The conference, intended for educators, religious men and women, priests and pastoral workers, is the culmination of an interdisciplinary reflection process carried out within the UPS over the last two years and the starting point of a new formation proposal to enable educators to accompany young people in such a delicate and vital area of their affective life.
The opening of proceedings, scheduled for Friday, 1 March 2024 at 4 p.m. to a reflection on the anthropological and ethical criteria for interpreting the affective and sexual experience of young people. It will begin at 9:00 a.m. with a talk on the meaning of sexual difference by Prof. Maria Elena Canzi of the Catholic University of Milan. At 11:30 a.m., on the other hand, the theme of gender identity and sexual orientation will be addressed by the psychologist and UPS lecturer Fr Paolo Gambini, SDB.
In the afternoon (3:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.) 'parallel study sessions' are scheduled, on specific topics such as: educational itineraries for a pastoral care that educates to love; the influence of the media on young people's sexuality; the questions posed by coexistence, the declinations of affective and sexual education in other cultures; the relationship between aesthetics of the body and identity; pornography; the Church and the accompaniment of LGBT people and the protection of the vulnerable.
Sunday 3 March will be devoted to the presentation of Educational Proposals that can Inspire the Activities of Christian Communities by Dr Alberto Pellai, doctor and psychotherapist. A specialization course that the University intends to launch to train educators qualified to work in this delicate form of accompaniment will also be presented.
The conference will end at the end of the morning with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Rector Major and the Chancellor of UPS, Card. Ángel Fernández Artime.
Due to the relevance of the topics dealt with and the interlocutors involved, some of the highest reference institutions in the ecclesial and educational sphere have given their patronage to the event, such as: the Vatican Dicasteries for Culture and Education and for the Laity, Family and Life, the Vicariate of Rome, the National Service for Youth Ministry of the Italian Episcopal Conference, the Union of Major Superiors of Italy and the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for the Sciences of Marriage and Family, as well as various Catholic media (Avvenire, Tv2000, InBlu2000, AgenSir...).
For more information, please visit the website dedicated to the conference: www.giovaniesessualita.unisal.it
