We want to thank everyone who responded to the appeal that Mariangela made in the editorial of issue 3/2001.
Many of you showed your support in tangible ways: those who were behind on payments sent what they owed, those who were current sent more generous contributions and renewed their subscriptions. Thank you. Others sent us warm letters by email or post, full of appreciation for our work, along with observations and advice that we hope to use wisely going forward. That's for you to judge.
We've also received criticism—some quite sharp—like the letter from Maria Rosa Oneto that you can read below. We've decided to publish excerpts from hers and other letters because we think it's right that all our readers see them. To Maria Rosa Oneto in particular, we'd like to say much more so that you might come to know and understand us better. We noticed in our files that you've actually received only one issue of Ombre e Luci, the one with the photographs from Lourdes. We hope you'll read a few more articles before you make your decision final. For now, we prefer to answer you through letters from our other readers, and we hope you'll write to us again. We'll do our best to be, as always, close to you and in solidarity. In other words: IN THE SAME BOAT! A hug to all of you, and happy reading.
A Window into Experience and Stories
Ombre e Luci is a magazine rooted in association and community. It expresses the sensibility and culture of a welcoming community for people with disabilities. Ombre e Luci is a genuine magazine because it reflects the complex lived experience of an international community that has accumulated over the years a rich legacy of humanity (the Church, it's worth remembering especially in these times, is made of this kind of reality, not of priests or Catholic schools). Ombre e Luci is a window into experiences, stories, and faces—a panorama of humanity read through a distinctive evangelical sensitivity, an attention to the small and vulnerable that shapes a series of choices and behaviors. It is a magazine made first and foremost by people rather than by words. It speaks of social issues but isn't a vehicle for social denunciation or politics. It addresses the rights of people with disabilities but doesn't claim to be a rights advocacy tool. It's a magazine that doesn't leave you feeling alone; it keeps you company. Beyond offering useful information, it spreads culture with a capital C and a sense of genuine solidarity rooted in lived experience, not in feel-good slogans.
Why not imagine that Ombre e Luci could reflect vital worlds and serve as a link and instrument of communication between them?
Daniele and Chiara Gatti - Rome
Turn the Page
Unfortunately, in the pages of your magazine there appears a vision of disability and handicap that is markedly catechetical and parochial. This is troubling at a time when most of us have or aspire to have dignified work, equitable and participatory social integration, and a dimension of life that, overcoming physical limits and bureaucratic obstacles, becomes the necessary thrust to build a better present and future. Despite progress in your magazine regarding concepts of diversity, abnormality, and equal or remaining capacities, handicap is still treated always and only as a resource for faith. As a "suffering journey" toward Providence; as charity and piety toward "the other"—ideas that were abandoned long ago or lie forgotten in a box marked "bad memories."
So, as my sincere advice, forgive me for saying frankly that it's time to turn the page and bring fresh air into the editorial office.
Maria Jose Oneto-Rapallo (Ge)
It Makes Us Feel Like Family
You do well to take stock of the situation. Sometimes it's necessary to start again with fresh conviction. But for now, your magazine is like a friend I know I'll meet every three months, and I can't imagine not finding him there anymore.
Learning about courageous initiatives, the people and groups who fight with determination to give full dignity to the weakest and least gifted—this gives anyone who understands it a charge of hope and energy.
I can only say what the magazine has meant and means to me, and I think the same is true for many others. It's certainly not the only organization that sets out to serve humanity and the most defenseless among us, but for me, this service, in its modest form, has a precious dimension—a familial one. It makes us feel like family. The possibility of speaking with you directly by phone during office hours and writing knowing we'll get a word of encouragement—for me personally that's been invaluable in difficult times.
From my experience, I can suggest that you highlight this possibility, perhaps even expand it if you can find the help. It's certainly useful to inform people who request it about all the resources and services in their area, because some burdens are easier to carry together.
It would also be wonderful if various groups of Ombre e Luci could form, with the magazine serving as their link and support.
What are your connections with Fede e Luce? Perhaps readers would also be interested in news about this association around the world.
Have you found welcome in the dioceses?
As for content, beyond the brief news items on various topics, it might be valuable from time to time to explore a theme or experience in depth.
I find the column on new therapies and medical and psychological updates incisive. Book and film reviews are useful.
Your magazine is different because it's open to everyone and not self-referential. Don't lose the wealth of expertise and experience you've gathered over so many years of work.
Maria R. Schaffner Clampi, Florence
Change to Endure
Of course, gradually you'll need people willing to take over from those who've given so much for so long and done it so well. But you must keep this magazine alive for the richness and humanity of its testimonies and for the service of providing information about books, communities, workshops, travel and vacation initiatives that aren't easy to find elsewhere.
