In the preface Fr Attard describes how enriching it has been to meet so many people, consecrated and lay who are dedicating their lives to the young. “Listening to their accounts, hearing their educational experiences has greatly helped me to appreciate more and more the generosity of son many, who in daily silence and working full of hope are there walking with the young.”
Explaining the title of the book “Walking with the young” the author says: “walking with the young does not make the headlines, nor is it an experience for someone who does not believe in the young. Walking with the young is the result of something the young people themselves feel to the extent that it is rooted in the heart of the one who accompanies them.”
The book, divided in two parts, opens with interview given in 2008 following his election as Councillor for Youth Ministry to the editor of the Italian magazine “Note di Pastorale Giovanile”, Fr Giancarlo De Nicoló.
The first 6 chapters are articles written for discussion by educators who are directly involved in the education of the young. These reflections, not originally intended for publication, deal with issues such as the educative emergency and the “pastoral” dimension - the heart of Christian and Salesian education.
The second part brings together articles which focus on the identity of the Christian educator: Salesian education and the secular concept, the spiritual basis of being an educator, and finally a look at the desert Fathers, which the author considers relevant: “The desert Fathers discovered the secrets of the heart which are a help in the sacred, silent and profound listening so much sought after by young people nowadays.”
Fr Attard also points out in the preface that it is not right to consider the world of youth as though it were a market place in which to find clients. The perspective of Pastoral Ministry “is not to “make an offer”, … but to make oneself the thing offered’. They only discover the meaning when they see it in those persons who with hearts full of apostolic charity devote themselves to their welfare.
“Walking with the young” is published in the series “Spirit and Life” produced by the LAS – Libreria Ateneo Salesiano – in Rome.
Published 18/02/2011
