place of evangelisation. In fact communion is the first and irreplaceable witness that we are called to give to the world in a Church that seeks to show itself ever more welcoming, humble, close to people.4

The house/home in the Salesian tradition is a family environment made up of FMA, young people, and the laity. It is an atmosphere of co-responsibility that favours personal growth, strengthens joy, is a space in which to proclaim Jesus and a vocational appeal. It is an experience of communion in the style of the Preventive System that expands horizons of mission to the needs of the Church and the area. It is important that young people should feel happy and that they are active contributors with us, involved in the evangelising mission, especially among other young people.

Contributing towards a deeper reflection of the theme

The key to reading the theme is given by our identity as FMA consecrated women, called to witness to the new life of the beatitudes in a community animated by the apostolic spirit of Don Bosco and of Mother Mazzarello, proclaiming Christ to and with the young people in the educational community (cf. C 8).An indispensable condition for an evangelising educational action is the witness of one who “lives [in communion] the ideals [she] proclaims” (C 68), according to the word of Jesus “Come

3 We use the term home/house as meaning a way of being and of being in relationship, a human and spiritual atmosphere of trust, intergenerational dialogue, listening and mutual enrichment. It is a metaphor for the Salesian style that we live in the educating community, open to the local area. [The same word “casa” signifies both house and home in Italian. In the translation the word most suited to the context has been used]4 Cf. Message to the People of God. XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, October 7–28, 2012, n. 1.

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and see”: “By this will everyone know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another” (Jn 13:35).

The theme leads us to think about the urgency of allowing ourselves to be evangelised so that our lives may become evangelising, starting from our own coherence, from our style of community relationships, from our option for the poorest. A community evangelises when it witnesses to the presence of God with joy and searches for those who have not experienced God. The proposal of the theme is therefore in continuity with the pathways of conversion to love indicated by General Chapter XXII and emphasises the category of encounter, which is a fundamental aspect of the charismatic identity of the FMA and of our mission today.

In order to study the theme in depth I propose some reflection that focus on certain elements: The socio-cultural and ecclesial situation of today that challenges us to renew our responsibility for our charismatic identity.

The demands of the new evangelisation that challenge us as missionary disciples who, in community, proclaim and witness with young people to the joy and beauty of faith and of meeting Christ, whatever our age or the mission entrusted to us.

The word of God and the charismatic sources help us to grasp the prophetic power of this theme. The more the home is a place that is saturated with the Gospel, the more it will involve others and spread the contagion, educate and transform.

From our dialogue with the sources we can highlight the guidelines and challenges that make it possible for us, together with the young people, to be a home that evangelises.

The aim of General Chapter XXIII is, in fact, to help the whole Institute and as part of it each FMA and educating community to renew its being and its relating, as a way of evangelizing. In the Constitutions we note that in the articles on community life and on mission these two dimensions are inseparable: the community is a place of evangelisation and evangelisation is the renewing force for the community. The Chapter reflection can help to re-motivate us in the choice of a style of relationships that is ever more evangelical and Salesian, lived among ourselves, with the laity, in the Salesian Family and in the local Church, open to the area and to other religious congregations.

The theme touches on significant aspects of the family spirit, which is expressed in trust, benevolence, loving kindness, optimism, hope and, at the same time, as co-responsibility, a style of animation in the spirit of co-ordination for communion5 and the renewed commitment to allow our hearts to be evangelised in order to proclaim Jesus in a credible way.

The challenges we face today at a social and ecclesial level are an opportunity for us to reflect, to be converted and to evangelise.

THE REAL WORLD CHALLENGES US

5 Cf. Rooted in the Covenant. Plan of Formation of the FMA, Rome 2000, 151-168; That they may have life and have it to the full. Guidelines for the educational mission of the FMA , Leumann (Torino) Elle Di Ci 2006, n. 135-141 [In quotations from these and other current documents of the Institute, the references from the English translation is given. Otherwise references are to the Italian edition].

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God gave us the world as a home to care for, in which to dwell and to live out significant relationships. In many parts of the world however one sees the lack of a home and a family, the absence of fathers and mothers who, with wisdom, love and balance are capable of showing to young people authentic paths of freedom and of fullness of life and who are witnesses of hope. The difficulties and sufferings that children and young people experience because of the destruction of family ties with all their consequences, the very fact that the existence of the family formed of a father-man and a mother-woman is being questioned, creates disorientation and is a great educational challenge, at a time when secure reference points that would help to build one’s personal identity are lacking.

A home to be protected and built

We note that in this home, which is a world, rich in many scientific-technological conquests, the person is not at the centre. Often it is earnings, profits, individual enrichment that dictate the rules of life together and that cause the injustices that violate fundamental human rights, in spite of the commitment of the many institutions that work for their recognition today. A great gap still exists between the public affirmations of governments and the lack of respect for the person.

The social teaching of the Church offers humanity the key to a Gospel reading of the present situation. It helps every Christian, and us educators, to give an effective contribution to a correct building of social reality, starting, especially, from service to the dignity of human persons and the safeguarding of their rights.6

While we welcome these challenges as new calls, we look at the world with hope because we believe that the Lord has conquered death and that His Spirit is working with power in history. The world is, in fact, a creature of God, wounded by evil, but always loved by Him, in which the sowing of the seed can be renewed in order that it may once again be fruitful. The earth is a gift of God who created it out of love. Today there is a strong call to be converted from being consumers and exploiters to being guardians of creation. It is from within the person that this change of direction must take place, with a great sense of responsibility. Only a human ecology will truly resolve the problems of the environment, to which is linked the present and future of humanity.

In a constantly changing society

Change is a permanent fact in culture and in society today and the speed of innovation, which we constantly witness, generates amazement at the great scientific and technological innovations that are taking place, but it also provokes a good deal of uncertainty and disorientation.

The economic crisis is a widespread phenomenon that is becoming permanent. In a variety of ways it is upsetting the internal balance of society and of states, hitting the weakest, women young people, children, the elderly, creating ever more extensive pockets of poverty and making the lack of a home and of work even more dramatic.

The phenomenon of migration is motivated especially by the search for better living conditions, as well as by racial and religious discrimination and by wars that uproot whole populations from their land, often affecting the most marginalised in every continent.

6 Compendio della Dottrina sociale della Chiesa, Città del Vaticano, Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2004, 66-71.

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Politics, called to promote the common good of the people, suffers from the problems linked to corruption, to individual interests and to the search for personal gain. For this reason young people, often disillusioned in the face of how public affairs are conducted by persons in authority, tend to withdraw ever more from political commitments.

Today we also note how great the challenge of communication is. It influences our way of seeing the human person, with profound repercussions in the area of interpersonal relations. The change that is taking place is, in fact, not just cultural, social and economic. It calls into question the fundamental dimensions of the person, of his/her identity and ways of relating. Online friendships are multiplying and networked links create new environments in which to be together. At the same time relationships are tending to weaken, even at family level, to become distant, hurried and superficial. Alongside the unmistakeably positive aspects of the culture of communications, there are also new forms of poverty connected with it. Today those who do not possess the means and instruments for getting to know and use the new of communication technologies are also poor. The lack of knowledge and formation in this culture becomes an element of discrimination that is added to many others. How can the virtual generation, the ‘invisible’ generation of the cell phone, the computer and the use of social networks be educated? It is a considerable challenge for us, educators of young people.

Poverty, with its many faces, opens up unheard-of areas for the service of charity. The proclamation of the Gospel commits us as Church to be on the side of the poor and to take their sufferings on ourselves, as Jesus did. A profoundly changed society offers the Church the opportunity and the incentive to re-think its own presence in the world.

The Church a living presence among the people

Fifty years after the celebration of the Vatican II Ecumenical Council there is a greater awareness in the Church of being the People of God on a journey, sharing the joys and hopes of humanity. The Church is, “the house of God in which his family dwells”7, “the home and the school of communion”. 8

The new law of love, which it proclaims, embraces the whole world and knows no limits, since the salvation of Christ extends « to the utmost bounds of the earth» (Acts 1,8). This same Church, which is living in a time of new evangelisation and of presence among the people, is going through a period of great trials because of the wounds inflicted by the fragility and weakness of some of its members, amplified and made more evident by the mass media. Its suffering, however, leads it back to the Paschal Mystery and promises a future of hope.

Humanity is living through a crisis of planetary dimensions, not only at a cultural level, but also at the level of faith. Ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue, built more in living and sharing than in the area of ideas, is a necessary condition for peace in the world and serious commitment on the part of Christians and other religious confessions.

