The PYM Office: An Educative Pastoral Community

By Fr. Lou Molinelli, SDB, Province Delegate of Youth Ministry

On pages 280-282 of the Salesian Youth Ministry Frame of Reference, the role of the Province Delegate of Youth Ministry is not envisioned as a one-person project. No! The role is seen in relation to a network of others who are imbued with Don Bosco’s charism and on fire for the Salesian mission, to collaborate to animate the various local EPCs and projects that accompany the young. Thus, how does the Province Delegate for Youth Ministry collaborate with the various local and provincial works in the province?

First, he coordinates the functioning of the Province Youth Ministry Team and the staff of the Office of Youth Ministry by enabling each person to carry out his/her task. In our province office, the youth ministry effort is divided into different sectors that are animated by a member of the staff. Thus, Victoria Weekley, the Associate Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry, is responsible for the animation of our province programs and retreats for youth ministry. She also serves as the representative for our office to the National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry. I serve as the representative to the National Catholic Education Association. Amy Stockinger, besides being the Office Manager, is responsible for the animation of the sector for Integral Ecology, which is just in its foundational years in the Congregation. Fr. Steve DeMaio collaborates with Fr. Dominic Tran in the Vocations Office while animating the sector of young adult ministry. Adam Rudin oversees volunteering with the Salesian Lay Missioner (SLM) program. Fr. Sean McEwen is the Province Delegate for the sector of Mission Animation. With his experience of working in South Africa for many years, he brings a unique perspective that most of us would not have. Fr. Sean also collaborates in roles of youth and young adult ministry for the Canadian Sector of our province. Br. Rafael Vargas is the animator for the sector of Salesian Social Services. We are part of our region’s endeavor for raising awareness of an organization called RASS. He helps us to see where the needs are the greatest for young people in our province and collaborates with this organization by lending our province’s voice and efforts to the discussion and planning of social services. Another organization in the two regions of the Americas is the Salesian Schools Association which is a collaborative effort of the Salesian Family. I serve as the representative on that. We collaborate together to plan, research, and define best practices in Salesian education. There are goals, objectives, standards, and benchmarks that each province can use to develop its own local networks. Our province is at the beginning stages of this work.

The office also works closely with our Salesian Family in the other three provinces of North America and their youth ministry delegates: Fr. Fabian Cardenas and Gina Robles from the Western Province, Sr. Francine Guilmette from the Salesian Sisters Province, Canada and Eastern USA, and Sr. Sydney Moss from the Salesian Sisters Western USA Province. We collaborate in sharing our Salesian vision and on the national level getting the name of St. John Bosco, St. Mary Domenica Mazzarello, and our Salesian Family out to the young through various workshops and conferences. Along with these respective sectors, many provinces have different people responsible for overseeing schools, parishes, oratories and youth centers, and shrines. While I animate the school sector, the other ministries need to be developed for animation.

As you can see, the Office of Youth Ministry is about animation, education, collaboration, and accompaniment of the local ministries. We provide these services for our province as we continue to be linked to the Interamerica Region and the Salesian world. However, it is never seen as a solo mission. It closely mirrors that "vast movement" of people who, having varied talents and gifts, collaborate for the good of the young and the salvation of their souls!