Rome (Italy). On 4 and 8 February 2023, Sr. Runita Borja, General Councilor for Youth Ministry of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians; and Sr. Ivone Goulart Lopes, collaborator of the Sector, held two online formation meetings aimed at the new Provincial Coordinators of YM of the Interprovincial Conference of Brazil (CIB): Sr. Teresa Cristina Domiciano of Our Lady Aparecida Province (BAP), Sr. Ana Maria Cordeiro of Mother Mazzarello Province (BMM), Elisabet Vieira da Costa of Mary Help of Christians Province (BRE).
The meetings began with a prayer led by Sr. Ivone Goulart on peace and on the theme of World Youth Day 2023. Sr. Runita then presented “The animation of Youth Ministry in a synodal style”, and at the end she left time for questions and reflections. The Coordinators also shared the challenges, concerns, and opportunities of the post-pandemic time, regarding the promotion of integral ecology.
Some challenges emerged from the meetings which the Provincial Youth Ministry Coordinators are called to face:
– of trust: do not be afraid to offer a courageous, evangelically demanding and, at the same time, profoundly human proposal;
– of clarity: do not lose the Salesian style of exercising the ministry and keeping one’s gaze fixed on what matters most, in the different historical times.
– of conviction: following Christ is worth the struggle and total self-giving because the cause of the Gospel is something that gives meaning to an entire life.
One proposal that emerged is that of networking as FMA in the four Brazilian Provinces, and in collaboration with the Salesians of Don Bosco, through the Youth Ministry of the Brazilian Salesian Network.
The next meeting of the Brazilian Youth Ministry Coordinators will be held on 17 February 2023, with the aim of designing a common planning as an Interprovincial Conference.
These formative moments rekindle the sense of belonging to the Institute, the desire to relaunch Youth Ministry in the FMA Communities and in the laity, and the attention to the new peripheries, where thousands of young people live.
