Michal Vojtáš – Salesian pedagogy of choice and vocation: evolution, revision and proposals

This article approaches the theme of Salesian pedagogy of life choice and vocation on three levels of argumentation.

The first level synthesizes some fundamental modifications in Salesian pedagogy of vocation that originate from the post Vatican II youth ministry model. The Salesian Congregation switched from a traditional “state of life” choice education to an approach spinning around unconditional acceptance and personalized planning of life. The consequences of these choices will be interpreted within a changed postmodern context where we point out the need of a new approach suitable for the needs of millennials and digital natives.

The second level of the study outlines a set of permanent inspirational pedagogical principles. These are referring to the experience of Don Bosco that constitutes a base for every further update of salesian education theory.

The third level offers strategic proposals for the actual education of life choices and vocation is linked to the challenges of the postmodern fluid societies; to the Salesian pedagogical principles of the past and to a transformational model of education, ministry and vocation.

Contents:

• 1. Vocation: a problematic “outsider” in the post Vatican II Youth Ministry
  • 1.1 Vocational crisis as a context for interpretation
  • 1.2 From universal values of tradition to personalized plans towards the future
  • 1.3 From the virtue of disciplined fidelity to the attitude of creative authenticity
  • 1.4 The consequences: vocational Youth Ministry as an “outsider”
• 2. Some constant features of Don Bosco’s vocational pedagogy
  • 2.1 Being welcomed and donate oneself for a mission as an anthropological base
  • 2.2 The Salesian isomorphism of the credible disciple-educator
  • 2.3 The steps of the accompaniment process
    • 2.3.1 The first meeting (welcome, challenge, entrustment)
    • 2.3.2 Accompaniment in the environment (insertion, crisis, decision, path)
• 3. Proposals for a Salesian vocational pedagogy in the third millennium
  • 3.1 Sharing life in a community inhabited by different vocations
  • 3.2 A vision of faith changing the paradigm from personal choice to vocation
  • 3.3 Accompaniment as a differentiated and isomorphic educational style
  • 3.4 “Travelogue” as a spiritual-narrative-operative tool of accompaniment
    • 3.4.1 Volunteering as a concretization of charity and a context of discernment
    • 3.4.2 Virtuous and personalized discipline as a basic requirement for a journey
• Bibliography

Reference time period: 1963 – 2018

Reference institution:
Università Pontificia Salesiana