Venice (Italy). On 23 January 2021, with a Press Conference, the first Course of the Higher Education School for Social and Political Commitment was opened, promoted by the Salesian Cooperators Association (ASSCC) and the Italian Federation of Don Bosco Past Pupils, with the didactic coordination of the Salesian University Institute of Venice (IUSVE ).
The course, which will be held from February to November 2021 at the IUSVE in online mode, aims to offer formation in the socio-political field to young people aged 20 to 35 actively engaged in lay associations that live the Salesian charism, to promote spaces for personal and community thought and practice of the Social Doctrine of the Church and to prepare a first group of people who will in turn form the young people of the territorial Associations.
At the Press Conference, the World Councilor of the ASSCC for the Italy – Middle East – Malta Region, Carlo Pellegrino, explained that the initiative of a socio-political formation school according to the Salesian charism, to give witness to the education received at the school of Don Bosco to “be good Christians and honest citizens“, was not born in isolation, but is a significant stage of a journey that began some years ago. The Regional Council of the ASSCC, in fact, has established specific sectors of animation, including that of socio-political commitment, appointing referents at the regional and territorial level. Even the Past Pupils have maintained constant attention to public life with the organization of socio-political Forums on topical issues, which sees the involvement of many young people.
In his speech, Fr. Roberto Dal Molin, President of the National Center for Salesian Works (CNOS), adds: “The Global Educational Pact has also questioned our Salesian circles. Pope Francis invites all the subjects of the res publica to interpret themselves as an ‘educational village’ capable of offering young people ‘horizons of meaning’ but not without involving them, not without the so-called youth empowerment…Our mission, as ecclesial, is not self-referential, but is a call to place ourselves in the heart of the world.”
A Higher Education School makes it possible to form people at a high university level, to be responsible protagonists in society: “By combining the theological and ethical contents of the Social Doctrine of the Church with the methods and teachings of Don Bosco, we would like to contribute to the formation of people who have a careful eye on the needs of the territory in which they live and know how to identify its criticalities, who actively and responsibly participate in public life for the sole purpose of pursuing the common good and the renewal of social and political life”, says Giovanni Costanza , President of the Italian Federation of Past Pupils of Don Bosco.
The course includes two lessons a month, among which those on Friday evening are open to the public, according to the calendar shown in Information Brochure.
