Hajja Salesjana July-September 2020

H AJJA S ALESJANA 12 Following 12 years as General Councillor responsible for the worldwide Youth Ministry in our Congregation, Fr. Fabio has now been entrusted by the Rector Major with a new and important task. He will be responsible for a grand new project on the ongoing Salesian and Lay formation in Europe. It sure is a new venture and a new task, albeit a crucial one upon which our constant renewal as a Salesian Family depends. (ANS - Rome) - “It’s a frontier that needs a lot of reflection, a lot of prayer and also a commitment to study the existing opportunities well, to offer proposals that meet the needs of those who ask to be accompanied and trained”. This is how Fr Fabio Attard, General Councillor for Youth Ministry for 12 years, frames the new task entrusted to him - one previously non-existent: Director for the ongoing formation of Salesians and lay people in Europe. How did this assignment start? It’s necessary to go back to the journey made by the Congregation in the last 20-25 years, starting from the 24th General Chapter, with the theme “Salesians and Lay People”. Then in 2004 the then Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, invited to rethink the Salesian mission in an increasingly shared way with the laity. And especially in the last two years, the theme has been better and better deepened, also because one of the thematic nuclei of the 27th General Chapter was “shared mission”. What will your future job consist of? Let’s start from a given: we’re not starting from scratch. In many European Provinces there are already excellent pedagogical, pastoral, charismatic and Salesian spirituality courses. The idea is to enhance the already existing systematic and structured paths. In almost all Provinces, then, there are occasional courses, which will surely be further articulated. A second step will be to implement a continental proposal to strengthen this formation: to train Salesians and lay people who can then make their contribution in local formation courses. Currently, I’m mainly engaged in the collection and sharing of resources already available, as well as expectations. We want to produce a strategic and operational project to be discussed with the Provinces and with those who have already Change of guard