Meeting for friendship among peoples: the great challenge for movements is to keep the missionary zeal alive

Foto: www.clonline.org

In the dramatic social framework of 1968, which also affected the Church, Father Luigi Giussani had an idea for a movement that did not “specifically” concern “an individual movement, but the very dynamic of the Church, as a whole and in its mission which, as St John Paul II said, ‘is movement’, dynamic and testimony of the Christian faith in men’s life.” This is one of the passages of the text prepared by Card. Kevin Farrell for the event and read by Dr. Linda Ghisoni, Undersecretary of the Dicastery, on Saturday, 24 August in Rimini, at the presentation of the book A Revolution of Self. Life as Communion (1968-1970) (Rizzoli), edited by Davide Prosperi, President of the Fraternity of CL. The book contains the meditations pronounced by the founder of Communion and Liberation from 1968 to 1970 at the Charles Péguy cultural centre, which is where people gathered to carry on the experience of Gioventù Studentesca in those years of protest.

Linda Ghisoni emphasized that “it is worth making use of this book,” where Fr. Giussani re-presents “Christianity as a fact, an event, an encounter, therefore a presence. The ecclesial movements have testified that the search for meaning is worthwhile because there is an encounter with the living Christ to be announced to others. This historical task has not been completed and is still urgent. The great challenge for the movements is to keep the missionary zeal alive.”

The meeting was moderated by journalist Monica Mondo and introduced by Alberto Savorana, responsible for the editorial activities of CL. Among the speakers there were Sergio Belardinelli, professor of sociology of cultural and communication processes at the University of Bologna, and the editor himself, Davide Prosperi.

The Rimini Meeting, now at its 45th edition, is a series of days of meetings, exhibitions, events; a place of friendship where relations can grow in favour of peace and coexistence among peoples.