SYNTHESES OF THE RESPONSES FROM

PROVINCE CHAPTERS

4.  From the analysis of the documentation sent by the Province Chapters there emerges the fact that the reality in which we live is marked by change and by the complexity due to the many variables that enter into play.  Lights and shadows interweave and seem to co-exist in a chiaroscuro of colors. Some indicators, while showing the seeds of good present, also show the path to be followed in order to respond in an ever better way to the needs of the person and the community in today’s ecclesial and cultural context.  They are needs for communion that imply a profound relationship with God, among ourselves and with the young people and with  the entire world.

Relationsip with God

5.  In reference to the relationship with God, we see, in a discreet but decisive form, clear signs of a culture of life.  Seeking for God, the need for spirituality and of evangelical radicality, and the growing appreciation for the Word of God are the expression of the seeds of life present in today’s society.

Our communities feel again, however, the conditioning of the socio-cultural context characterized by religious indifference and secularism in its multiple forms of desacralizzation, of idolatry, or the organization of life without God.  On the other hand, but equally negative because of its effects, they place the various expressions of religious fundamentalism.  Furthermore, there is also the problem of the pluralism of proposals.  In fact, if on the one hand there is the stimulation of the sense of responsibility, on the other there can be the disorientation due to the existential choices that provoke in the person inner fragmentation and an incapacity for making decisions.

Interpersonal relationships

6.  In reference to interpersonal relationships, we see signs that express the desire for dialogue, for communion and for sharing.  The seeking for quality in rapport promotes both a better relationship among individuals and in the community and the capacity for living s interdependence in a more aware manner.  Contemporarily, there are noted some signs of uneasiness that pervade the tension of living together on a personal, community and social level.  In the various parts of the planet there are explosions of rivalry, violence and multiple forms of attempts against the dignity of the human person.  Corruption and injustice, also experienced on the institutional level, threaten relationships and generate mistrust, exclusion and exploitation in the most disadvantaged categories.

Educational mission

7.  For that which regards the educational mission, there is indicated the presence of positive elements that open the heart to hope and are an eloquent sign of evangelical citizenship.  A strong demand for solidarity is seen in the groups and movements that commit us to the defense of life and to the dignity of the person, with a prioritized attention to the world of the excluded, especially to that of the woman.

The challenges of socio-cultural change stimulate the various educational agencies to place themselves in the actual reality with more explicit awareness of the need to educate to a critical conscience on the basis of values that respect and promote the dignity of the person.  The search for the meaningfulness of the educational presence stimulates us to organize ourselves into networks, with an attitude of reciprocal appreciation and co-responsibility.

There are multiple situations of confusion that weaken the educational passion even while at the same time positive energies are being mobilized to promote a new culture.  In the various sectors of social life, the perverse consequences of neo-liberalism, materialism, consumerism, permissiveness and ethical relativism are being multiplied.  No less evident and just as serious are the situations relative to the disintegration of the family, the exploitation of the woman and the various forms of discrimination.

8.  The coexistence of contrasts challenge society and in particular the Church, which proposed to all believers that they commit themselves to a culture of communion as a response to the profound expectations of the human heart and as fidelity to God, the Trinity of Persons in communion.

The province communities place in evidence the significance of their presence when, within the internal of the ecclesial journeys, they are committed to living theological communion in solidarity was an expression of evangelical citizenship.  It is presented, on the one side, as an experience already in act; on the other, as an appeal to once more understand and express religious, Salesian life.

The desire for communion finds its foundation in the Covenant, is expressed in the community desire for , understood as a workshop of evangelical citizenship and implies the commitment to educating  reciprocally to solidarity for a culture of peace. All of this requires the care of a formative journey on all levels, as is also indicated in the Plan of Formation of the Institute.