St. John Bosco and The Value of Spiritual Accountability

The practice of holding a student accountable for his behavior is an action one would describe as normal and affirmed by most. As a student enters a classroom there is a certain presumed expectation that the teacher demonstrates responsible moral and civil behavior and that the student will follow suit. Any teaching environment by nature should invite a practice of ethical and moral responsibility from both student and teacher. Yes, there will be times when a student’s behavior challenges the educator's moral and ethical resolve and would prefer to unleash holy fury. Nevertheless, the premise behind establishing a sense of accountability, especially spiritual accountability is to create an environment conducive to learning but more importantly from a Catholic educational perspective an environment to engage in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The great Salesian Educator St. John Bosco understood the value of establishing spiritual accountability within his famed oratory for boys that focused on what he called the Preventive System of learning based on the following principles: reason, religion, and kindness. Don Bosco developed the Preventive System as a means to instill spiritual accountability in the boys of the Oratory.  The nature of his Preventive System could be equated to the Road to Emmaus discourse where Jesus took the time to proclaim the Gospel to the disciples, establish a sense of identity, and hold them spiritually accountable to proclaim the Gospel message as revealed in the Great Commission in St. Matthew’s Gospel.

The use of Reason within the Preventive System encouraged the use of common sense in daily living which focused on respecting the student's dignity to become a holy Christian and upstanding citizen. Reason from Don Bosco’s perspective served as a bridge between the practice of patience associated with diligent prayer. Religion focuses on the importance of holiness as part of a child’s spiritual development which at the same understanding the danger of sin. Living a joy-filled life, seeking reconciliation with Christ through the sacrament of confession, and being attracted to the Holy Eucharist defined Don Bosco’s second educational principle of Religion. Kindness refers to the intention to make love your aim in everything that you do. The student must know that he is loved and in turn, reciprocate that love as part of his spiritual accountability. John Morrison who wrote the definitive book on the educational philosophy of St. John Bosco describes the foundation of his educational approach that serves as the seed to spiritual accountability,

Don Bosco’s methods, based on the principles if liberty rather than on those of authority, were aimed at a Catholic education, in which the element of authority is an essential. It was how this authority was gained and used, how a dialogue between those learning and those teaching was established, and how students could choose or decide upon, their future, that mattered. The educator therefore, while guiding and accompanying youth, while using every accomplishment or method he could to influence rather than compel, moved within the limitations of a Catholic philosophy of education.[1]  

The premise of spiritual accountability is to incorporate confidence and love for Christ in daily living. The development of mutual trust is a fruit of spiritual accountability and is an act of faith that was critical in the promotion of Don Bosco’s Preventive System. Why is this important, the reason is that the school (oratory) is to serve as a means and not an end in the development of a Christian life. Understanding the premise of the Christian life introduces the student to the eschatological dimensions of his faith where he becomes aware of his relationship with Christ through a Catholic Christian understanding of death, judgment, heaven, and hell.

Inherent to this entire formative schema is the desire to form children in Christian virtue rooted in faith, hope, and love. The teacher is spiritually accountable for providing students with an atmosphere of love, friendship, and moral responsibility.  St. John Bosco sought the salvation of every child through an educational experience rooted in a Christian environment. Elements of this environment included the use of time, love forbearance, and outward concern for a person’s welfare and respond to the student’s heart.[2] What St. John Bosco established with his Preventive System was the opportunity for a child to receive love, mature in their faith, proclaim Jesus Christ as their Lord and King, and actively participate in the sacramental life.   

The value of instilling Spiritual Accountability ultimately resides in the person’s willingness to surrender themselves to the will of God through an act of spiritual deference. This serves as an important pillar in developing an atmosphere of spiritual accountability that is necessary to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Be humble. Speak little of yourself and never praise yourself before anyone. He who praises himself, even if he has good merit, risks losing the opinion of others. He who only seeks praise and honors is sure to have an empty head fed only by wind. . . we will have no peace of soul and be unreliable in his undertakings.

St. John Bosco