COMMUNION AND LIBERATION INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE 2016 10

VOL.TRACES 18 LITTERAE COMMUNIONIS

A PATH THAT NEVER ENDS As the Jubilee is closing its doors we treasure the embrace of mercy that we have experienced during the last year. A concrete reality possible in every moment of life and of history.

CoverTraces102016_sel.indd 1 09/11/16 11:40 CONTENTS November, 2016 Vol.18 - No. 10

Communion and Liberation International Magazine - Vol. 18 CLOSE UP Editorial Offi ce: Via Porpora, 127 - 20131 Milano Tel. ++39(02)28174400 A YEAR 6 Fax ++39(02)28174401 E-mail: [email protected] WITHOUT AN END Internet:www.tracesonline.org The Jubilee Year of Mercy will conclude on Editor (direttore responsabile): November 20th. But “the work to open ourselves Davide Perillo to mercy” will not stop here. From following the Vice-editor: Pope to the refugees who “refl ect what we are,” Paola Bergamini we hear from FR. MAURO-GIUSEPPE LEPORI, Editorial Assistant: Abbot General of the Cistercian Order. Anna Leonardi From New York, NY: Holly Peterson Editorial A True Dialogue 3 Graphic Design: G&C, Milano Davide Cestari, Lucia Crimi Letters Edited by Paola Bergamini 4 Photo: GettyImages: Cover, 20, 22-23 Close up Jubilee A Year Without An End by Alessandra Stoppa 6 Publishers (editore): Società Coop. Edit. Nuovo Mondo Via Porpora, 127 - 20131 Milano CL life School of Community Only for Living Reg. Tribunale di Milano n°. 740 - 28 ottobre 1998 by A. Leonardi, P. Perego, A. Stoppa 12 Iscrizione nel Registro degli Operatori Uganda A New Chapter in Life by Paolo Perego 17 di Comunicazione n. 6.147

Church Central African Republic In the Heart of a Trial by Maurizio Vitali 19 © Fraternità di Comunione e Liberazione for the texts by Luigi Giussani and Julián Carrón Document In order to Recover the Meaning of Living Together 22

LUIGI GIUSSANI

This volume is a selection of the most memorable passages from works such as At significant writings by Monsignor Luigi the Origin of the Christian Claim, The Journey Giussani (1922-2005), founder of the Italian to Truth is an Experience, Why the Church?, Catholic lay movement Communion and Generating Traces in the History of the World, Liberation, which is practiced in 80 and Is It Possible to Live This Way? Many speak countries around the world. of Giussani as a friendly presence, a man who believed that it was possible to live in

Presented by Julián Carrón, Giussani's faith every day and in any circumstance. As a

5 1 successor as head of Communion and writer and religious scholar who was deeply Liberation, Christ, God's Companionship with devoted to his work, Giussani’s teachings and

Man is the most succinct introduction to the reflections have come to generate worldwide

0 2 : r a e breadth of Giussani’s thought, including recognition and support.

MCGILL-QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY PRESS

Y - 2 2 1 : s e g a P

CONTENTS1016.indd 4 09/11/16 13:07 EDITORIAL

A True Dialogue

he most recent to write in favor of political dialogue was El País, ’s foremost newspaper, in an important editorial, the title of which speaks volumes (“La conversación que necesitamos”). It came out just before the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party chose responsible abstention on the second investiture vote for Mariano Rajoy, of the centrist People’s Party, allowing him to gain the simple majority needed to return to office; by doing so they avoided a third election in a year and brought to an end the polit- ical stalemate that began in December 2015, which involved 300 days of failure to reach compromise, exchanges of vetoes, and reciprocal delegitimizations that showed no concern for the nation’s need for leadership, and that were so harsh that the Spanish daily newspaper said it was time for change. “In the face of the po- Tlarization and reciprocal hatred, we want to speak up for the reconstruction of a common space for pragmatism and reforms, a place where there can be an exchange and explanation of reasons, ideas, and solutions that help find a way out of this situation,” wrote El País: “The solutions to the problems are complex, will require attempts and errors, and will never be 100 percent satisfactory. But they exist. We just need to look for them. For this, the conversation needs to change.” In other words, there is a need to re-initiate real dialogue. These words were written in , but they closely resemble many calls heard in the United States, split by the mean- est electoral campaign ever, in Great Britain divided over Brexit, in Europe tormented by fears and a level of egotism that prompted Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs, and Citizenship, to say “the crisis in which we find ourselves is casting doubt upon the foundations upon which we have built our democracies: our values of openness and equality, our fundamental freedoms and, even more important, that which unites us and holds us together.”

By now, this is the question. The factors that we took for granted in the polis no longer apply. Everywhere, it is neces- sary to return to the foundations. In order to rediscover what supports civil co-existence, we must overcome “the logic of a priori alignment that blocks a true comparison of ideas and reasons” and “recover the meaning of living together,” as urged in the CL flyer that came out recently in , in advance of the December referendum on the reform of the Constitution (you will find the flyer at the end of this issue). The other is not a threat, an obstacle, a barrier: the other is a good for me. In front of the wounds of our society, it is only by running the risk of truly opening ourselves to those in front of us that we will understand ourselves better and find stability once again. In the words of Fr. Lepori, Abbot General of the Cistercians, interviewed in this issue of Traces, at the end of the Year of Mercy: “The Pope in this year helped us to see that, by welcoming others, we become a place to dwell. Now we found our certainty on the things we are sure of that are in our hands, rather than founding it on a relationship, on our belonging to someone. We too feel threatened, in a different way, by others, because they break down our bubble of false security.” Instead, we discover our true substance precisely in the encounter with the other. In order for this to happen, continues Fr. Lepori, “there is a need for places, for communities that incarnate this embrace that can love and wel- come. This is the reason for the Church in the world, for mission, which is to communicate an experience.”

This is not simply a reminder of moral rules and regulations, but a true need, one that is very concrete. It is not just a matter of deciding how and whom to vote for (be it in the American presidential election or the Italian referendum), because the day after that vote, regardless of whom you voted for, we will still face the same problems as before: the economic crisis, war, immigrants, the holes in democracy. We will have to live, seeking the good of everyone. This can only be done together. T

