The Salesians of Don Bosco are a religious order who are involved in the field of education and pastoral outreach to the young on a worldwide basis. Each Salesian Province holds a Provincial Chapter on a three-yearly basis and this feeds into our General Chapter at the end of every six years. Our upcoming Provincial Chapter in Ireland takes place 4-8th June 2022.
As a Salesian Province, we are looking at how we can allow the Salesian Ethos to flourish in our current Salesian centres and respond to possible new initiatives. As I have written previously: The Salesian Educative Pastoral Project charts the way forward for us as Salesian educators engaged in reflecting, discerning and organizing together. It is about creating a structured approach which allows for a plan to be drawn up so as to respond to the needs of young people today. The orientation of this plan is pastoral made up of representatives from all members of the Salesian centres. At its heart, is the local Salesian community who offer liturgical and spiritual support, hospitality, a listening ear and supporting presence.
It is important that we hear your voice for our ongoing planning which will take place at our upcoming Provincial Chapter. We have identified 5 priorities and drawn up a set of questions which we invite you to respond to. We are inviting you to plan with us. We are looking at our overall Province Plan, but this has to be connected from what is actually happening on the ground. You are best equipped to let us know your reality with the young. Each centre is obviously concerned about its own development, but as a Provincial Council, we also have the responsibility to think globally about the overall good of all our centres taken together. We hope to update our Plan for the Province which needs to be connected to the Local Plans of each centre.
As a first step on this journey, we are sending out a survey/questionnaire which is based on 5 priorities. At the end of the survey there are open-ended questions where you can feel free to offer other priorities and suggestions, as you see fit. We hope to collate the responses and use the data for the drawing up of our Provincial Plan for the Irish Province. As a follow up, we will also invite co-workers to attend some of the meetings of our Provincial Chapter in person or by zoom.
May God bless and protect you,
Fr Eunan McDonnell SDB (Provincial)