THE EDUCATING COMMUNITY

Today, forming ourselves and working together – FMA, lay men and women, young people and families – offers a new opportunity to revitalise educational environments and make them ever more open to facing the challenges that the complex multi-cultural society poses for our mission.

Through preventive education, we walk the priority path of loving kindness, we rediscover Salesian assistance as a presence among young people. We feel the urgent need to commit ourselves together, valuing each other’s role and vocation.

Through preventive education, we

walk the priority path of loving kindness,

we rediscover Salesian assistance as a presence

among young people.

We feel the urgent need to commit ourselves

together, valuing each other’s role and vocation.

The educating community is an experience of co-responsibility and of reciprocity. “ It is authentic only if it lives the ideals it proclaims” ( C 68). Therefore, in the first place, it is not a structure, but a mentality, a way of working together.

One new development that has shown itself clearly in the Church in recent years, is the request from lay people to share with religious, not only activities, but spirituality and mission.

This request is an appeal to us to encourage mutual understanding of the richness of every state of life to live our specific vocation. It requires a clear awareness of our identity as women called to witness the primacy of God and of love, having made the choice of following Christ chaste, poor and obedient.

It is, first of all within our FMA communities that the preventive system is to be expressed as foreseeing and caring love that favours the joy of being and working together.

The most effective and easily understood language is coherence of life, together with the laity where we learn to discern the true needs of young people and commit ourselves to explicit evangelisation according to the style of the Preventive System.

The dynamic power of love in mission