Mission Statement

This statement, rich in meaning, offers insight into the conceptualization and implementation of the programs and activities of the Salesian Center:

• The mission of the Salesian Center is interdisciplinary in nature. That is, it is intended to be a university-wide venture, whose work is not the extension or prerogative of any one department or office.

• The interaction of faith and culture is the defining context for the work of the Salesian Center. In this regard, all academic areas of the university are relevant to the mission of the Center. The Center may also collaborate in areas where the academic realm impacts upon student life issues.

• The Salesian Center approaches faith and culture as being mutually beneficial. Eschewing the sense of superiority implied by a fundamentalist view of faith or a classicist view of culture, the Center adopts as its own the dual outlook fashioned by Pope John Paul II, namely, that "A faith that does not become culture is a faith not fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived" and that "The heart of every culture is its approach to the greatest mystery, the mystery of God." [Toward a Pastoral Approach to Culture, no. 1]

• This approach to faith and culture is by way of academic initiatives. The primary work of the Salesian Center is research-oriented; as such, it is concerned directly with intellectual formation and development more so than with pastoral ministry. Nevertheless, the ultimate goal of the Center's activity is to foster the personal appropriation of Salesian Spirituality in a life lived according to the values of this sacred tradition.

• This academic orientation focuses on social concerns and gospel values, the full integration of which is the mission of "evangelization" that is at the heart of the Church in the modern world and, by extension, a focal point of the mission of a Catholic university.

• And in this mission of evangelization, the Church and the world continue to benefit from the wisdom of Salesian Spirituality. The lives of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal, as well as the legacy of holiness handed on in the tradition of Christian Humanism, provide both a model for and the impetus behind the work of our new Salesian Center.

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