Fr Á.F. Artime encouraged the 300 participants - Salesians and laity from over 70 countries - to build bridges before the many situations of families facing difficulties and moments of crises, urged them to imagine new proposals to integrate family care in youth ministry.
With the closing mass and the closing cultural event, the congress that had begun last 27 November officially ended. The novelty of this meeting was generating a synergy between the Synods on the Family and the forthcoming Synod on the Young.
Throughout the Congress, there was much emphasis on the need to increasingly involve parents in Youth Ministry, seek joint initiatives with other groups of the Salesian Family in order to give more space to family care and emotional education, and to create support networks for families going through hard times.
This congress, with its four years of preparatory work, was, according to Fr Fabio Attard, General Councilor for Salesian Youth Ministry, an important moment of reflection for the entire Congregation, one that took up the challenges and the indications launched by Pope Francis in the Synods on the Family, and it has opened the field of action of the Salesian mission, and guide the future reflections of the Congregation.
A theme was presented on the last day of the Congress: "Formation to the Vocation of Marriage and Family," curated by Fr Mario Óscar Llanos, professor at the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) in Rome. An innovative and interdisciplinary proposal, it combines subjects such as biophysics, pedagogy, psychology, anthropology, pastoral care and theology to train "artisans of acceptance, discernment and accompaniment," explained Prof. Llanos.
"Continue to transmit hope," the Rector Major insisted, "offer our young people and their families reasons to hope", even in the midst of the difficulties families sometimes live and experience.
Multimedia resources:
Interview with the Rector Major
Video commentary of the last day
Photo gallery
