A few years ago we presented, a Verona, with the author Ferruccio Pinotti, the book opposite. It was at the Minerva bookshop, which is no longer there. But the topic was very sensitive. Former Ciellini spoke and there was a great participation. Today, the themes of the essay are repeated, more current than ever…
THE OPINION
Of Roberto Pecchioli
At the end of August it is time for the annual meeting of Communion and Liberation. They call him meeting, and we already don't like this, convinced that one of the reasons for national decline is the cultural colonization to which it has been subjected. The writer is still a believer for two reasons: the undeserved grace of faith, free gift from the Almighty and distance from any religious movement and association. Raised in the cult of Don Bosco, whose Salesians gave their father an education and a trade, the writer of these notes met CL around the age of twenty, at the university, without ever having even heard the name of Don Giussani. Right-wing militant with all the difficulties and dramas of the time, sympathy for those girls was natural (they were mostly women) who challenged the hegemony - and violence - of the red legions. We then read Don Gius's books and what we liked above all was the fact that he considered the incarnation as an "event", God bursting into history, changes its course, gives man back his eternal destiny. Jesus, in Giussani's message, he was true God while remaining man, with limits, the sufferings, even the anger of mortals.
A lot of road has passed under the bridge, now we can no longer sympathize with the Ciellini. The founder is great, their editorial creation is splendid, On Saturday, who gave voice for years to those who had no voice, in the deafening chorus. Over time, It seems to us that two very bad things have happened; we talk about it in whispers, we don't know reality enough, above all, the inside of the creature of the priest of Desio is unknown to us. On the one hand, bureaucratization, the power, the persistence of the aggregates, the structure that strengthens, it becomes armor and becomes an end in itself. A common phenomenon, but very serious where the inspiration is to act for the glory of God. The Company of Works, companies, le cooperative, the full-scale entry into healthcare and a thousand other businesses, that is, in profit, some heavy slips by top men like Formigoni.
The other flaw, Maybe we're the only ones who regret it, it seems to us that we have married in toto the line that is called anthropological choice. We live with and for men, good works must be done, but we end up losing sight of the essentials, that is, faith in God and in the final destiny of the human creature. Simonpietro responded to Jesus who questioned him in a moment of difficulty for the small community of the Twelve: "Gentleman, who will we go to?? You have words of eternal life.” (Giovanni, 6,68). Ecco, it seems to us that CL too has succumbed to a mild religiosity, humanistic, which leaves the fate of souls in the background.
When we were young we didn't like the name of the association, we considered it one of the many variations of modernity, especially that noun, liberation, misunderstanding and abused. Today we are forbidden to face power, to the structure, to the actual occupation of spaces, inside and outside the Church, which would be meritorious if the protagonist were God, instead of man, ambitions, business. Many vocations, luckily, elicited CL, but the feeling is that too many have used the organization as a lift to careers in the hierarchy, in politics, in the economy. Let's repeat: it is a summary judgment, a lot from the outside, appearances can be deceiving, but not completely.
They tell us where he sets foot, CL tends to divide the world between "them" and "the others" and ruthlessly occupy every space. The sectarian spirit is not new, nor is it a Ciellina prerogative, naturally, and you can understand a certain spirit of being at the top of the class. We are men and we all have limits and vanity. What is disturbing is seeing the same spirit in faith organizations against the light, the same defects, the same goals as everyone else. The apostles followed Jesus because he had words of eternal life, not because it promised careers and worldly success.
Don B. he is the provost of the cathedral of a small but important diocese in the history of CL. Former councilor in the council of a never regretted mayor of Ciellino, in the first festive mass after the tragedy of the Genoa bridge he disappointed us tremendously. In his homily he recalled the many times he passed over the viaduct, reflecting on the fact that he is safe, unlike many unfortunate people, and concluded by stating that there is one reason: must continue "to do good". We don't doubt his intentions, but it seemed a little poor to us as a spiritual meditation and even more so as a religious vocation. We continue to believe that the role of consecrated persons is to spread the faith and, as they once said, bring souls to God. Good must be done, starting from the corporal works of mercy, but in the name of God. It's called charity and it doesn't exhaust life.
CL was magnificent for years, concretely contending for space inch by inch, in the school, in society, in work, to liberal and collectivist atheism. It seems to us that it has now become an organization like the others: a self-referential structure, interested in power, wavers in alliances. Many have landed in Rimini over the years, but not all Catholic souls, political and cultural institutions present in Italy have found citizenship there. The axis with Forza Italia was favored once, another with Prodi, then with the new Renzi, but from year to year further away from the wounded hearts of the Italian people.
We have read the messages of good wishes from the authorities. Jorge Mario Bergoglio's is neither surprising nor interesting: the usual invitation to build bridges and knock down walls, to be given to the Benetton family and their campaigns “united colors”. One more yawn. The invitation from the "democratic" Catholic Mattarella is striking, of the Jesuit school and representatives of those strong powers that at the time of the Sabbath were in CL's sights. “Affirming one's identity does not consist in raising the barriers of prejudice and irreducible opposition.” Waiting to make known what identity consists of, starting from the religious one that should be close to his heart, he cooks the usual refectory soup against racism and xenophobia, a tired, politically and Catholicly correct gun for official duty. It doesn't seem to us that Don Giussani enjoyed being fashionable or pleasing the world.
Then there is the usual diatribe on the guiding phrase of the Meeting. Sometimes provocative, sometimes arcane or stinging, This time it seems really misleading to us. “The forces that move history are the same that make man happy.” We confess our ignorance, but we don't understand. Beyond the call to happiness, closer to the American Constitution than to the religious message (happiness is of this world?), violence dominates among the forces that move history, the money, the thirst for domination, consumption, power groups, all unanimously anti-Christian, no one interested in human happiness, except in the deceptive form of the Antichrist.
Trust must be maintained, the man of faith must spread hope, but the Rimini topic seems a little too easy to us, a foolish optimism, the concern to be faithful to the line of the dominant powers. In conclusion, it's just normality, since the Church (conciliate, n.d.r.) and its parallel organizations have distanced themselves from God, this indigestible and not very modern idea. The merit of CL, for years, was to insist, from within the world, of history, on the prodigious event of a God becoming man. We fear that in Rimini they have given up on the oars, building temples to man who makes himself God, in the name of an equivocal happiness. Let's hope we're wrong. For the rest, business: business, as usual.
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