Communal Life and Mission

37. Vocational guidance

We educate the young to develop their own human and baptismal vocation by a dally life progressively inspired and unified by the Gospel.

The family atmosphere of welcome and of faith, created by the witness of a community which gives of itself with joy, is the most efficacious setting for the discovery and guidance of vocations.

This work of collaboration with God's design, the crown of all our educational and pastoral activity, is sustained by prayer and personal contact, above all in spiritual direction.

   Here in Orange, NJ we have 23 students for religious life. There are two Theologians, 5 post novices, 6 pre-novices and 10 Candidates. The men we have are from all over the country from very different backgrounds. There are some guys who aren’t even from the United States but from some other Latin American countries. Now, one might ask how can 23 guys from different countries and different cultures live and work together. The answer to that question is easy, love.

   We have many personalities living under one roof. We operate like any normal family would. We wake up every morning and start with Morning Prayer at 7am. We have Mass shortly after that and then we continue on to breakfast and they are on the road for school. We stay at the school taking classes on theology and philosophy as well as some other classes that fit into our subject matter(s).

   Each person who comes to any Salesian Formation House is greeted and welcomed as a member of the family, because they are loved. Don Bosco, our founder, said that “..it is enough that you are young for me to love you.” It is with this in mind that we welcome and nurture vocations. We want people who have a passion for evangelization and education, in Don Bosco’s method, for the youth of the world. Our mission is that of the Church’s--to save souls.

   The mission for us is laid out by Don Bosco as Da Mihi Animas, Ceterra Tolle, translated as, Give me souls, Take away the rest. Our way as students in living out this mission of Don Bosco is to study. By studying we are expounding our intellects so that we can better educate and evangelize the young that we are sent to.

   We do all of this as a community. A community made up of many individuals that are acting as one cohesive unit. This unit is one that is part of a larger community, the Salesians of Don Bosco. There are close to 16,000 members of the Salesians of Don Bosco in over 130 countries. This mission and community has over 150 years of existence and practice and has proved that it is a worthy way of life, a proven way to holiness. Would you like to be part of this mission?