In a world, in which every trace of God often seems to be lost, the Church has confidence in the prophetic witness of consecrated persons, men and women who manifest the primacy of God in the following of Christ chaste, poor and obedient, totally given over to the Father and to the proclamation of the Kingdom. Faced with the growing search for pleasure, they offer the witness of chastity, as an expression of a heart that knows the beauty and the price of

7 Lumen Gentium n. 68 Novo Millennio Ineunte n. 43.

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Love. In the face of the thirst for money, their moderate lifestyle, ready to serve the most needy, reminds people that God is the true wealth that never fails. In the face of individualism and relativism, which lead people to centre completely on themselves, fraternal life, capable of obedience in co-ordination and co-responsibility, reaffirms that God is the total fulfilment of the person.9

In various areas of the world consecrated life is undergoing a period of transition due to many challenges: falling numbers of vocations, aging, social irrelevance, fragmentation of charismatic identity, loss of visibility of religious communities, difficulties in renewing structures and finding new ways of apostolate. All this generates uncertainty and a profound crisis of identity that can lead to a significant transformation and to new ways living.

Young people searching for a home

As FMA we feel particularly challenged by the profound needs of young people to whom we look with confidence because, as Don Bosco said, they are the weakest and most fragile section of society, but also its hope and strength for the present and the future. In many ways young people today are no different from those of preceding generations. Perhaps they appear more fragile, fragmented, dispersed, but, if motivated by an ideal, they are capable of generosity and dedication, of openness to the Gospel and commitment to social and missionary volunteering. We are certain that education is the privileged way that supports them in building their identity, contributes to the solution of many of their problems and is a way to overcome the various forms of poverty that block the way to a dignified and happy life and the future itself.

Young people who are sometimes deprived of social reference points and of a sense of belonging, tend to make their choices without taking all the values, ideas or common norms into account. They assume various, and often contrasting, points of reference in order to experience them in their way of living. They run the risk of conforming to current trends, allowing themselves to be influenced by them rather than building their own freedom starting from strong reasons for living and loving. This leads to delusion, affective fragility, self doubt, lack of hope and vision.

At the same time, aspirations towards authenticity, freedom, truth, generosity and social commitment emerge in them. As Salesian educators, we are convinced that young people can find an adequate response in the freeing power of the grace of Christ, which facilitates the maturing of solid convictions and opens them to the gift of self. They then become a home for other young people and even for adults. They awaken us from routine with their capacity for creativity.

At the level of faith, the present generation, even in the diversity of contexts, more than being unbelieving or indifferent, is searching mainly for sensations and experiences that involve them emotionally. Although often unconsciously, young people ask for an educational relationship based on mutual respect, in which they can develop their sense of belonging. They seek a home and places in which they can be affirmed in their search for meaning, in which they can stay, be welcomed, dialogue and meet people.

Today, as FMA we are called to be a home in which the young people, especially the poorest, can experience an alternative way of living, space for relationships in which they can find the

9 Cf Benedict XVI, Discourse to religious man and women and to members of Secular Institutes and Societies of apostolic life of the diocese of Rome, December 10, 2005.

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meaning of life and openness to the vocational dimension. They feel the need for a style of life that can guide them to witness in society with the transforming power of faith.10

THE CALL TO NEW EVANGELISATION

At this moment in history, the Institute welcomes with renewed availability and joy the call to new evangelisation that the Church makes to every Christian community and to every person who has met Jesus. The urgency of a new evangelisation in a time of widespread illiteracy in the area of faith becomes a call to pass it on from generation to generation. It is a call to communicate the faith in a language that is understandable to men and women of today, so that they may move from the desert of indifference and unbelief to the place of life, towards the source that will quench their thirst.11

We are aware that there is no greater priority than this in the Salesian educational mission. “The heart of our work of evangelisation is the proclaiming of Christ” (C 70). It is a proclamation that renews and re-invigorates the faith and calls for a profound witness of communion as a condition for its fruitfulness. Our communities are called to be ever more houses where the Word of God resounds and, as in Mornese, houses of the love of God where the Gospel of charity is proclaimed with ones life.

Evangelisation as an encounter with Jesus Christ and life witness

The Church exists to evangelise.12 “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature… They went and preached the Gospel everywhere” (Mk. 16: 15.20). Christ’s mandate continues to be alive for every Christian community today.

Faced with disconnection from the faith in cultures that have been for centuries imbued with the Gospel, the Church questions itself, in the first place regarding its life, the depth of its faith, its encounter with Jesus. It notes the urgency, first of all, of evangelising itself in order to be able to proclaim Jesus to the men and women of today, proclaiming His Word that reveals the depth of God’s love and God’s plan for the human person.

The Church is aware that evangelisation does not begin with what it does, but with the working of God. The first word, in fact, is that of God, the first initiative is God’s. From the experience of God’s Love can develop people and communities that live the faith with joy and proclaim with passion what they have seen and heard of the Word of life (cf. 1 Jn. 1:1-4).

Faith is not founded on ideas, but on encounter with Jesus. He gives a new direction to life, offers the person horizons of hope, immerses them in a new relationship with himself and with others, who are welcomed as brothers and sisters. He makes them participants in a community that is committed to communicating the joy of this encounter. In it Mary, the Mother of Jesus and of the Church, is the first evangeliser, the one who is “completely at home […] with the word of God”.13

The historic time in which we are living requires passionate people who, through an enlightened and lived faith, make God believable in this world. People who keep their eyes

10 Cf. That they may have life n. 23-25.11 Cf. Benedict XVI, Homily for the beginning of the year of faith, October 11, 2012; cf. Instrumentum laboris for the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops n. 8.12 Cf. Evangelii nuntiandi n. 1413 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini n. 28.

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turned towards God and learn true humanity from God. Only through persons who have been touched by God, can he return to the hearts of the people.14

Evangelising means knowing how to read the signs of the Word who becomes incarnate in the suffering and joyful situation of humanity. It means creating the necessary conditions so that adults and young people can encounter, get to know and welcome Jesus, the Love of the Father whom he reveals to us. It means introducing people into the experience of a welcoming and witnessing Church, where all can grow as a new humanity transfigured by his love, capable of making itself a place of solidarity with all. It means proclaiming the Lord Jesus with joy, responding with Gospel wisdom to the questions asked today by the concerns of the human heart. To assume the call of the Church to new evangelisation as an educating community requires an experience of encounter with Jesus, cultivating a deep knowledge of Him, also through a well qualified preparation from a biblical, theological, and catechetical point of view. In this it needs to make use of the new languages and means of communication in order to make the word of faith understandable today.

As FMA we feel challenged to re-think the method and the languages of evangelisation. Evangelising is not just proclaiming the good news. Our whole life must become good news. And not just individually, but as a community that puts Jesus at the centre, gathers around the Word and the Eucharist, cultivates love for our brothers and sisters, makes itself a place of welcome and of communion especially for the poorest families and young people.

Education a privileged channel for evangelisation

The Church looks with hope to the new generations. The recent Synod of Bishops on The New Evangelisation for the passing on of the Christian Faith gave particular attention to them. It highlighted the importance of presenting the person of Jesus to young people in a credible way, with the strength of witness and communion. It also stressed the importance of facilitating their meeting Him; a liberating encounter, even if demanding, one that responds to their desire for life and for a future.

The Synod Assembly also expressed the hope that consecrated life would be aware of the responsibility to bring its specific contribution to the educational commitment, because the communication of the faith takes place in a special way through education. In a time of educational emergency it is urgent to form educators who can assume this mission, placing themselves in the perspective not only of educating but also of allowing themselves to be educated by young people.

Welcoming the Christian faith takes place through relationships of closeness, loyalty and trust in which one experiences how one’s search for faith, one’s “I believe” is sustained and accompanied by the “we believe” of the community. Over and above every project, before any programme, as a prior condition for any activity or initiative, comes that unity between the children of God for which Jesus gave his life. In bringing about communion, the educating community reveals itself as a “sacrament”, a legible sign of the foreseeing love of God even in settings not yet reached by the Gospel.

Fraternity is a prophecy that the world of today understands instantly. In a complex, multi-cultural and multi-faith setting, the educating communities can be places where a more human

14 Cf. Ratzinger Joseph, Europe in the Crisis of cultures, Conference of April 1, 2005 at the Monastery of Santa Scolastica, Subiaco.

