(ANS – Valencia) – The first National Congress of Youth Pastoral of Spain will be celebrated in Valencia, under the motto "You too, will be my witnesses" (Jn 15.27), promoted and organized by the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) from 1st to 4th November. The Salesian Youth Pastoral will attend with 50 delegates, engaged in animating prayer moments and the presentation of Christian youth communities.

The primary purpose of this Conference, as stated by the organizers, is "to discover new ways to evangelize young people and ensure that they are also witnesses to the Gospel in today's culture". This is the first time that the EEC is organising a Conference on Youth Pastoral, at which about 2000 participants are expected, including animators, catechists and supervisors working in the field of pastoral care.

The Conference will be built around three main subjects. On Friday, 2nd November, the Archbishop of Valencia, Mons.Carlos Osoro, will deliver a speech entitled "For you, life is Christ. The first announcement"; on Saturday 3rd , the Bishop of San Sebastián, Mons. D. José Ignacio Munilla, Head of Youth Department of the EEC, will speak on "The evangelisation of young people facing emotional crisis"; on Sunday 4th , finally, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, will give a speech on "Youth Pastoral at the front of the modern educational crisis: the Magisterium of Benedict XVI".

At the end of every relationship there will be room for a "resonance" which will intensify, from time to time, a specific aspect of Youth Ministry. Following the same methodology, and after the intervention of Cardinal Rylko, the Salesian Fr Rosendo Soler, the National Delegate for the Salesian Youth Pastoral, will talk about the routes of education to the faith and personal accompaniment.

On the occasion of the Congress, also movements, Religious Congregations, and other ecclesial bodies will present approximately 40 Youth Ministry experiences in the various churches of Valencia. Among these, the Salesian, Fr David Cano Charfolé, will present one of the proposals of the Salesian Youth Pastoral, Christian communities of the young, which for some years have suggested a proposal for young adults who have completed a journey of education to the faith in the parishes, schools or youth centres.

For the National Delegate for the Salesian Youth Pastoral, Fr Koldo Gutiérrez, "The Congress wants to support the Youth Pastoral of the Church in Spain, demonstrating the relationship of ecclesial communion and concentrating thoughts on important points in the transmission of the faith: the first announcement, the encounter with Jesus Christ, the journeys of faith."

"As the Salesians – continues Fr Gutiérrez – we welcome this commitment to young people, and we want to bring to the Congress our history and our experience in Youth Ministry."

The Salesian Youth Pastoral is also deeply involved in preparing prayer times during the Congress, and wanted from the start to find the way to be present at this important initiative of the Church in Spain. In total there will be about 50 people between the Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, members of the Salesian Family and animators.

Published 29/10/2012