About 50 people met last weekend for the 10th International Dehonian Volunteer Meeting. This is the second meeting of its kind organized by the “Moving Youth Mission” group, whose goal is to realize an international volunteer project.
It was a meeting in which, as on other occasions, faith and prayer were present among the volunteers who share similar desires and concerns. Participants were able to learn about the experiences of other people’s missions and receive necessary training to go on their own missions next summer.
The meeting began with group work in which the stereotypes of each country were addressed in a creative manner. Saturday started in the chapel with prayers in many languages. Then participants heard the testimony of Ivan D’Urso, an ex-convict, on the theme “To Welcome and to be Welcomed”.
Divided into groups according to mission destinations, the volunteers were able to learn more about the realities in which the they would volunteer next summer. Ministries in Ecuador, Mozambique, Cameroon, Albania and Angola await the Dehonian Volunteers every summer; they arrive with enthusiasm and a great desire to serve the neediest.
Saturday evening, participants were able to get to know the city of Padua better; many visited the Basilica of Sant’Antonio and Santa Giustina.
Sunday was a very important day of the meeting; the Provincial Superior of Northern Italy, Fr. Oliviero Cattani, presided over the Mass with a sending ceremony. During the Eucharist, the cross, the Dehonian symbol and the charism of evangelization, the light and the salt, to which all the volunteers are called, was shared so that they may be the light that illuminates every corner and the salt that gives flavor to every place on earth.
It was a great experience, in which the volunteers, sharing from their countries of origin, shared their enthusiasm and their desire to give themselves to others.
