In the summer of 1998, we received an invitation from the then Bishop of the Archdiocese of Puebla, Monsignor Rosendo Huesca, to found a Community of Religious of the Assumption, with the mission of accompanying young people through the youth and vocation ministry program. In the beginning we participated specifically in the vocational pastoral team, however, a year later we joined the youth pastoral team in which we remain to this day.
We accompany the formation of young leaders who can promote the encounter with the living Jesus in their pastoral areas, in their deaneries and parishes, Jesus, Who changes lives and responds to the deepest desires of every young person, making them committed to their faith and witnesses to God's love.
One of our main objectives in accompanying and advising the Diocesan Youth Ministry is that each young person discover "his or her mission on earth" as St. Marie Eugenie desired, that each of them may recognise that they are loved by God and called to a specific vocation.
How do we do this? Our work enters into the dynamics of the Church. We have as a basis the proposal of the DEMPAJ (Mexican Episcopal Dimension for the Pastoral Care of Adolescents and Young People), which at the national level is providing lines of action to carry out a well-structured process with adolescents and young people. At the national level we are also linked to the Easter Youth Movement, which works throughout the year to generate youth experiences during Holy Week and Easter, promoting the deepening of the Paschal Mystery and the recognition of the LIVING Christ among us. In the same way we are linked to "Vida Plena en Jesús" (Fullness of Life in Jesus), an organisation that helps us to share with young people experiences of first evangelisation as the beginning of the process of Christian life.
With all these inputs and the specific contribution of our Assumption charism, we walk in synodality hand in hand with a diocesan team composed of a priest advisor, several young people, a married couple, two music ministers, a Religious priest, two Religious of the Assumption, all of whom are committed to this beautiful youth ministry.
Our project has three stages: Attraction, Growth and Projection. We believe that this last stage necessarily leads to the vocational option, to which we also dedicate our accompaniment. Within the three stages we promote the ENCOUNTERS, which are organised in different pastoral areas, deaneries and parishes. It is always a great challenge to follow up specifically the different realities of the Archdiocese, because the needs of young people are diverse and changing.
We are now living in a post-pandemic period in which all the youth groups and leadership teams are being renewed and little by little we are reactivating this pastoral work, which is so much in need of the accompaniment of our Church.
The youth pre-Easter events during the month of March and the Holy Week missions have been a great opportunity for us to set out together and to continue infecting many young people in order to be Witnesses of the Risen Christ together.
Puebla, Mexico 25 April 2022
Carmen López r.a.