(ANS – Niterói)– Yesterday morning, 23 July, the Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez Villanueva, held a press conference at the Salesian House in Niterói. “As Salesians, we had to be present at World Youth Day!” he said, at the beginning of his conversation with journalists and other media operators from the Salesian Family.

As at previous WYDs, the Salesian Youth Movement (SYM) is present also in Rio de Janeiro with more than 6,000 young people coming from all five continents, but especially from the Continent of America.

In conjunction with WYD, the SYM is holding some special events which are taking place at the Salesian House of Santa Rosa in Niterói:

• A Meeting of the SYM from the Continent of America (18 – 21 July) with over 300 young people from 17 American countries.
• The SYM Forumon the theme of Salesian Youth Spirituality (morning of 24 July) with approximately 200 young people from about 50 different countries.
• The SYM Feast and Vigil (afternoon and evening of 24 July) with more than 6,000young people expected to attend.

“WYD is the biggest forum in the Church and, as part of the Church, we could not be missing,” Fr Chávez repeated. WYD and the SYM must give a response to young people who are seeking answers to the serious social, cultural and human problems they are facing at the present time.”

For the Rector Major of the Salesians, Christian faith is based on two attitudes: a great openness to others as children of God, without any social or religious distinction, and sharing. “Pope Francis is giving us a fine witness of openness and sharing,” Fr Chávez said, and he went on to quote what the Holy Father had said: “We must fight against the culture of indifference! The WYD must give strong signals against a society which is making young people a discard of its own processes of production. As the Pope said to the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, the Church is called to give young people not silver or gold, but Jesus Christ! Youth is a precious gift that must not be ignored. Young people are called to accept their lives as something to be planned from a vocational perspective. Youth is a stage of life!”

Mother Yvonne Reungoat, Superior General of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, also took part in the press conference.  She commented: “the presence of young people from the five continents is a great sign! For the people to see young people who are happy to be Christians is a sign of hope. I have great hope because when the young people are together they discover that they are not alone, and are able to face the challenges of life peacefully. The young people are at Rio de Janeiro because they have discovered Jesus or they are searching for him. The SYM is part of the Church. Salesian joy is a characteristic of the Church.”

At the end, the two Superior Generals launched their message to young people. The videos of the Rector Major and Mother Reungoat are available in Spanish on the you tube channel of the Brazilian Salesian Bulletin.

Published 24/07/2013