OFFICIAL NAME
"Pope John XXIII Community" Association
ACRONYM
APG23
ALSO KNOWN AS
Pope John XXIII Community
ESTABLISHED
1968
HISTORY
At the end of the 1950s, convinced of the importance of being present with the young people to whom he was teaching religion, Father Oreste Benzi (1925-2007), a priest of the Diocese of Rimini, carried out a number of activities to encourage "a friendly meeting with Christ". This was to involve teenagers, most of whom were accustomed to having decisive meetings with everyone except Christ. His plan also included building a house in the mountains. Thousands of teenagers who had drifted away from the Church and were at risk of getting involved in crime could (and still do) come here, to undergo a liberating experience and choose Christian values and make these values part and parcel of their own lives. In 1968, with a group of young people who volunteered to go on holiday and help animate the mountain stays, and with some other priests, Fr Benzi founded the Pope John XXIII Community. Meeting with people who "would never have managed to make it in life on their own" (the disabled, marginalised, excluded, forgotten) and the willingness of a number of young people to work with him full-time, enabled him to open the first family hostel in 1972, at Coriano, in the province of Rimini. On 7 October 1998 the Pontifical Council for the Laity issued the decree recognising the Associazione Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII as an international association of the faithful.
IDENTITY
The vocation of the members of the Community is to conform their lives to Christ, who constantly does the will of the Father. Prompted by the Spirit to follow Jesus in his poverty and service, they make efforts to share in the lives of the least of their brothers and sisters by sharing with those their own experiences and helping them to bear their plight. They place their shoulders under the Cross borne by others. Love for their poor brothers and sisters should urge them to try to eliminate the causes of need, and lead the Community to make a commitment to build up a more just world, and to speak out for those without a voice. This vocation requires space for prayer and contemplation, living the life of the poor, being led by obedience, and practising fellowship according to the Gospel.
ORGANISATION
The Community is governed by a General Leader elected by the delegate members. The Community is divided into zones headed by leaders elected by the zone members. The General Leader and zonal leaders constitute the Leaders Council. The members are grouped into units covering the whole territory in which the Community is present. The Community establishes different sectors of intervention, called "General Services", which are entrusted with specific mandates to share and act on the broader issues of poverty and injustice. Full members of the Community are those who recognise that they have a life vocation and have been confirmed in it by the Leaders Council.
WORKS
The Community’s work in the vast world of marginalisation has led to the establishment of hundreds of family hostels where individuals or married couples act as temporary or permanent fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters of disabled people, children in difficulties, former drug addicts and mentally disturbed people; detoxing centres for addicts; houses of prayer; facilities for street children; centres for teenagers and young adults; social cooperatives providing educational services and businesses providing work for the disadvantaged; facilities for shared holidays; general reception centres; hostels for girls freed from prostitution; fellowship houses, and SOS Centres. There are also numerous initiatives for those who wish to work with the Association, even for a given period of their lives. These include voluntary service, civilian service within Italy and internationally, "Operation Dove" (for a non-violent presence in war zone frontlines), missionary work to promote multisector projects for the self-development of poorer nations.
PUBLICATIONS
Sempre Magazine, bimonthly; Pane Quotidiano, bimonthly.
WEB SITE
HEADQUARTERS
Associazione "Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII"
Strada Consolare Rimini San Marino, n. 51
47924 Rimini
Italia
Tel.: +39 0541 1528601
E-mail: info@apg23.org
