Rome Italy. From February 12 to 23, 2018, a meeting on the Claretian Youth and Vocation Ministry was held at the General Curia of the Claretian Missionaries.

The initiative of the General Prefecture of PJV has been joined by the different Institutes and Movements, members of the Claretian Family (CF), in total: eighteen participants from sixteen different countries. The gathering was very much supported by the Generals of each member-institution and had sent video greetings and prayers to the participants.

These thirteen days of intense work have been the first step of an itinerary that includes:

1. An online course for the in-charge Claretian Youth and Vocations Ministry (YVM) of the different Organisms, Institutes and Movements of the Claretian Family (September-October 2018) and for the local leaders (2019 +).
2. Meeting in Rome of those responsible for the YVM of the different Organisms, Institutes and Movements of the Claretian Family that have completed the online course (November 18 to December 1, 2018).
3. Participation in the WYD 2019 Panama + CF (January 17 to 28, 2019).
4. Participation in Claretian experiences of YVM in Bética-Portugal or Central America starting in 2019.
5. Voluntary missionary experience for the youth starting 2019.

This daring and innovative project aims to answer the call of the Church going-forth, the Synod of the Youth and the interpellations of God to our Claretian family. It is an opportunity to prepare ourselves to meet the young, especially the poorest, marginalized, excluded and separated from the faith, to walk with them and listen to the calls of God. So that they too become actors of the mission.

The main objective of the meeting was the preparation of the online course for youth leaders that will be carried out during the months of September-October of this year. For this we will use the distance education platform of Batatais, Brazil, which our brothers have generously put once again in the service of the evangelization of the Congregation.

On the other hand, the meeting also served as a planning for the meeting of the youth leaders of the Organisms of the Congregation and of the CF that will be held on November 18 to december 1 in Rome. Other topics such as the experiences of missionary volunteerism for young people, the animation of the Claretian youth and vocations ministry by Continents and the two complementary formative experiences fo the youth leaders.

The formative proposal is offered as a space for reflection on our pastoral practices and a training in the art of listening and accompaniment. It is a workshop where we can forge new evangelizers of young people and vocations with a Claretian identity. A new hope for teamwork and shared mission with the Claretian family and other pastoral leaders.

In a climate of deep and sincere dialogue, constructive criticism and fraternity, it seemed important to emphasize the charismatic accents that define us as a missionary Claretian Family. In them we can find the foundations of our program and realize the dream of Claret: CONFORM A SOLIDARY APOSTOLIC BODY FOR THE EVANGELIZATION OF THE WORLD.

Mary, with her mother’s heart full of tenderness, is a model in our task of evangelization.