A River of Peace - North
A journey through the planets, in a sky of endless blue. That's how the children imagined the theme for our summer camp in Cesenatico. For years now, the communities of Rho, Cesano Boscone, Gratosoglio, and central Milan have spent a week together each July.
Everyone is welcome—we range from three to eighty-four years old. This year, the children carved out something entirely their own. They pitched ideas and led our evenings together: a voyage to planets like Tandentopolis and Watermelonland, where they met characters whom Fede e Luce taught about sharing, joy, hope, friendship, and peace.
The young people also ran a real newsroom. Lorenzo, Alessandro, Mattia, Marta, Chiara, Gabriele, Matteo, Lorenzo the Elder, Pietro, and Cosimo threw themselves into the work. They interviewed friends, took photographs, and shot video. The results are impressive, and "The Fede e Luce Gazette" (which you can read in Dialogo Aperto) promises a bright future.
Angela Grassi
Kimata - Central Region
We have always believed that the richness of the Kimata province lies precisely in its diversity. It's good to know that we have so many communities with different languages and different histories, Catholics and Orthodox, younger and older communities, each on its own path, sometimes a bit uphill.
This richness has strengthened the bonds between us. Distance remains, certainly, but the sense is that we are drawing a little closer.
Before the summer, Greece hosted a long weekend bringing all the communities together, followed in October by two more days of meetings. The communities in Athens went through a difficult time; now they are gradually coming back to life, slowly, without rushing, paying more attention to the "quality" of their gatherings.
This summer a camp took place in Cyprus, with participants from Greece and six from Italy as well. Sharing in the joy of Iliana, Vassilis, Andreas, Giovanna, and Roberto alongside all the young people present was a seed of hope for the entire province.
The communities of Emilia-Tuscany have begun the work that will lead, by year's end, to a renewal of all their coordinators, with help from Luciano and Don Lino.
The Central communities got a late start to their year's activities, but they've launched them with full force. God willing, this will be a year full of beautiful surprises.
Stefano Di Franco
Sea and Volcanoes - South
Our community celebrated June 3rd with our Day of Proclamation and Sharing. As we do each year, we organized a lunch at a friend's house in the countryside.
Everyone gave their all—even those who couldn't attend—and many people answered our invitation. There were about fifty of us, members and guests alike. The day unfolded in simplicity, harmony, and mutual willingness to help. We danced. In every way, it seemed like every other year. But then the spirit of Fede e Luce, which we live every day and which marks our gatherings, truly came alive.
Long afterward, our guests still remembered the beauty of that day—that sense of being one body, one community where life unfolds in peace, without envy, without harm.
Every gathering of ours is lived this way. Our strength comes from the smile of our young people. For our community, it was moving to hear from those outside the movement what they felt. It helps us go forward, spreading not through many words, but through our simple witness, the great message that Fede e Luce carries within itself.
Carlo Gazzano - Edelweiss Community