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Editoriale1016.indd 3 09/11/16 11:42 THE FARMER AND that, I have had that attention for my never understood what the pilgrimage THE TOMATO HARVEST patient (without even really noticing), could mean for my faith. It was this I am a physical therapist. A because all of my life is defined by realization that made me change my 1patient came to me with back the encounter with Jesus through approach: I still needed to face the pain. He is a farmer and he tells me my friends in School of Community, logistical challenges of preparing for that he doesn’t think that I can help even if sometimes I forget or devalue the pilgrimage, but now did so with him. He really just wants or don’t want to believe it. a new awareness. As I drove to make the minimum number of I am aware of saying things a reconnaissance tour of the path a visits possible so as not to that are so much greater day before the pilgrimage, I was very waste any time. I accept than I am, but I am also conscious of what was in front of me. the challenge. By the end aware of having participated Identifying the points where we would of the first session, he has in an event greater than stop, I visualized where the crowd, the begun to relax a little and myself and not explainable choir, and Fr. Valerio would all be he tells me about his work and how exclusively through my capacity to do standing at each stop. I wanted it to be much he loves it, and how frustrated my job. beautiful and also that all would follow he is not to be able to give his 100%. Damiano, Bologna (Italy) the path with the same enthusiasm In the following sessions, he is even I had. The day of the pilgrimage I more relaxed and talkative, and ON A PILGRIMAGE understood how greatly merciful the I understand that his economic FOR THE FIRST TIME Lord had been to me in making me situation is not good, so I decide not When I told a few friends that part of this faithful crowd, following to charge him for the sessions at the 1the pilgrimage to go through the lead of the Pope and Fr. Giussani. end of the therapy cycle. One day he the Holy Door was to be my first in The exhibition, the pilgrimage, the arrives at the center where I work, my lifetime, none of them believed annual Spiritual Exercises (especially he takes my arm, pulls me aside and me and all looked surprised. They the part we’re doing now on Peter’s gives me a hug. He says to me, “You did not believe that a mature Catholic Yes) made deeper sense. I would be have given dignity back to my work, Christian could possibly not have nothing without this Mercy of the and as a man rediscovers himself in done a pilgrimage. This made me start merciful Father. his work, you have given me back my wondering what the pilgrimage would Peter, Nairobi (Kenya) dignity because now I am well and can be like. The real challenge came when pick tomatoes. You don’t know what Joakim asked me to head the team DISCOVERING a gift you have given me.” He still preparing it. Why me, who didn’t even A NEW PATERNITY didn’t know that I intended to give know what is expected? A week earlier, I wanted to tell you about the him the therapies as a gift. Curious, I during our community’s exhibition on 1death of my father. His name was look at him and ask him what I had the Prodigal Son, a young man asked Pedro Aguiar Pinto; he was a university done out of the ordinary. He begins me after I had explained the last panel, professor of agronomy, and a diocesan to cite, one by one, everything that “What does one do before and after responsible for CL in Portugal. For I had done during the sessions, but going through the door of mercy?” I several years he published a blog on above all, the kindness with which choked out a few words in confusion topics of faith and together with my he felt treated, listened to, and loved. before I realized that I didn’t know the mother, he prepared hundreds of I immediately thought of the passage answer. I rushed to my friend Masu for couples for marriage. He led Schools of from September’s “Page One” that help and he walked both of us through Community and every year he would says, “It is that to which we belong, a few steps that need to be taken. It organize the Movement’s pilgrimage in which we participate, that defines suddenly hit me that although I was to Fatima. During the last pilgrimage, our cultural expression.” I am like very involved in the logistics, I had really a few days ago, since there was no

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Letters1016.indd 4 09/11/16 11:49 Email: [email protected] Write to Traces editorial office, Via Porpora 127, 20131 , Italy

AT SCHOOL

DIALOGUE ACCORDING TO

n the public school where I started working this year, we had a faculty meeting two evenings Iago. At one point, the religion teacher said that Cardinal Betori, Archbishop of Florence, was coming for a pastoral visit, and he was thinking about organizing a meeting between the cardi- nal and the students. Immediately a very heated debate started about the matter of laity. Some- one said that since we are a public school, the archbishop cannot participate (last year an imam, along with a rabbi and a priest, participated); someone else said that since we are surrounded by Catholics, we shouldn’t put further pressure on people’s consciences. I added to the discussion by stating that I didn’t see anything wrong with meeting the cardinal, who as a representative of a religion and of a community of believ- ers, would doubtless have something interesting to say to young students. Furthermore, if a teacher, within the context of his subject (in this case religion) would consider meeting the cardinal to be didactically useful, this would be legitimate. To my surprise, many people expressed support for my points. In the end, we voted to have the cardinal come in the afternoon for an optional meeting. I went home happy, not only because of the prob- able visit, but because the issue of laity had been the topic of discussion. Then I wrote a letter to my colleagues and distributed it to everyone, raising a lot of interest. Those who thought like I do thanked me, but the most beautiful thing is that I had interesting dialogues with many who do not think like me. While I was talking with them, I felt inside me the spirit of Pope Francis. In these years, following the Movement has helped me to look at him and to identify myself with him, in his life, more than in his words. And little by little, it’s as if his life has entered into mine. And so, in the dialogue with my colleagues, I didn’t want to be right, but to understand what moved them, what spark of truth held them there for an hour, getting them worked up about the cardinal’s visit. Pietro, Florence (Italy)

room for everyone, he decided to stay the Lord. This frees us from the fear that I thought belonged only to me. overnight at our country house, where of death! Nothing can be stolen from For me, the predominant feeling was he died of a heart attack at the age of 61, us if it is already ours in eternity. The not one of being an orphan, but of in the arms of a great friend. I wanted willingness of my parents to build having gained more brothers and to tell you that this and other signs of the Kingdom of God has always been sisters. “You don’t know me, but your the Lord’s preference for my father’s normal for me, because I saw them father was the professor who taught life and for our family have been so live like this. But what was for me me the most,” “I’m an avid reader clear, and that these signs saved us. normal reveals itself, upon his death, of your father, I’m praying for you,” Between the difficult life of one of our as an abundance that could come only these are only a few examples of people children, affected by a rare disease, and from a life consumed by the love for who visited me trying to console me. the discovery of my mother’s tumor a Christ. The extent of his relationships Today I understand better what the couple of years ago, our worries about with many people I didn’t know, Church is, how it was born, and how health did not revolve around dad. So who met him at the university, in it is reborn from the blood offered by his sudden and unexpected death left the Movement, or because they the saints. And today I say with more all of us perplexed, but certain that were anonymous recipients of the awareness: Our Father.... life is gained when it is surrendered to newsletter, revealed itself as a paternity Inês, Lisbon (Portugal)

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Letters1016.indd 5 09/11/16 11:49 CLOSE UP

A YEAR WITHOUT AN END

Jesus carrying Judas, Capital at the Basilica of St. Mary Magdalen in Vézelay, France. The images on the following pages are from same church.

66 NOVEMBRENo10 2016 2016

CloseUp_LEPORI.indd 6 09/11/16 11:51 A YEAR WITHOUT AN END The Jubilee Year of Mercy will conclude on November 20th. But “the work to open ourselves to mercy” will not stop here. From following the Pope to the refugees who “reflect what we are,” we hear from FR. MAURO-GIUSEPPE LEPORI, Abbot General of the Cistercian Order.

by AlessAndrA stoppA

full-grown sheep can weigh carried. Just as Jesus carries Judas, able to speak from a boat a small dis- over 200 pounds. As much as who betrayed Him, in the medieval tance from the shore. a person. “Carrying one on capital at the basilica in Vézelay, in- your shoulders is quite a sac- spiring Pope Francis to say, “He ac- How does Jesus’s action help us to rifice.” Fr. Mauro-Giuseppe cepted people as they were, not as understand this time dedicated to ALepori, Abbot General of the Cister- they should have been.” mercy? cian Order, dismantles any roman- On November 20th, the We, like the crowds, tic image we may have of the Good Holy Doors throughout would like to touch Jesus Shepherd who, leaving everything to the world will be closed and see an immediate go and look for one lost sheep, “then and the Jubilee which be- result, like magic. Dedi- places it on His shoulders and skips gan last year on Decem- cating a year of our faith through the mountains whistling.” ber 8th will conclude. It’s journey to one theme, to The realism of the Gospel tells impossible to measure its Padre Mauro- a concrete reality, is like Giuseppe Lepori. another story, in which bodies have fruits, but Fr. Lepori ex- allowing the space Jesus weight, words have value, and ac- plains to us why this time wanted–space to listen, to tions profundity. “In that sheep, I see of grace “doesn’t end here.” His gaze give us time to become more aware my own ‘heaviness.’ Or I think about fixed on the Gospel, he sees the Holy of mercy and to see what it requires when others seem to be a weight on Year as analogous to the “space” Je- of our freedom, both in accepting us. And yet, we are loved.” We are for- sus created as the crowds pressed in, it and in offering it [to others]. I’m given, placed on His shoulders and when He asked the disciples to be impressed by how Jesus asks for »

