(ANS - Rome) – The Young Past Pupils (Gex) from Italy held a national workshop at the Sacro Cuore, Rome from 21 to 23 March. The workshop was entitled The Colours of the Future. The meeting was attended by over 40 young people from Lombardy, Lazio, Tuscany, Piedmont, Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia.

The meeting opened on Friday with the greetings of the Rector of the San Lorenzo community, Fr Claudio Belfiore; the Vice-President of Gex, Matthew Lai; and the National Delegate Fr Giovanni Russo. Michal Hort, Vice-President of the Federation of Slovakia then spoke. He had been  invited as a guest to speak about the work of the Slovak National Association, and to initiate an exchange of good practices. The evening continued with the Goodnight by Fr Giovanni D'Andrea, Delegate for Salesian Social and Civil Services and, later, with a programme of celebration by representatives of the different regions.

On Saturday, the National President , Giancarlo Colombo , spoke on the role of the past pupils in education. The participants then had an opportunity to get to know each other better during a sightseeing tour of the capital. In the afternoon there was an extensive work session with several speakers. These included the delegate of the World Confederation of the Past Pupils, Fr José Pastor Ramírez, who brought greetings and encouragement; GEX Confederation Councillor for Communication, Domenica Sapienza, who spoke on Communication Strategies;  the Vice-President of the Gex Confederation, Ángel Gudiña, who spoke on how to manage a Gex group; and the editor of the magazine Voci Fraterne, Valerio Martorana, who held a workshop on journalism.

Special mention must be made ​​of the moving testimony of Caterina Chinnici, head of the Ministry of Justice Department of Juvenile Justice and daughter of the magistrate Rocco Chinnici who was killed by the Mafia in 1983. Her story led to a lively debate among the young participants.

On the last day, Sunday 23 March, Fr Giovanni Russo gave a talk on  Youth and proclamation of the Gospel of life. Some bioethical issues. This  prompted an interesting exchange of views. Francis Muceo, President of the World Confederation of Past Pupils, then greeted the participants, and the morning ended with the testimony of Bishop Lorenzo Leuzzi, Episcopal Vicar of Rome and Director of University Campus Ministry of the Diocese. Bishop Leuzzi then presided at the Eucharist in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

Published 02/04/2014