Father Eduardo Capucho Gonçalves/photo UNISAL

by
Jéssica Marçal
Founder of the Salesian Congregation, Dom Bosco exercised the length of his life an evangelizing work that had as focus attention to youth. The methods used showed themselves effective and all attention to them through simplicity.

The administrator of the Centro Universitário Salesiano (UNISAL) of Lorena, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Father Eduardo Capucho Gonçalves, explained that the documents were not the form found for Dom Bosco to manifest this proximity with the youth.

According to the priest, when asked what was the origin of success of evangelization with the youth, the saint always responded with an invitation: a visit to the oratory, place where, abandoned youth could live, working and praying. Before realizations as this, Father Eduardo, stressed the live and work of Dom Bosco as an “unconditional love for youth.”

At the foundation is the idea of welcome; he sought to welcome many students. We speak also of intentionality, that was to help the youth to encounter himself with himself and with God. He valued very much the idea of welcome, of a healthy environment of healthy conversation or healthy influence. In the foundation, he like a lot of composing a healthy environment,” he said.

Another great highlight of the evangelizing work of Dom Bosco is the preventative pedagogy that consists in preventing evil without damaging the freedom of the person. although, it may be secular, Eduardo believes that such pedagogy continues efficiently in the education of the youth. He believes that even that the youth had their own characteristics, the needs of people do  not change.

“People need similar things in this epoch or that epoch. In this epoch, people need to feel secure, valued and loves and the preventive system guarantees a little of this.”

The Salesian Charism

On the principle mark of the charism of Dom Bosco, Fr. Eduardo emphasized that the preventive system is more than a methodology, but also a spirituality that the Salesians live.

The priest explained that one form or another, all the groups of the salesian family pretend to live a part, a characteristic of the preventive system. So being whatever group of this family is going to have a gift, a vision and a special grace on the way in which it is going to manifest itself in the life of the Church.

“I believe that the living of the charism, independent of the group in which the person is, always is going to be always is going to be guided in the way of life that he person is going to encounter in union with the youth or together with those in need.

Finally, Father Eduardo stressed that the Salesian charism is always a response to the needs of the present time. “Then if a group of salesian family that is inspired by Dom Bosco sees a necessity the world that needs a response, even if Dom Bosco had never lived, this, without doubt is also the Salesian charism.”

Actually, the salesian mission is for all the songs of the world, collaborating and contributing with the basic education, vocational, leisure, entertainment, feeding, sheltering and evangelizing children and youth. Among the numerous members of the Salesian family is the  Canção Nova Community, whose founder Monsignor Jonas Abib, is a Salesian Priest. The community was admitted officially in the Salesian Family on the 21st of January of 2009, during the meeting of the General Council of the Salesians in Rome.

translated from Portuguese