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» a boat, not to run away from the The Pope declared this The answer is a path of conversion; crowd, but because the people only Holy Year in order to a path to keep us from giving in to wanted miracles and weren’t listen- the tendency we have inside not ing to Him. He came first and fore- face the wounds of the to be merciful. In the end, it some- most to appeal to man’s freedom, world and of the Church: times seems like the Church doesn’t and so it’s essential that He can speak both the wounds of sin respond to man’s needs precisely and be heard. It’s essential that men and those inflicted by because she offers a path. It’s not a and women, each of us, place our- miracle machine–when it is seen like selves in front of Him in silence. Even history, by wars and this, it grows fragile; you end up with when it comes to our immediate ex- catastrophes. One of the proposals and experiences that don’t pectations. most critical aspects is help people to grow, to become free that he asked us to realize and mature. When you offer a solu- What did this Jubilee mean for the tion that doesn’t become a path of life of the Church? how man first needs to conversion, of freedom, the person It was the chance to enter more know he is embraced. is still fragile. The Church proposes a deeply into a mystery. A deepening road to true happiness, not to instant understanding that we need, not for satisfaction, like what our society of- the sake of having a Holy Year, but fers. Responding “I do” to God, who because it’s vital for us. The Pope put in this year of going deeper? wants us to be happy, means being mercy back at the center of our lives, The Pope declared this Holy Year in aware of what our true need is. We’re and he did it through his actions and order to face the wounds of the world confused about the identity we give the actions he asked of us, making and of the Church: both the wounds ourselves, we equate it with thou- us put things into practice, not only of sin and those inflicted by history, sands of small desires, when it is in- in where we focused our attention, by wars and catastrophes. One of the stead a desire for the infinite: for the but in our experience. Primarily most critical aspects, in my opinion, happiness that only God can give. So by giving us opportunities to go to is that he asked us to realize how to truly say “I do,” a person has to act confession, to obtain an indulgence, man, before analyzing and defining in a kind of silence, he or she has to to meditate on this mystery and live his malaise, first needs to know he renounce pleasures that try to substi- it, including through the corporal is embraced. I find it really beauti- tute for happiness. and spiritual works of mercy, pres- ful that in the prologue to his Rule, ent in many places in very incarnate St. Benedict depicts God as the One The Pope always said that this ways. In that sense, the Year of Mercy who, in the midst of the peoples, cries would be a privileged time if we doesn’t end here. out, “Who is it who will have life, and learned to “choose ‘what pleases desires to see good days?” Mercy is God most,’ in other words, His mer- Could you explain that a little more? this invitation from the Lord. It’s a cy, His love, His tenderness.” What We’ve become more aware that mer- proposal made to men and women does it mean to make this choice, to cy is a concrete reality. It’s the mystery just as they are, right in this moment have this preference? that’s at the heart of the Church, and of history. Anyone who responds “I The Prodigal Son–and really, all of we are absolutely in need of it. The do” can experience this. us–isn’t capable of preferring his fa- Jubilee was technically shorter than a ther on his own; he responds to his year, and this helps us to realize that And after a person says “I do,” what father’s preference for him. And there the issue wasn’t living “a Holy Year,” follows? is no preference that’s not within the but rather living a Christian life, be- St. Benedict writes, “God says to you, context of mercy! The son returns ing re-awakened and refocused with ‘If you will have true and everlasting asking only for a job and something an awareness that’s possible in every life, keep your tongue from evil and to eat, but in forgiveness he discovers moment. So, the important thing your lips that they speak no guile. the fullness of life: in choosing the is that we don’t let this experience Turn away from evil and do good; father, he receives everything. The of mercy or the work we’ve done to seek after peace and pursue it.’” older brother chose to prefer some- open ourselves to it stop here. thing else. Up to that moment, he So the answer to our asking for hap- didn’t prefer the father, nor did he al- What did you understand the most piness is a road for us to travel? low himself to be preferred. He gave

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his affection to other things: friends, images of refugees crossing the Med- them a place to dwell if we ourselves a young goat, his half of the inheri- iterranean by boat placed in front of don’t have one. tance. The fullness of life, however, our eyes. This humanity in all its mis- lies in a relationship, which is a grace ery, at the mercy of the waves, shows And what does the Jubilee tell us that neither son produced himself. us as a mirror would what our situa- about this situation? It’s gratuitous–a free gift. This choice, tion is in life: the refugees reflect what The Pope helped us to see that, by this preference, is a matter of letting we are, our current state, because it welcoming others, you become what our affections, including the desire is first of all we who are floating you have chosen. The thing that can we have for life, be converted and di- through reality without an anchor, give us stability is taking the risk to rected to the Father. This is what we with no stability. Deep down, these welcome. By welcoming others, we can hope to have learned from the migrants reveal the lack of stability become a place to dwell. Now we Jubilee: we always have to begin with that keeps us from offering them a found our certainty on the things God’s preference for us, with what we place to dwell. I don’t think it’s that we are sure of that are in our hands, are to Him. Europe doesn’t know how or doesn’t rather than founding it on a relation- want to welcome them; I think ship, on our belonging to someone. What themes stuck with you in a they’re almost incapable, they don’t We too feel threatened, in a different particular way throughout the Holy have the means. These people come way, by others, because they break Year? by sea, but they don’t end up on solid down our bubble of false security. I was struck by the fact that, while we ground. We continue to leave them Meanwhile, our true solidity is in the were going deeper into the mystery floating, even once they arrive on relationship with the Father. This is of mercy, we continued to have the the continent, because we can’t offer mercy: to experience that within »

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» this belonging, I receive a solidi- ty that will never be taken from me, that nothing and no one can rob me of, and because of this I can welcome everyone and forgive any slight. How do you experience this solidity that cannot be taken from you? Precisely in belonging to the Church, where I experience the Lord’s mercy. It helps me to believe in this mercy, to ask for it, and the Church bestows it upon me, first of all through the Sacraments and through a fraternal communion. The Church allows me to have an authentic experience of this reality, which is a reality to which I can return, in fact it is an experience that you really have in “returning” after you’ve fallen short. This opens me to others who are different, who disturb or wound us.

Many people don’t even know what the Year of Mercy is. How can this experience reach everyone? This touches on the entire mission gained, forgetting that now what con- And how can we let mercy win out? the Pope hopes will come out of the stitutes him is the embrace he received. We are too much in the habit of Jubilee: that mankind should know thinking that discipline is a prerequi- mercy. Just as there was a need for a In speaking about mercy, you referred site to begin a path, when it is rather Holy Year, there is a need for places, to an episode from the life of St. Ben- the result of this path. If, in my life, for communities that incarnate this edict. When the monks of Vicovaro I’ve understood and accepted certain embrace that can love and welcome. tried to poison him, he stood up with values and moral norms, it’s because This is the reason for the Church “a kindly face and serene spirit” and first I was loved, before the law was in the world, for mission, which is said, “May God have mercy on you, given to me. The law has never saved to communicate an experience. So my brothers.” me; rather it is mercy that has taught then, it’s important to have had this Benedict can react like this because he me that even these precepts are a de- experience, that during this year drew from his own experience of mer- sire for my good. In consecrated life, we’ve had this experience. cy, which penetrated deep within him: for example, a person feels chosen, his heart is identified with this mercy. preferred, and called to say “yes,” and Because this is the only way to com- This is why his face was peaceful and then realizes that truly living pover- municate it? his spirit serene. He cultivated this ty, chastity, and obedience is not a We’re complicated, and we think that memory of God who forgives us for prerequisite, but the fruit of this. In communicating this experience is everything, and so the first chance he order to follow a path, we have to more difficult than the forgiveness got he communicated this experience. be attracted. Moral judgments and that we have received. The point is to And so a deadly situation suddenly be- discipline on their own merely con- abandon ourselves to this simplicity of comes a proposal for life. demn, but a judgment communi- communicating a love that is given to cated through love helps a person to us. We go back to defending what we’re One of the biggest challenges is that take a step, to live. And love is seeing sure of so quickly. It’s as if, the next mo- of living out the relationship be- another person who fully lives out ment, the Prodigal Son started to place tween truth and mercy. What did certain values. Love is, above all, of- his certainty back in the things he re- the Holy Year teach us about this? fering a companionship. The Good

