Fr Claudio Belfiore SDB
The conference was attended by 87 people, lay people, Salesians, and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. Talks were given by Fr Rossano Sala, Professor of Youth Ministry at the UPS in Rome; Msgr. Paolo Martinelli, Episcopal Vicar of the Diocese of Milan; and Fr Miguel Angel García SDB, from the Salesian Youth Ministry Department.
It began with an afternoon of meditation and spiritual reflection given by Fr Fabio Attard, Councillor General for Youth Ministry. A very special moment was the visit to the Redemptoris Mater Chapel, designed by Fr Marco Rupnik’s Aletti Centre at the request of St John Paul II.
These days of study, reflection and sharing on the theme of the Educative Pastoral Community drew deeply on the 24th General Chapter (1996) and the wealth of good practices carried out over the past 20 years of experience. It was also recognized that this topic is the result of the ecclesial journey that led to the Second Vatican Council and the renewed momentum towards the third millennium.
In the Framework of Reference for Salesian Youth Ministry the Educative Pastoral Community is defined as "the Salesian form of animation of every educational reality that is part of the mission of Don Bosco". It is animated by the Council of the Educative Pastoral Community with its animating nucleus made up of Salesians and lay people who share the mission, the spirit and the educational system of our saintly founder. Hence there is a vital need to "make every Educative Pastoral Community a home and school of communion" as the most beautiful gift we can offer to the young, a sign and prophecy of the vocation we are called to by God "living the commonly shared Christian dignity and the universal call to holiness in the perfection of love." (Christifideles laici, no. 55).
