Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - “The urgent task of education: the universities of Rome reflect on the Letter from Benedict XVI.” This was the theme of a seminar that was held May 14, in Rome, organized by the Office for Campus Ministry for the Diocese of Rome, in conjunction with the Conference of Rectors of the Universities in Lazio and the Conference of Rectors of the Roman Pontifical Universities. The focus for reflection was the letter from the Holy Father written to the Diocese and City of Rome, on the urgent task of education, presented to the faithful this past February 24.
“The education emergency is a challenge that university professors want and should respond to, listening to the petitions that arrive from families and professors asking for support,” said Archbishop Luigi Moretti, Vicegerent of the Diocese of Rome, in opening the session. It is an urgency that lies above all in the difficulty in transmitting values to the new generations, so often bombarded by the mass media with examples and lifestyles that are not always correct.
“We should learn to transmit trust and hope in the future to our young people,” said Fr. Pedro Barrajon, Rector of the Pontifical Ateneo Regina Apostolorum and Secretary of the Conference of Rectors of Roman Pontifical Universities. “I think that these two values are fundamental and it is our duty to transmit them to our young people and fight so that they are not lost.”
Among the many subjects addressed during the encounter was the importance of educating students in openness to others and the testimony that the professors themselves offer students. “Before we educate young people, we need to educate the educators,” said Lucia Chiappetta Caiola, professor at the Roma Tre University. “We should offer professors today more incentives and that they really believe in what they are doing, because only in this way will they be an inspiration to upcoming generations in living life’s challenges to the fullest.”
Monsignor Lorenzo Leuzzi, Director of the Campus Ministry Office, in concluding the encounter, announced that the discussion of education would continue unfolding with new initiatives in the upcoming pastoral year. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 16/5/2008; righe 28, parole 355)
