The process in the Provinces, in the first phase, served to know the priorities and current state of the oratorian structures, the type of activities carried out, the different users of the initiatives, the major problems to be addressed, the figure of the Salesian and the animator who contribute to the growth and formation of the person.
This reflection open throughout the Congregation on the festive and daily oratory provides an excellent opportunity for the Youth Ministry Sector in the process of updating the Framework for Youth Ministry. It represents a rich snapshot of the oratorian world, marked by a great plasticity and versatility of proposals. Although the complexity of the Oratory-form today is evident, it is possible to trace the same pedagogical intuition and spirit.
We are faced with a particular historical time, full of stimuli, challenges and expectations, within which there are differences that are worth considering and recounting also on the basis of the data recently provided. What all the leaders agree on is that this first and typical work of the Congregation is an urgent and necessary proposal for the growth of the person within a relational breath, through recreational, religious, and social proposals. It is an all-encompassing environment, a place of relationships, of healthy fun, a space in which experiences are lived that look at diversity, welcome and the transmission of solid values to bring with one's life. The Oratory is called to be a home for all who attend it.
Moreover, the Oratory cannot limit itself to being a "container" of activities" but must feel as primary the need to make concrete proposals and become a formative laboratory. It has been noted that young people, Salesians and lay people are increasingly willing to invest time and strength to work in tune and create together more varied and specific formative and animation proposals, calibrated according to the needs of the Pastoral-Educational-Community (PEC).
Talking about Oratory-Youth Center today involves a necessary reference to today's youth world. Young people are on the move, in ever new and complex situations: through winding paths, sustained by complex and vast networks of friendly relationships. These are vital dynamics, a lively courtyard, provoked by interests related to the experience of young people in the different contexts of the Congregation.
Being a privileged and qualified space for proclaiming the Gospel to young people, the Oratory acknowledges the possibility of a diverse, multicultural and multireligious membership: it has no preclusions towards anyone and does not make it a condition to be a believer or available to a proposal of faith.
