Pastoral Proposal 2006

Requirements for giving special attention to the family in our proposal

Guarantee a particular commitment to educating to love in the context of Salesian education and in our curricula of faith education which we offer young people. 1

Accompanying and supporting parents in their educative responsibilities, involving them fully in carrying out the Salesian pastoral and educative project. 2

Promoting and qualifying the Salesian family style in families, in Salesian communities, educative and pastoral communities. 3

Growing in the spirit and experience of the Salesian Family at the service of the educational and pastoral commitment amongst the young. 4

Some suggestions

1 Prepare, in the formation curriculum for young people, a gradual and systematic pathway of education to love, which is of help to adolescents and young people.

Promote amongst young adults in our settings (leaders, volunteers, partners, young people…) practical formation courses, accompaniment and discernment of vocation to Christian marriage. In this we seek to encourage partnership with married couples amongst lay members of the Salesian Family. 2

To encourage groups, movements and associations of couples and families within our works which help them to live and to gain deeper understanding of their vocation to marriage and their educational responsibilities. 3

Support parents of boys and girls in our works in their educational responsibility, by means of parents associations,, school for parents, etc. with a practical and systematic formation and sharing on educational topics. 4

5 In each Salesian presence strengthen the educative and pastoral community, giving particular attention to a family atmosphere, to the most frequent participation possible and to sharing …so that the Salesian presence becomes a home for the young and a support to the families involved.

To involve families in the journey of education and evangelisation which we offer and animate amongst the young, by means of initiatives like parent- son/daughter encounters, family catechesis, involving parents in leadership of SYM groups, celerbations and other meetings together, Christian family communities as a reference point for the journey of faith which we offer to young people, etc. 6

Encouraging, readying and accompanying our lay people to promote and defend the rights of the family in society, in the face of laws and situations which seek to destroy them. 7

Deepening understanding of the sense of being Salesian Family amongst the different groups in the same zone by making known and by sharing the “Common identity card” and the “Common Mission Statement” and by putting in place the “SF Advisory Council” at various levels. 8