From the answers to the questionnaire in which 86% of the young people in initial formation took part, the data that emerged concerned the age and distribution of Salesians, the vast majority being under 30 years of age. The Salesian is a religious Congregation with a large number of young religious, the most widespread across the 5 continents.
It is not a homogeneous distribution in terms of age, if one compares the percentage of Salesians with temporary vows with respect to the total in two regions that are geographically close, but very different by birth: in the Mediterranean, the percentage of SDBs with temporary vows is 4.17%; in Africa Madagascar, it is 37.35% (31 December 2018). These differences between Regions and Provinces, however, do not diminish the number of young confreres as a whole Congregation, but rather offer clear indications on the new face of the Salesians that is emerging.
72.48% of novices as of December 31, 2019, live in Africa, South Asia, East Asia and Oceania. 93% of post-novices replied to the 2017 questionnaire on accompaniment. Of this group of young Salesians, 59.4% used English. It is not necessary to be prophets to grasp the signs of the future that give hope and at the same time strongly challenge us, especially for the formative investment to which one is called as a Congregation.
John Paul, Anselmo, Marc-Auguste, Chema, Tommaso ask three questions at the end of the video to stimulate reflection and community sharing. They are recorded in the PowerPoint/PDF that is attached to the video itself, where more space is given to the data and links to the pages of the accompanying document whose dissemination is to be promoted (in the 1st chapter in particular):
- How do we cultivate the SENSE OF BELONGING to the Church and to our Salesian Congregation? Are we open to the great HORIZONS that the Church and the Congregation open before us?
- How do we experience INTERNATIONALITY and INTERCULTURALITY? They are perceived as a problem or as a valuable resource?
- How does the DIALOGUE BETWEEN GENERATIONS work within our training community?
The video is accessible on ANSChannel.
https://www.infoans.org/en/component/k2/item/11177#sigProIdc0f99fd2d0
