Uniservitate at WYD
The good news about service-learning and its transforming power will be within the reach of hundreds of thousands of young people around the world who will take part in August at the World Youth Day (WYD), in Portugal. Uniservitate will attend and will offer to the pilgrims the opportunity of interaction between students from different countries that, as Pope Francis requests, put “head, hands and heart” to serve in their communities.
During this great youth festival, Uniservitate will have a stand in an area called “City of joy” and, among other activities, will take part in the event “The vocation to educate”, organized by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, of the Holy See.
On behalf of Uniservitate, Isabel Tresca, Mariano García y María de los Milagros Dominici will coordinate together the participation of Uniservitate in the WYD.
The stand will be open between 1st and 4th August, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m, in the area “City of joy” in the Vocational Fair. There, through recreational activities and technological means, almost thirty volunteers from universities and charismas linked with Uniservitate will invite the young people to share their own experiences of solidarity, to know ongoing service-learning projects and to listen to the Pope.
All proposals will be aimed at accompanying the process of discernment of the personal life project that would be promoted in the WYD catechism. Though this way it would be possible to listen, to develop great ideals and to promote the decision to take action in harmony with the attitude of the Virgin indicated by the motto of the WYD: «Mary arose and went with haste» (Lk 1:39)
By using their smartphones, and though videos that would be streamed in the stand, the pilgrims will get to know the perspectives and experiences of young people from different countries about education in solidarity and spiritual training. These contributions are the result of focus groups carried out during the WYD preparation of six universities supported by Uniservitate in which participated sixty students.
In this way, Uniservitate seeks not only to put into practice the desires of the Global Compact on Education and to strengthen ties with the Universal Church and the bond with the ecclesiastical and educational institutions but, also, to demonstrate the pedagogical pastoral activity in Higher Education and register potential relevant actors for the global network. Why? “Because we deeply believe in the transforming power of the service-learning as a power tool to provide a comprehensive education to the new generations and involve them in an active commitment to the challenges of our time”, said the Uniservitate representatives at the WYD, who have been preparing the activities of the stand and their own hearts for several months.