We Are the San Gaetano Community of Milan
Dear Friends at Ombre e Luci,
Two years ago you introduced yourselves to your readers in an issue we all cherished greatly. Now we would like to introduce ourselves to you, at least in part, through these words and photographs.
We belong to the Faith and Light community at San Gaetano in Milan. The photographs we are sending you were taken during our "casetta" last December, when we gathered to prepare together for the coming Christmas celebration.
The "casetta"—spending the whole day together—is always a time of joy and sharing among all of us, and also a moment of participation in our parish community.
On this occasion we are able to attend Mass together in the parish, and in the afternoon the children from the parish youth center come to celebrate and have refreshments with us.
But now it is time to introduce ourselves!
In photograph number 1, you see in the foreground Mauro, Massimo, and Giulio building the nativity scene. In the background, other friends are busy cutting, painting, and working on various tasks!
Maria Francesca is focused on a drawing (2), with Emilia keeping her company.
Some work while others play checkers. Fiore, our senior friend, is unbeatable (3)—even the estimable engineer Marco and the equally estimable doctor Luigi can never beat him! Who knows what Nora and Massimo are saying to each other (4), but one thing is certain: they are friends and care for each other.
Then there is Pietro, who prefers to enjoy the pale December sun rather than work (5)—the gentle giant, as we call him. It will be hard to convince him to work, but people as affectionate as he is are not easy to find!
Last but not least, there is our Carlo, the national cadet. Carlo has lived in the neighborhood since he was born, and everyone knows him and cares for him.
We close with warm greetings to all of you. We are enclosing the text of a "Letter from a Friend of Faith and Light" that appeared in our parish newsletter. It seemed so meaningful and beautiful that we wanted to share it with you.
Special thanks to the members of the Faith and Light Communities (Italy and Canton Ticino) who support Ombre e Luci through their subscriptions, their testimonies, and their photographs.
BUDAPEST
European Faith and Light Gathering
From August 6 to 12, 1992, an international Faith and Light gathering will take place near Budapest (Hungary) with representatives from Austria, Italy, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Hungary.
Letter: FAITH AND LIGHT IN OUR PARISH
Dear Parishioner,
Ten years have now passed since the Faith and Light community was born in our parish of San Gaetano. It would be difficult to sum up a decade in a few lines, and it would not do it justice. So I prefer to tell you the "why"—why this community was born and why it continues to live.
This community was born in the parish of San Gaetano to welcome people with intellectual disabilities, their families, and their friends—young and old alike.
I used the word "welcome," and I want to emphasize it, to show you the spirit and purpose of people so different from one another—different in age, in background—coming together. I could have used the word "help," or "assist," or even "meet," and I would not have been wrong. But "welcome" better expresses the attitude of communion, openness of heart, equality, and unity that this community seeks to embody.
"Welcome" in the Faith and Light community means first and foremost recognizing the difference in the other—whether a friend with or without disability—accepting them, and loving them just as they are, without trying to change them.
Who in life has never experienced difference? Who has never stood before a wall of misunderstanding and mystery in encountering others? To welcome is to accept and love ourselves and others precisely because we are different. Only then can we discover our complementarity with others and recognize the gifts they can give us.
These ten years of community life have not been marked by great events, but by countless small gestures of welcome. The community's treasures are full of memories—the faces of people who have come and gone, leaving something of themselves behind, the glances and smiles given, words of love and gratitude unspoken but read in the eyes of those who have no voice to express them.
This is the treasure that sustains the community in dark moments and keeps it moving forward, so that it may continue to be a place of welcome for many, and so that we might invite you, dear parishioner, to experience genuine welcome—acceptance and love for difference—in your family, at work, and with the foreign-born neighbor you meet on the street, with your brother or sister with a disability who, awkwardly, with unfamiliar gestures and words hard to understand, is trying to make you know that they need you, your love, and your friendship.
A Healthy, Clean Mouth
SERVICES—DENTAL CARE FOR THE DISABLED
A dentist who has occasion to examine the teeth of disabled patients notices how neglected their oral health tends to be.
Our experience has shown us that a healthy, clean mouth greatly improves overall well-being. We cannot expect to apply all therapeutic dental practices used with non-disabled patients to disabled individuals. However, the principles of preventive dentistry can certainly be applied to them.
With these concerns in mind, a conference titled "Dental Culture and the Disabled Patient" was held in Rome, organized by Professor Guido Galiusi, regional coordinator for Lazio of the Italian Society of Dentistry for the Handicapped.
The conference aimed to bring dental knowledge to disabled people and their families.
The first speaker, Professor Dolci, director of the Dental Clinic at La Sapienza University in Rome, presented a "Project for a Special Dental Service for the Disabled"—an initiative designed to establish, in collaboration with university centers and in accordance with the Framework Law on Assistance, Social Integration, and the Rights of the Handicapped, a dedicated unit for the prevention and dental care of disabled patients.