RMG – Salesian Youth Synod: the programme of activities

09 August 2024

(ANS - Rome) - After long months of preparation at all levels, the Salesian Youth Synod will finally begin on Sunday, 11 August 2024, at the cradle of Salesian charisma, Turin-Valdocco, a synodal experience in which around 300 young people of the Salesian Youth Movement will share dreams, perspectives, spirituality, dialogue, reflections and Salesian joy. Here is the detailed programme of activities.

At 9:30 a.m. (UTC+2) on Sunday 11, in the Teatro Grande of Valdocco, the opening ceremony will take place. Then the young people will be accompanied, through two different sessions - one in the morning and one in the afternoon - on a spiritual pilgrimage to the places of Don Bosco in the city of Turin. In the afternoon there will be a special moment of discussion specifically for the Moderators and Speakers of the "Minor Circles" of the Synod, and then, all together again, they will participate in the Sunday Mass in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, presided over by the Rector Major, Card. Ángel Fernández Artime. In the evening they will be transferred to Colle Don Bosco, near Castelnuovo Don Bosco, where the activities of the following day will start.

On Monday 12 August, the first working session will take place, on the theme: "Dreams are carried in the heart", followed by a visit to the places of Don Bosco's childhood at Castelnuovo Don Bosco. In the afternoon, the young people will have time to study the Instrumentum Laboris (IL) of the synod and then participate in the first phase of discussion and debate in the Minor Circles, on the first part of the IL. In the evening a youth Rosary will be animated.

On Tuesday 13, the young people will gather in assembly at the to be newly inaugurated Dream Meadow and share their visions of the Nine Year Dream. This will be followed by a work session on "The Merchant of Dreams". In the early afternoon, another assembly at the Dream Meadow will be held to share what emerged from the study of the first part of the IL of the previous day; and then the work of the Minor Circles will address the second and third parts of the IL. In the evening, a final session will take place in the theatre, on the theme "The Circus of Dreams".  There will be a very special magic show and circus during this moment.

The pattern of the first two days will also be repeated on the third day, that of Wednesday 14th, with a session on "The Dream of the Good Shepherd"; and the assembly sharing, between morning and afternoon, of the reflections of the Minor Circles of the previous day - thus on the second and third part of the IL. The highlights of the day will be the market-fair set up by the MGS, the so-called "Courtyard of Dreams"; and the adoration vigil in view of the Marian feast on the following day.

It should also be noted that on the intermediate and study days of the synod (12-13-14 August), every morning, before the start of activities, all young people will have the opportunity to attend Mass in the Lower Basilica of the Hill; and after lunch, to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Thursday 15 August, Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, will open with the solemn Mass and will then continue with one of the central moments of this event: the youth forum with the Rector Major, with the evocative title "It is always Dreams that shape the world". At the same time, the drafting team will begin work on the draft of the final document, while in the afternoon, after the reading of the text, the assembly will offer all its evaluations and give its suggestions on the matter, in order to arrive at the approval of the shared operational lines and for the subsequent drafting of the final definitive document. After the synodal assembly proper, there will still be time for a celebration of the Word, entitled "Daydreaming".

Finally, on Friday 16 August, the 209th birthday of Don Bosco, there will be a time to evaluate the experience and the concluding solemn Mass of the event, also presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, in his last official act as Rector Major of the Salesian Congregation.

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