The day began with a moment of prayer and the blessing of a new community hall, where Salesians in formation can meet in fraternity. In this same place there will also be the Salesianity Centre and the library with texts on Salesianity.
After the celebration of the Eucharist, the Provincials shared a moment together before meeting with the formator team to provide them with criteria and elements to follow in the Theologate.
In the afternoon, a meeting was held with the formees, who presented an evaluation of their experience. Then the Provincials met with each member from their respective Provinces. The meeting ended with a moment of sharing in which some suggestions were given for the community's journey.
The Rector of the Theologate Community and Provincial Delegate for Formation in Chile, Fr Darío Navarro, said: "You can see how happy the Salesians who leave this House are and it is good to see how they position themselves with their identity as consecrated religious, but also with their priestly identity. The fundamental elements of this House are: study and theology; self-knowledge and human growth ".
This meeting was also the prelude to the Perpetual Profession of three young men, a moment of great joy for the entire religious community and for the Provinces of Chile and Ecuador.
"This Curatorium ,"said Fr Marcelo Farfán, Superior of the Province of Ecuador "basically serves to observe how the House of Formation is progressing, to evaluate, plan and propose, so that the experience is increasingly significant and guarantees the formation of future Salesian priests."
Regarding the students of Theology who will say their definitive yes with their Perpetual Profession, Fr Farfán added: "They have made a very important step in the human, pastoral, intellectual and spiritual dimensions. I believe that this is the end point of a formative path in which they have discovered what God asks of them in life."
As for Salesian formation, Fr Farfán stressed that considering religious life increasingly against the current and against the culture is not easy.
"We Salesians are invited to a vocation of service to young people, because they too face very critical and demanding situations" the ECU Provincial added. "We see more and more young people with a sense of abandonment, loneliness or who cannot build a life project. Therefore, we Salesians must prepare ourselves to accompany young people in these new situations."
