TORONTO (CCN) — Around the world, a Catholic association dedicated to the evangelization of young people, the Association of Salesian Cooperators, is celebrating its 150th anniversary — and its 90 Canadian members have welcomed the celebration as an opportunity to dream about the future.
Their mission dates to the mid-1800s, when St. John Bosco began serving the youth and poor in his community in Turin, Italy. Inspired by the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, St. John Bosco crafted his three-pillar approach for his ministry — reason, religion, and loving-kindness — known as the Preventive System.
This framework is known as Don Bosco’s preventative system and is how the Salesian charism was born. On May 9, 1876, Pope Pius IX approved the work of the Association of Salesian Cooperators; 150 years later, there are 27,000 Salesian Cooperators in over 100 countries. Canada has 90 Salesian Cooperators.
Fairouz Hanna, provincial coordinator of the Salesian Cooperators in Canada, explained that “there really isn’t a particular profile of a Cooperator.”
Although Cooperators are primarily lay men and lay women, married or single, they can also include diocesan priests or deacons. Often, they already serve at their parish or work directly with young people as teachers or social workers, for instance.
“So, they are serving the Salesian mission, but in in many different ways,” she said.
Hanna, who lives in Montreal, explained becoming a Salesian Cooperator, like with any vocation, involves a “process of discernment.” During the two-year formation period, aspirants learn about the Catholic faith, St. John Bosco’s life and spirituality, the Salesian charism and mission, the Preventive System and the Project of Apostolic Life, which Hanna says is “the guide for how Salesian Cooperators live their vocation.”
“It’s not simply about learning information,” she said. “It’s about discerning whether God is truly calling the person to this way of life. Because we have to love young people, we have to love the spirituality of Don Bosco, his joy, his educational approach, the way of living the Gospel.”
After completing the formation period, aspirants make a public promise to become a Salesian Cooperator. These promises are renewed yearly, usually in May on the feast of Mary Help of Christians.
The Salesian family includes a central governing body based in Italy and regional groupings known as provinces. Although Canada is considered one Salesian province, the country has six local Salesian centres: three in Quebec, including two centres in Montreal and one in Sherbrooke; and one each in Surrey, British Columbia; Edmonton; and Toronto. The first centre opened in Surrey in 1981; the most recent opened in Edmonton in 2003.
The Canadian Cooperators are working to open yet another centre in Montreal at St-Sauveur Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral — the first Eastern Catholic centre in Canada — in the next few months.
“The next step is going to be to find members for the council, and then we can open this new centre,” said Hanna, who is a member of the Melkite community.
She said meeting other Canadian members in Montreal at the three-day anniversary gathering was “really special.” It was the first national Cooperators meeting to be held in Canada.
The Montreal gathering, held at the Jesuit-run Villa Saint-Martin in May, took three years to prepare. Each year leading up to the anniversary focused on a theme: remember, renew and relaunch. About 60 lay men and lay women, religious sisters and priests met in Montreal for a weekend of fellowship and planning for the future.
Joe Conroy in Toronto served as the previous provincial coordinator for Canada. He describes his path into becoming a Salesian Cooperator as “a natural extension” of his experience as a youth worker in Don Bosco Secondary School and “being exposed to the Salesian way of life.”
His wife, Jill Conroy, is also a Salesian Cooperator. They made their promise in 2013. She told CCN what each year’s programming in preparation for the in-person celebrations in Montreal meant.
“It’s great to have this 150th anniversary and to celebrate, but it’s also a challenge for the future,” she said. “What would Don Bosco say today to us as Salesian Cooperators? Because the needs of the youth today are different than the needs of the youth back then.”
In the 1800s, the mission focused on helping young people find shelter, learn a trade and learn to love God.
“Today, the youth are very needy,” she said, “but they’re needy spiritually more than anything.
“We remembered, we’ve renewed, now let’s relaunch,” she said. “So that’s been the challenge. And that was the big thrust of the weekend: What are we going to do going forward … now that we have this resurgence in our zeal?
“What are we going to do with that? How are we going to make a difference to the young people in our midst?”
