Don Paolo (Christian) Marasco, born in 1984, was consecrated in one of Don Paolo’s monastic families. Giuseppe Dossetti: in the community of Montetauro in the Diocese of Rimini. Originally from Diocese of Faenza-Modiglianaconsecrated with perpetual vows in 2012, was ordained on April 25th priest in Albania Southern Italy, where he has been a missionary for several years.
Don Paolo, what bond do you cultivate with our Diocese?
My family, at the time of the first steps in the vocation, were not practitioners. I am originally from the Bassa, born in Mezzano but then soon moved to Taglio Corelli di Alfonsine. We in the Bassa are a bit of a different world compared to Faenza and the hills. However, my bond with our Church is internally very strong: first of all our people, who formed me in the sense of the Church and the mission. Then some of our priests who have left their mark on my life, some already in heaven, others serving among us, other dear friends of mine from my seminary years.
Did you attend the Faenza seminar?
In 2000 I entered the minor seminary for the diocese of Faenza-Modigliana. I was the only boy in high school and the diocesan superiors chose to support me with the group of my peers at the Archbishopric of Bologna. It was our then bishop Msgr. Italo Castellani to call me. He came to Alfonsine, after Don Genesio’s departure from the Parish of the Sacred Heart, and celebrated a Eucharist. At the end of the Mass he explained to the people that he did not have a priest to replace the parish priest, because priests were in short supply. I heard those words as an appeal to me. I remember that after Mass, the Bishop came to greet me, as he did with everyone, and he said to me «and you? When are you coming with us?”. That same evening I decided in my heart that, if the Lord wanted it, I would become a priest. I was 15 years old. I knew that there was another seminarian from Alfonsine, Michele Morandi, and at the first Confirmations in the Vicariate I looked for the Bishop again and expressed my desire. He gave me his blessing and after a few months I began the adventure. Incredible, considering that my parents weren’t even practitioners.
Are your parents from Romagna?
I was born and raised in the Bassa and I feel 100% Alfonsine. But my parents are foreigners: my father is Calabrian, raised in Como. My mother was from Como, then moved with my father to Romagna before my birth. Mother passed away just in these days, a week after the Ordination. After my vocational choice she followed a beautiful and profound journey of faith. She ended her earthly days praying and thanking God for everything, comforted by the Sacraments. She will certainly be on a mission with me.
What is your mission?
After the minor seminar I graduated in Psychology. In those years I got to know the Dossettian monastic community of Montetauro (Rimini) where I entered in 2005 and where I professed my perpetual vows in 2012. Precisely the year of my entry, my community began a presence in Southern Albania, in a territory with an Islamic majority and a traditional Orthodox presence. Right from the start I spent some periods in the Mission, 7 years in total. It is a presence of service to the least, the disabled and the poorest, which gives us the opportunity to announce the Gospel. The Catholic community is made up of around a hundred believers, all coming from non-Christian traditions. On April 25th I will be ordained a priest for the service of this mission, in the city of Berat.
Albania is nearby. Strange to think of it as a mission country.
Albania is very close, just over an hour by plane. And it is even closer for the many Albanian friends who have been among us in Italy since the 1990s. But it is also a very distant country, with an ancient and extraordinary culture, a beautiful religious pluralism, unfortunately also with many social and economic contradictions. You can find modern and European cities, as well as corners of extreme poverty or completely abandoned villages. The Gospel has a place to shine.
Is the Mission still a proposal?
In Berat, where I am parish priest, the Church is built person by person, on the martyrdom experienced up to 30 years ago in the most atheist regime in the world. Mission is a proposal and it is an extraordinary opportunity to see the Gospel live. And I hope it’s a call for someone to come and see! [email protected]
