Summer Camps
This year, at least for some of our communities, Faith and Light continued visibly through the summer months. Groups from cities across the country—some large, some small—set out to camp together, sharing a few days of vacation, learning to live as one, and deepening their sense of what it means to be "a life together."
New people came too, eager to know Faith and Light, unafraid to embrace the unknown and join one group or another.
It's hard to describe a camp in words. You have to live it.
The voices that follow offer a glimpse, and perhaps will inspire others to help make next year's camp possible, in whatever ways are needed.
For me, the Faith and Light camp was the only one where I felt I was with my own family.
Since I first learned about Faith and Light, people have told me stories about camps, but until I went myself, I had no idea what one was like. Only now do I understand what makes a Faith and Light camp different from any other: it's the faith we have in the Lord.
The Marzocca camp showed me something beyond what I just said—a world apart from the world I knew before. I knew it well, but not like this. And that world has a name very dear to me: Faith and Light.
Marco Colangione (15 years old) - Rome
Fausta, Will You Come to the Cuneo Camp?
"Fausta, will you come to the Cuneo camp?" The question moved me like a student facing an exam—especially when I heard the word "coordinator." I wanted to feel what it would be like to live a few days in community, with friends and with our young people, to offer what I could.
They say the best days of a celebration are the ones that come before it. That was true for us: phone calls, meetings, obstacles, fears. Work done together, guided by the Holy Spirit and by everyone's good will, brought us the joy of making this bold dream real.
You can't really write or talk much about a Faith and Light camp. You have to live it.
The camp's theme was demanding for me: "To love is to share." I tried to love! I tried to share! But how far? I looked for the answer in prayer during our daily Mass. I found it in Gianna's eyes, in Santina's reflections, in Mirella's intentions.
Remembering and reflecting on each moment of the day, I found the answer over and over: the joy of our young people, working together, praying together, playing together, and trying to face and overcome any difficulties.
I went home with heavier luggage—heavier because it was full of love and generosity given freely to me by everyone. A precious load to keep, but always ready to open and share.
"The Camp's Grandmother"
Fausta Guglielmi
1983 - Faith and Light brings together people made fragile by mental handicap, their parents and friends.
The communities (15-30 people each) meet regularly, offering everyone the chance to be welcomed as they are, to build friendships, and to offer their own particular gift. Through afternoons, day outings, and weekends, a community slowly forms—people who feel like brothers and sisters to one another, who celebrate together, sing, and pray.
Faith and Light groups exist in several Italian cities: Rome, Milan, Parma, Cuneo, Abano Terme, Ponte Lambro (Como), and Naples.
Some long-established groups that gather in their parishes offer the wider parish community a particular gift of simplicity and joy. Beyond all appearances—through the presence and witness of those whom the world cannot see as "teachers."
Anyone wanting more information about Faith and Light groups and activities can contact the National Office Faith and Light.
Meeting of Faith and Light Community Leaders
Rome, October 30 - November 1, 1982
For two days, about a hundred of us gathered in the Nazareth Institute in Rome to reflect on the life of our communities and to strengthen our knowledge of and friendship with one another. On the first day, we took up the theme of "fidelity" to Faith and Light, exploring it through testimony and small group conversation.
"I began to do things for others, for other families. I understood that the world wasn't made entirely of pity, and that I too could do something for others. Even just talking to another mother and helping her see that our situation isn't so tragic—that's something. I've been healed. I feel changed. And this desire to help makes me more open to others."
a mother
"By nature I'm inconstant. So what has kept me coming back for thirteen years?
I think at the root of inconstancy is selfishness that blinds us. But how can you say, 'I don't feel like being with them today,' when you know they're waiting for you, ready to give you joy, their message of love?"
a friend
"Beneath our terrible, hard shell, we have so many beautiful things. And they, the smallest ones, draw directly from that source.
The shell is made of our fear of letting ourselves be touched. I'm afraid, like everyone else, maybe more. The deepest part of fidelity is recognizing this love that lives in each of us. We only have to let it flow."
a young person
"During the gathering in Wales, something shifted for my wife and me. We were no longer alone, strangers just visiting. I found myself among friends. I realized Faith and Light wasn't just something you do on an afternoon. It was something much deeper. I learned what it means to pray, to live true friendship in community—the real meaning of Faith and Light. The bond between communities must be constantly fed by these meetings. They're too important for expanding our horizons.
If all our efforts can awaken something in even one person, then our work and our money will be well spent."
a father
On the second day, Father David Wilson, our international chaplain, spoke about "nourishing faith at Faith and Light": teaching those with handicaps, and how we become each other's teachers through gestures, expressions, and looks soaked in the love of Jesus, when we gather in his name.
"Faith and Light," Father Wilson said, "doesn't list religious education among its official goals. But if participation in our small communities doesn't lead to growth in faith, something is missing.
We need to create communities that are not isolated ghettos, but rather steps toward integration into the wider parish community. In small communities, the relationship between all members becomes the vital heart of religious education. The group itself is how faith gets passed on.
One of the wonderful things about the Church is that it believes we are spirit, but also body. All the sacramental gestures matter. The Spirit moves through the body. We are made for God. That's what matters most. If we're limited in certain abilities, God's ability to live in us is not limited at all."