During the event, Br. Muller spoke, in English and French, about the main challenges that young people in Europe have faced and continue to face as a result of the pandemic. First, the General Economer spoke of the solitude of young people, boys and girls, forced into Distance Learning; at the same time, however, he emphasized the great creativity and the many initiatives carried out by the Salesians and lay collaborators in the Salesian mission to continue to remain close to the children.
Then he indicated how the pandemic has highlighted - even more than before - the need to listen more and better to young people so as to achieve greater involvement with them, obtain real participatory collaboration between adults and young people.
He also pointed to the ability of young people to remain supportive and attentive to their neighbors, even in the isolation and difficulties of the pandemic - both with those closest to them, such as their teachers, and with those furthest away.
On the theme of the Rector Major's Strenna, "Do all through love, nothing through constraint," he then explained that it refers to each person's vocation, to the desire to remain faithful to one's promises, not because one is pressured by others, but by one’s own free choice, and in response to God's love.
Br. Muller then spoke about the SDB Change Congress event, the congress that will be held next September to address, as Salesians, but together with the contribution of many different specialists, the many emerging issues of today's world and the near future, with special attention to sustainable economics, spirituality in a relativistic world, communication in the info-sphere, the challenges posed by Artificial Intelligence, and the problem of corruption and what to do to prevent it.
The dialogue with Br. Muller can be watched at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/chapelforeurope/videos/3132186363697953
After this dialogue, Fr Wilfried Wambeke, Provincial of the Salesians of Don Bosco for Belgium North and the Netherlands, presided the Holy Mass for the Solemnity of Saint John Bosco and recalled many times the following quotation from St Francis of Sales, which is guiding us in this 4th centenary of his passing: “Do all for love, nothing by constraint.”
Finally, during his visit to Brussels, Br. Muller had the opportunity to meet with Fr Manuel Barrios Prieto, Secretary General of COMECE (Commission of Catholic Bishops' Conferences of the European Union), and to evaluate the fruitful collaboration between the two organizations.
