BIS #2161 SEMINAR ON THE CONSTITUTIONS AT DBYS

Charles Anthony sdb
MATUNGA, DECEMBER 3, 2010: A two day seminar on the Constitutions and Regulations of our society was held at Don Bosco Youth Services, Matunga, on December 1 and December 2, 2010, conducted by Fr Chrys Saldanha, our ex provincial and a member of the formation team at the Generalate. It was a result of the resolution taken at the Provincial Chapter 2010, in a move to ‘Return to Don Bosco.’  It was attended by fifty one Salesians from our province.

Fr Chrys acknowledged, right at the beginning, that it was impossible to reflect over the entire constitutions in such a short time. Therefore the inputs would dwell on those parts of the constitutions that very deeply and clearly affected our identity and life as Salesians. The seminar was spread over seven sessions. Each session was divided into two parts; an exposition of the articles of the constitutions, grouped under choice topics, followed by a reflection on that particular topic.
 

The seven sessions covered the following topics: 1) Our identity as Salesians; we are basically Consecrated Persons living out our roles as Salesian priests and brothers 2) The Salesian Spirit, 3) Our life as a synthesis of Education and Evangelization, 4) Our call to live fraternally in communion, con-celebration and co-responsibility, 5) Our religious vows 6) Importance of Spiritual Direction and 7) Formation - a life-long process in striving to be like Christ.
  
The inputs were very simple but deep and challenging.  They were followed by a period of lively discussions, reflection and interaction. The answers and suggestions of Fr Chrys were particularly enriching and challenging. The praises for the talks, and the accompanying notes, were in the superlative.  However, it was the person of Fr Chrys that was appreciated the most.
  
They say Values are not taught, they are caught.  Definitely many of us caught a lot of Salesian values from the seminar and the person of Fr Chrys.