(ANS - Treviso) - One of the seven corporal works of mercy is to visit prisoners. For this reason, in the Jubilee of Mercy, a group of young people from the Salesian centre of San Dona di Piave went to visit some young people of the same age who are detained in the Juvenile Penitentiary in Treviso. "It was supposed to be a simple afternoon of sharing but, in fact, it led to some great discoveries." So said one of oratory leaders who participated in the initiative.

By Alessia Pavan

"All we brought with us were a few board games and a bit of the joy that you find in any Salesian oratory” says the promoter of the initiative, Fr Lorenzo Piola. “The preventive system that made Don Bosco known throughout the world, was born as a result of his visits to the prisons of Turin."

There were teachers, volunteers and prison guards present during the visit, but the atmosphere was always serene. According to Julia, a student in her final year of high school: "It seemed impossible that people of my age were already in prison. Then, when I saw them playing ping-pong exactly as we do in the oratory, all fear disappeared and during the whole afternoon, I never once asked myself what crime they had committed. Here two worlds met and we discovered they are not really so far apart. (...) Nothing happens by chance and our personal history influences our choices. Who knows what caused them to end up there?"

The educational effectiveness of such initiatives is always dependent on the attitude of those who come to visit, but the young people of San Dona seem to have found the right style, so much so that the young detainees told the chaplain, Fr Marco Di Benedetto: "Get these people to come back again."

Published 18/1/2016