From: "jbfox" <jbfox@is.com.fj>

To: <jbfox@is.com.fj>

Subject: 'austraLasia' #403

Date: Friday, 11 August 2000 5:03 PM

FORUM SYM 2000 - COLLE DON BOSCO

Press Release n°6

“We need to learn from the wisdom of each one”

For the 200 young participants of FORUM MGS 2000 being held at Colle Don

Bosco (Italy), today is the second day of listening to witnesses.

Today, Mons. Thomas Menaparampil, Salesian Archbishop of Guwahati (India)

and Mons. Alberto Ablondi, Bishop of Livorno (Italy) established an

interesting dialogue with the young.

Mons. Menaparampil, with oriental sensitivity and drawing experience from

his efforts towards reconciliation in the State of Assam, explained what it

means to be bearers of peace.  Starting from a positive vision of history

and of human capacity, which does not forget contradictions and

difficulties, he assured the young that no effort in favor of peace and

human development shall remain in vain, no matter how small it is:  “Before

every human need”  the Bishop affirmed -  “there is always an answer and

there is always someone who can answer.  That someone is you”.

“Working for peace is not a very popular activity in this time of war

 heroes”  he continued -  “we need to learn from the wisdom of each one,

there is an urgent need for builders of peace.”

Mons. Alberto Ablondi followed suit and told the young that “encounter” is

the key word in living an authentic Christian life.  The Bishop of Livorno

stressed the urgency of living a faith centered on Christ and on the Church

as an answer to the current fad of “bricolage Christianity”, which is

detached from the ecclesial community or from evangelical exigencies and

which expresses itself through institutions or personal sentiments.

Mons Ablondi ended his intervention illustrating in synthesis the more

urgent challenges for the young Christian:  put Christ at the center of one’

s life, build communion, live one’s sexuality in its deeper sense and

express gratuity as an attitude.

In the afternoon, five youth coming from Costa Rica, India, ,Gabon,

Philippines and Spain shared their experience on voluntary missionary work,

of one’s choice for the poor, of one’s commitment to human and Christian

maturation following the path of Spirituality and of the Salesian Youth

Movement.

Tomorrow, August 11, FORUM MGS 2000 will march on to Turin to gather

together at Valdocco, cradle of Don Bosco’s work and mission.  In the

“Mother House” of the Salesian Congregation, the young will go through an

intensive experience of spirituality.  For many of them, it will be a first

time in these places made familiar to them through the words of the

Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in each country.

The objective of such visit is to revise one’s personal vocational

commitment, in coherence of faith and life, confronting it with the

experience of Don Bosco himself.  The moment of personal prayer before this

Saint, friend of the young, in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians will,

no doubt, be an unforgettable experience.

Colle Don Bosco (Italy), August 10, 2000