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life-style and universal citizenship are built, signs of the universality of the Church and places of joyful witness to the faith. It is in these communities that young people can learn to become directly involved in the new evangelisation among their peers. They learn to live and witness to a Christianity not reduced to cult and tradition, but lived as a force for civilising environments and institutions. In order for the younger generations to live this experience it is necessary to pay special attention to the families as places where, in the succession of generations, the faith is passed on and finds its natural environment. In fact, the signs of the faith, the communication of the basic truths, education to prayer, witness to the fruits of love are all transmitted in the lives of children and young people, in the context of the care that each family provides for the growth of its little ones.15

HOME A PLACE OF ENCOUNTER AND SENDING FORTH

The Word of God helps us to read the chapter theme in depth: the experience of home. The biblical concept of home16 implies a twofold meaning: that of a building and that of a group of persons, a family, a history. In the Old Testament there are some significant examples of God who “visits” and “encounters” people in their homes, like Abraham and Sarah who welcome the messengers of God (cf. Gen 18), or God who reveals himself as the one who abides among his people. The promise to Jacob that the land on which he was lying was destined for his descendants aroused in the patriarch the awareness that “the Lord was surely in this place and I did not know” (Gen 28:17). Jacob, from then on, named that place Betel, “house of God”.

David offered to build a house for God, but God responded that “the Lord will build a house for you” (2 Sam 7:11b). In the book of Exodus, the house of God is represented as the Ark of the Covenant: “In the Ark you will place the testimony that I will give you” (Ex 25:16). These are only some of the biblical passages that show God as the “builder” of the house, the One who builds it and lives in it, as we often read in the Psalms.

God lives in our home

In Jesus “God has made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1: 14): a tent among tents, a house among houses. The Son of God spent the greater part of his life in a home in the little village of Nazareth and in the course of his missionary experience he chose the house as a place of encounter and transformation. He entered many houses: a guest of his disciples, of Peter; he stayed at the homes of friends like Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Bethany (Jn. 11:1-45 – Lk. 10:38-42); he was entertained in the house of Pharisees like Simon (LK. 7:36-49); he was a sign of hope and a power of resurrection in the house of Jairus (LK. 8:49-56). He even went to stay with sinners. To the surprise of all, he said to Zacchaeus: “Today I must stay at your house” (Lk. 19:5). 15 Cf. Message to the People of God, n. 7.16 A Hebrew legend tells that, when God decided to create the world, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet gathered in a circle around him and, one after another, begged the Lord saying: “Create the world using me!” To convince him, each brought different arguments. In the end the Lord chose the letter bet . The word with which the first chapter of Geneses opens is in fact bere’shit (in the beginning), which begins with the letter bet , which has the form of an open house. The letter bet forms the basis of the word (baît) which in Hebrew “house”. Bethlehem (baît-lehem), for example, means “house of bread”.This is only a legend but it is beautiful to think that God wanted to create the world as a home for his creatures. It is beautiful to think that the letter placed at the beginning of the whole Bible includes in its symbolism a reminder to the feminine that recalls welcome, encounter, us.

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Often Jesus, after having spoken to the crowds, withdrew “to the house” to explain the content of his words in greater depth. Thus, after the discourse of the parables, he explained them in greater depth “in the house” (Mt. 13:36). The house is also the place of instruction, teaching, and accompaniment. There the intimate truth emerges, the identity of the person, so that it is the place of conversation, education, and evangelisation. The episode of the possessed man is interesting. Before meeting Jesus he “has his home among the tombs”. After his cure Jesus tells him: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you” (Mk. 5:1-20).

When leaving to his friends the most precious thing he had, his own body, Jesus chose a family reunion in the Cenacle, in which, during the Last Supper, he gave himself as Eucharist, a memorial of the Paschal Mystery for all times. On the cross Jesus himself offered hospitality in his home: «Today you will be with me in paradise» (LK. 23:43).

For Jesus the house is the place of relating, of the manifestation of his divinity, of the invitation to bring the good news: “Go into the whole world and preach the good news” (Mk. 16:15); and of the return of his disciples sent to evangelize. Jesus chose some life companions ( Mk. 3:14), not as people to “do” things for him, but who were available to “make their home” with him, experience life, live and create communion.

Being with Jesus means living with him who teaches and sends us out to be witnesses with our lives, to remain built on the rock that is his Word (cf. Mt. 7:24-27).

Mary home of the Living God

The presence of Mary in the life of Jesus and in the life of the Church makes the biblical meaning of the home as the dwelling place of God more tangible. Even before his birth, Jesus experienced “entering the house” bringing joy, as he was brought by his mother into the home of Zachariah and Elisabeth. It was Mary who introduced Jesus into the sphere of the home, into everyday life with its joys, sufferings, anxieties, hopes, doubts and all those little things that make life meaningful.

Mary was the place of welcome, of meeting, of the I that becomes we. She is the model of total abandonment to the Word. She is the house built on the rock. In the Gospel texts, Mary is presented in the context of a home. In the annunciation, the Angel Gabriel was sent to her home in Nazareth. This whole encounter is enclosed between the two phrases: “He came to her and said…” and “the angel departed from her” (Lk. 1:28.38).

In the account of the visitation, Luke states: “She entered the house of Zachariah” (Lk. 1:40) and concludes, “and then returned to her home” (1; 56). Mary brings the Son of God, still invisible, into the practicality of family life. And where Mary enters the house is filled with joy: Elizabeth breaks into blessing and John leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. Moved and filled with gratitude for the marvels of the Lord, Mary herself intones the Magnificat. Narrating the birth of Jesus, Matthew speaks of the Magi from the east who came to Bethlehem, guided by a star. “Entering the house they saw the baby with Mary his mother” (Mt. 2:11). It is in the framework of a home, in the domestic sphere, that Mary shows the Son of God to all the peoples of the world.

The years that Mary spent with Jesus and Joseph at Nazareth were characterized by simplicity, hard work and that wisdom of heart revealed by Luke: “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (LK. 2:19.52).

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At Cana, Mary and Jesus were in the home of the spouses and took part in the celebration of a wedding. Here, on Mary’s initiative, Jesus performed his first “sign”, changing water into wine: the miracle that awakened in the disciples an initial faith in Jesus as the Messiah (Jn. 2:11).

At the foot of the cross Jesus entrusted the human race he had redeemed to Mary. He wanted his mother to be mother to all his disciples. “And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home” (Jn. 19:27). John, in whom the whole of humanity was present, welcomed Mary not only into his ‘home’ as a material building, but into his life, into his heart. At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles Mary is to be found with the disciples gathered in the cenacle, the house that had witnessed Jesus’ intimacy with his own. A house that is empty of the physical presence of Jesus, but which will soon be filled with his Spirit ( Acts 2:2). The doors of this house, once closed for fear, would be thrown wide-open for the courageous proclamation of the Gospel.

The Church, a home of communion open to all people

Jesus himself became the home of those who live in him. When asked by the first disciples called to follow him: “Where do you live?” (Jn. 1:38b), he made it clear that he was their home. Jesus became the home of those who remain in him: “Remain in me as I remain in you… Those who remain in me and I in them bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing” ( Jn. 15:4-5). Remaining in Christ means also remaining in the Church. The entire community of believers is securely grafted onto Christ, the vine. In him, we are all united. In this community he sustains us and, at the same time, all the members sustain each other. Together we resist the storms and offer protection to each other. We do not believe alone, we believe with the whole Church in every place and time. 17

God lives where there is communion: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in the midst of them” (Mt. 18:20). Living in Jesus is therefore becoming Church, the family of God and home of all, founded on Baptism and nourished by the Eucharist. “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone” (Eph. 2:19-20).

The early Church often appears in the Acts of the Apostles as a house, a community of first proclamation and of conversion. It was a house of solidarity where everyone placed what they had in common, thus opening themselves to sharing with the poor. It was aware of the call to become the house of God’s bread and therefore of charity.

Many events took place within the walls of a house, like those of Cornelius, Lydia, Aquila and Pricilla. It was a “Domestic Church” (domus ecclesiae), that resulted in almost a passing from the temple to the house, because salvation entered into the reality of everyday life, into practical, ordinary life. Listening to the Word and celebrating the Lord’s Supper take place in these houses as well as koinonia. In these churches the woman played an important role, because of her ability to weave relationships, to facilitate sharing, to create harmony.

The home is a place of solidarity, of hospitality, of listening, of understanding, where divisions are annulled, trenches filled in, others are welcomed as gifts. This is what happened for Lydia (cf. Acts 16:11-15), whom the Acts present as a strong woman and a leader who allowed herself to be moulded by the Word and allowed Paul to increase the faith among the believers of Philippi. This witness of home finds its meaning in welcoming the good news and opening the way for new evangelisation. 17 Cf Benedict XVI, Homily in the Olympiastadion of Berlin, September 22, 2011.