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We don’t know how to follow Christ. We need the Church to teach us this. And we follow the Pope precisely be- cause, through him, Christ himself tells us how He wants to be followed. In this way, He calls us to conversion. Every pontiff shepherds the flock within time, within the stretch of history in which God places him, but each of them points us to Christ. This is the source of our certainty, which makes trying to compare them a useless exercise. In the Popes of my lifetime, the love for Christ has been evident; each has lived his ministry closely following Christ, preferring Christ. The Lord asks the Pope at a personal level, “First, you follow me,” so that we too can follow Him. Why does John, the disciple Jesus loved, let Peter enter the tomb before Him? Because he senses that in order to see and believe, he needs to follow Peter– to follow Christ by following Peter, who was the first to follow Him. Shepherd guides His sheep by stay- ness. And this space can be created ing and walking with them, and so by a companionship made for man, What is most important in the shows them the right way to go. Of- without which there is no soil to sow time after the Holy Year? ten, we try to point the way to others this judgment. I’m amazed by the After the debtor has all of his debts as if showing them a map, without way Pope Francis creates this place forgiven, he still refuses to forgive the walking with them; we’re not willing of trust. All the people I meet, even first brother he sees even the tiny debt to welcome and embrace them, to get the most unlikely individuals and that he is owed. He’d already forgot- our hands dirty alongside them. those who aren’t believers or who ten what happened. This is the real come from different cultures and issue: the passage from an under- Is today’s Church offering a shared faiths, show a great trust in him. I standing we’ve received everything to path for men and women? find it incredible. I see this trust he the mercy that is asked of us for oth- I think that the current situation of evokes in others as a call to a great ers and there is an immense dispro- the Church has brought us to a good responsibility; it asks something of portion in the measure of these two, place. Today, no one listens to or fol- me. God is offering us this time of but even seconds after we are forgiven lows a judgment or precept for its grace, and we have to help the Pope everything, without measure, we’re own sake. Today’s men and women to love men and women within this capable of going back to making cal- say: if you don’t love me, your laws trust that the Holy Spirit is creating culations. I’m referring first of all to mean nothing to me. There is no in our midst. our encounters with family, friends, longer an a priori trust in the Church our community, those closest to us. inside of which a proposal can be What does it mean to help and Right away, at the first run-in, we’ve “verified.” Before, for better or for to follow the Pope? Maybe many become tyrants. We’ve already for- worse, people put their trust in the things about him strike us, but it’s gotten. This is what’s important after Church. Today, we have to re-cre- easy to stop short with what “corre- the Holy Year: not to forget. This is ate this place of trust, inside which sponds” to our preferences, or think the deep awareness that’s asked of us, we can propose a judgment that we’ve already understood every- which pushes us to always continue better corresponds with our happi- thing. to ask for mercy. T

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CloseUp_LEPORI.indd 11 09/11/16 11:51 CL CL LIFE LIFE

ONLY FOR LIVING As the work on SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY resumes together with Fr. Julián Carrón by live connection with the rest of the world, we offer a little tour of some of the many groups who read a text and reflect on life in such a variety of locations as a café in Italy, a bishopric in France, and a parking lot in Nigeria.

by A. LeonArdi, P. Perego, A. StoPPA

ITALY love with their life, while we were no ed about how their week had been, The Rasty Bar company longer enough for each other.” what was going on in their lives and t was not something they planned. The story of the companionship of at work, their discoveries, the things I“Actually, we never would have the Rasty Bar, a little gathering place that did not make sense. “So without done it.” But Angelo and Matteo on the outskirts of Fidenza, began thinking about it, we found our- got married. They had been living with them. Angela and Matteo were selves doing School of Community.” together for 10 years and had a son. regular customers. Francesco began Now, two years later, about 30 peo- Then they met Francesco and his stopping by every evening after work ple get together every Friday evening wife Federica, a couple who lived to have a drink with Matteo. Friday at 7 p.m. “New and old friends join not far from them. “From the very evening happy hour with their wives in, and they keep us alert and on our beginning we noticed the way they became a regular appointment, in toes,” says Francesco. “This always lived. They were truly happy to ed- the midst of older men who played reminds me that I am loved and have ucate their children, to be a family, endless card games, drank, and made done nothing to deserve it.” Their to face the difficulties of each day: a lot of noise, and younger men who past lives, their ages and their char- something big made them different,” never raised their eyes from the slot acters differ “a lot,” they emphasize, recounts Angela. “We were falling in machines. The two couples talk- and this is a difference that they »

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ONLY FOR LIVING

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» love, one that illuminates some- on continuously, not just during thing else among them. that hour,” he says. “Actually, above There are those who are 20, like all outside that hour.” Leonardo, and those who are more than twice that age, like Fabio. Orig- The phone call. During their gath- inally from Trentino, Fabio has long ering, their kids played in the café. called Emilia Romagna his home. The first time Valentina came, she For years he set aside the Movement. brought six-year-old Gioele with “It asked me to be true, and I didn’t her. As they returned home, she said, care to change,” he says without ex- “Mommy, these are my friends and cuses. “Up to the age of 50 I contin- I want to be with them.” Valentina ued to work, to have a wife and son, is a nurse, and became involved in but I avoided loving and showing the group through Carla, whom she my need for love.” And yet, over has known for ages. That evening time, because of the she remained silent the enthusiasm of his wife, whole time, but at the who was involved with end she managed to the GS teens, he felt the “What’s say, “I had been wait- need to break free from happening here? ing for Carla’s phone the way things were in It doesn’t depend call for 20 years.” his life, centered only Then there is Anton- on himself. “Also my on my efforts. It’s ella. When she was an work at the firm was the presence of architecture student, she day,” adds Chiara, who had neglect- made up of problems, Christ that passed every day in front ed School of Community after the not people.” So he be- attracts us.” of the stands staffed by birth of her daughters. “Here I am gan to throw himself CLU students. “I still forced to make a journey, to work into relationships, into remember their faces on myself. Now if I listen to Giussani things, “but my logic al- after 15 years.” She paid and Carrón, I pay more attention to ways sought to have the upper hand, no attention to what they were pro- myself, and look at what happens in to be more important than my heart, posing because she was not interested, my life. I see that I am increasingly and so I never truly entered into re- but she enjoyed interacting with them. interested in one thing: that this You lationship with the other. The more “I challenged them. They were always make Himself seen.” Another girl effort I put in, the less the bonds so united and serene. I wanted to see if puts her heart on the table. “I was grew.” There was a question he could they were still as happy as the day be- a drug addict for years. With you, I not grasp with his head: “What is the fore. I said to myself, ‘Don’t they have have discovered that I needn’t have difference between what I do and their own problems, their own sad- spent a dime to be happy.” what happens?” ness?!’” Today she is here at the Rasty And the people in the café? “In The answer came with the com- Bar. A year ago her sister invited her to the beginning we were in a corner, panionship of the Rasty Bar friends. the prayer vigil for the victims of the and they acted as if we weren’t even “I saw something happen that I did Paris terrorist attacks. “Outside the there,” says Fabio. “Then they be- not determine myself,” a friendship church I saw them again, with those gan to leave tables free for us, to pay and an intensity that were incalcula- same gazes.” From that day on, she has attention to us. The more curious ble. “So you have to ask yourself why. never missed a gathering. among them watch and listen. They What’s happening here? It doesn’t On Friday evening Sara may ar- all know what we do and our gath- depend on the things I say or my ef- rive tired or with little desire, but she ering always begins with a prayer.” In forts. It’s the presence of Christ, this says she leaves School of Commu- the meantime the management of alone, that attracts us.” The more nity with questions she mulls over the place has changed, and the story people are serious about their own all the next week. “They change my continues. “In one of the places you lives, the more unity they experience way of looking at everything I live.” would least expect, a café,” says An- as a group. “The School of Commu- The things they read or recount gela. “But I can say that in that café nity is profoundly personal. It goes “are alarms that ring during the the Lord has changed my life.”

