Rome (Italy). On 16 October 2023, the online meeting took place for the Provincial Representatives of the School and Professional Formation of the Middle East and Europe Interprovincial Conference (CIME), organized by the Youth Ministry Sector of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, to which the Province Coordinators for Youth Ministry also participated.
The meeting is a concrete step in the realization of a desire that emerged on the part of the Provincial Coordinators of YM to meet with the significant people at the provincial level, of the different realities of the educational mission. Present at the meeting were Sister Runita Borja, General Councilor for Youth Ministry of the FMA Institute; and the collaborators of the Sector, Sister Ivone Goulart, Representative for the Salesian School America; and Sister Chanda Nsofwa, Representative for the CIME FP School, which she coordinated.
The objective of the meeting was to present the progress made in recent years through the process of elaboration, carried out together with the Salesians of Don Bosco, of the “School Identity Card – Salesian Professional Formation (SSE) in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa”; and the survey for the members of the management teams of schools and vocational centers in the 40 countries of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa where the educational communities of schools and vocational centers are present, called Educo-barometer. The questionnaire had the aim of knowing more in depth the reality of scholastic and professional formation works through the experience of the SDB, FMA, and lay management Teams, and of listening to the members regarding issues concerning their work service, the educational mission and its scholastic, Salesian, and social character.
In her initial greeting, Sister Runita reiterated the importance of walking together, thanking those who collaborated in various ways in the creation of the documents that were presented at the meeting.
Sister Elena Rastello, who accompanied the journey of the Salesian CIME School and Professional Formation, oversaw the presentation of the journey undertaken. She highlighted how formal education for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in this context is a place of cultural development and construction of professionalism, also proposed and offered in scholastic works. It is also proposal and offer for pedagogical and educational, psychological and social, pastoral, liturgical-catechistic accompaniment and orientation for girls and boys, adolescents, young people, teachers, and parents, school educational communities in the area, for the specific formation of Catholic teachers and Christians.
In the presentation of the journey taken by the School – FP CIME, Sister Elena highlighted the fact that both the community development of the “SSE Identity Card” and the Educo-barometer survey with the management teams value the potential of innovative vision and shared mission.
The journeys will require further reflection and work together to go deeper. This will facilitate a further synergistic path to work in the complex context of the School and Fp-ed and confidently assume the transformative dimension of the service, considering more carefully the good practices experienced in the FMA works to build a world where persons and their integral development are in the center.
