East Asia. Some representatives of the Schools and Professional Formation Centers of the Interprovincial Conference of East Asia (CIAO School), made up of the Provinces of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Cambodia-Myanmar, Hong Kong-Taiwan-Macau, Philippines-Papua New Guinea, Japan, Korea- Mongolia, Thailand, East Timor-Indonesia, and Vietnam-Laos, gathered to organize a Youth Meeting on the Care of the Common Home to be held on 10 July 2022, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the FMA Institute (1872- 2022).
The event also aims to celebrate the 7th anniversary of Pope Francis’s Encyclical Laudato Si’. The meeting will be held on a virtual platform and it is planned to involve about 150-180 young people aged 15 to 25, coming from the various Schools and Professional Formation Centers of the South-East Asian Provinces.
In view of the realization of the meeting, on 30 December 2021, the Provincials of CIAO with the Provincial Coordinators of Youth Ministry and the FMA referents of the CIAO Schools and Professional Formation Centers, created a Working Group composed of three representatives of the FMA and by the representatives of the young people of each Province, to work together in the planning and organization of the event.
In the first meeting, which took place online on 19 February 2022, members of the Working Group reflected on how to take care of the Common Home according to seven Laudato Si’ Goals.
The young people worked in a climate of mutual listening, expressing their contributions with creativity, hope, and passion, to be at the service of others and the environment.
The CIAO School referents dream of this Youth Meeting as a school of mutual sharing and synodality, in which the participants develop the desire to learn from the experiences and good practices of other schools in order to walk together towards a shared vision and common actions, to defend and promote the dignity of the human being and the entire creation of God.
It is hoped that the meeting will become a generative experience for all, a journey together, and an expression of gratitude to God, as a gift that the CIAO Interprovincial Conference wishes to offer to the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians on the 150th anniversary of its foundation.
