Junín de los Andes (Argentina). From 1 to 7 November 2025, in preparation for the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the first missionary expedition of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, PEM YOUTH 2025 will be held in Junín de los Andes, the Missionary Spirituality Project on the places of origin in America organized by the PEM CICSAL-CIB Team.
The experience has the intention of “touching together with young people” the land of dreams of Don Bosco, Patagonia, to reach the roots of missionary charismatic history and the sources of Salesian spirituality through the testimony of the first Sisters and Brothers who arrived in these lands and of the holiness that flourished in the luminous life of the young Blessed Laura Vicuña and Ceferino Namuncurà. At the same time, together with them, we want to explore new ways to respond to new calls that question and challenge the mission.
In the letter of solicitation sent a year ago to all the Provincials of the world, the PEM team shared the desire that this missionary fire may be nourished, in the certainty that it will be a moment of great grace for the whole Institute. Therefore, we are asking to involve many young people in this experience, so that the missionary passion may be renewed throughout the Institute, in every house, in the courtyards, in the neighborhoods, in the villages, in the Church, in society.
The coordinator of PEM, Sister Adriana Gómez, of Laura Vicuña Province (ARG), recalled in her letter the words of Mother Chiara Cazzuola, “Sometimes, visiting our works, one has the impression that there is no clear Salesian identity; that the missionary spirit is not a fiery, dynamic, and strong fire. It seems that we are more concerned with professional outcomes than educational outcomes. The ardor of the da mihi animas Caetera tolle and of the mandate received by Mother Mazzarello, “I entrust them to you,” seem latent.
Knowing how to transmit the missionary flame to young people means betting on the future of the Salesian Charism, which will remain alive in the sons and daughters who walk with the FMA and the Salesians and embody in their lives the missionary ardor of the founders and of the first missionaries.
Participating at PEM YOUTH will be 40 young people from different parts of the world who will visit Junín de los Andes, (itinerary of Laura Vicuña) and San Ignacio (place of the remains of Ceferino Namuncurà) and live a missionary experience of meeting with the Mapuche communities.
Entrusting to the two young Blesseds this beautiful experience in the land that has seen them grow in holiness, the wish is that in the young participants the fire of missionary passion may be lit, and that each community may continue to raise hands that say again, with the freshness of the first Daughters of Mary Auxiliary of Mornese, “I go to America”!
