“The changes that contemporary society has undergone in recent times are clearly visible. These difficulties must also represent opportunities for growth,” begins Mr. Boccia.
He continues: “We will have to share experiences… It is time to think about a new profile of the Salesian Cooperator… We cannot fail to take into account that these times are strongly conditioning our personal, professional, family and associative lives. I imagine a Salesian Cooperator who is more attentive to the common good, present and committed in the social sphere, with special attention to the poor, to families, to young people. That he or she re-appropriates the specificity of Salesian as an educator, becomes the bearer of enthusiasm and vitality in the Church, growing in the awareness of belonging to a Charismatic Family.”
"We must not wait for the emergency to end to activate these processes," clarifies the World Coordinator of the SSCC. Instead, in the answers already adopted by many associates in times of pandemic he finds "tangible signs that a NEW SPRING has already begun for the Association of Salesian Cooperators and for the whole Salesian Family."
“Let us free all our Salesian creativity. Let us become leaders by activating processes of inclusive relationships that enhance all the Salesian Cooperators and the other Groups of the Salesian Family that are close to us. Let us educate in economic solidarity as an instrument of personal growth that strengthens our sense of belonging,” he says in conclusion.
For their part, the SDB and FMA Delegates in their message identified "several traits that are present in all the Regions:
- You are people rich in humanity, an element typical of St Francis de Sales' humanism ... We know well that you are trying to live to the full the art of seeing God in everything, and of contemplating it with God's gaze.
- You are living your baptismal vocation with joy, bearing witness to an immense love for the Church, participating with joy and responsibility as true children in different parishes' activities… inserting yourself in temporal realities with a clear charismatic identity.
- You are 'Salesians in the world' in accord with the original intuition of Don Bosco, who wants you to be passionate collaborators of God with our great options for Salesian mission: commitment for the well-being of the young, the family, social and political environment with the Salesian Preventive System. Therefore, we invite you to carry out this apostolic mission in the Salesian spirit, in the circumstances where each of you is living.”
