Argentina - Process to fulfill proposals that emerged from IV ARS Provincial Chapter begun
Buenos Aires, Argentina - February 2023 - The first meeting of the year of the Provincial Council of Southern Argentina was held from February 17 to 21. The particularity of this meeting was that, during the first four days, it was held in an expanded mode: members of the Provincial Youth Ministry and Formation teams were invited, in addition to those who formed the Chapter Commission. Representatives of the Provincial Economer’s Bureau were also present. Under the motto "We want to keep walking," work was carried out during the days in which programs and actions were analyzed, brought together, and outlined to give voice to the broad lines of animation and governance that emerged in the Fourth Provincial Chapter, held last October. First, the work focused on the last part of the Chapter Document, where the proposals voted by the Chapter members regarding the three dimensions: mission, formation, and economy of communion were studied and analyzed. Then, each proposal was prioritized and grouped by themes, forming new working groups for each: rethinking the Salesian Pastoral Educational Project, strengthening volunteerism, formation of religious and laity, spirituality from a Salesian perspective, the economy of communion, and the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Salesian missionary expedition to Argentina. For each theme, objectives, target groups, and work strategies were proposed to the different Provincial teams that will lead each of the programs. In this way, the Provincial Council and the Provincial teams involved in this meeting seek to give a response to what the Chapter expressed for the Salesian presence in southern Argentina.