Director's Letter
|
 |
Sr. Elena Rastello F.M.A |
Director |
hy the IYM? In order to be on the side of the young and the little ones who struggle for life.
Why the IYM? In order to put life at the centre so that all may have life and have it to the full.
Why the IYM? In order to speak of life and hope, making the "lame walk", according to the gospel image.
The IYM, an academic reality for people who love the young and care for their future with the heart of God, the God of Life. The protagonists and intended beneficiaries of this enterprise are young people and adults together, students and lecturers who together learn how to become precious gifts of life for many generations of youth, particularly the poorer ones, those abandoned, at risk, marginalized and cut off from the main stream of society.
It is a cultural and academic bet. Here we do not mean abstract culture, but rather the ability to build constantly and rigorously a culture that is immersed in reality, through the history of people in the ever-new situations that change the world. The IYM desires to understand, plan and build a situation where the "quality of life may restore the young to the young and the young to God". Therefore, at the centre of the commitment of the IYM there will be the students who prepare themselves to become youth ministers, and the children, the adolescents and the young to whom these future youth ministers will be sent.
We carry out this endeavour
- by setting up the IYM as a HOME, where a welcoming youth-friendly atmosphere is shared with and among the students
- by facilitating, with the IYM as a SCHOOL, serious academic professional preparation that offers new job opportunities for the transformation of society
- by committing ourselves to make the IYM a PLAYGROUND where a practical and youthful style of learning is applied, in an atmosphere of friendship and cordiality, of music and sport and of all that is beautiful and loved by the young
- by choosing Jesus Christ and his values as the solid foundation that makes of the IYM a PARISH, which allows discerning what is promising for the holistic growth of the young and of humanity, leading them to holiness and the blissful eternal life.
May the Gospel wisdom, from which we all draw, make us bold and courageous in starting this adventure with the Church in the African continent.
May it make us humble and thorough in academic research; brave and enthusiastic in proposing and travelling new paths with our students, because we believe that, led by the irresistible fascination of Christ, we can become saints together!
May it make us women and men of our times, active citizens and educators, who collaborate to the elaboration of a new humanism, where every young and little one in this continent may feel at home, loved and welcomed.