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ment, The Beautiful Road. Olivier talked about Fr. Giussani and his new friends in Paris, and proposed meeting regularly to read one of his books together. Of the five who came, three were actually interest- ed: Philippe, Pierre, and Eric. From then on, every Friday evening they met in a room that the of the city made available to them.

WiThin a journey. “Olivier piqued my curiosity,” recounts 42-year-old Philippe. “But above all, there was a line that he read that stuck in my mind: “I am nothing when you are not present.” “I returned because I wanted to understand what those words were saying to me.” In that ITALY. School of Community at the Rasty Bar in Fidenza. period Philippe was in the middle of a separation from his wife after 20 years of marriage. He was fac- FRANCE began then, in the exchange of text ing a period of great suffering for A lightning strike messages between Olivier and Sil- himself and his four children, the vio, who messaged back and forth youngest of whom was only a year n Dijon, in central France, amidst all that summer with questions and old. “The School of Community Ivineyards and abbeys, School of reflections. did not entail any precise kind of Community was unknown until A few months later, the two met help from the others, but I began to two years ago, when Olivier, an eco- in Paris at an Indian restaurant. “In feel better. It was strange: I started nomics professor, happened upon an instant, I saw what I had been wanting to live again, even if these the figure of Fr. Luigi Giussani. “It reading in the books,” recounts Ol- friends did nothing in particular was in June of 2014 and I was pre- ivier. I understood that a friendship for me. They simply were there. I paring a course in business ethics. As like this was something I could not felt that something was growing I was doing research online on fig- do without.” As he got on the train in me: I was starting to love myself ures related to Italian Catholicism, heading back to Dijon, he felt a again, through the eyes of Fr. Gius- I discovered the existence of this sense of longing. “He had told me sani.” priest and the movement of CL.” He about this moment called School His companions on the journey, set aside the course preparation and of Community, but Lyon and Paris Pierre and Eric, soon to be joined spent the whole day reading every- were too far to reach. I wrote him by Sarah, were also going through thing he could find in French. It was right away, asking for some help, difficult times. “None of us had our a real coup de foudre. In the follow- and he said, “Why don’t you start life together. Between us, we had ing days he wrote the secretary of one in Dijon?” experienced being fired, being un- the community to ask for informa- Shortly before Christmas, Olivier employed, affective solitude, and tion. “For me it was like throwing a sent an email to about 10 friends problems with children. We were a message in a bottle into the great sea and colleagues, attaching the text School of Community of unfortu- of the internet. Instead, I received of Fr. Julian Carron’s talk at the nate people, but we no longer felt an answer from Isabel and Silvio in Beginning Day. “If you’re interest- like victims. Finally we were part of Paris, who advised me to start with a ed, I’d like to tell you about some- a journey.” few texts, The Risk of Education and thing I discovered a few months All of 2015 was marked by faith- the three volumes of the PerCor- ago.” Five people showed up. They fulness to that gesture. Some of so.” Perhaps School of Community watched the video on the Move- them were able to participate in »

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“The Movement in Nigeria began in the late 1980s. We are a small com- munity, today just over 50 people, university students, young work- ers, and a few “oldies” in a city of more than 20 million inhabitants,” recounts Barbara, an Italian Mem- or Domini who has been in Lagos for over 10 years and leads the CL community. “About three years ago our friend Rose came from Uganda to have an assembly with us. Every- one was struck by how she spoke of School of Community, how import- ant it is for living.” The effect was that little groups started forming, like Steve and Godfrey’s, but also among university students, for ex- ample, or among 15 people working at an NGO called Loving Gaze. FRANCE. Philippe during the games at last summer’s vacation. “The next year, I also began a new group with some people,” continues Barbara. “I had gone to the CL In- » the Spiritual Exercises and the NIGERIA ternational Assembly in Italy with summer vacation. At the end of the Nyemike’s notebook Roland, a young worker. He was a year, when Olivier was transferred bit ‘down,’ and speaking with Rose, and left Burgundy, none of them arly on a Sunday afternoon, she told me, ‘Do School of Commu- considered stopping School of E32-year-old Godfrey is standing nity with him, and you’ll see that he Community. “I took on the respon- in a corner of the parking lot of will feel better’.” When they returned sibility for following the group, the clinic in the Muslim district of to Lagos, the little group began, with which in the meantime was joined Idi Araba, in Lagos, Nigeria, with a the addition of Charles and David, by Catherine,” recounts Phillippe. book in hand. It is 110 degrees out- 28 and 29 years old. “I realized right “I said ‘yes’ even if I’m not capable side, and the city is loud with the away that what started as a help for and notwithstanding my problem- noise of traffic and the calls to prayer Roland, who for that matter was atic family life, because School of from the minarets. He is there with feeling better, began to be vital for Community is the one way I have Steve, three years his junior, who has me. We had a foreman, a real estate to hold together all the pieces of two children and a good job in a big agent, and a director of purchasing myself, something impossible by company, but is tied down with shifts for a company, and they asked con- our own efforts.” and strange hours seven days a week. crete questions concerning the de- Today the small group has en- They have carved out this little space tails of what they were living every larged to include Sabine and Régis. of time to do School of Community. day, putting to the test everything Silvio travels from Paris to see them If they cannot make it at this time, we were reading.” whenever possible. “We read the they re-organize to meet at a bar for A close group. “Yes, but this is not passage from the Spiritual Exercises School of Community and a beer. enough. The heart is another thing,” where Giussani talks about Peter’s Steve had asked his friend to get to- explains Barbara. “Over time the “yes.” Those few lines prompted gether in this way because he could group changed. Roland was trans- 70-year-old Régis, whose business no longer go to School of Commu- ferred to Abuja and Charles also was had failed and who had suffered nity at the “official” time. “I just die at risk of being sent elsewhere. But I five heart attacks in the last year, to without School of Community. Here needed to continue that experience, say, “Jesus speaks this way to us too, I recover myself,” Steve had said, full so I asked Godfrey to come, and to our down-at-the-heel lives.” of emotion, at an assembly. then Ruben, a friend who had »