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VALDOCCO AND MORNESE: PROPHETIC SOURCES

We believe that the words of Fr. Alberto Caviglia are significant for an understanding of the charismatic richness of the chapter theme. He describes the environment of Valdocco as a house where “the God atmosphere” and “the family atmosphere” mingled, creating one of holiness.18

This home, united round the Lord and, in Him, around the formative needs of the young people, was an open house that became a place of encounter and of complementarity between persons called together for a common mission.

In today’s context, so different from that of our beginning, we continue to live the same educational passion that springs from the da mihi animas cetera tolle and from the assignment “I entrust them to you”. We reflect on our first community to draw inspiration for today, as we look towards the future. It is like returning home to find once more one’s identity and roots.

Don Bosco wanted us to be a “living monument”, a sign of his gratitude to Mary and, like her, “helpers” especially among young people (cf. C 4). Together with them and in harmony and co-responsibility with the laity, in the family spirit, we build communities rooted on the solid rock of Jesus, open to the breath of the Spirit and to the ever new calls of history.

Communities rooted in the Lord Jesus

Valdocco and Mornese were places in which Jesus was a living presence. He has a preferential love for young people and entrusts them to us to accompany them. The life of Don Bosco and of the young people in the house of Valdocco was sustained by Jesus, present in the Eucharist, the centre towards which all gravitated. Don Bosco drew life from this presence and educated the community to experience it as the source of communion and of apostolic courage. In the Salesian tradition, any path to holiness that does not include the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation as the power for transformation and Christian growth is unthinkable.19

The presence of Jesus is the heart of the Mornese community, its dynamic centre, what urged it on to conversion and witness. The community in Mornese received their life from Him and sought to make Him known and loved. The first Sisters were formed by the Eucharist to identify themselves with Jesus’ offering to the Father and in this way they grew in their gift of self, in mutual communion, in their passion for education, in acceptance of the cross and in prayer animated by a strong vision of Church.

The girls too grew into this deep Christian life. The resident students, Eulalia and Maria Bosco wrote as follows from Mornese to Don Bosco: «Our hearts are constantly seeking to find Jesus and thus to enter into His, and not only us, your nieces, but our companions too and the Sister who is with us. Yes, we all want to find our dear Jesus and then to love Him very, very much, also for those who do not love Him». 20

18 Cf Caviglia Alberto, Opere e scritti editi e inediti di Don Bosco IV 70-71. 19 “Frequent Confession and Communion and daily Mass are the pillars on which an educative institution must rest. This is especially true where one does not intend to enforce discipline by means of threats and punishments. (Bosco G., The Preventive System in the education of the young, in FMA Constitutions, p. 437).20 Orme di vita tracce di futuro. Fonti e testimonianze sulla prima comunità delle FMA (1870-1881), Roma, LAS 1996, 167.

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A home where one experiences family

With the foundation of the Oratory of Valdocco Don Bosco wanted to give his boys a home, a family, not a boarding school. He wanted everything to have a family flavour characterised by «naturalness of ways, liveliness of games, diligence in one’s duty united to the highest standard of religious and moral life».21 An environment permeated with strong ideals, where all were happy because they loved each other.22

Don Bosco’s constant presence among the young people was that of a father who animated, guided and accompanied. As St. Luigi Orione, a past pupil of Valdocco, recalled: «He nourished us on God and he nourished himself on God, on the Spirit of God. As a mother nourishes herself to then nourish her child, so Don Bosco nourished himself on God in order to nourish us too on God».23

In that environment all was lived in simplicity and spontaneity. There were few rules and conscience was the first rule.24

The presence of Mamma Margherita contributed to giving a family atmosphere to that poor house, lacking in everything, but rich in human warmth just because of the presence of a mother. After her death (November 25, 1856) Don Bosco went to celebrate Holy Mass at the church of the Consolata and spoke thus to Mary: «My children and I are now without a mother down here. In future you will be, in a special way, my Mother and their Mother».25

At Valdocco Mary was part of the family: mother, guide, protector of the community and of the young people. She facilitated mutual trust, security and simplicity of relationships.

The young people felt at home, part of the family, and Don Bosco encouraged the sense of belonging by informing them of whatever he felt was suitable for them to know. He consulted them26 and involved them, opening them to solidarity with the needs of the area.

In the community of Mornese, the house “of the love of God” they lived affection and mutual trust as in a family. 27 In the life of Mother Mazzarello there is one fundamental direction: to live by love and in love and this was the goal that she constantly indicated to the Sisters: «Let every step, every word be an act of love of God and let it be accompanied by the intention to save a soul».28

It was an atmosphere in which all energies were dedicated to the education of the young people in order to help them become competent, to form them to live as convinced Christians, committed to the family and to society. The basic intention of evangelising at Mornese and Nizza was expressed in caring for the Sisters and the young people, accompanying them in their journey of formation with discretion, like a mother. The community was wisely animated by Mother Mazzarello who considered herself as “Our Lady’s Vicar”. Mary, “the true superior of the house”, was the inspirer and founder of the Institute and of every community.29 Mother Mazzarello educated the Sisters and the young 21 MB IV 556.22 Cf. MB IV 336-337; MB V 713.23 Orione Luigi, Conferenza del 17 gennaio 1939, in Parola X, 50-52.24 Cf. MB IV 679.25 MB V 566.26 Cf. MB IX 569-571.27 Cf. Capetti Giselda, Il cammino dell’Istituto nel corso di un secolo I, Roma, Istituto FMA1972, 122-126. 28 Cronistoria III 104.29 Cf ivi I 309.

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people to total trust in Our Lady and to live trusting in her help. The gesture of placing the keys of the house at the foot of the statue of Mary every evening was a practical expression of this.30

The certainty of this presence and formative attention contributed to moulding a community animated by charity modelled on the heart of Christ. 31 It was expressed in daily life as mutual affection, encouragement, forgiveness, refinement in their way of dealing with people, patience and in «freely [doing] all that charity requires» (L 35, 3). This charity is the guarantee of apostolic fruitfulness, as Mother Mazzarello reminded the first missionaries: «I highly recommend humility and charity. If you practice these virtues, the Lord will bless you and your work, so that you will be able to do great good» (L 68, 3).

A community with a missionary vision

The Preventive System, as a way of life and of interpersonal relationships, characterised the educational style of the house of Valdocco. It was a family style that led a community of educators, young people and laity to share the common mission through different and complementary roles. The young people were guided to assume responsibility for growing as “good Christians and honest citizens”, to discover God’s plan for them and to become apostles of other young people. Through relationships, mutual respect, friendship, joy, good manners, learning, education to the faith and to the sense of Church, Don Bosco contributed to a new society and a new style of interaction.

The house of Valdocco was open to broad visions and projects. The system that animated it moved within a broad vision of evangelisation and enkindled great ideals in the young people. They grew in the school of a courageous man, one with wide vision, son of a Church that was open to the whole world. Especially after the First Vatican Council (1869-’70) he developed a missionary project that gave new direction to his religious family. In that environment, even the young people were formed to be apostles. The house of Valdocco rightly became a place of encounter and of mission.

Our Institute, too, developed with the primary intention of being educational and missionary. Mornese was a house that was open to the world, where one breathed an evangelising dynamism that led people to become witnesses to Jesus among those who did not yet know Him.32 Maria D. Mazzarello’s intuition to gather girls in order to help them to “know and love God” continued and developed in a faithful and competent commitment to catechesis, developed in creative forms and pervaded with the one ideal of offering a contribution to the spread of the Kingdom of God.33

The missionary spirit was not lived as an additional activity for the Institute, rather it constituted an essential element. It was nourished by joy in one’s vocation and apostolic courage. The spirit of Mornese was not a “hot-house spirit” but a “universal” one.34

30 Cf Maccono F., S. Maria D. Mazzarello I 310.31 Cf Orme di vita 345-348.32 Cf Relazione della prima adunanza delle Superiore (Mornese, agosto 1878), in Orme di vita 239.33 Mother Mazzarello left among her last reminders to the Sisters: «Catechism must be catechism! Study it well… otherwise divisions of spirit will arise” (Orme di vita 334).34 Cf. Viganò Egidio, Madre Mazzarello e lo spirito di Mornese, in Non secondo la carne ma nello spirito, Roma, Istituto FMA 1978, 123.

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This atmosphere was also felt by other Founders who were contemporaries of Don Bosco. Fr. Giacinto Bianchi, before sending the Sisters he had founded to Bethlehem in 1875, thought it necessary to send them to Mornese for a period of immediate formation with the FMA.35

Although there are no written sources regarding the presence of these Sisters in Mornese, we are sure that the original community, even with its limitations, was a house of missionary formation through the depth and quality of its life and relationships.

