At Mass on Monday 22 August, Fr Fabio Attard said that for Salesians young people are the theological place of the word of God. We must listen to them before we can teach them and, by our example, enable the gift of faith to flourish in them.
To begin the work of the Congress, Fr Attard presented the document on Salesian Youth Ministry, focusing on three processes: 1. The journey of the Church. 2. The journey of the Congregation. 3. The columns or fixed points of youth ministry (home and the street).
In the afternoon Fr Corrado Pastore spoke about some pastoral experiences of biblical ministry for and with young people (Cardinal Martini; Taizé; and others). Some members also commented on their experiences.
Later in the afternoon Fr Morcuende from the Youth Ministry Department described how the Word of God is given its place at the international meetings of the Salesian Youth Ministry. Two Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sr. Mercedes Martín and Sr. Maria Ko, presented the Jerusalem Project for the FMA Sisters.
At the end of the first day, Fr Ivo Coelho confirmed the decision of the Rector Major and his Council to make the community of Cremisan (together with Beitgemal and Ratisbonne) "a permanent formation and spirituality centre for the Salesian Family and the Salesian Movement".
On Tuesday 23 August Fr Matoses and Fr Bartolomé began the day’s work with exegetical expositions on Mk 5.25 - 34 and Mk 5.21 - 43 respectively.
The second part of the morning was devoted to group work highlighting programmes for Salesian ministry with the Word; Bible reading projects for young people; analysis of the pastoral work of the members of ABS and, in the early afternoon, the life of the Association.
In the evening of the same day Fr Gianni Caputa, one of the professors at Ratisbonne, explained something of the recent history of Palestine and Fr Piergiorgio Gianazza, Vice-Provincial of the Middle Eastern Province, spoke about the Salesian presence in the Land of Jesus.
