The International Youth Ministry Congress 2024, held in Rome from 22 to 26 May, was attended by several people from the Teresian Association.
The international meeting was organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, and the TA participants were Rolando Mendívil, who travelled from Spain, and Magda Alcalá, who travelled from Brussels, both representing the TA International Youth Network. They were joined by Joy Ampiloquio and Roxana Revetria, TA members representing the Bishops’ Conferences of Taiwan and Uruguay respectively.
International Youth Ministry Congress
The Congress brought together nearly 300 youth delegates from the bishops’ conferences of 110 countries. The theme chosen on this occasion waso “synodal youth ministry: new leadership styles and strategies.”
On the first day, the two Local Organising Committees for WYD Lisbon 2023 and Seoul 2027 gave presentations. The second day focused on the Post-Synodal Exhortation ‘Christus Vivit’. This was followed by presentations on the themes to be found in the exhortation: youth leadership, synodality, faith development and spiritual accompaniment.
The TA representative from Brussels, Magda Alcalá, said that the young people attending the meeting seemed to be very happy and grateful.
The talks
Magda mentioned several of the talks that were presented. She said that Sandra Chaoul (Lebanon), director of the Accompaniment Network in the Discernment Leadership Programme, told the young people that they must be “detectors of grace".
Gustavo Fabián Cavagnari (Argentina), professor of Youth Ministry at the Salesian Pontifical University, spoke of the need to offer socio-emotional education to young people. He said, “Train them to identify possible symptoms of disorders and also train adults in this area.”
Audience with the Pope and some reflections
The Congress concluded with an audience with Pope Francis on Saturday 25 May. His speech was very complete and can be readthrough this link. Finally, the young people greeted him and then participated in the Holy Mass presided by Cardinal Américo Aguiar.
As a final reflection, Magda Alcalá said that what she liked most about this meeting was being able to speak with people from different cultures. “As a member of the Teresian Association, my challenge is to work with other groups and feel that I can identify the young people we have with us. In this way we can link them to existing initiatives in order to offer them more qualified support.”.
TA International Youth Network.
TA Translation Team.
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