In the heart of the Church - year of the young 2018!

By Our Own Correspondent

Rome, Italy, 11 January 2018 -- With the New Year 2018 the whole Catholic Church is heading towards the preparation of the Synod of Bishops in October 2018. It does mean a special time of reflection, time of prayer and time of discernment. For us Salesians it's a favourable time to live more in the heart of the Church and to revive our apostolic charity towards the young.

There will be two moments during this year at the level of the Universal Church:

1. Pope Francis already announced a special 'Pre-Synod' of the Young People called to Rome from all 5 continents next March 19-24, 2018. That means before the bishops in October will speak about the young people, they will listen to their voice and life experience.


2. The Synod of Bishops will be held between 3-25 of October in the Vatican with the theme 'Young People - Faith - Vocation Discernment' with a rich confrontation and sharing among the 200+ bishops and other delegates and observers. And at the end Pope Francis will release probably in 2019 his Apostolic Exhortation following the Synod.

However for us the life is going on in our local communities and provinces. It's a good chance for us to listen together as the bishops and the whole local Church. Most of the Bishop confrerences in each EAO country already delivered their survey of listening to the young people and some Bishops Confrerence even declared the 2018 as the YEAR OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE: at least we know about the diocese of Hong Kong (CIN), about the Bishops Conference of Australia and Bishops Confrerence of PNG and Solomon Islands.

Let's take this unique opportunity, this favourable time to enter more in the heart and soul of our young people. It's a wonderful chance to live more in the heart of the Church.

Resources

• Pope Francis listens to the young people:


• Synod 2018: Listen to the Young


• Some videos of 2018 Synod related videos

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