PDF – DB Study Guide – October 2012 As we move into our second year of studying our Founder, Don Bosco, we focus on his Educational Methodology. We call upon the work of Fr. Jack Finnegan, a Salesian scholar from Dublin, who launched this year’s study of Don Bosco by leading the USA Western Province in a day of reflection. The content of the day of reflection is found in this guide, which contextualizes Don Bosco’s Pedagogy within his burning love for God, and demonstrates how his every effort was linked to this encounter with God.
What is more powerful still is the challenging questions Fr. Jack poses to the Salesian world of today. He calls for an examination of our own contexts, an appraisal of our own motivations, and a deep soul-searching of our institutional and personal passions. Let the fire which moved, molded, and mastered Don Bosco’s educative heart enflame each of our hearts! Let each of the questions he raises open personal reflection and initiate conversations in all of our various contexts.
The work of the Institute of Salesian Studies is committed to this study and renewal of hearts and minds. May the Spirit guide your study and your reflection and may you discover the privileged call to be educators of the heart and shapers of the soul!
…Prophetic insight into divine love also plays a pivotal role in Don Bosco’s educational insight. Listen again to Hosea:
I will heal their faithlessness;
I will love them freely…
I will be as the dew to Israel;
he shall blossom like a lily,
he shall strike root as the poplar,
his shoots shall spread out;
his beauty shall be like the olive,
and his fragrance like Lebanon. (Hosea 14:4-6)
Don Bosco recognised all these potentials and promises in the young. Can you hear them echoing in and inspiring his life-long desire to help them become good Christians and honest citizens? Like Micah he had no time for empty and perfunctory worship…
In this issue:
- Mystic Pedagogy
- Servant Spirituality
- The Institution as Servant
- Salesian Education & the Church’s Mission
- Don Bosco’s Preventive System
- Summary
- A Concluding Examen & Reflection Questions
- Suggestions for Use of this Guide