I won't burden this account with many words of my own. I could cite many reasons, but the truth is simpler: there are paths that get pushed forward by a voice—sometimes faint, sometimes stronger—that points you in a direction, shows you a road to walk, a place where you belong.
"Where the Church is, there also is the spirit of God, and where the spirit of God is, there is the Church and every grace. Every day the Church is born from above, from the spirit of the Lord. Only secondarily does it arise from the free decision of believers who let themselves be called together." (The Truth Will Set You Free, no. 419)
So we let ourselves be called. It was March 21, 2009.
We asked for a meeting with Don Mario Crociata, then secretary of the CEI (Italian Bishops' Conference). Those of us who went were
Mariangela Bertolini, Lucia Casella, Don Marco Bove, Daniele and Titti Cogliandro, Angela Gattulli, Lorenzo Portento, and myself, Enza Gucciardo.
Something strange took shape during that time—a kind of magic, an atmosphere of peace, brotherhood, and profound understanding. It was the same air we breathed when Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini would welcome us each year as our National Council in his bishop's residence. We felt strongly that we were being called to begin the process of seeking recognition.
Enza
It was a journey marked by signs: the place, the timing, providence itself. There was an invitation we had to answer—to ask the Italian Catholic Church to recognize the experience of Fede e Luce in Italy. In Don Marco's words, it was to "participate more closely in a path of dialogue and in full connection with the occasions and moments, official ones too, where Fede e Luce should be present, and to bring the message of Fede e Luce to a more formal level—its great prophecy."
The new structure of the international movement, approved in Lourdes in 2008, the Italian need to separate the administrative side of the Fede e Luce Association from responsibility for accompanying communities, and the necessity and opportunity of uniting forces in a nation where multiple Fede e Luce provinces existed—all of this led, on June 2, 2009, to a new Board of Directors given the mandate to undertake a process of consultation and draft renewed bylaws. "Behold, I make all things new"—the wind of the Spirit was blowing on us, the wind that would bring us to discover ourselves anew, to recognize ourselves, to find ways of creating new bonds and strengthening those that already existed.
The bylaws were the legal instrument necessary to obtain CEI recognition. But they were also something more: a tool by which we had to recognize ourselves first, before asking anyone else to recognize us. Through them we had to clarify who we were and respond adequately to the new national and international organization taking shape. We also had to address new scenarios and constraints imposed by evolving Italian and international law, especially in matters of taxation and anti-money-laundering compliance.
The second step within the Board was deliberation. We needed to understand clearly and together whether the statutory changes we had to make could lead us to recognition without abandoning our path.
Through Lucia, we studied international experiences. We asked how other Fede e Luce countries were organized legally and what steps they were taking.
A meeting with members of the International Board and the International Coordinating Team held in Rome on October 25, 2011 informally confirmed the direction we had chosen. Marie Hélène participated with a letter in which she told us that at the international level there is no official Church recognition because of our ecumenical dimension. But she highlighted to us the "many and important signs from the Holy See, indicating a very special trust regarding Fede e Luce."
We discussed ecumenism extensively, and there was no occasion when we did not emphasize that this characteristic is a value we refuse to abandon. A wonderful dialogue followed—until we realized that our ecumenical nature was not a limitation but a gift, and that the Church itself perceives it as a charism.
The Board drafted the bylaws and brought them for final approval to the General Assembly in Rome on September 29, 2012.
At the end of the journey, it was beautiful to discover that the road we had taken and the direction we had chosen were not new—they were the same as always. The real test came when we presented the bylaws to the CEI. To see outsiders grasp the vision and charism of Fede e Luce through the statute (and its references to the Charter and constitution) was confirmation that we could move forward toward recognition without abandoning our identity.
The Lord tested us with patience during this process, which was slowed several times by events extraordinary even for the life of the Church itself. But as Saint James writes in his letter, patience completes the work of God in us and makes us perfect and whole, lacking nothing. And so it has been. The Permanent Council of Bishops of the CEI, "in granting approval of the Fede e Luce Association bylaws, recognized the importance of its commitment to help people with intellectual disabilities and their families find their place in the life of the Church and in society through the moments that constitute the essence of its charism: prayer, encounter, celebration."
I want finally to acknowledge, with gratitude and trust, the names of Enza, Adriana, Paolo, Daniele, Fabio, Valeria, Cristina, Rita, Mauro, and Lorenzo—Board members who devoted time and effort generously—and those people in the CEI's Office of Legal Affairs who managed our recognition process with humble and rigorous professionalism.
Lorenzo Portento and Valeria Mastroiacovo
As I moved through each bureaucratic stage required for CEI recognition, a question kept coming up—from myself and from others: Did Fede e Luce really need this recognition? What did it mean? What would it give us that we didn't already have? What would actually change?
At first, I couldn't find a satisfying answer. But during the gathering of movements and associations called together in Saint Peter's Square for Pentecost 2013, during the Year of Faith, I lived the answer to all these questions and finally understood it.
"We are here too": that is the answer.
We had the chance to stand together with other movements, lay organizations, and associations in Saint Peter's Square, and Fede e Luce bore witness to its history and values.
We were not alone. Together with the others, we brought our contribution to our Church, to the Catholic Church, to the Church of Pope Francis. When Monsignor Fisichella pronounced the name of the association that represents us—Fede e Luce—alongside the names of other associations, it was a powerful emotion. His voice echoed not only through the Square but above all in our hearts, in our awareness of being members of a single body with different gifts, different vocations, but one Spirit—the Holy Spirit—guiding us along a common path, the only path toward the Father, in acceptance, in respect, in mutual aid.
We hold a great treasure: our experience, our values, our joy. These are gifts that help us grow, that distinguish us, that define us. The time has come to share them. It is a demanding challenge: to help our Church and other movements and associations, through our way of building community, while enriching ourselves through openness to and sharing of different talents.
Something new and beautiful awaits us—to show our beauty, our uniqueness, our diversity. It is the Church itself that has asked this of us. And we answer: "Yes, we are here too!"
March 27, 2014 will remain a date in the history of Fede e Luce in Italy. It is the day our association received recognition from all the Italian Bishops. What better date could our Lord have chosen for us than March 27? It is the feast of Saint Emmanuel, whose name means God is with us. Surely God is and always will be with us. He has given us the gift of a unique moment—the moment of "our" recognition within the Church.
We give thanks to the Lord for this gift, and we ask for the protection of the Virgin Mary as she accompanies us on our joyful but demanding journey.
Paolo Tantaro