Salesian Youth Ministry: A Planning Mentality

By Fr. Louis Molinelli, SDB, Province Delegate for Youth Ministry

We read in the Salesian Youth Ministry Frame of Reference, “We believe in education, and we challenge ourselves to plan our procedures in this regard. Youth Ministry comes into being when education is translated into concrete educational processes.... In the end there are certain choices which run through all of Salesian ministry” (p. 143).

This past week, the province's coordinators of youth ministry (CYMs), along with others working in youth and young adult ministry, gathered at the Marian Shrine/Don Bosco Retreat Center in Stony Point, NY. We gathered to grow in our understanding of various elements of Salesian youth ministry and to reflect upon some of the pressing concerns of young people today. The first area was the situation of our young people most at risk in our province who are on the peripheries and how we collaborate with other Salesian provinces in the Interamerica Region. The second area was a day of reflection on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. Our final area was a presentation of the new Directory of Catechesis, which was published in 2020 as a way of growing in our task of evangelizing and educating to the faith. For this last area, we welcomed Sr. M. Johanna Parch, FSMG, professor of Catechetics at Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH.

I want to thank each community in the province who participated in this moment for formation. These moments of reflection provided us with the tools necessary to plan our responses to these three key areas. May these days bear fruit in our continued service of the young.