THE MARCH OF THE LAITY
STRENNA 2009, by Pascual Chávez Villanueva
Dear Readers, several times I have said and written that the Salesian Family (SF) is a “Movement”. The term is not a fashionable fad: in Church circles this new form of grouping together has been especially successful. Church Movements each with its own characteristics are quite numerous nowadays and involve thousands of people. Therefore we are not following a fashion but building on our heritage. What Don Bosoc started in fact is known as “a vast movement of persons for the salvation of the young”. What is specific about it? It is a spiritual and apostolic movement!
BEING SPECIFIC - It is a movement, that is something dynamic. This explains why it continues to grow in number - in members, and in groups: today there are 26 groups which officially form part of it, but there are at least another thirty which are moving in that direction, even though they are not yet officially recognised, and some of them are certainly very interesting and significant. Will they continue to increase? Fr Egidio Viganò my predecessor, declared that the SF would come to include at least 300 groups. Exaggeration? Enthusiasm perhaps, or rather confidence in Don Bosco’s charism, in its thousands of facets, in its dynamism, in its ability to express itself in different forms.
- It is a spiritual movement, since it is the fruit of the Spirit Who inspired it and continues to create it. The SF is not a project born in the study nor the fruit of Don Bosco’s genius. The Salesian Constitutions expressly state that it is the work of the Holy Spirit and came into being through the intervention of Mary. It is this which assures us that it is something charismatic, a gift of God at the service of the Church and of the world. It is good to know that the foundation of the SF is the Holy Spirit.
- It is an apostolic movement: that is to say it is directed towards a mission to be accomplished; it is not a club for friends who like being together, nor is it a philanthropic society. It is a body at work within the Church on behalf of society. In other words it is a vocation, a call to continue the work of Christ, with a particular mandate - that of dedicating itself, through education, to the salvation of the young who are poor and those who are living in difficult circumstances.
TWO DOCUMENTS AND THREE AIMS
In the SF we have two documents which make clear on the one hand our identity and on the other our common mission. These are the “Charter of Communion” and the “Mission Charter” (earlier also known as the “Common Identity Card” and the “Common Mission Statement.”) In practice, however, I should like to invite you to take three important steps. So as to really live as a Movement we need to “know each other better,” “form ourselves together,” “work together in harmony”! These are the aims I set before you for the immediate future.
