5.2.4. Initiatives for the formation of visitors

Even the public must be trained to use the cultural heritage of the Church properly by way of adequate initiatives. Such training can be carried out through the organization of exhibition itineraries, other collateral initiatives, school programmes, information technology, special congresses, cultural policies of the territory, etc. The public can be divided in two categories:  those who belong to the Church community, those who come from other environments. In order to reach a greater number of individuals it would be advisable to launch diocesan initiatives and local initiatives. In addition, one should diversify the activities offered on the basis of the typology of the specific public they address:  individuals of school age, adult public, tourists, pilgrims, etc.

Initiatives on a diocesan level. The following, for example, can represent some possible initiatives:

- organize periodically on a diocesan level study days and congresses on themes that may bring to light the cultural richness of a determined territory;

- programmatic guided visits to ecclesiastical museums, shrines, churches, and eventually Christian archeological sites and other places that are particularly significant for the diocese while trying to place the individual monuments in the context of the specific territory and its local Church history;

- look after temporary exhibits in museums and other church environments putting on display ancient and contemporary artifacts that can refer to the Diocesan territory or to the specific activity of a religious Family.

One should make sure that the various events may not only reflect a purely cultural value but may be planned according to ecclesial criteria in order to raise the consciousness of visitors, not only about the art-historical, but also the religious-pastoral value of the cultural heritage of the Church.

Initiatives on the local level. Educational initiatives aimed at individual communities or held in specific places can also be useful in order to show the intimate link between the cultural assets in use and those in disuse, to connect the works by stressing their historical perspective, to make emerge the relationship between past and present. The following, for example, can represent some possible initiatives: 

- revisit periodically, to have the faithful and other members of the community renew contact with their assets of art-historical interest in order to show the witness of faith and culture of preceding generations, and particularly their churches;

- develop an annual programme of congresses, study days, shows, visits whereby the local territory may be rediscovered and a sense of belonging may be further increased;

- involve in this work of animation especially young people, so that they can nourish religious, social, cultural interests;

- make the entire community understand that the art-historical assets of the Church are intended for everyone, particularly for those who are poor, because they express the Gospel message of charity and they represent the dignity of the Church community;

- open up to outside visitors by organizing activities that attract the visits of tourists;

- integrate the aims of older lay associations by involving the promotion of the cultural heritage of the Church.

Initiatives for tourists and pilgrims. The following, for example, can represent some possible initiatives: 

- for tourists, one should identify tourism in Church places as religious tourism, so that even the use of museums may fall into the area of the ecclesial life of the Churches whose works are preserved there.

- for pilgrims, one should present museum collections in a religious context, by making the path of faith of the Christian community, the patrons, the artists, and the forms of popular piety and local traditions stand out.

- for scholastic initiatives. For schools of every degree and type, the principal task is to interest students not only in the works on display in ecclesiastical museums or their history, but also in the gradual discovery of the territory from which they come from. Besides the school institutions for young people, particular interest in the cultural heritage of the Church can be developed by "adult university programmes" or similar activities, because they stimulate knowledge and creativity. In a school or in an academic context the following initiatives may be possible: 

- organize guided visits that may connect museums with the entire Church patrimony;
- launch research activity and campaigns;

- promote competitions (creative writing, collections of testimonies; projects of re-qualifications, drawings, photography, etc.);

- stimulate students in order to interest them to the art-historical patrimony of the Church.