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loves you. You have value’… But then why did I have such a father? Why did I hate myself?” She returned home, but the ques- tions did not stop. Agnes returned to the next meeting, and the one after that. “I began to feel at home. One day we were reading Why the Church? My mother had given me a copy as a gift.” It talked about the person who distanc- es herself from God. “It was me! I hat- ed Him. I wished I could see Him and throw my heart at Him.” How could she forgive her father? “Rose answered, ‘Your father has a value. God gave him to you, for a “something more.” May- be your father is exactly the point of departure for discovering this.’” Agnes returned home, but this time with a new hypothesis. “I looked at A NEW CHAPTER him, and realized that I loved him,” ex- actly as she was discovering that she loved herself. Could all this be for him, too? Could it change his life? “I began IN LIFE reading him School of Community ev- ery day at home. The Spiritual Exercis- When Agnes was sixteen years old, she just hoped for an early death. es of the Fraternity, At the Origin of the But then the School of Community changed her life, and that of her family. Christian Claim… And then we would talk about what we’d read.” Four days went by this way, but then on Friday hate life. I hope I die young. What mother, and I was afraid that sooner she returned home from school to find “Isense is there in being born?” or later she would leave. Instead she him drunk again. But he was not the These were the thoughts of a girl in stayed there, forgiving and loving.” same as before. “He railed against me, her home of mud walls and sheet met- In the meantime Agnes went to telling me that I was wasting my time al in Kireka, a slum on the periphery school, in the midst of numerous dif- with him. How could I really think that of Kampala, Uganda. These were her ficulties. “My mother begged me to ‘all circumstances are steps to lead same thoughts on the morning of Feb- stay close to those who did School us to the mystery’?” He used exactly ruary 26, 2014, the first time she en- of Community together.” It was what those words, in his drunken state, and tered the Luigi Giussani High School. sustained her, and it would be a help he understood when he was sober. Agnes started from this point to for her daughter as well. “I wasn’t Agnes did not stop, even under the vi- tell the story of her seventeen years, interested. I preferred to be free to olence of his insults. marked in August. “I’ve grown up do what I wanted.” At home nothing In early September, five months always hearing that a father is the changed. Rather, it became increas- had passed since his last drink. “At the strength of a family, but for years I ingly difficult. When the situation was age of 48, he has changed. He seems always experienced the opposite.” tense her brothers left. “Except for happy. Our family is happy.” He decid- Agnes’s father drank heavily. He had Charles. In the evenings I often cried ed to meet Rose. “She welcomed him studied and even taught in the past, desperately. He didn’t. He was calm, like a mother, and I’ve never seen my but then he started drinking. “He was and had a certainty in his eyes….” father smile so much. They spoke at often drunk, and told us that we had Charles had been participating in length, and I watched them.” After the no future, and then he insulted us, me, School of Community for some time. meeting the two headed home, with my sister, and my four brothers.” “I wanted that serenity of his.” her father recounting nonstop what Everything fell to her mother, one of Rose had said. “Did you hear? She the women of the Meeting Point, the It was a Monday in the second week called me prodigal son. That’s what association that gathers women in of the second trimester. “I walked into I am. And I know that this is the be- the area who suffer from AIDS, found- that meeting room and everything ginning of a new chapter in my life.” ed by the nurse Rose Busingye. “At seemed strange, the songs, what Life has not changed–“The difficulties home we made necklaces, and then they read, what they talked about.” It remain, even about what there is to we sold them.” That was the family’s lasted two and a half hours. And yet eat tomorrow. But we are happy. I’m sole source of income for the needs of Agnes noticed that they were all hap- happy.” all. “It seemed too much, even for my py. “For me, they were theories. ‘God Paolo Perego

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NIGERIA. Some young people and adults of the Lagos community.

» been transferred to Port Har- when I see He loves me.” He tells his hours on the beat-up public trans- court and had returned to Lagos.” friends about the daily notes. The port buses to go to the assemblies. “School of Community enables first day there were two notes, the “We also did the jubilee pilgrimage. I me to breathe freely,” says God- second day three, then there was a thought that we could organize a bus, frey. This is especially the case now, day without notes, because there but there was the cost, and so the 17 during difficult times for Nigeria, is also our human nature, and dis- CLU students who went had hard- with serious economic troubles traction. “But what He does wins ly enough money for lunch. They linked to the plunge of oil prices, over everything.” bought a baguette and shared it,” the uncertainty about employment, recounts Barbara. “You watch them and the activity of Boko Haram. eiTher The bus or lunch. At the last grow, but this happens only in front People are leaving. There is a wide- gathering there was also a woman of something that can truly change spread mentality that measures with a newborn at her breast. “Chris- life. For this reason the other day at your value in terms of the success topher’s wife. He is a farmer. They the gathering of university students, you achieve. Godfrey was about to have been away for a few months in I told them about what has changed get married. Everything was ready, her hometown so she could be with my life.” even their new home. But then he her family for the birth,” recounts Barbara noted a new student, broke off the engagement. “I sensed Barbara. When they returned, he Tony. “He had a dark expression, that my fiancé was marrying me for wanted to start attending School of and his gaze seemed lost. ‘What do the sake of marrying and setting up Community again as soon as possi- I have that I can communicate to a home. I loved her, but she didn’t ble, but when the time came, his wife him?’ I asked myself.” In front of love me as much as do the friends said, “We can’t, because I promised the students, Barbara recounted the of the Movement, with whom we’d go see my aunt and show her story of her encounter, the time she I’ve experienced what it means to the baby. Go by yourself.” “No, we’re heard Fr. Giussani speak, and the be loved totally. Can I live for less going to School of Community, and words that she kept in her heart: than this?” Nyemike also has dif- you’re coming too, because all this, “That you may be happy!” “I wanted ficulties. His employers have not our marriage, our life, would not ex- this for him,” she says. A few days lat- paid him for months. At School of ist apart from it. Even the baby, in the er she got a call from Abraham, the Community they have spoken a lot end, would be just another mouth leader of the university students. “I about mercy, so he began keeping a to feed and the cause of a thousand spoke with Tony. He says he’d like to notebook and writing down “every worries. Instead, there, we can expe- come to the assembly of the Frater- moment in which Jesus is at work, rience him as a gift.” nity. Add his name to the list: Tony when I see His mercy in action, Some people travel more than two Abdullah... Ah, he’s Muslim.” T

18 No10 2016

SdC_nelMondo.indd 18 09/11/16 11:56 CHURCH Cardinal-designate Dieudonné Nzapalainga, age 49, in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

IN THE HEART OF A TRIAL “I wasn’t called for my own sake.” DIEUDONNÉ NZAPALAINGA, the youngest of the new cardinals, talks about his life in the Central African Republic. His vocation, the war, the imam who lived at his house… the path of forgiveness. And why he is not afraid.

by Maurizio Vitali

n Saturday, November 19th, the The oldest among them are almost (but isn’t) a religious war, he visited vigil of the concluding day of ninety years old: the scarlet denotes a the most dangerous neighborhoods the Year of Mercy, the pope will witness, not a strategy for the future. where only soldiers and rebels dare to hold a consistory nominating The youngest is a “lion” from Africa at go. They go in fully armed; he went 17 new cardinals. They come 49 years of age. His name with neither a bulletproof Ofrom 11 countries, representing al- is Dieudonné Nzapalain- vest nor escort, to meet most every continent. This, the Holy ga and he is the archbish- the poor, the children, Father has said, “expresses the univer- op of Bangui, the capital refugees, widows, and the sality of the Church which proclaims of the Central African sick. He asked Christians, and witnesses to the Good News of Republic. Francis inaugu- Muslims, and animists to God’s Mercy in every corner of the rated the Holy Year when Dieudonné stop hating each other. He earth.” From the Apostolic Nuncio to he opened the Holy Door Nzapalainga. pointed to forgiveness as Syria to the heroic, elderly priest in Al- of their cathedral a year the only path to the digni- bania, from the prelates from the U.S. ago. A real lion; it’s not just a play on ty of the person and reconciliation for to pastors of poor and troubled coun- words. To give an idea of his solidity the country. tries, if there’s anything they have in as a man and in the faith: last year in common it’s a missionary witness in the midst of the brutal civil war, which Your Eminence, what was your first their respective existential peripheries. to make matters worse seems to be reaction to the news that Pope »

