You’ve been waiting for it, and it is finally here! This Tuesday, 23 June 2015, the Feast of Saint Joseph Cafasso, we will be re-launching the Journal of Salesian Studies. Sign up for your subscription today, and don’t miss out on the first new issue! Issues will be coming out twice yearly, and will be available both online and in print for only $39/year.
Excerpts from the Editor’s Forward
Salesian Evangelization: At the Threshold of the Bicentennial of Don Bosco’s Birth – Part 1
– John Roche, SDB
Our opening article, “Salesian Evangelization: At the Threshold of the Bicentennial of Don Bosco’s Birth,” is the first part of a two-part study, written by John Roche, SDB, director of the Institute of Salesian Studies in Berkeley, CA. Fr. Roche offers us a reflection on Salesian evangelization and how this is seen to share with the Church and the global community the precise and specific gifts that the Salesian Spirituality of accompaniment offers the world of youth ministry and education. His excursus begins at the Second Vatican Council and moving on to recent times and deals with the theme of the new evangelization in dialogue with today’s globalization and how it can actually “speak” to so “many cultures, languages, and ideologies.” Building on Church documents and on the works of contemporary writers on the subject, Fr. Roche leads us to reflect on how the Salesian evangelization is responding in the cultural changes of today’s world, especially in a postmodern and a globalized world.
The Salesian Charism and the Good Shepherd Motif
– Francis J. Moloney, SDB
The author of the second article is none other than the prolific author, and noted biblical scholar, Francis J. Maloney, SDB, who presents a short study on “The Salesian Charism and the Good Shepherd Motif.” Fr. Moloney offers an historical look at how the image of the Good Shepherd came to be connected with the person of Don Bosco and the Salesian charism, and how this connection is relatively new. He then presents an interesting insight on the Good Shepherd image on the Salesian cross received by those who take their perpetual vows within the Congregation. Fr. Maloney then gives us biblical references to the early allusions of the image of the Good Shepherd. Citing various passages, the author expounds on the image of God as the shepherd of his own people and how He is the one who will save them from all their enemies. He then moves on to present us the shepherd in the Gospels; from the teaching and practice of Jesus himself, the theme of the Good Shepherd should serve as a paradigm for such pastoral spirituality. After presenting the theme from the Synoptic gospels’ perspective, the author gives us an overview of how the Fourth Gospel presents the theme. In conclusion, the author tells us that as Salesians we have looked beyond the person of Don Bosco and searched more in the Sacred Scriptures where we have uncovered “something essential to our charism.” The biblical image of the Good Shepherd should be for the Salesians “a feature of all that we do and are in our care for one another, and for all those whose lives we touch as educators.”
Assistance: The Essence of Don Bosco’s Preventive System (1876-1884) – Part 1
– Rik Biesmans, SDB
The third article is written by Rik Biesmans, a Salesian hailing from Belgium. The article studies the theme of “Assistance: The Essence of Don Bosco’s Preventive System (1876-1884).” In this issue of the Journal we are presenting the first part of Fr. Biesmans’ article. The choice of dates in the title of the article are important, since according to the author, these were the years of Don Bosco’s consolidation of his educational style. The article centers on the theme of assistance, and how this element is a foundation of Don Bosco’s Preventive System. The author offers insights on the probable historical and social context which influenced Don Bosco’s choice for the Preventive System. This set him aside from other pedagogues of his time, offering an innovation in the education of the young. It was also a new system which was finding widespread approval and recognition outside the Salesian Congregation. Expounding on his theme within the Preventive System, Fr. Biesmans asserts that Don Bosco’s system stands or falls on assistance. The Salesian educational system does not permit corporal punishment or other types of punishment in use at the time of Don Bosco, but rather it offered “assistance” as a constant presence of the educators who by being amongst the students “prevent” any wrongdoing and if any is committed, this is resolved through dialogue and mutual respect.
Visitation: Mystery of Presence, Community of Women for Women
– Joseph Boenzi, SDB
Our own Joseph Boenzi, SDB, writes our final article in this issue: “Visitation: Mystery of Presence, Community of Women for Women,” which studies the beginning of the Visitation Institute by Saint Francis de Sales. Fr. Boenzi underlines the scope and of the new institute and the importance it had for the Savoyard. From its beginning, the Institute was aimed to attract women and girls “who would begin a new experiment of living together in piety and poverty, enriching themselves only with good works.” The author underlines that Francis de Sales aimed to create a community where charity towards one’s neighbor and the aspect of contemplative life and prayer, were perfectly balanced. This was innovative for Francis de Sales’ time. Therefore, his idea would attract some criticism from various quarters, especially to the fact that what he was proposing was not a serious response to the austere demands made by the Council of Trent with regards religious life. It was precisely because religious life was too rigorous and too severe, that in the Savoyard’s opinion, only women of robust constitution could endure such a communitarian life. What about other women who did not enjoy robust health? Should they be impeded to embrace religious life? Not according to Francis de Sales. In fact, the new Institute would be “for those women and girls who, because of their bodily infirmities or because they have not the inspiration to undertake great austerities, cannot enter the existing or reformed religious communities…” Therefore, his new Institute would create an environment where such women would find a welcoming, gracious refuge with the possibilities of living a virtuous life. The author then moves on to state Francis de Sales’ clear scope for the institute and the choice of name for his new religious community. Towards the end of his article, Fr. Boenzi gives details on the expansion of the new Institute and also on the practice of charity by its members, especially towards poor and sick women. Reaching out to these poor women and instructing girls on Sundays, the Sisters of the Visitation – as they became to be known – were an innovation in the field of religious life, especially in time when monastic or cloistered community life was looked upon as austere and rigid.
A letter From the Director
Dear Salesian Journal Subscribers and Readers,
It is with great joy that we mark the Bicentennial of St. John Bosco’s birth with a re-launch of the Journal of Salesian Studies. As we, the Institute of Salesian Studies, leap back into the academic publishing enterprise, I want to thank the loyal readers and libraries which have stayed in touch with us since the last printed edition of the Journal of Salesian Studies in 2007. Your loyalty and continued interest is one of the principal motivations for this endeavor.
The re-launch actually began over a year ago with the digitization and online publication of the first 15 volumes (25 issues). This undertaking was headed by Mr. Sean Bryan, who has served on the staff at Don Bosco Hall for the last three years, and who recently received his Masters of Arts degree in Theology with Salesian Studies Concentration. Sean enlisted the support of some of our University Residents and graduate students at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology (DSPT), a member school of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. Many hours of scanning, formatting and indexing these texts comprised the work of this team for over one year of tedious devotion. The “thank you” page found in the next issue is a small token of our heartfelt appreciation for those who made it possible.
In order to carry this ongoing project forward, Fr. Emmanuel Camilleri, a recent Doctoral Graduate of the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, has graciously accepted the position of Editor in Chief, and made it possible to re-launch the journal in time for the Bicentennial. Fr. Emmanuel is a Salesian from Malta who has joined our staff as a professor in Salesian History and Spirituality. He has brought new energy and resources to the team here at the Institute of Salesian Studies, and will begin offering his expertise with new classes next Semester. We are most grateful!
May this return be for all of you the opportunity to delve more deeply into the Salesian charism and the historical critical research this journal has supplied for many years. May it bring us all together for the purpose of keeping Salesian Studies alive and pertinent for our times.
On this Feast of St. Joseph Cafasso, who was so instrumental in forming Don Bosco’s pastoral heart, we recommit ourselves to the service of Salesian Education and Evangelization, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
John J. Roche, SDB, Director
Institute of Salesian Studies