It was a style of openness of spirit and of mind that was expressed in study, learning of other languages, meeting with missionaries, welcoming the laity into the community in order to share the educational mission of the school with them. All of this led the heart to cross missionary frontiers even before leaving the narrow confines of Mornese. After only five years from the foundation, in 1877 the first departure for Uruguay took place.

Don Bosco had dreamed of the FMA Institute as one totally dedicated to the education of the young and open to all parts of the world. When confirming, in his own handwriting, the re-election of Mother Mazzarello in 1880, he wrote in the minutes: «I pray that God may infuse into all of you the spirit of charity and fervour, so that this humble Congregation of ours may grow in numbers, and spread into many other countries, even to the most remote parts of the earth».36

The fundamental condition for missionary openness and vitality lay in the fact that in the FMA there was harmony between “the contemplative and the active life, reproducing Martha and Mary, the life of the Apostles and that of the Angels”.37 Only FMA touched by God can become a presence of communion among their Sisters and the young people, a sign of evangelising hope and courage on the new frontiers of youth poverty.

The charism, a gift of the Spirit to the Church, is a dynamic reality that develops in time and space. Welcomed with humility and faith by our Founders, it has been lived and passed on from generation to generation up to the present time. Each one of us has the responsibility, not only to guard it, but to radiate and develop it, finding the most suitable ways of sharing it as educating communities and as a Salesian Family.

WHAT KIND OF HOME IS NEEDED TO EVANGELISE TODAY?

Today, we are called to complete the work sketched by Don Bosco and Maria Domenica Mazzarello “painting in the colours … developing the seed”,38 to restore the splendour to the ancient colours with new brushstrokes. In this way the Sisters and the young people will be able to breathe an atmosphere in which they will feel comfortable, that will allow a broad vision and point toward horizons filled with meaning. Infinite horizons, but reflected in simple and profound experiences that awaken the desire for God.

In the educating communities, the FMA will express the charismatic identity, understood and realised by our Founders, with the colours of today and of the future if they are deeply rooted “in the mystery [of communion] of the Blessed Trinity” becoming “a particular sign of a new way of living together, Founded not on ties of flesh and blood, but on the power of faith and brotherhood in Christ” (C 36).

35 These were the Figlie di Maria Missionarie, Cf Porsi Luigi, Don Giacinto Bianchi. Missionario apostolico. Fondatore delle Figlie di Maria Missionarie, Roma, Ed. privata 2000, 66.

36 Orme di vita 318.37 Constitutions 1885 XIII, cf. Introduction to the present Constitutions, p. 21. 38 MB XI 309.

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The mid-chapter evaluations highlighted a renewed listening to the Word of God and, at the same time, notable difficulties in community caused by the fact that faith needs to be strengthened, nourished by a deeper interior life, illuminated by the Word that becomes the breath of life and by Salesian Spirituality. This will support a form of action that is born of abiding in Jesus in order to bear fruit (cf. Jn. 15:5).39

The search for God, in a time when He seems to be hiding his face, will draw young people if they recognise that we are on a journey, even if difficult or obscure, that we seek to enter into the mystery of the relationship that the Father offers us in his Son, with the strength of the Spirit. Young people can be attracted to an encounter with Jesus if they experience, with us, the seriousness and risk of believing, but also the beauty and creativity of joy.

Communities witness to the attraction of the encounter with Jesus when they become places of welcome, where adequate time is given to prayer and it in turn influences life, where ways are found to listen to and share the word of God with the young people and the laity, where the joy of planning, working and celebrating together is made visible. To give new and greater openness to our communities, structural changes that touch on our style of life, timetables, and established ways of doing things are certainly needed.

The pathways of conversion to love, which General Chapter XXII entrusted to us, have renewed our awareness of being “a living memorial of Jesus’ way of living and acting”.40 This is an ongoing process that helps us to grow in an evangelised life. What is most important is the will to give new life to the mysticism of the da mihi animas cetera tolle in the spirit of the Preventive System, expressing the urgent need to live as missionary disciples. Only a life that is capable of risking itself for love in daily life as Jesus did and that opens itself courageously to situations of youth poverty, can really live a missionary discipleship, because it becomes a sacrament of the presence of God.

Relationships as a way of evangelising education

In educational settings we are questioning ourselves, always with the laity, regarding the family spirit, which is sometimes put into crisis by functional, formal, hurried relationships that do not satisfy the need for encounter and do not favour growth as human persons. For this reason we consider it important to reflect deeply and revitalise a Salesian Spirituality that is firmly anchored on relationships as a way of educating, an indispensable condition for the educational mission.

Developing relationships that make life more humane involves a journey of asceticism, which is possible if, together, we seek the conditions that favour those genuine, simple relationships, capable of loving each other that characterise people who have encountered Jesus and allowed their hearts to be transformed by him. A Gospel style of relationship is more easily legible today, even by those who do not believe. It is necessary to cultivate some attitudes: a spirit of gentleness that leads us to welcome diversity with joy, the simplicity of the poor who know how to share, the awareness of the needs of others of the one who hungers and thirsts for justice, the resilience of one who accepts trials as a sign of fidelity, the transparency of heart and life that makes one optimistic and caring. Expressing communion of life in everyday relationships “responds to the deepest needs of the human heart and disposes it for apostolic generosity” (C 49). The community becomes a home where we form each other, educate and grow.

39 Cf. Rooted in the Covenant p. 44.40 The Greatest of all is Love. Acts of General Chapter XXII, Roma, Istituto FMA 2008, n. 37.

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Sometimes we can feel fearful before young people because we do not always understand their languages and choices. Salesian assistance, as educational presence, closeness in relationships and friendship, helps us to understand better how dramatic and precarious their lives are, their vulnerability as “orphans of living parents”. Their ways of expressing themselves can actually amaze us, but also reveal their search for meaning, for accompaniment, for affection, their desire for something “more”. These questions are often unspoken and only the heart of an educator, one who is enlightened by faith and love can understand them.

We would like to pass on to all young people the joy of encountering Jesus and the beauty of the Salesian vocation that we have received! Therefore, we consider it urgently necessary to deepen the path of education to faith, a culture of vocations and accompaniment of young people, also by preparing specific programmes for different age groups, starting from greater attention to the ordinary paths of youth pastoral. This is a work of harmony with the lay members of the educating community, parents and the various groups of the Salesian Family, an opportunity for sharing and charismatic enrichment. It is necessary to decide to create the conditions that favour the accompaniment of young people and discovering together God’s plan for their lives.

The environment as a place of encounter and mutuality

The educating community takes the form of a “place where people, […] meet and play complementary roles. […] A community that educates itself and others is therefore attentive to discover the signs of the presence of God in everyday life”. 41 Young people do not reach God and encounter Jesus if we only speak of Him, but if they can touch him, experience him, in a community that lives and witnesses, if we offer them the conditions needed to become agents of transformation and evangelisation in their own environment.

The presence of different generations in the environment challenges and enriches life and inter-generational dialogue is an expression of a family atmosphere where all have a voice and each one gives a specific contribution to community harmony.

In FMA communities a specific role is reserved to the animator, who is called to the service of authority in a Gospel and Salesian style, inspired by co-ordination for communion (cf. C 52. 164).The Evaluations of General Chapter XXII and the experience of the animation visits by the General Council reveal a certain weakness in the ability to animate and govern today, resulting from tendencies towards authoritarianism, formality of role, rigidity, uncertainty, fragility and permissiveness. On the other hand, the Salesian style of animation presumes and requires the participation and co-responsibility of every member of the community and therefore every FMA is responsible for her own growth and for the community and educational atmosphere (cf. C 50-51).

Attention to the person and the need to proceed with a planning mentality, which favours convergence around mission and organisational flexibility,42 are not always the style of the one who animates the community or the various areas of the educational mission. Today, we are challenged in a special way by the call to listen, respect and value the differences that emerge from the contemporary situation and we are therefore challenged to

41 Cf. That they may have life, n. 67.42 Cf Rooted in the Covenant, pp. 151-159.

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express a relationship that is mutual, one which forms the heart to the ability to listen with empathy, to discern and dialogue, thus creating bonds of belonging and deep communication.

From the experience of the Trinity we draw inspiration and strength to live a circular model of relating. It is guaranteed by the simplicity of the one who welcomes and is welcomed, by listening to what the other person is living and feeling, forgiveness, sharing of what we are more than what we do, learning to give trust to every person and feeling ourselves sent, together, to give a credible proclamation of a true and full life, because it is a Gospel life.