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In the consistory on November 19th, Pope Francis will » Francis nominated you as a car- appoint 17 new cardinals. In addition to the Archbish- dinal in the Holy Roman Church? op of Bangui, the other designates are: When the message reached me, I (Syria); (Spain); Sérgio da Ro- cha (Brazil); Blase J. Cupich (United States); Patrick felt confused and almost lost. But I D’Rozario (Bangladesh); Baltazar Enrique Porras Car- thought right away of the poor peo- dozo (Venezuela); (Belgium); Maurice ple of Bangui and had a clear aware- Piat (Mauritius); Kevin Joseph Farrell, Prefect of the ness that I was not called for my own Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life (United States); Car- sake, but rather for my country, for los Aguiar Retes (Mexico); (Papua New the African people. I was filled with Guinea); and Joseph William Tobin (United States).

an immense gratitude to God and to To the members of the , the Pope has the Holy Father, together with a deep chosen to add: Anthony Soter Fernandez, archbishop emer- sense of humility considering that, itus of Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Renato Corti, bishop emer- before, Francis came to the Central itus of Novara (Italy); Sebastian Koto Khoarai, bishop emeri- African Republic to visit an impover- tus of Mohale’s Hoek (Lesotho); and Fr. , priest of the Archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult (), who spent 18 ished Church living in a very difficult years in a labor camp under the regime. The new cardinals, situation, full of suffering and sadness; the Holy Father explained, “represent the many and and now, again, he’s calling one of the priests who, throughout the Church, build up the People of poor sons of this Church to stay close God, announcing the merciful love of God in their daily care to him and to promote forgiveness for the Lord’s flock, and in their confession of the faith.” and reconciliation.

You live in a very poor country. The ing. I saw the faces of those people: peace and build up our country. He median income is just over a dollar happy, joyous, crying out: “Thanks gave meaning to our being Central a day. You yourself were born into a be to God! Thanks be to God!” It’s Africans. He showed us that there is large family with little money. a people tormented by poverty and common ground where we can seek Extremely poor. There were 14 of us violence who are awaiting words of to bring the various positions togeth- with brothers and sisters. My dad was peace and happiness. er, into dialogue, and work for recon- Catholic; my mom Protestant. ciliation as a nation. Have the Pope’s visit and the Year of How did you come to your vocation? Mercy, in your assessment, had an Your Eminence, it’s said that you of- Through meeting a European Spiri- impact on your situation? ten go around the city to meet with tan priest (editor’s note: from the Con- The Pope’s visit is a point of no re- people from all walks of life, whatev- gregation of the Holy Spirit, to which turn in our history. He came to us er their circumstances. Is that true? the new Cardinal belongs). He came to without being slowed down by the Yes, of course. our neighborhood, spent time playing climate of violence or the chaotic and with us children, eating with us; basi- unruly situation. Francis was daring. With a security escort? cally, he shared life with us. I thought: He was daring because he’s a man of No, no... are you kidding? I go by foot, a European who spends time with me, faith, and he came to be with us. By or, if it’s far, by car. Sometimes I drive. amazing! doing so, he touched the hearts of everyone. People found themselves Forgive me the direct and basic ques- Is there a real possibility of reconcili- faced with a happy man, who said tion but… aren’t you afraid? ation in a country so shaken by pov- in all simplicity: I’m coming to you (He laughs, amused) I’ve always con- erty and violence? and I’m not afraid. And among these sidered martyrdom to be intrinsic to Pope Francis came to open the Holy were many, many Muslims. being Christian. Look, if something Door in our cathedral to open the Ju- happened to me, I’d feel as if, on the bilee of Mercy, after a time of conflict You say this at the level of hearts and streets of Bangui, I were going toward and division. That day, the crowds minds. But at the social and political Jerusalem, following Jesus’s road to flooded the streets of the cities, of- level? death. Fear? No. In any case forgive- fices and businesses were closed, and Francis publicly witnessed, in front ness and reconciliation are stronger everything was an explosion of joy of everyone, that together and only than fear. Because they are attributes and a festive chorus of horns honk- together, it’s possible to work toward of Christ’s being.

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cession and silently marched with us. “Father, forgive them.” And in so do- It became our mascot. Even more, it ing, he cast a light amid the brutal was a sign that even the animals are darkness of the world. for peace among men in Central Af- rica... Then, I stopped near a group Is it true that the imam of Bangui, of young people and spoke to them Oumar Kobine Layama, lives at your about peace and forgiveness. They house? went into their house and came back He was there for five months. He out to hand over to me another young found himself in need of a place to live man they’d been holding prisoner; that was safe and calm, because where without a doubt, they’d intended to he was living was too dangerous. So execute him. I gave him the keys to my house. We were already very good friends–we ’d And then? Were you able to speak to organized many peace-building ini- everyone publicly? tiatives together–and now are even Yes, without any trouble. I empha- better friends. Living together meant sized that we Christians, together with experiencing what we both believe in: Muslims, sang the national anthem that religion unites men and wom- to show the whole world that we are en; it doesn’t isolate them. It sustains Central Africans. And so I went on to them in their life as a community and say that no one can build up our coun- makes them custodians and lovers of So, you’re in the habit of visiting the try for us. That the time has come for life. notorious “Km5” neighborhood, the us to love. And so I asked that all the Muslim quarter shaken by regular anger in us be extinguished. What is hope for you? bouts of violence? Turning your gaze to Christ. Noth- I go there often to meet with my Is the conflict between the Séléka ing is impossible for God. But God brothers and sisters to tell them that and the anti-Balaka not a deadly re- does nothing without us, without our we need to come together again, to ligious war between Muslims and freedom. To defeat fear, we need only work to bring back peace, justice, and Christians? respond to the Lord’s call and live in reconciliation; and this requires we No, it’s a political war. Christian and communion with him and with our make sure we can bury our battle axes Muslim authorities have always high- brothers and sisters. and fight against extremism on both lighted that the Séléka are not going sides of the divide. to battle for Mohammed and the an- What message would you like to ti-Balaka are not fighting in the name send to your Christian brothers and At the beginning of October, right in of Jesus; they’re doing it for personal sisters in Europe? What would you Km 5, there was a lot of conflict and gain. The anti-Balaka define them- ask? fatalities following the assassination selves as Christians, but in reality they Prayer. Which is the awareness that of an army general, Commander aren’t, and they’re using God’s name God is everything and without him, Marcel Mombeka. This event sent as a shield. A Christian doesn’t kill, man is nothing. This is at the root of tensions skyrocketing. Can you still and Christianity teaches forgiveness. our unity as brothers and sisters. go back there? Look, a few days after the assassina- What does living the faith in such a One last thing: One year later, what tion, on October 13th, I led a march for tortured context mean for you? does the Pope’s visit mean for you peace in that neighborhood. Always having faith in God, especially and for your people? in the heart of a trial, and having the Simply this from the First Letter of St. How did it go? gift of an interior strength that makes John: “what we’ve heard with our ears, With a jubilant crowd, we marched you capable of facing even the most what we have seen with our eyes, what to invite others to dialogue and to an absurd and inhuman situations and, we have contemplated, and touched end of fear. I’ll tell you two stories that how do you say, overcome them. It with our hands.” The Lord’s presence especially struck me. At one point, a means remembering over and over that came to visit us, to open the Door goat jumped in at the head of the pro- again that, on the cross, Christ said, and tell us, “Enter!” T

