The Youth and Pious Schools team started to meet weekly online last September to get to know each other and to team up, organise ourselves and review the Pious Schools and Church’s documents regarding young people.
The team comprised Juan González from Mexico, Guilherme Freitas de Oliveira from Brazil, Roberto Meak from Indonesia, Juan Carlos de la Riva from Emmaus, Jacek Wolan from Poland and Jon Calleja from Emmaus as the coordinator’s team.
During the first months, we shared, especially, the concerns that came out of the last General Chapter, analysing the Lines of Action of the Keys of Life that touch us more as a team (mainly the 10th Key of Life) to be able to contribute to the Planning of the General Congregation that is being proposed for this six-year period in all the Pious Schools.
We have also been compiling on a drive, and shared with other teams of the Order, information on the reality of young people in different countries through reference documents and reports that give us a first general overview of the subject. And we have reflected on the target groups of our team since there are many profiles of young people who participate in the Pious Schools and whom we would like to reach.
We have started contacting other General Teams to promote networking in a transversal way and to look at issues of joint work with them. For this, we have met with the Calasanz Movement and people from the Communication team and the Youth Pastoral Network (RPJ). And we are in contact with the General Secretariat for the Construction of the Pious Schools on which we depend as a team.
From January onwards, we have decided to meet on a regular fortnightly basis. In addition, we are starting to contact those in charge of the Provinces who have some relationship with young people in the pastoral work, social or educational fields to create a link with them. Our main objective is to support, make visible and enhance the quality of Piarist proposals offered to young people to call them more to the Piarist life and give them the necessary space, voice and accompaniment.
