The Kairos experience in the Ignatian Schools.

This experience aims at helping young people re-read and make peace with their life story, examine their  relationships, and grow emotionally. "Young people always live outside themselves," explains Fr. Renato Colizzi, Director of CIS. "The great emotional knots that mark their age are always left on the sideline of their education" Therefore we are proposing: "the experience of the spiritual exercises in a different form: this experience does not consist of prayer or meditating on the tenets of faith in the traditional way but consists of working on relationships with parents and siblings in  a simple way: this is the Kairos experience. Rather than concentrating on the academic profile, this program focuses on the relational and affective life of young people.  The method used for this journey is sharing between peers, as well as with teachers and Jesuits and a 3-day residential experience ".

This is a journey that allows one to experience the depth and richness of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in a form suitable for high school students. This is a very significant initiative in the pastoral activity of the schools.  In fact 50 high school students coming from 8 different colleges of the Province took part in it in Susa from October 9 to 12.

This is an opportunity to question and deepen even one’s personal relationship with the Lord. Doubts and questions come to light in the re-reading and in the recounting of their own experiences. "This experience," explains 17-year-old Federico of the Istituto Massimo di Roma "has given me a knowledge of myself that I was not aware of before. Through self-discovery and using my time well, I was able to reflect on subjects that were previously frightening. It will be useful for the future ". "This is not just a retreat, but an experience organized by young people for other young people" 18-year-old Alessandro, of the Social Institute of Turin highlights. "Before arriving, I had some prejudices," admits 17-year-old Nicolò, "I received a new awareness of the present and of myself that leads me to a deeper relationship with today and tomorrow." The young people who were the first to go through the experience during the scholastic year, will then accompany, as "Ignatian leaders", their other companions in this experience.

Among the other programs planned in the schools’ pastoral activity, there is the experience of the spiritual exercises given to young people in the fifth year of high school, the prayer journey for the Ignatian movements - MEG and Student Mission League – and the prayer journeys and summer camps organised for service-giving.  About 8 thousand students attend the Ignatian schools of the Euro-Mediterranean Province.