The educating community implies the carrying out of shared projects with the laity, involving all and respecting co-responsibility and subsidiarity in the educational mission.43 This is the precious inheritance that Don Bosco and Maria D. Mazzarello left us as a style of involvement of persons and institutions. It is a style that is not yet fully implemented. This broad sharing has a privileged place in the Salesian Family, in which the synergy between the different groups sharing the same spirit constitutes a great force for the spread of the charism in the Church and in society. All together we form a home with and for the young people.

Being faithful to our charismatic identity means living our relationship with Christ radically, in such a way as to characterise the mutual quality of all our other relationships, 44 in order to make our communities homes where young people, especially the poorest, can be reborn to hope and love.

Together, we respond to deepest needs of young people

In a civilisation characterised by a deep crisis in the understanding if the human person and where God seems distant, educating communities are a home for those who have no home or reference point. They are committed to creating an environment that educates and is open to ever new missionary frontiers.45

As an alternative to a social system based on competition, the communities are called to follow the path of valuing each other, of a networking mentality expressed as collaboration within the local area, in the Salesian Family, in the Church and in a special way with other religious congregations and organisations working in the area of education.

Encounter and mutual relations in a shared mission are, today, a prophetic sigh that makes visible the plan of communion to which God calls each person and all peoples.

This is the most favourable atmosphere for the proclamation of the God of Jesus who responds to the deepest needs of young people, helps them to meet him and to discover their own life plan.

In the present situation of the Institute we note with joy how many of our environments, even with their limitations and fragility, are places of authentic evangelisation. In them people are trying to educate to reflective living: the word of God is listened to and shared and criteria for discernment and action are drawn from its light. With the foreseeing love of Christ the Good Shepherd, poor and needy children and young people are welcomed in our houses. We place ourselves alongside those who have been wounded by life, seeking to give a voice to those who have no voice, we involve many persons and invest our energies in a more competent formation. The cry of young people in situations

43 Cf. That they may have life, n. 58-77.44 Cf. Rooted in the Covenant, 155.45 Cf That they may have life, n. 23.

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of poverty is so strong that we are not just called to give responses, but to look at the causes and to pre-empt them.

Numerous Sisters, lay people and young people, too, dedicate themselves enthusiastically to catechesis and to the animation of faith groups. They commit themselves seriously to formation so as to be ever better qualified in the proclamation of and witness to the Gospel.Many young people consider their membership of the Salesian Youth Movement and volunteer work as significant experiences to help them mature in free self-giving and faith. They often make their commitment to the Kingdom of God a responsible choice in the area of education society and the Church.46

The Mid-Chapter Evaluations showed great awareness of the need for new evangelisation. The awareness of a new and urgent call to be the good news of Jesus in the various contexts of the world is, in fact, very much alive in the Institute.However, it is noted that, despite the efforts and commitment, care for the evangelising dimension of the mission is not always a priority. Insufficient educational and catechetical formation, inability to enter into dialogue with contemporary civilisation and the weakness or absence of programmes for education to the faith are often the cause of the limited effectiveness of the mission and lack of fruitfulness in vocations in some areas.

In the communities there is no lack of pastoral initiatives and activities, often undertaken at the cost of great sacrifice. However, at times there is a decrease in apostolic ardour, a certain inconstancy in the accompaniment of young people and in living with that “oratorian heart” that makes of our environments places of evangelisation and not just of cultural advancement or leisure programmes.47

The times in which we are living are favourable, not only for living in the context of social networks, but for making the presence of the Gospel felt in the digital environment. This is, today, a strong call that springs from the da mihi animas cetera tolle and awakens educational creativity at all levels. With regard to the emerging cultural challenges, we recognise that the Preventive System is a way of making life more humane and creating a style of relationships that values the contribution of all, especially the young people.

A community that lives and intensifies the experience of the faith, facilitates the strengthening of faith in families and the growth of Christian communities that become reference points even in those areas where we welcome young people who are non believers or who belong to other religions.

The witness to the joy of having met Jesus and of living in his love as an educating community is a priority for evangelisation today and a prophecy of hope for humanity, especially for young people.

Conclusion

Dear Sisters, I conclude this letter convoking GC XXIII by inviting everyone to enter into a period of deep spiritual experience and of communion with the whole Institute involved in this process of preparation for this charismatic event.

46 Cf Ibid 124-134.47 “The oratorian heart is fervour, zeal, making all one’s resources available, searching for new interventions, the ability to bear trials, the will to start again after a defeat, optimism that is cultivated and spread. It is that solicitude, filled with faith and charity, that finds in Mary a luminous example of self-giving” (The charismatic identity card of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco, Roma, Tip. Vaticana, 2012, n. 29).

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Let us seek to create in our houses a favourable atmosphere for involvement in prayer and reflection on the chapter theme on the part of the educating communities and the Salesian Family, in dialogue with other institutions. I hope that in this reflection the voice of the young people will find a privileged place because, with them we want to be a home that evangelises..

I invite the provincial to study, with her council, the most suitable way to reflect on the indications suggested in this circular of convocation and to draw up a plan of work in preparation for the Provincial Chapter.

Let us commit ourselves to live this time of grace, accompanied by Mary, the dwelling place of God and Star of the new evangelisation.

I invite you to join us every day in our prayer of entrustment to Mary using the one I propose below. Like her we open ourselves to welcome into our home and into our heart the continued presence of the Holy Spirit.

O Mary Help of Christians,we entrust ourselves to you in our commitment to be, today, with young people, a home that evangelises.

Make us capable of renewed conversion to the Lord, that, evangelised by Him, we may be able to witness the beauty of the Gospel to the younger generations.

Grant that, touched by the Word that saves, like Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello, we may live the passion of the “da mihi animas cetera tolle”in order to radiate joy and hopewhere uncertainty makes life fragile, especially for young people.

Support the Church in its mission of evangelisation that all may encounter Jesus, the rock of salvation. Enkindle in the hearts of many young people the desire to follow Him.

We ask you, Mother, to open all our hearts to the breath of the Spirit in our journey of preparation for the coming General Chapter. Amen

Together with the Sisters of the Council I greet you affectionately.

Rome, February 11, 2013

Your affectionate Mother Sr. Yvonne Reungoat

PROPOSED WORK PLAN

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The reflection on the GC XXIII theme is a privileged opportunity for ongoing formation for every FMA and for the educating communities. The Chapter begins in the heart of each one, in the certainty that the Holy Spirit is challenging us as individuals and as communities and requires a practical response.

It is a call to evaluate our way of living the charism, to make our identity as FMA and as educating communities more legible in today’s context.

It is an important time that we are called to live in an attitude of discernment and attention in order to create the necessary conditions: silence, prayer, listening and sharing.

The process for the Chapter preparation starts with an attentive, personal reading of the letter of convocation, an indispensable condition for a serious study of the theme and for constructive sharing at community and province level. If considered helpful, the material that came from the mid-chapter evaluations at various levels could also be taken up again.

Being with the young people today, a home that evangelises, is a theme that lends itself to various levels of deepening, depending on the contexts in which we are working, the community and province journeys. We are all invited to consider our house/home (local, provincial and world community) and to focus our reflections on the following topics:

- The challenges of the socio-cultural and ecclesial context - A house/home built on the Rock - A house/home that allows itself to be evangelised - A house/home that evangelises

We offer to the provincial and her council, as a suggestion, a guideline for reflection for the communities, with some questions. Particular aspects are highlighted in each question, while we need to be aware that the mystical, ascetical and prophetic dimensions of the da mihi animas cetera tolle, run through the whole reflection, one recalls the other and they are interwoven.

The aim of the outline is to guide and facilitate the reflection of the educating communities on the theme of GC XXIII, a reflection that starts from experience, touches life and awakens a process of change. The provincial and her council may choose other ways that are more suited to the context and to the journey underway in the communities, in order to facilitate this reflection and elicit a response. The important thing is that every educating community, whatever its context, can reflect on how it can be, a home that evangelises, with the young people today. It will also consider the conditions that, in fidelity to our charism, facilitate this mission.

Outline for reflection on the theme

Let us focus on:

1. The context in which we find ourselves: issues and challenges; aspects that characterise us as an educating community and that we ourselves recognise; perceptions others have of us.

What does it mean for us to be a home?

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With regard to the chapter theme, what are the challenges that come from our context?

2. A house/home built on the Rock: relationship with God; vital owning of the charism.

On what foundations does our house/home rest?

