(ANS – Rome) – On October 30, Bishop Enrico dal Covolo, sdb, Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical Lateran University, introduced work at the 2nd University Pastoral Leaders' Meeting. He offered them a  number of points for reflection on the meaning of Salesian education, something useful for any educator.

Bishop dal Covolo began with some observations on young people, based on World Youth Day. “Other than its success in numerical terms, we have some objective data: teenagers and older youth from around the world, accompanied by their educators, came together to hear some demanding messages; hear an anthropological viewpoint inspired by reason and in harmony with the faith of the Gospel: a demanding viewpoint that requires sacrifice and dedication”.

Then referring to a range of scientific studies, the Bishop also touched on the opposite problem: widespread distrust, nihilism amongst youth; he responded to this by recalling the sure hope that Benedict XVI had expressed in his Letter to the Rome diocese on the urgency of education: “Do not be afraid! All these difficulties, in fact, are not insurmountable. They are rather, we could say the other side of the coin of that great and valuable gift which is our freedom, and with the responsibility that rightly goes with it. … The great values of the past cannot simply be inherited; we have to make them our own and renew them through an often difficult personal choice.”

Bishop dal Covolo drew on the specific contribution of the Salesian educator, recalling Don Bosco's Preventive System and especially its pillar of reason: “The term reason emphasises, according to the genuine view of Christian humanism, the value of the individual, of conscience, human nature, culture, world of work, social living, that huge range of values which is the essential endowment of the human being in family, civil and political life” he said, quoting Blessed John Paul II. The educator's task then, is to know how to read the signs of the times and choose the emerging values which attract the young.

Recalling Don Bosco's well-known line “good Christians and upright citizens” Bishop dal Covolo then reminded the pastoral leaders how this saying – which is also the goal of the Salesians educational process – is a distilled notion of the idea of forming holistically developed individuals, which is what the Italian bishops are asking of the University. He then suggested they follow Don Bosco's collaborative approach. He was never afraid of looking for supporters and benefactors amongst anyone in civil society.

By way of conclusion Bishop dal Covolo offered the example of Servant of God Giorgio La Pira, a well-known university professor. The holiness of the educator is seen in the holiness of his pupils.

Published 06/11/2013