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To live, in a specific way, the Christian vocation, received at Baptism, in its ecclesial dimension, as it participates and shares in the Scalabrinian charism, by proclaiming Jesus Christ and by witnessing to the Scalabrininian Lay Missionary's identity, in its various aspects of the everyday life of its members and in its missionary ministry of care for migrants, in order that "from all peoples, one people may be formed, and of all humanity, one flock under the guide of one shepherd."
(General Objective of the Scalabrinian Lay Missionary Movemement
General Directives, n. 2)
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Who are the members of SLM?
They are Christian laity who are concerned about the phenomenon of the migration of peoples, and are sensitive to the life and background of those who are on the move. They participate, by their specific vocation, in the Scalabrinian charism. Acceptance of others is their ID Card, and their prime mission is to witness to and proclaim God's love among migrants, in everyday secular life. They also are dedicated to the evangelization and to the service of migrants, in various ways, based on the particular needs and services of these migrants where they are found.
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What is the Scalabrinian Lay Missionary Movement?
The Movement, only recently founded, continues to explore other organizational modalities according to the Code of Canon Law and to the civil law of each local area in which its members reside. In short, it is an organized way, in line with the same charism of the SMCS sisters, in which laity, as members of SLM, have chosen to carry out their formation and their mission, with the utmost efficiency, on an international level.
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What is the program of formation?
The program of formation differs from country to country. Some common guidelines are set out in the "General Directives of the Movement" which the SLM approved together with the MSCS Congregation. The program consists of a three year course, with periods of intensive formation, articulated in three different stages which range from a general interest in participating in the Movement, to a full and true commitment of active participation in the spiritual and apostolic activity of a local group. Two fundamental themes for the formation program are: Scalabrinianity and human mobility.
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What kind of organization?
The essential structural element is the lay character of the Movement. The Movement is organized into groups, each with its own regional and/or national body of coordination. Each group is further formed according to a local nucleus. This organization structure, has as its goal, the formation of its members and of the strengthening of the network of communion and exchange between the Movement's members and between the Movement and the MSCS Sisters. SLM in a certain sense continues as one of the forms of continuity of the Lay Association of St. Raphael, founded by J. B. Scalabrini, with its aim of being present among migrants and of offering them service. The organization is gradually developing an international body of representatives thereby connecting and unifying the different local groups with that of the MSCS Congregation.
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