The national conference of the Community of Christian Life (CVX) took place from 25 to 28 April in Isola delle Femmine (Palermo), entitled ‘On earth as it is in heaven. Borders and frontiers, scars of humanity’. 250 people from all over Italy to participate and report, each in their own community, in the associations in which they work, in their own parish, what they have elaborated and meditated on in recent days.
In Sicily, a land of borders and martyrs
The event made it possible to draw up a balance sheet for this association, present in Italy with 42 communities, which has Ignatian spirituality as its main reference and relies on the Jesuits for the spiritual direction of the many lay people who compose it. “The CVX is the oldest lay association of the Society of Jesus”, the CVX national assistant, Father Massimo Nevola, reminded Radiovaticana. Who explained that Sicily was chosen as the venue for the conference “because it is a border land, for the landings of migrants, but also for the fight against crime and all the battles that the Church and civil society fight. We went to pray at the tomb of Don Pino Puglisi, we went on a pilgrimage on foot to Capaci, precisely to feel this commitment of ours as fidelity to the Gospel and to man. The memory of the martyrs must keep our spiritual tension and attention very high.”
“It was a moment of reflection on international issues in the light of Pope Francis’ magisterium to try to produce alternative thoughts to the dominant reflection on war, aware that everything starts from how we all experience our internal conflicts”, explained the president national team of CVX, Romolo Guasco. On the theme: «Borders and frontiers and scars of humanity» the Jesuit Antonio Spadaro and the geographer Giuliana Martirani spoke, with the Eucharist presided over by the archbishop of Palermo, Corrado Lorefice. The topic of “Urban and social scars” was discussed with scholars Mauro Magatti and Carlo Cellamare. Then a discussion between the Jesuit Vittorio Soana and Milly De Micheli on the topic «Scratches, scars and regeneration», then the intervention of the director of the finance office of the EUM Province, Berardino Guarino, and the report by the economist Leonardo Becchetti on the topic: « Politics, society and the challenges of Europe: the Plan B project”.
Guasco: “Break down loneliness, start again from good politics”
The SIR agency asked the president, Romolo Guasco, for an assessment of the three days of work. The interview is by Lucandrea Massaro.
“The problems of contemporary life starting from the international crisis and from a different way of reading it, as Father Antonio Spadaro suggested to us in his speech, that is, not in a Hollywood way, where there are good guys and bad guys and the good guys win when the chivalry, but a more complex, articulated way of understanding the situation”.
This is one of the first things that the president of the Community of Christian Life (CVX), a movement of lay people close to Ignatian spirituality, Romolo Guasco ‘takes home’ after the long conference which took place from 25 to 28 April in Isola delle Females (Palermo) entitled ‘As in heaven, so on earth. Borders and frontiers, scars of humanity’.
“Then there is the crisis that grips our social systems, as suggested by Mauro Magatti, who explained how our societies have imagined for decades that economic growth could integrate the world, but instead we discover that growth, when it is not accompanied from recomposition interventions it produces fractures and inequalities”, says Guasco again.
Or even the speech by Carlo Cellamare who “spoke about the crisis of the cities, focusing a lot on the metropolitan areas of Rome, on the Roman suburbs but also on the various signs of hope that many associations make there because there is a social protagonism of the suburbs which it must be recognized and supported.”
The profound theme underlying the meeting was the recognition and care of the wounds of people’s souls: many testimonies were presented during the works. “Wounds that the Church must welcome because otherwise they can become social wounds with antisocial behavior”, explains President Guasco. The issue is that of loneliness, at the basis of many crises of our time which is also a loneliness induced by an economic model that excludes and separates.
A conference that served to “take a breather” and to bring many people together to think. In fact, 250 people from all over Italy participated and reported, each in their own community, in the associations in which they work, in their own parish, what they had elaborated and meditated on in recent days. “But also in the civil world, in the world of work and professions”, Guasco is keen to underline, with an issue that emerged spontaneously during the debates: education as a decisive element of change. “The need was felt for a social investment to raise educational parameters and broaden them further,” he explains.
But what is the crux of these days? “There was a call to political commitment, to return to being a strong ferment in the political world.” Thinking about a different development, about a post-capitalist society, returning to being more attentive to humanism and the profound needs of man: “These are things that require a political approach, different from the current one.”
And what will CVX do for the future? “We hope to be even more exciting in the places where we are located”, states the president, “We have two themes: the first is the Synod and the need to participate with these ideas in the Synod and also in the next Social Weeks; the second is to give voice to the novelty that Pope Francis is offering to the Church in the world, also to the Italian Church, a novelty that is not always welcomed, but necessary”.
“We know that Jesus works in the heart of each one and we must try, as much as we can, to bear witness and offer the tools to all people, especially the youngest, to meet this Jesus – concludes Guasco -, not in the norms or at least not only that, but above all in the sense of existence. And the meaning of existence is discovered by reflecting, reasoning and meeting the poor, because meeting the poor enriches you: it is you who returns home rich. You can certainly lend a hand, you can give charity, but it is actually the poor who are rich in spirit who elevate you, and this is an experience that as CVX we have been doing for years in many places”.
