Rome (Italy). To celebrate the Season of Creation 2023, the Youth Ministry Sector of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians proposed an online meeting aimed at young people from realities linked to the FMA, with the aim of deepening their understanding of the current ecological situation in the light of the Word of God, of Salesian Spirituality, and of the teachings of Pope Francis starting from his Message and according to one’s own culture.
The reflection was planned in two moments. The first was at a local level in one’s own province; the second through online meetings for linguistic groups. In these meetings, the young people shared their experiences, giving suggestions on how to take care of our common home. The starting point for sharing has always remained the reflection on the Message of Pope Francis for the World Day of Prayer of the Season of Creation 2023.
The meeting for Spanish-speaking young people from the CIMAC interprovincial conference was on 9 September, and those from the CICSAL and CINAB conferences on 23 September. 90 people participated, including the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, educators, pastoral workers, and young people. The young people shared the projects on integral ecology that they carry out in their Province, underlining in particular the importance of creating ecological movements that involve families and neighbors, raising awareness regarding the care of creation and life in general.
For the French language, the meeting was on 9 September, and had young people from the AFC, AFO, and Madagascar Provinces as participants. The guidelines for action taken into consideration following the sharing were: planting trees, educating to peace, and taking care of the environment.
The meeting for English-speaking youth took place on 16 September, with participants from SUO, SEC, PLJ, SLK, AFE, and AEC Provinces. The guidelines for action taken into consideration were: reducing the intergenerational gap, educating people to be good Christians and honest citizens, and planting trees.
The CIAO and SPR Interprovincial Conference met on 16 September, with around 100 participants from the CIN, CMY, CSM, FIL, KOR, THA, TIM, PNG, SPR Provinces. These are the important points: youth empowerment through agricultural activities, sharing and educating on wellbeing issues, sharing on the experience of the Covid 19 pandemic, producing soap in a sustainable way.
The online meeting for the PCI conference was on 23 September, with around 350 participants from the INB, INC, ING, INK, INM, INS, INT Provinces and with action guidelines regarding prayer and meditation on themes related to nature, advocacy for peace and justice, cultivating and educating attitudes of peace, raising awareness through videos, and taking care of the environment with concrete actions (e.g. reducing the use of plastic and recycling, turning off lights).
On 30 September, the young people from the Portuguese-speaking Provinces – Angola, Mozambique, BAP, BMM, BRE, BRM, and Portugal – gathered and celebrated the Season of Creation. The concrete actions highlighted concerned above all peace and justice, taking into account contexts marked by conflicts, such as Mozambique, and the need to strengthen fraternity, to focus on what unites and not on what separates, on formation values of peace and interreligious dialogue, to work on the ecology of relationships in environments where mistrust and fear reign.
In the celebration of the Season of Creation organized by the YM Sector, this year the involvement of the General Councilors of the FMA Institute was also significant. They were invited to share messages in different languages with the young people that were then published on the pastoralefma Instagram profile. The aim was to carry forward the reflection regarding the Resolution on integral ecology of General Chapter 24. The following shared their message: Sister Ruth del Pilar Mora in Italian, Sister Marta Riccioli in Spanish, Sister Chantal Mukase in French, Sister Nilza Fátima de Moraes and Sister Paola Battagliola in Portuguese, Sister Celine Jacob in English.
The final message from Sister Runita Borja, Councilor for Youth Ministry, summarizes the experience. “A strong awareness emerges on the part of young people of the need for a conversion that passes through beliefs, attitudes, concrete actions. They also realized that conversion to integral ecology also touches on a right relationship between human beings. The need for fraternity goes beyond cultural and generational barriers, because all of us are responsible for each other. Let us now continue the journey, accompanied by Mary, because only together can we get far”.
