If there is something that I notice among most of the young Salesians who are students here at the UPS, it is that they long for practicality and pastoral rootedness. I am not sure that they find it here. Let me explain what I'm picking up in my conversations and in observing the student priests in the communities of Don Rua and Don Bosco.
While it sounds like the plan to centralize is well thought-out, I continue to wonder if it comes out of a lopsided cultural-awareness. I do not see the Salesians from new environments (Eastern Europe, Eastern Asia, Africa) having an easy time of adapting to European-based studies. Many find it very difficult to learn the Italian Language, and by the time they are able to communicate, their two year licentiate course is over. There are many of these same students who tell me that they find the studies here generally very abstract or very idealistic or both. Instead, if given the choice, they would opt for something that is more concrete – something that allows them to explore their Salesian vocation and heritage while helping them examine the real world of the youngsters and people among whom they have or will work.
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