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IN ORDER TO RECOVER THE MEANING OF LIVING TOGETHER

In December, Italy will vote on a 1. Beyond the logic of referendum on a constitutional re- disengagement and alignment form already approved by the Par- For months, the debate about liament. The reform would mean the reform has been burdened by the end of bicameralism and a new strained interpretations and efforts Senate. We publish here the docu- to exploit the moment that have ed by the reform that is the object ment written by Communion and strongly polarized the political par- of this referendum (and which de- Liberation as a judgment that can ties and transformed the referen- serve very careful examination), no be helpful for everyone. dum into a test of the current gov- one can be unaware of the true ur- ernment, and its Prime Minister in gent need of the moment: the need particular. Added to this is increas- that has grown in recent years for n a general climate of trouble, ing disaffection, charged with dis- a more stable and efficient politi- with significant political changes trust and resentment, with political cal system that can promote better occurring and a weak economic participation, which in all likelihood conditions of life for every citizen recovery that have left many in will once again affect this important and the country, in light of the fun- conditions of uncertainty and appointment at the voting booths damental objective that has always Isuffering, and in an increasingly by consolidating a tendency to ab- existed, that is, the promotion of the complicated and dramatic inter- stain from voting. common good. As Fr. Giussani ob- national situation, on December In these conditions, only two an- served, “The contract that regulates 4th we will be called upon to voice tithetical positions seem possible: common life (the ‘Constitution’) our will in a referendum on the on the one hand, sterile indifference must seek to provide increasingly reform of the Constitution ap- and cynical disengagement, and on perfect regulations that assure cit- proved by Parliament. In particu- the other, the logic of a priori align- izens shared living in communion lar, all citizens will be asked to ex- ment that blocks a true comparison and an education to it.” press their choice about ending the of ideas and reasons. Both positions two-chamber Parliament in which strike us as humanly and politically 2. the need for change each chamber has equal powers, arid and unproductive, if not delete- The urgent need for change is and about a reformulation of the rious, for those who advance them. acknowledged by opposing par- responsibilities of the national and Even before the judgments on ties and positions, regardless of the regional governments. the merit of the solutions adopt- evaluations that each may give on

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take on the new challenges that face us [...] in a time of epochal changes. [...] not allowing our fears to get the better of us.” Without the presence of people who are authentically open to en- counter, dialogue, and collaboration with others, any reform can be re- duced to a merely technical exercise or a battle for power.

3. our contriBution: the Beauty of opening yourself to the other. It is evident that a “yes” or a “no” on the constitutional referendum cannot magically solve any of today’s knotty problems, from the crisis of the social state to the doubts about the project of Europe, from the de- mographic collapse to the influx of migrants. However, we are aware that through the vote, or even before that, through the richness of life, of en- counters and of deeper examination of the issues that we will promote the adequacy of this reform. Simple of all as “against” someone or some- around us, each person can make a realism recognizes that the country thing. We need to learn from the best contribution to the common good needs to be reformed in order to expressions of our history: those who of our country. This is the challenge. keep up with a global world, a so- wrote the 1948 Constitution were Each of us is given an opportunity ciety that changes and animated by the desire to rise to the occasion. Starting from renews itself at an in- to imagine realistic and the evidence that “the other is a good REFERENDUM COSTITUZIONALE – 4 DICEMBRE 2016 creasingly rapid pace. Per recuperare il senso del reasonable solutions and not an obstacle to the fullness of During the celebra- vivere insieme for a common journey. our ‘I,’ in politics as well as in human tion of the 70th anni- Realities that differed and social relations” (Fr. Carrón), n un clima generale travagliato, con rilevanti mutamenti politici in corso, con una ri- presa economica debole, che lascia tante persone in condizioni di incertezza e sofferen- Iza, in una situazione internazionale sempre più complicata e drammatica, il 4 dicem- bre saremo chiamati a pronunciarci con un referendum sulla riforma della Costituzione approvata dal Parlamento. In particolare, tutti i cittadini dovranno esprimersi sul supera- versary of the Italian mento del bicameralismo perfetto e sulla riformulazione delle competenze Stato-Regioni. greatly from each other we desire that also this referendum

1. Oltre la logica del disimpegno e quella dello schieramento Il dibattito sulla riforma è da mesi appesantito da forzature e strumentalizzazioni, che hanno condotto le formazioni politiche a una forte polarizzazione e a trasformare il refe- Republic, President rendum in un test sull’attuale governo e sul premier in particolare. A questo si aggiunga la were capable of a dia- become an opportunity for each of sempre crescente disaffezione, carica di sfiducia e risentimento, alla partecipazione politica, che verosimilmente, anche in questo importante appuntamento con le urne, consoliderà la tendenza all’astensionismo. In queste condizioni, sembrano possibili solo due posizioni antitetiche: da un lato, una sterile Mattarella identified indifferenza e un cinico disimpegno; dall’altro, la logica dello schieramento a priori che impedisce logue full of reciprocal us to discover the beauty and ad- un reale confronto con l’altro e le sue ragioni. Entrambe le posizioni ci appaiono umanamente e politicamente aride e improduttive, se non addirittura dannose, anche per chi le sostiene. Ancora prima dei giudizi di merito sulle soluzioni adottate dalla riforma soggetta a re- ferendum (che meritano attenti approfondimenti), nessuno può ignorare la vera urgenza Italy’s greatest need to- del momento: la necessità, che si è fatta strada negli ultimi anni, di una maggiore stabilità respect, which enabled vantages of opening up to the other ed efficienza del sistema politico a favore di migliori condizioni di vita per ogni cittadino e per il Paese, in vista dell’obiettivo fondamentale di sempre, vale a dire la promozione del bene comune. Come osservava don Giussani, «il contratto che regola la vita comune (la “Costituzione”) deve cercare di dare norme sempre più perfette che assicurino ed educhino day: “To wholly recover gli uomini alla convivenza come comunione». them to acknowledge as in a true dialogue, without defen- 2. La necessità del cambiamento L’esigenza di cambiamento, riconosciuto come necessario e urgente, attraversa schie- ramenti e posizioni opposte, a prescindere dalle valutazioni che ciascuno può dare sull’a- the meaning of living ➔ a shared foundation the sively closing in on ourselves before together,” because “to- value of the person and we even start, or digging into a po- day’s great challenges The document written the freedom of expres- sition of blind obedience to a party can be faced and over- for the upcoming sion and association. line, but instead, collaborating with come only by seeking referendum in Italy. We should keep in all those who expend themselves in and finding common mind the words of the the search for the best for all. The re- policies and shared engagement.” President of the Republic when he discovery of the “meaning of living His words are all the more urgent in opened the Meeting of Rimini: our together” is at stake now: nothing is a political context that has long been country “needs renewed enthusi- more vital for a country that wants characterized by the delegitimization asm, fraternity, curiosity about the to continue to exist and to grow. of the other, by defining oneself first other, desire for a future, courage to Communion and Liberation T

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