Oratory is an educational youth project intended for pre-school and primary school children, taking place mostly in the summer time. Since 1988 it has been going on in many Slovenian parish churches and it came to Slovenia already in 1901 together with Salesians, whose founder was St. Janez Bosko. There is always a main theme or main character, as for example St.Peter, Mary, Dominic Savio, Pinocchio... who accompanies children and animators all days of the oratory. This hero helps them to learn a lot of things out of his life and to try to live by his example. The founder of the oratory as an educational and pastoral programme was St. Filip Neri who was, afterwards, looked upon by St. Karel Boromejski, but the strongest seal to the oratory was set by St. Janez Bosko. In 2008 the Slovenian episcopal conference proclaimed oratory as a pastoral project of the national programme. The criteria of the oratory are four pillars: home, which accepts; school, which sets for life; yard for connecting with friends and joy in your life; parish, which makes you evangelic. It is important that all four are equally represented.
Animator is a young volunteer, having a very important role at the oratory, namely, being there, being present. When a person becomes an animator, he or she is being an animator 24 hours a day, therefore this is not just a job or a hobby, but much more. An animator has to be a good Christian, without that he can not be an animator at all. This can be achieved in many ways and one of them is visiting youth groups in parish churches. It is important for the animator who he or she is as a person, how he lives and not how much he knows. He has to be reasonable, expressing his love towards the children and other people, and above all, he has to show that he is being led through life by God.
I have presented the activities of us, animators, in the parish Slivnica pri Mariboru, which is a very old, large and active parish. I have also presented the oratory itself, our preparations for the oratory (spiritual and organisational) and holidays after the oratory. I have made a participation statistics of the animators at preparations and in the end I have added my own experience gained as an animator at the oratory.
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