It is now an accepted principle that, for the Church, people with disabilities cannot be a burden or an additional problem. They are the beloved children who show her, through the fragility of their existence, that she has only one path to follow: the way of the cross and poverty, oriented toward resurrection—not as reanimated flesh, but as the fullness of life.
For about fifteen years, the Fede e Luce community "Nuovo Germoglio" has been present in the parish of Santa Maria di Gesù in Mazara del Vallo. According to the current pastor, its integration is complex. Among pastoral workers, there has not yet been a genuine shift in mentality—a way of seeing the group as a gift. Yet there are no signs of indifference, misunderstanding, or hostility; there is great respect and care. All those who perform pastoral service live alongside its members, but not truly with them, and even less for them.
Among the active members of the parish, the step toward genuine sharing has not yet been taken—not just of buildings and activities, but of daily life. The presence of Fede e Luce is welcomed, but the parish has not yet developed the ecclesial awareness to ask itself: What can we do to make this presence a prophetic sign of a missionary community in our territory?
The members of "Nuovo Germoglio" have joined as any other parish group might, keeping their own identity and their own ways of meeting, in keeping with Fede e Luce spirituality and methodology. They participate in the various celebrations of the parish and in its pastoral life.
The shared choice to become full members of a parish was motivated by the desire to share with others the "gift" that the young people represent. Among the community's members are families who, though they do not live in the parish territory, participate fully in parish life. Others are present only at particular moments—the monthly group gathering, or various organized occasions such as birthdays or celebrations—but always and only in reference to the Fede e Luce group, remaining at the margins of the broader parish community.
For all of them—the young people, their families, and their friends, about thirty people in total—the parish building has become a very familiar place. It often serves as a meeting point with the other two Fede e Luce communities in the diocese, and for all their social gatherings.
Despite this quiet but active presence, both the pastor and the group's coordinators have the impression they have not done enough to transmit the "prophecy" of Fede e Luce.
In theory, there are no real obstacles preventing integration and participation in parish life. But in practice, much ground remains to be covered before the young people and what they represent can truly be recognized as a gift within the life of the parish.
In describing the type of interaction between group and parish, Alda Mangiapane, the community coordinator, notes: "Over time the group has grown in numbers, but very few parishioners have joined us or shared our principles and activities—and even those were just a few friends. Not a single young person from the parish has become part of Fede e Luce. (…) As a community, we've felt we haven't done enough to make ourselves visible. We've asked ourselves many questions, but so far we haven't found answers about how to draw others' attention and involve them in welcoming disabled young people so we can all experience together the joy of friendship with each other and with Jesus."
The question arises: what is missing? What kind of welcome should a parish offer to a family with a disabled member, or to a group like "Nuovo Germoglio"? How can the parish become a place where the Christian community walks together with "difference" and opens its arms? How do we find the right language to help everyone mature toward an acknowledged and explicit sharing? How do we overcome ignorance, fear, and selfishness?
To answer, at least some of these questions—without exaggerating the difficulties or ignoring them—I believe three premises are necessary. They must never be taken for granted, because when left too implicit, they are easily forgotten:
- Every human being, in his or her originality and freedom, yet also in fragile humanity, is, on one hand, the "way" toward a true understanding of the Gospel. On the other hand, he or she is the "place"—original and originating—from which the Gospel comes to meet us. And also the "horizon" toward which the Gospel directs us. The images of "way," "place," and "horizon" allow us to grasp not only the human search but also the reverse movement: the human being who is sought by the Word. It is the movement from receiving the Word that seeks you out and challenges you, to seeking the Word that receives you with all your questions and your poverty. This journey, which involves both God and the human person, applies to every person, whatever his or her situation.
- A parish community that learns to make space for a group like "Nuovo Germoglio" in its own life invests, in a sense, in education. It educates not only the young people but everyone—to recognize true values and honor what is essential, to appreciate people for who they are inside rather than how they appear or what they can do, to discover the gratuity of friendship and solidarity, to find profound reasons for unity, joy, and love.
- To welcome someone means helping them discover and experience that they are a value. This communication happens through every daily gesture of the body and through every choice that makes communion the irreplaceable goal. Communion is very different from generosity or sharing. In communion there is a reciprocity of relationship within the womb of love. Not by chance is "communion" the theological category that describes both the mystery of God and the mystery of the Church. Communion is neither fusion nor control nor power nor possession; it is a relationship of mutual trust, based not only on values but also on difficulties. A life of communion requires a parish community that is warm, affectionate, gentle—that is, with its feet on the ground, realistic and peaceful, aware that with respect both to the mission it is called to perform and to the needs it faces, it can truly offer very little. At the same time, communion makes the community a human place, where life circulates.
Excerpt from the talk given at the conference "The Gift of Disabled People: The Members of the Body That Seem Weakest Are the Most Necessary," promoted by the National Catechetical Office, Sector for the Catechesis of Disabled People, Rome, March 21, 2009