What human and spiritual values experienced at Valdocco and Mornese are present in our community? What ones would we like to strengthen, in a context that is so different from that of our Founders? What are we called to change?

3. A house/home that allows itself to be evangelised: a community with a heart that is continually being converted in order to create a more human and Gospel quality of relationships.

What processes need to be continued or started to bring about this conversion at personal, community and structural level, so that our environments may express a more Gospel and Salesian atmosphere?

4. A house/home that evangelises: has its doors open to the world and especially to young people; keeps missionary ardour alive; seeks new ways of proclaiming, and witnessing to Jesus Christ and of educational accompaniment especially for those young people that no one reaches; is capable of creating a home environment wherever the young people are; shares the charism and becomes a guide towards vocational discernment.

Which aspects of our “being a home that evangelises” need to be improved and/or strengthened?

What conditions will allow us to be, with the young people, a home that evangelises?

The provincial and her council may identify a biblical passage that is suited to the local situation and can inspire reflection. She will find the most suitable way to propose the reflection on the theme and to involve the Sisters and every educating community. She will give indications for the choice of lay and young people who will participate in the Provincial Chapter and explain the form this will take.

To facilitate the preparation for and celebration of the Chapter it would be good to appoint a Sister as moderator.

THE PROVINCIAL CHAPTER, in an atmosphere of discernment and in the light of the Word of God, is invited to:

reflect on the four aspects of the chapter theme indicated in the outline (context; a house built on the Rock; a house that allows itself to be evangelised; a house that evangelises) and on the processes underway in the Province for owning and living the two Guidelines of GC XXII;48

48 Cf. The greatest of all is Love. Acts of General XXII, Roma, Istituto FMA 2008, n. 42 1. 2.

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discern, using the material sent in by the communities, and elaborate a synthetic response (a page at most) for each of the four points proposed in the outline, highlighting especially the challenges, processes, conditions, questions or aspects that would merit reflection during the General Chapter;

present the processes of change brought about by the two Guidelines of CG XXII in the province (on two pages, one for each Guideline);

elect the delegate or delegates to the General Chapter and their respective substitutes;

prepare any eventual proposals to be sent to GC XXIII;

consider any aspects or issues that emerge in the life of the province.

The responses to the four aspects for reflection on the Chapter theme, the presentation of the processes of change relative to the two Guidelines of GC XXII and any eventual proposals should be sent to the moderator of the Chapter by December 1, 2013.

A pre-chapter commission, made up of Sisters coming from different cultural contexts, will study them and the results will form the basis for the preparation of the Working Document.

After this, the Working Document will be sent to the provinces so that those participating in the General Chapter may read and reflect on it. If opportune, it can be shared with the Sisters and, eventually, with those who took part in the Provincial Chapters or with persons competent in the topics dealt with.

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

The Word of God and the Constitutions will accompany the whole journey of reflection on the Chapter theme at community and province level. We also draw attention to some documents of the Church, Religious life and the Institute that could help in these reflections.

Documents of the Church and Religious Life

Benedict XVI, Deus caritas est, Encyclical Letter, 2005.

-, Spe Salvi, Encyclical Letter, 2007.

-, Caritas in veritate, Encyclical Letter, 2009.

-, Verbum Domini, Post-synod Apostolic Exhortation, 2010.

-, The door of Faith, Motu proprio, 2012.

Synod of Bishops, XIII Ordinary General Assembly: The New Evangelisation and the transmission of the Christian Faith. Istrumentum laboris, 2012.

-, Message to the People of God. XIII Ordinary General Assembly, October 7-28, 2012.

John Paul II, Vita Consecrata, Post-synod Apostolic Exhortation, 1996.

Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Starting again from Christ, 2002.

-, The service of Authority and Obedience, 2008.

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of Social Teaching of the Church, 2004.

Passion for Christ, Passion for Humanity. International Congress on Consecrated Life, 2004.

Also significant for the theme of the Chapter are the messages of Benedict XVI on the occasion of the opening of the Synod on Evangelisation, the year of faith, World Youth Days and Days for Peace, Social Communications, Migrants and Refugees.

Other important reference points are the guidelines given by: – the continental Synods– the national and continental Episcopal Conferences – the bishops of the various dioceses – the national or continental conferences of religious.

Documents of the Institute:

Rooted in the Covenant. Plan of Formation of the FMA, Rome 2000.

That they may have life and have it to the full. Guidelines for the educational mission of the FMA , Leumann (Torino) Elle Di Ci 2006,

Co-operation for Development. Guidelines for the FMA Institute, Bologna EMI 2006.

Circular Letters of Mother Yvonne, especially: A dream of God realized in time (n. 920); The joy of evangelising (n. 922); “In Mornese they breath a certain air...” (n. 925); A charism of

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hope for the world (n. 926); The precious treasure of the Family Spirit (n. 928); Letter to community animators (August 5, 2012); The Synod: gift and responsibility (n. 932).

On the Website of the Institute, reflections on the chapter theme can be found in the section Towards GC XXIII and in the Data Bank.

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TIMELINE IN PREPARATION FOR GENERAL CHAPTER XXIII

2012-2013DecemberFebruary

2013February

February toNovember

December

During the winter plenary session Mother Yvonne and the General Council undertook a journey of discernment to identify the theme and elaborate the present booklet in preparation for General Chapter XXIII.

Mother Yvonne sent the Letter Convoking the Chapter, following the indications suggested in article 138 of the Constitutions.

Study of the Chapter theme at community levelCelebration of the Provincial Chapters.

1.By December 1 the following documents must reach the Moderator:- Minutes of the Provincial Chapters regarding the election of the Delegate or Delegates to GC XXIII and of their respective substitutes, as well as the list of the members to the Provincial Chapter (Reg.122) 49

- Synthesis of the reflections on the four aspects of the Chapter theme indicated in the outline of the work and on the processes undertaken in the Province for owning and living the two Guidelines of GCXXII;

- Possible proposals for the General Chapter.To facilitate the work of the pre-chapter Commission, the synthesis of each aspect of the theme is to be summarised on one page and sent to the Moderator- initially one copy in digital form, then in the original text- In Italian (Also attach in the original language);- On pages A4 (21x29.7) numbered according to the four aspects

indicated in the outline for the work and the processes relating to the two Guidelines of GCXXII;

- Each page must carry the initials and stamp of the province.The provinces are asked to send the required material as soon as it is available, without waiting for the final date mentioned above.

2. The syntheses sent to Rome must be made known to all the communities of the province.

3. Eventual proposals from communities and individual sisters (Const 135) must also be prepared as is indicated above.

- On each page the topic is clearly indicated (on top right) and the motivations are explained.- Proposals for the General Chapter may be sent through the province or forwarded directly to Rome, addressed to the Moderator.N.B. proposals which arrive after December 1st cannot be considered.

49 The modified articles in General Chapters XVIII-XIX-XX-XXI-XXII and collected in a booklet added to the text of the Constitutions (Rome 2009) are written in italics and underlined.

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From December 2013 to February 2014

2014January

March

By September 6th

September 7th

September 8th

September 9th

September 10th – 17th

September 17th

September 18th

September 19th and 20th

September 21st

September 22nd

Classification and organisation of the material sent by the provinces will be done in Rome by the pre-Chapter Commission.

- The Moderator of the GC, with two of the Councillors chosen by Mother General will proceed with the revision of minutes of the election of delegates to the GC and their respective substitutes, with the legible list of the members of the Provincial Chapter or pre-province and the signatures of all the participants.

- The General Council will inform the Presidents of the Inter-provincial Conferences about the celebratory moments which will take place during the GC XXIII, entrusted to the provinces.

The Working Document will be sent to the Provinces.

Chapter members arrive in Rome.Free dayGetting to know each other

Journey to Mornese

Spiritual Retreat

Closure of the Retreat in the Basilica in Turin and visit to the Mother House of Nizza Monferrato – Return to Mornese.

Journey to Rome, passing by Lu Monferrato, birthplace of Sr. Angela Vallese on the 100th anniversary of her death.

Presentation of the General Chapter and meeting in Commissions

Free day

Official opening of General Chapter XXIII. It is envisaged that the Chapter will last about two months and will close on November 15th.Chapter members will begin leaving Rome on November 16th.

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NORMS IN RELATION TO THE PROVINCIAL CHAPTER

1. Introduction

All guidelines given for the Provinces are also valid for the Pre-provinces.

The houses that depend directly on Mother General50 form special pre-chapter assemblies regulated by their own statutes (Reg. 122).51

For the preparation and running of the Provincial Chapters before the General Chapter, consult the following articles: Constitutions: articles from 135 to 139; from 156 to 159. Regulations: articles from

119 to 122.

