(ANS – Rome) – The “America Ratio: Young People, Brothers, and Salesians” online meeting took place on August 21, bringing together approximately 210 Salesian confreres in formation from about 15 Provinces across the Americas to share experiences and reflect together on the first three chapters of the Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum.
One of the most significant features of the meeting was the active role played by the Salesians in formation themselves, who were responsible for organizing and leading the event. The initiative, promoted and supported by the Formation Sector, aimed to highlight the young confreres’ shared responsibility for their own formation journey, offering them a concrete space for participation, dialogue, and sharing.
The online format made it possible to involve confreres from various Provinces and communities across the continent. The Salesians in formation themselves prepared videos, contributions, and materials for the moments of prayer and formation, making the meeting a concrete expression of the cultural and charismatic richness of the various Salesian communities in the Americas.
The meeting also stemmed from an initiative by a group of Salesians in formation in Rome who, together with Fr. Silvio Roggia, SDB, General Councillor for Formation, sought to engage and motivate their confreres from the various Salesian communities to deepen their study of the Ratio and to make it an increasingly vital tool in their own vocational journey.
In an atmosphere of fraternity and synodality, the participants were able to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the Salesian formation journey, sharing experiences drawn from different cultural and provincial contexts.
During the meeting, Fr. Silvio Roggia y Fr. Guido Errico, SDB, emphasized that the Ratio must be understood first and foremost as the expression of a journey that helps every Salesian to embrace formation as a permanent dimension of his vocation. The importance of remaining faithful to the charismatic identity received from Don Bosco and of recognizing young Salesians as agents of their own formation process and as sharing responsibility for the Congregation’s mission was also highlighted.
The reflection also highlighted how formation is a shared journey of conformity to Christ and fidelity to the Salesian charism. From this perspective, the Ratio was presented not merely as a document to be familiarized with, but as a precious guide to be studied, assimilated, and lived out, capable of accompanying the human, spiritual, pastoral, and intellectual growth of every Salesian.
Among the experiences shared at the end of the meeting, Javael Bokodori, from the Salesian Province of Campo Grande, Brazil, when asked what he would take away for his own formation journey following this experience, emphasized above all “sharing our mission from a different perspective, together with other young Salesians from around the world.”
Félix Aarón Ruiz, from the Salesian Province of Central America, Guatemala, also highlighted one of the aspects that had made the greatest impression on him during the meeting. When asked which moment or theme had struck him most, he pointed to “the moment when we reflected on working alongside the laity, because it is a theme that continues to resonate strongly even today.”
These testimonies show how the exchange between Salesians from different contexts was not merely a time for study, but also an opportunity to re-examine their own vocation, their shared mission, and their relationship with the laity in light of the Congregation’s current challenges.
This first continental initiative forms part of a wider project. The intention is, in fact, to promote similar meetings on other continents as well, so as to reach as many Salesians in formation as possible and foster, within the Congregation, a genuine culture of study and in-depth reflection on the Salesian Constitutions and the Ratio.
The America Ratio initiative thus represents a concrete step toward an increasingly participatory and co-responsible formation in which young confreres are not merely recipients of the formation process, but active participants in their own vocational growth and in the Salesian mission in service of young people, especially the poorest.
Those who were unable to attend the meeting but wish to learn about and explore the contributions prepared and shared by the confreres can access the materials via the website www.hyper-ratio.org.