A meeting to discuss the importance of university pastoral in IUS

Quito, martes 21 febrero 2017
José Juncosa, vice president of UPS in Quito, during his talk
José Juncosa, vice president of UPS in Quito, during his talk

 

On February 9th, the university's branch campus in Quito held a meeting to discuss University Pastoral. The aim was to analyze the model of the University's pastoral department by having the following document as a benchmark: "Orientaciones para la Pastoral Universitaria en las Instituciones Salesianas de Educación Superior (Guidelines for University Pastoral in Salesian Higher Education Institutions), which was distributed in January 2017.

The meeting was organized by the pastoral department and was attended by the vice president of the university's branch in Quito, Jose Juncosa; the director of the Abya Yala Cultural Center, Juan Bottasso; professors, coordinators and faculty directors.

The "Guidelines for University Pastoral in Salesian Higher Education Institutions" document  presents the results of the meetings held during the General Asembly of IUS (2012) and in the Comun 4 Program (2012-2016) that were aimed at discussing pastoral in the last few years. In the 2016 General Assembly they presented the first draft that was revised and approved by the Rector Major of the Salesians, Father Angel Fernandez.

Atendees worked in groups and reviewed the contents of the document, such as the model of salesian pastoral, the dimension of education in faith, the cultural-educational dimension, vocation and social commitment, organization and animation.

Jose Juncosa spoke about the transcendence of this meeting and how it is related to the thoughts of Father Timothy Ploch, Counselor of the Salesian Congregation for the Inter American region during his visit to Ecuador in 2016. Juncosa highlighted the need to strengthen the proposal of pastoral in the university from an academic point of view. "What we do is very important for UPS because we exist as long as we feel as a pastoral institution", he said.

Father Bottasso made a historical review of his experience in pastoral and pointed out the importance of having a university that lives Christian faith but also respects other beliefs and opinions. To finish, Armando Romero, director of Pastoral, thanked attendees for their valuable contribution to the meeting.