Gathered in the Assembly Hall of the Salesianum, the 232 Salesians from 129 nations listened carefully to the concluding address of the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez. He dealt with five main points.

After briefly recapping the events of the Chapter, the Rector Major gave some help towards reading the experience in a prophetic way, especially the final document which would soon be sent out to each community. “I think that the final document really is good and constructive, ... It is now up to each Region and Province to work on putting into context the major courses of action with the subsequent procedures so that they respond better to the actual situations and concrete challenges”. Fr Chávez noted that GC26 had been celebrated, as the Pope had said in the private audience of 31 March, “in a period of great social, economic and political change, of heightened ethical, cultural and environmental problems and unresolved conflicts between races and nations”.

The Rector Major then suggested some keys to interpreting the document. The first was an invitation to Salesians to start afresh from Christ and from Don Bosco: “We need to encounter the Lord who comes to speak to us heart to heart, who helps us to rediscover our best energies, those that flow from the heart; who comes ... to spur us on to follow a path marked by fidelity to the  covenant, giving order to our personal, community and institutional lives according to the values of the Gospel and according to Don Bosco’s charism”.

The second, missionary spirit, is driven “by passion for the salvation of others, by the joy of sharing the experience of the fullness of life in Jesus”. The Rector Major had noticed a growing awareness and concern in the Congregation for the young person’s world of alienation and unease. This led to the third key to interpreting the final document: “It is a question of frontiers, not only geographical but also economic, social, cultural and religious. Here we have to act with the criterion that guided Don Bosco’s decisions, that is to say, giving more to those who have least”. The point of reference, once again, was Don Bosco, who had the ability to interpret the social situation, using his pastoral imagination to create a profoundly transforming response.

The third part of the address was devoted to the ‘Guidelines’ chosen by the chapter members for each of the five core topics. These provide a synthesis of the priorities which the Congregation intends to deal with during the next six years. “They will be”, said Fr Chávez, “the ‘practical message’ of  GC26, which needs to be studied and translated, at pastoral level in the different contexts, identifying criteria for assessment and the elements of evaluation”. He returned again to ‘Project Europe’, already at the centre of the Chapter’s attention, “Today, more than ever, we become aware that our presence in Europe needs to be re-thought. This consideration”, he said, recalling his words at the Papal audience, “is aimed at re-dimensioning our Salesian presence for greater impact and effectiveness in this continent. That is, seeking a new form of evangelisation in order to  respond to the spiritual and moral needs of these young people, who to us appear as wanderers without guides and without destination”.

The fourth part of the address was devoted to Don Bosco. “What would Don Bosco do today? We don’t know! But we know what he did yesterday and therefore we can know what to do in order to act like him today. It is a question of knowledge and imitation”. Outlining Don Bosco’s pastoral adventures, he stressed his identity as a ‘priest-educator’: “This is the model that we have and we are called upon to reproduce as faithfully as possible!”

In conclusion, Fr Chávez referred to the ‘vow of apostolic love’ made by Don Bosco after the illness which struck him in the summer of 1846. “Dear sons, I owe my life to you. But you can be sure of this: from now on I shall spend my whole life for you”. The Rector Major’s wish for every Salesian was “that the young may find in each one of us (as the boys at the Oratory found in Don Bosco at Valdocco) people ready to walk beside them, to build with them and for them a educational presence that is attractive and significant, able to provide openings and ways of being involved to the extent that it will be able to bring about cultural change”.

Hearty and prolonged applause broke out at the end of the Rector Major’s address. When it subsided, Fr Francesco Cereda, Moderator of the Chapter, declared GC26 officially closed.

Before his message, Fr Chávez had thanked those working within and around the Chapter to ensure that every aspect, practical and spiritual, was carried out in the best possible way. Each chapter member received a wooden statue of Don Bosco as a gift from the Rector Major.

The Rector Major’s address is available in full in the GC26 section of www.sdb.org

Published 12/4/2008