"Movements and New Communities. Identity in the Synodal Path of the Church"

Last June 20, the Pontifical Lateran University (PUL) hosted a theological conference entitled, "Movements and New Communities. Identity in the Synodal Path of the Church," organized together with the Sophia University Institute of the Focolare Movement.

After the opening speeches by Card. Kevin Farrell and Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, there were several contributions that were theological, canonical and at the same time experiential in nature, on the identity of the Movements and new communities in the path required by the 2021-2023 Synod.

Testimonies included those of Moysés Louro de Azevedo Filho, Founder and General Moderator of the Shalom Catholic Community; Iraci Silva Leite, Co-founder of the Family of Hope; Daniela Martucci, Vice President of the Nuovi Orizzonti Community; and Michel-Bernard De Vregille of the Emmanuel Community. The day provided many insights to be identified in this new "stage of maturity," such as the fruits and challenges for the movements and new communities, whose charismatic scope was emphasized by Card. Marc Ouellet.

The theme of the fruits that can be reaped and offered to the synodal journey was the focus of the talk by Mary Healy, Professor of Sacred Scripture; among these were: the living encounter with the Lord, the proclamation of the Gospel in today's context and the evangelization of the peripheries.

Instead, those who spoke mostly about the challenges were Msgr. Piero Coda, Secretary General of the International Theological Commission, according to whom the movements are called to a complete renewal in the context of a synodal Church; and Elena Di Bernardo, PUL Canon Law Professor, according to whom, in looking at the future of these realities, the need for a more suitable juridical formulation capable of fully expressing their charismatic identity is noted.

Dr. Linda Ghisoni, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, making use of the concept of dialectical polarities, invited everyone to pay attention to particularly relevant aspects, such as the person-institution and praxis-statutes relations.

At the end of such a productive conference, many reflections still remain open, being that the synodal path is a "crucial stage" of the movements, as noted by Bishop Piero Coda.

This is a phase in which one must make memory of the beginnings, in the openness to the future, and in which one must be ready to accept the "narrative" challenge of the charisms - in the words of Prof. Luigino Bruni, Economist - in order to be able to collect and return "the precious pearl" of the beginnings to the younger generations in a new way.