February 7, 2020
Cover image: Denise Turu from Who Is My Neighbor? (Flyaway Books 2019)
The Chair and the Study
"When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege of being free." A chair blazed in President Sergio Mattarella's end-of-year address. The chair came from Centimetro Zero, a social inn that has operated for four years in the Marche region, where young people with various disabilities paint and work. They chose to paint that famous line from Charles Hughes on it—a manifesto against conformity and a beautiful wish for 2020, which has just begun. We're greeting the new year by sharing with you a brief, unpublished video of Jean Vanier, filmed in January 2012 in his study at Trosly.
Words that light us up and strengthen us as we move forward—amid difficulty and hope, through nights and days—along a path of colored cobblestones. The same cobblestones that young people in the printmaking workshop at Chicco di Ciampino drew for their 2020 calendar.
"My heart is full of gratitude." That is how Jean Vanier, in a letter written sixteen years ago, wished a happy new year to the communities of L'Arche and Faith and Light. With his remarkable gift for restoring complexity to what the world always sought—and seeks—to flatten onto a single, limiting track, he recognized these communities as being, all at once, both fragile and strong. That same Vanier is the man our blogger and star columnist's father has never stopped thanking (as he himself has said) for the advice he gave when the child was only a few months old: "Trust yourself. Take the plunge. Don't be afraid. And try to be worthy of Benedetta—because every time you pray the Hail Mary, you will say her name. And you will discover that you need her more than she will ever need you."
Until recently screened and discussed in France, the film Jean Vanier: Le Sacrement de la Tendresse is now available on DVD. Cristina Tersigni reviews it for us. Though still subtitled only in French, it offers a new and moving encounter with the founder of L'Arche, who died on May 7, 2019—and a chance to see embodied the tenderness he spoke of throughout his long and fruitful life.
In a brief opening to our special feature on Cinema and Disability—which will resume in our next newsletter—Matteo Cinti has written for us a reflection on television series featuring people with disabilities. In 2019, portrayals from the United States to Italy grew notably more complex, avoiding easy stereotypes.
Benedetta's Blog
At Pope Francis's Birthday Party
Pope Francis invited me to his birthday party and I went. I ran there. I was very happy he invited me, and I told him so. Keep reading...
Events
Udine — Saturday, January 11 and Sunday, January 12, 2020. A weekend of workshops and talks on art as a tool for social change: "Fear of Being Left Out. Fear of the Other, Fear of Peripheries, Fear of Exclusion."
Siena — The pilot project promoted by the Tuscany Region continues: Museums for Alzheimer's. The next event takes place at the Santa Maria della Scala museum complex on January 24.
Milan — A conference at the University of Milan addresses the thorny question of Third Sector reform. January 28 at 4 p.m. Information and registration here.
Faith and Light
A delegation from the Un Fiume di Pace province traveled to the Holy Land for two days of formation on January 3 and 4. The gathering, titled "He Called Them to Him," took place right beside the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth: see the photos here.