Oratorian heart of Don Bosco - model and criteria for Salesian apostolate

The theme of the Salesian Family Symposium at Sliema this year is Educating with the heart of Don Bosco. When Paul Formosa invited me to speak at the conference, he spoke about giving the audience some historical perspective on Don Bosco and his preventive system of education with some applications to the contemporary situation of young people, their families and educators.

At first I worried that I would not have anything to say, and that I should turn this down… but I had turned down other invitations to come to Malta in the past couple of years because of the costs of travel or the time ot the year. I did not want to tell the Salesians in Malta again that I was not able to come. So I thought of building my talk around recent teachings of Pascual Chavez as well as delving into the famous Oratory Criteria for Salesian spirit and mission as outlined in the Salesian constitutions.

And what are the Oratory criteria? Briefly we can speak of them with four phrases. The Salesian educative and pastoral environment, intentionally and charismatically, needs to become:

A home that welcomes

A school that educates

A church that evangelizes

An open space where friends can meet and grow together

The «oratory criteria», outlined in chapter 40 of the Salesian constitutions, are perhaps a more complete way that the traditional labels of «preventive system» with «reason, religion and kindness».

In article 40 of the Salesian constitutions we read:

Don Bosco lived a pastoral experience in his first Oratory which serves as a model; it was for the youngsters a home that welcomed, a parish that evangelized, a school that prepared them for life, and a playground where friends could meet and enjoy themselves.

As we carry out our mission today, the Valdocco experience is still the lasting criterion for discernment and renewal in all our activities and works.

These statement — the oratory model — formed the core of my thought in developing the presentation for the Salesian Family in Sliema yesterday.

Photos: 1) Zambia camping trip, 27 August 2006 [Swavek]; 2) Children missionaries to their peers, San Pedro Carchá, Guatemala, 13 September 2004 [ANS]; 3) Salesian Youth Movement prayer experience, Brazil, 7 September 2008 [ANS]; 4) Zambian youth dance by tradition, 9 December 2006 [Swavek].