24-07-2006, 12:23 PM
Suddenly, as if someone blew a whistle, said the minister of the
Presbyterian church, the streets of Rome were filled with people each
evening fanning out to feed the poor. No, the Scotsman was not
describing the work of his fellow Protestants in the Eternal City.
Rather he was expressing his respect for the practical gospel witness
of a missions movement begun by Catholic high-school students in the
late 1960Â’s.
Our group on the ‘Focolare Trail’ travelling from Trent through
Florence to Rome last month had just enjoyed lunch on the rooftop
balcony of St AndrewÂ’s Scots Church. Now we were hearing about various
urban ministries at work in the city other than the Focolare Movement,
the main focus of our trip.
Andrea Riccardi was still a teenager when he and his student friends
resolved in 1968 to follow the radical example of the Acts of the
Apostles and of Francis of Assisi to put the Gospel into practice.
Based out of a Roman Catholic church called SantÂ’Egidio (St Giles), the
students began visiting slums on the outskirts of Rome to hold an
afternoon school for drop-out children, called Scuola Popolare
(PeopleÂ’s School).
These efforts grew into a global movement, now known as the Community
of SantÂ’Egidio. It has since spread to four continents and seventy
countries. Until recently I had never heard of this work, yet with
50,000 members and many more volunteers, it has to be one of the
biggest such ministries in the world. The leadership of this
‘missionary brotherhood’ is totally lay, with no clergy involved as
leaders.
Three pillars
While in Rome, we were guests of the Community firstly at a
well-attended mid-week prayer meeting in a large historic basilica, and
then at a late dinner in a secluded Roman garden. We learned that the
first ‘work’ of the Community was prayer. The call to conversion to
live as disciples of Jesus meant exchanging the self-centred life to
become instruments of love for others, particularly the poor; a
disciple followed Jesus rather than oneself. In imitation of the early
church, Community lifestyle began with prayer and gathering around the
Word of God, as in Acts 2:42–‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’
teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer.Â’ Such a lifestyle was expected of all Community members, both
personally and corporately.
The second pillar of the Community was evangelism. For the Community of
SantÂ’Egidio, being disciples and living and sharing the Gospel were
synonymous. Sharing the Gospel was an experience of joy and
celebration, as when the disciples returned to Jesus in Luke 10:17 full
of joy at having seen the devils submitting to the name of Jesus.
The third ‘work’ of Sant’Egidio, lived out as a daily commitment, was
service to the poor. The student founders believed they could not live
the Gospel far from the poor – not simply as recipients of aid but as
friends. Starting with the ‘Cinodromo’ shacks along the Tiber river,
they began building friendships with disadvantaged children and
offering extra classes. The Scuola Popolare spread to other cities.
Living out Matthew 25, the students broadened their ministry to include
friendship and help to the physically and mentally disabled, the
homeless, immigrants, the terminally ill, prisoners, gypsies and
refugees. Now some 8000 were involved in Rome alone regularly
ministering the Gospel in word and deed to the urban poor, and 15,000
throughout Italy.
‘Weak power’
In radical imitation of Christ, Sant’Egidians identified with ‘the
leastÂ’ in society as brothers and sisters in communities across the
globe from Rome to San Salvador, from Belgium to Cameroon, from
Indonesia to the Ukraine. Identification with the poor in war zones has
led to peacemaking and reconciliation efforts, as well as humanitarian
aid projects in Mozambique, Guatemala and the Balkans. Belief in the
‘weak power’ of prayer and the transforming power of non-violence and
persuasion stemmed from the attitudes Jesus himself lived out to the
end.
The Community saw Ecumenical and interfaith dialogue as a key to
defusing confrontation in the clash of cultures. Community members have
also campaigned for a moratorium on capital executions, against
anti-personnel mines and to end slavery where it still exists.
Like the Scots pastor, I had gained a deep respect for the radical
discipleship of the SantÂ’Egidians during my short stay in Rome. I left
the city pondering the smallness of my world that I had known little
about this movement before.
Till next week,
Jeff Fountain