(ANS – Campo Grande) – Between 6 and 9 September at the Campo Grande campus of the “Universidade Católica Dom Bosco”  with spirituality, discussions and debates, Salesian Youth Day took place. The event – which was organised by the Youth Ministry Sector and the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) of the Province of Campo Grande (BCG), with the support of the Salesian Mission of Mato Grosso – was part of the Province preparations for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.

It began on the evening of 6 September when the BCG Provincial and the Archbishop of Campo Grande, Mons. Dimas Lara Barbosa welcomed everyone.

The next day when activities began there was a marathon of conferences and work-shops dealing with: the identity and the mission of the  SYM and the main events of the Rio WYD  such as the feast of the Movement, the continental meeting and the World Forum. The day ended with a talk on youth missionary activity by Mons. Eduardo Pinheiro da Silva SDB, Auxiliary Bishop of Campo Grande and President of the Youth Ministry  Commission of the National Conference of the Bishops of Brazil: “The great challenge for us Salesians and for the whole Church is the accompaniment of the young. We have large meetings which are marvellous. People get worked up and enthusiastic  but when we return to our centres these  young people need to be encouraged further to give continuity to the mission” he said.

On Saturday morning 8 September Prof. Nei Márcio Oliveira de Sá, spoke about the “Challenges and opportunities for youth leadership,”  and Prof. Marly Augusta Lopes, about “The situation of indigenous young people in out society.” The Youth Judge for Campo Grande, Roberto Ferreira, then spoke about youth criminal activity in Mato Grosso and then the Salesian Fr Gildásio Mendes dos Santos gave a final talk about the language of young people on the social networks.

The afternoon was spent getting to know something about some of the significant examples of solidarity in Campo Grande. Then the young people were divided into groups to visit the Unita Educazionale d’Internamento (UNEI) Don Bosco, the Santa Casa di Campo Grande, the Villaggio Urbano “Agua Bonita”, the Presepe di Santa Fe… In the evening there was a round table discussion on  Salesian Youth  Missionary  Voluntary Service.

Then on Sunday in groups the young people discussed their reactions to what they had been doing. Archbishop Lara Barbosa presided at the closing Mass during which he appealed to the young to become more and more witnesses and evangelisers: “If before young people were called to evangelise other young people, nowadays they are main protagonists in the evangelisation of the contemporary world. Your responsibility has grown three-fold.”

During all the four days the workshops and the round table discussions were broadcast on  the internet on the  site www.virtual.ucdb.br/jovensarticulados; the talks, reflections, photos and other material were also shared by young people on Facebook and Twitter.

Published 19/09/2012