2. Convocation and preparation

On receiving the present document, the provincial and her council should: reflect in depth on its content; study the best was to present it to the province, how to involve the Sisters and the

communities, how to suitably involve the SDB, laity, other institutions and/or persons, as indicated on p...

The provincial will send the circular of convocation of the Provincial to the communities, indicating the date and place of the Chapter and the name of the moderator. She will invite all to participate actively through prayer, study of the theme and eventual proposals.

For the election of the community Delegate and of the province Delegates, the norms established in the Constitutions and Regulations should be followed. For convenience, they are given here.

3. Election of the Community Delegate and her substitute to the Provincial Chapter

Voting cardsThe provincial should send to the communities of at least five Sisters a suitable number of perfectly identical voting cards, marked with the province stamp, remembering that the each election (of delegate and substitute) could require up to three successive rounds of voting (Reg. 119 a, b, c).

MinutesThe provincial should send to the houses two copies of the form for the minutes, a model of which is proposed in the Appendix to this document. The two copies should be marked with the stamp of the Province.

The minutes must be signed by all the participants in the election, after having been read to them.

50 The Houses that depend directly on Mother General are: - The Generalate (RCG) with its Statutes promulgated on December 24, 1999;- The houses of Madre Angela Vespa, Madre Ersilia Canta, Suor Teresa Valsé Pantellini (RMA) with their

Statutes promulgated on January 31, 1998;- The House of Paolo VI at Concesio (Brescia) joined to RMA.

51 The articles modified in GC XVIII-XIX-XX-XXI-XXII, gathered together in a booklet that has been added to the text of the Constitutions (Rome 2009) are written in italics and underlined.

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Two copies must be made, one of which is kept in the archives of the house and the other sent to the provincial in a sealed envelope with the provincial stamp.

On the envelope, the name of the house should be clearly written, with the declaration: containing the minutes of the meeting. This envelope is put in a second, that is sent by registered post to the provincial.

4. Participants in the election of the community delegate and her substitute

Participants with an active and passive voice (can vote and receive votes): all the perpetually professed Sisters belonging to the province; Sisters with permission for absence from the religious house have the same rights.

Participants with an active voice (can vote): Sisters in temoprary profession; The animators, the provincial vicar and councillors, the provincial bursar and secretary,

the novice formator. These vote in the house of their residence, but cannot receive votes, since their are members of the Provincial or Pre-province Chapter by right;

The provincial or pre-province leader votes only in the Provincial or Pre-province Chapter.

Sisters in special situations:

Sisters who are absent from the religious house for serious reasons (Reg. 119 d), can take part in the election of the Delegate of the community to which they are attached, by sending the voting papers in a closed envelope without the province stamp. The vote will be put with the others at the time of the election. To these Sisters, too, will be sent the number of voting papers needed for the number of votes foreseen: three for the delegate and three for the substitute (Reg. 119 d).

Missionaries who, because they are visiting relatives or for other reasons, are outside their province are effective members of the province to which they belong. They are considered “absent for serious reasons” and therefore they are included in the above category.

Sisters belonging to the houses that depend directly on Mother General take part in the pre-chapter assemblies of the house in which they are living, according to the norms of its own Statutes. therefore they do not take part in similar voting in their province of origin.

Student Sisters who are out of their province and do not belong to the houses directly dependant on Mother General vote in the community where they are living, taking part in the election of the

delegate to the Provincial Chapter; for the election of the province delegates to the Provincial Chapter, they vote only in

the province to which they belong, according to the list which will be sent, in due time, by the provincial.

In the first case they only have an active voice; in the second, if they are perpetually professed, they also have a passive voice.

Exclaustrated Sisters do not have either an active or a passive voice. It is the responsibility of the Provincial Secretary to attentively check the expiry date for permissions of absence and exclaustration.

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5. Method of voting

In those houses where elections take place (communities with at least 5 members), the person presiding reads the list of eligible Sisters and distributes the voting papers on which each one writes – secretly and without signing – the name of the person she intends to elect as the delegate to the Provincial Chapter.

The papers are gathered in the urn, two scrutineers open and read them aloud. The Sister who receives an absolute majority, that is more than half the votes of the electors, will be elected (Reg. 119 a).

This operation is repeated if no one has received an absolute majority, according to the indications of Regulations 119 b. In the third voting, the one who receives a relative majority, that is the more votes than any other candidate, is elected.

The same method is used for the election of the substitute, according to the indications of Regulations 119 c.

6. Election of the Province delegates to the Provincial

– one for every 15 or fraction of 15 for provinces with up to 250 Sisters (Const. 159 b)– one for every 30 or fraction of 30 in provinces with more than 250 Sisters ( Const. 159

b)

The provincial, having received the results of the elections that took place in the individual houses, will open the envelopes containing the minutes in the presence of at least two councillors. She will verify their legality and have the minutes drawn up reporting the results of the elections held in the different houses. Those present will sign these minutes.

She will then communicate to each house the name of the community delegate to the Provincial Chapter and send the list of perpetually professes Sisters still eligible, giving the number to be elected as province delegates to the Provincial Chapter (Const. 159 b).

The required voting papers for the election should also be included, indicating how they should be compiled and gathered (Reg. 120 c, d).

For all necessary lists alphabetic order of surname and name as they are given in the General Directory (Elenco) of the Institute should always be followed. If there are Sisters who are absent for serious reasons or student Sisters, temporarily out of the province (except those belonging to the houses directly dependant on Mother General), the provincial will also send them

the list of the eligible Sisters (Const. 159 b); an indication of the number of delegates to be elected; the required voting paper, with the stamp of the Province.

On receiving the completed voting papers , the provincial will proceed to count the votes and will draw up, or have drawn up, the list of province delegates, according to what is prescribed in Regulations (art. 120 e, f, g).The appropriate minutes of this will then be drawn up.

She will communicate the names of those chosen as province delegates to the Provincial Chapter to the communities.

If among the province delegates some are elected who had been chosen as substitutes for the local delegate, the communities in question will hold a new election for the substitute (Reg. 120 h).

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7. Provincial Chapter

Nature-purpose-tasks Refer to article 156 of the Constitutions.

Members members by right (Const. 158); elected members (Const. 159); other Sisters or competent persons (Reg. 121).

7. Elections during the Provincial Chapter

During the Provincial Chapter the delegate or delegates to the General Chapter and their respective substitutes will be elected (Const. 139 g).

Before beginning the election the list of the members of the Provincial Chapter will be read; the voting papers will be distributed to all those present; the election will be done in secret.

If a second or third vote is needed, they will be carried out according to the norms that governed the local elections.

The provincial only has an active voice, since she is a member of the General Chapter by right but, if her mandate ends before the celebration of General Chapter XXIII, she can also have a passive vote in the election of the Delegate to GC XXIII (cf. Acts of GC XIX, p. 86 – Italian edition).

The Superior General emeritus who is elected as a delegate of the community or province has only an active voice in the Provincial Chapter because she is a member of the General Chapter by right.

When the elections are completed two copies of the minutes will be drawn up (see model in the Appendix, with the

necessary modifications as indicated in the NB); they will be read to all present, who will sign them; one copy will be kept in the provincial archives with all the documentation

regarding the elections that have taken place; the other will be sent to Rome by registered post, addressed to the moderator of GC XXIII by and not later than December 1, 2013.

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APPENDIX

MODEL FOR MINUTES

Province or Pre-province ......................................................................................... .....Initials…………………House .................................................................................................................................. .............................................

On........................................……..… 2013, gathered under the presidency of the community animator, Sr. .............................. the community proceeded to elect the Delegate to the Provincial/Pre-province Chapter according to the relevant norms.

Number of Electors .................................................

The results of the first vote were: Sr. N.N., with ...................... votes;Sr. N.N., with ...................... votes; Sr. N.N., with ......................votes; etc.

Since no one had received an absolute majority, a second vote was taken with the following results:Sr. N.N., with ...................... votes;Sr. N.N., with ...................... votes; Sr. N.N., with ......................votes; etc.

Since no one had received an absolute majority, a third vote was taken with the following results:Sr. N.N., with ...................... votes; Sr. N.N., with ......................votes; etc.

As a result the one elected as delegate to the Provincial/Pre-province Chapter (or declared elected by seniority of profession or age) is:Sr. N.N., with ........................ votes.

The community then proceeded to elect the substitute. The results of the first vote were: Sr. N.N., with ..................................... votes (see above).

NB – With the necessary modifications, this model can also be used for the minutes of the elections at the Provincial Chapter.

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