S. Simonato, Cinisello Balsamo
More Spiritual Depth
I discovered the magazine through a French friend who, knowing I have a daughter with Down syndrome, gave me an issue of the French "Ombres et Lumière." I'll be honest: if you hadn't raised the question—"to see things more clearly"—I'm not sure I would have renewed my subscription, because I think something is missing from the Italian edition.
The Open Dialogue column is good, the various testimonies, the film reviews, etc.
But I haven't found in the magazine what I was looking for and what I had found in the 1992 French issue: spiritual depth, reading both the personal experience of disability and the experience of sharing and service in light of the Gospel of Jesus.
Thank you for the "provocation"—do we go forward or do we close? NO: we don't close. We go deeper.
If you'd like, I could contribute the occasional article.
Daniela Fedi, Pistoia
Connected to Friends
The arrival of the magazine in my home keeps me connected, through reflections, experiences, and news, to all my friends in Fede e Luce and to the world of disability.
I think the time has come for all of us to contribute to the well-being of both our community and of Ombre e Luci. The magazine is a service for everyone, and we've often been asked to give little. It would be wonderful if everyone took responsibility not just for paying their subscription, but for sharing news and experiences that sometimes seem obvious to us.
Rita Ozzimo, Rome
A Major Service
In my modest opinion, I believe you're doing a major service to the culture of integration, which is more necessary and timely than ever.
Marco Piolanti
It Tells My Story Too
I can guarantee you that I'll continue to share the magazine with my friends and acquaintances because, after all, it tells my story too (my friends and family often hear me talk about Fede e Luce, and they wonder what exactly keeps me so busy on weekends). Personally, I love reading the stories of young people I've met in the various communities in Rome and across Italy, people I haven't had the chance to see in a long time. Reading their stories makes me feel closer to them.
Annick, Rome
It Gives Me Back My Enthusiasm
I run a day center for occupational education that serves adults with disabilities. We have twenty clients with various types and levels of disability, and we offer them educational and support services that include manual and therapeutic activities as well as social integration programs.
I unfortunately work in an administrative, bureaucratic, and management oversight role for the whole center. My relationship with the young people—who, over more than ten years of work with disability, have given me so much—ends up being pushed to the margins of my work, which is mostly consumed by phone calls, computers, and paperwork.
That's why I always read your magazine with real pleasure. Its pages are full of humanity, sensitivity, lived experience, and genuine solidarity.
After so many bureaucratic, technical, and political discussions, finding space for calm reflection and the joy of living is a great treasure for me. It helps me recover the enthusiasm I need to do my work well, with the awareness that true solidarity in suffering is a source of growth for everyone.
Andrea Segato, Director of a disability services center, Abano Terme (PD)
It Makes Us Feel United
I can assure you that the magazine is important because it makes us feel united. It lets us relive the meaningful moments that Fede e Luce organizes and experiences. It informs us about initiatives and services that otherwise would remain known only to a few. Most importantly, it shows that it's written with the "heart" of those who have lived or are living these "particular experiences."
Elisa Sturlese, Milan
In My Thoughts
Dear Mariangela, I read in Ombre e Luci your question about whether to keep publishing or not. But how could you possibly stop? There are people who've been reading it for nearly twenty years, and it's the only way we feel united and know we still exist. Since R. came to Il Melograno, I've been on a journey of prayer, and you are always in my thoughts.
Lina Cusimano - Rome
What I Wish For
Dear editors of Ombre e Luci, I read your magazine regularly, but I have to be honest—I can't always understand your words, and I wish it were written more simply. It shouldn't focus on just one topic; there should be room for other things that interest us young people, like how to improve your own life. I wish you'd write articles about travel, experiences people have lived, and how to get along with others. And it shouldn't make a big deal out of being different—I don't like that. People love and care about each other for who they are, without making distinctions. I wish the magazine were written more lively, and it shouldn't feel like something made only for one type of person.
Giovanni Grossi
Warmth, Love, Values
It's one in the morning, I can't sleep, so I've come to the living room and, listening to a beautiful CD of Christmas concerts, I'm reading the latest issue of Ombre e Luci that arrived!
I just finished the testimony from the "Il Roveto" community, and I was deeply moved. But how could we possibly do without Ombre e Luci?
Every time I find warmth, love, and a call to the deepest values—values I risk forgetting in the daily grind, in the struggles with my health, and in the less beautiful parts of my character!
Thank you: you are the watchtower that calls me back each time and gives me fresh courage!
Trixi Pezzoli - Milan
It Gives Voice to Those Who Have None
A few evenings ago, Marta, who had just opened the mail, told us sadly that Ombre e Luci might close. We talked about it over dinner and discovered that all four of us read the magazine, or at least some of the articles.
For many reasons. Because it keeps us close to many friends. Because it informs us about Fede e Luce's activities. Because it proposes new forms of solidarity and participation, reviews books, and so on.
If you stopped publishing, it would feel like losing friends. And more than that, we think you'd be closing a space that gives voice to those who, alone, have no voice at all.
The Atzeni Family - Rome