Turin (Italy). On the evening of 16 October 2024, 38 girls at Casa della Giovane in Turin, of Mary Help of Christians Province (IPI), 33 university students and five from the A3 Autonomy Project, met with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Mary Most Holy Consoler Community and 14 Postulants to start the new academic year and community life.
The festive moment, in full Salesian style, was a intertwining of sharing, joy, conviviality, and play, to strengthen the already consolidated ties and create new ones. The theme proposed for reflection, as launched by Pope Francis for the Jubilee of 2025, was that of hope: not only a feeling of faded optimism, but the momentum of a faith that burns and is obstinate in digging into the heart of things, that plunges into the relationship with the other to build, which allows one to rise again and to begin anew.
Some responses on the evening:
The evening on Wednesday proved to be the perfect opportunity to expand one’s knowledge through different moments, also going out of one’s comfort zone, with the aim of listening to other girls in talking about themselves. The meeting was not only a place of knowledge, but also awareness of the role that the Casa della Giovane plays in our university/or not lives and not. Casa della Giovane is, therefore, certainly an aggregation of people, but it is also a form of family, a place where loneliness is not present, thanks to the many people who live there. (Irene, University student)
It was a nice moment of fraternity and sharing. I think it was an opportunity for meeting the various realities that live in the young woman’s house, each different from the others but with the common desire to build a family. From the beginning of the evening, there was a beautiful atmosphere of joy, availability, and having welcomed with enthusiasm the proposed activities was an example. It is nice to see that each one, with their own life, can really contribute to make home the place where they live. (Camilla, Postulant)
You know that feeling you get when you enter a place and you don’t recognize almost any face among the people present? It is a time when one seeks, undaunted, a familiar face. This is the feeling I had when I entered the party at the Casa della Giovane on 16 October. However, this feeling faded after a few moments because I realized that the people around me were, in some way, already familiar. There were Sisters, postulants, and university students, each with their own life and study path, different cultural origins, ages, interests, and passions. Yet, there was a thread that united us all, the same thread that brought us together at that party to play, laugh, and dance together, as if we were a big family. After all, each of us has left our family, home, and in some cases, even our own Country. The Casa della Giovane manages to offer us the warmth and welcome that seemed lost, offering us a refuge where we can rebuild ties and feel at home again. (Olga Project A3)
The challenge is to live it, and generate with it communion and fraternity; all that remains is to do it together. (Alessia University student)
