«GoGo. You will show me the path of life.” This is the title of the summer of Lombard speakers – 180 in the Brescia area alone – dedicated to children, pre-adolescents and adolescents which, in many oratories of the Diocese, will begin on Monday 10 June 2024.
In the province of Brescia
There are 340 active speakers in the Diocese of Brescia. Of these, around 180 host the Grest. The educational and pastoral project contained in the experience of the Summer Group – which boasts a total of 600 weeks of activity – involves around 32,000 children (of which 13% foreigners) and 11,000 entertainers throughout the diocesan territory.
This effort, which certainly has important repercussions on an educational and social level, is possible thanks to the presence of numerous Brescian parish priests and curates who are directly involved in the Grest, to the 20 Guides appointed by the parish communities to deal with the coordination of the life of the oratories of their territory , of the young coordinators and educators in charge of this task. In most of the speakers the animators are involved and accompanied in a serious educational training course and in a project implementation phase that begins in March and ends with the start of the experience. There are numerous professionals (psychologists, pedagogists, educators) involved at multiple levels and in different situations in order to guarantee quality training to young animators.
The theme
In this year that prepares us for Jubilee 2025 «Pilgrims of hope»officially announced by Pope Francis on Thursday 9 May, the speakers from Brescia – together with those from all over Lombardy – will focus on the theme of the journey.
During the Grest weeks, children, young people, adolescents and families will question and educate themselves in discovering the value of walking, to reflect on everyday life so that it can be increasingly lived at a walking pace. The journey, in fact, constitutes one of the most used paradigms to narrate the human experience: man’s life is always a journey through reality. It is this traveling adventure that allows us to to be, become and remain men and womendeveloping a profound knowledge of ourselves and of God through the questions that accompany the life and pilgrimage of every man who passes through this land.
The appointments
Wednesday 12 June at 10am in Piazza della Loggia, the Grest of the oratories of the historic center will meet for a moment of celebration, testimony and sharing. Don Giovanni Milesi, director of the Office for Oratories, Youth and Vocations of the Diocese, will speak.
Monday 17 June at 4pm the mayor Laura Castelletti – accompanied by Don Claudio Laffranchini, deputy director of the Office for Oratories, Youth and Vocations of the Diocese – will be welcomed by the children of the Grest of the San Nazaro oratory (via Fratelli Bronzetti 9).
Bishop Pierantonio Tremolada, however, accompanied by a delegation from the Centro Oratori Bresciani, will visit some Grest in the Territorial Vicariates on the days of Tuesday 25 June and Thursday 27 June.
