In these pages I would like to reflect on youth ministry with a special focus on family. I hope that, by the end of this reflection no one could say that most of the considerations made were on family ministry rather than on youth ministry. Nevertheless, I think we cannot have a different approach to the subject – youth ministry – when as Church and as Congregation we have had recently at least three magisterial indications in that direction: the letter of the Holy Father on the bicentennial of the birth of St. John Bosco, his apostolic exhortation on love in the family, and the 2017 Strenna of the Rector Major.
Moreover, I assume that this approach is justified not only for authoritative reasons, but also for practical ones. In reality, we must admit that although so many people working in the field of youth ministry have a good understanding of the workings of youth ministry, they do not always have a similar good understanding of family ministry matters.
Therefore, the purpose of this article is simply to present some relevant ideas which are related to youth ministry, from the perspective of the family, starting with the last pontifical exhortation and complementing it with the other documents previously mentioned.
Contents:
- On love in the family
- Finding the young in the exhortation
- Which horizon does AL open to youth ministry?
- Educating from desire toward commitment
- Discerning the vocation to marriage
- Working in alliance
- Supporting parents
- Involving young couples
- Renewing the approach to youth ministry
Reference time period: 2015 – 2017
G. F. Cavagnari, Salesian youth ministry and family in the light of Amoris Laetitia, in «Journal of Salesian Studies» 18 (2017) 2, 9-27.
Reference institution:
Institute of Salesian Studies