The Salesian Province of Mumbai is celebrating its Golden Jubilee this year. My mind goes back to 1972 when the Province began. I was a student in St Joseph’s High School, Wadala, and we had already participated in 1971 for what I realise was the inauguration of the Vice Province of Bombay. One year later, we went again to Matunga, sang the same song for Fr Dennis Duarte, now Provincial: “Congratulations….” Fifty years have passed, and it is time to sing again: “Congratulations,” and above all to bless God for what he has been doing through our own little efforts.
In the early years of its existence, the Province had its prenovitiate in Lonavla, and used to send its confreres to the novitiate and post novitiate in Yercaud (Tamil Nadu) and to Kristu Jyoti College, Bengaluru for theology. Later it set up its own novitiate and postnovitiate, now both in Nashik, and a community for theology students in Pune. All these houses are shared with the Konkan province, which in its turn provides an interprovincial prenovitiate in Loutolim.
One of the important developments was the setting up of the master’s degree program in Divyadaan, Nashik. In the current year that community has some 73 students between those doing the bachelor’s degree program and the master’s degree program, drawn from almost all the Salesian Provinces in India. In the past, when it was easier to get visas, the community has even had students from Sri Lanka, East Africa and Myanmar.
Coming to the present, it is not a secret that for some years now the Province of Bombay has been experiencing a ‘vocations crunch’, and this has rightly been a cause of concern to the confreres. My own take on this is that the Province is not lacking in promising young people and generous and lively Catholic families who would not hesitate to allow their sons to become Salesians. What then is the problem? What is God telling us through this situation? I believe the time has come to rethink the traditional processes of vocational animation.
The Church and the Congregation have been telling us for many years that every baptised person, and indeed every human being, has a vocation. We believe that every young person is called by God to do something good with his or her life. Every one of us not only has a mission in life but “is a mission”, as Pope Francis has said. This simply means that it is impossible to think of a human being without a mission and a vocation.
One consequence is that all the work we do for and with young people has to somehow raise the question of vocation. Recently I was privileged to take part in a “Marian Nite” where the participants were young adults from the city of Mumbai. I was moved and amazed by the quality of these young people and their simple but clear commitment to Jesus and his gospel. I am sure the Salesians and other animators are helping them ask: “What is God calling me to do with my life?” This simple question is what we must help all young people to ask: those in our many schools, certainly those in our parishes and missions, and, why not, even those in our houses for young people at risk.
I am convinced that if Salesians and their collaborators add this element to their youth ministry in all their settings, there will not be a lack in young people who discover a Salesian vocation. I repeat: this must be done in all settings – because youth ministry is not only what we do for college-going and working youth, but whatever we do wherever there are young people. I am convinced we will find some who feel called to be Salesians or members of the many groups that form part of the Salesian Family.
So I believe God is calling us to expand our idea of vocations. Within this kind of youth ministry, of course we have to have the courage to invite promising young people to think of a religious or priestly vocation. And we must remember what Pope Francis tells us: vocations do not arise in a vacuum. They presuppose a living friendship with Jesus. So we have to help young people to grow in friendship with Jesus and create opportunities and habits of silence and prayer. In this friendship, Pope Francis says, young people will discover the ‘Call of the Friend’. I think it is a wonderful invitation.
We have been speaking about a drop in Salesian vocations, but we must also keep in mind that there are also dropouts. Unfortunately, the drop-out rate of Salesian vocations has also been quite high. What could be the reason behind this? The Church has been telling us that, this is probably because initially the discernment was not done really well. So here we have one more hint for a new youth ministry: better accompaniment and better discernment. We need Salesians and laypeople who are able to accompany young people spiritually, to help them discover and discern their vocation. Will the Province of Bombay have the courage to invest massively in preparing Salesians and laypeople to be spiritual guides of young people – as the Synod on Youth has been asking us? How wonderful it would be to have Salesian Principals, teachers, Parish Priests, missionaries and social workers who are also spiritual guides of young people.
I believe that, with fresh elements of this kind in youth ministry, the candidates entering the formation processes will be better prepared. Any improvement in youth ministry is bound to have a good effect on the formation processes.
As far as formation itself is concerned, I know that the Province has made efforts to prepare Salesians for the teaching of philosophy, and that it has recently begun preparing confreres also to be formators and spiritual guides. I believe the latter emphasis is crucial and must be vigorously carried on.
I also believe that our model of formation has to be the Preventive System, as our recent General Chapter 28 and the Rector Major have been telling us. Formation is not a question of “making sure that everyone behaves”. A formation that does not reach the heart, that does not touch deep motivations, convictions and attitudes is not formation at all, but merely external compliance. The more our formators are convinced of this, the better it will be. Here also the importance of preparing formators with the right convictions and skills.
But perhaps there is nothing as healthy as meeting a formator who is healthy and happy, so the most important task of formation is to take care of the person of the formator. Paraphrasing Don Bosco we could say: “For you I study, for you I work, for you I am ready to form myself and to grow in every way…”
As the Province of Bombay celebrates its Golden Jubilee, our watchwords are Memory and Prophecy. We thank God for what has been and we look forward with hope to a fresh impetus in the aspects of youth ministry, vocational animation and formation.
