Can You Help Us?
I have been a subscriber for many years, and I am writing to make a request. Someone I know recently had a granddaughter born with Franceschetti syndrome—a fairly rare condition, unfortunately. I would be grateful if your magazine could devote some attention to this reality in an upcoming issue. Perhaps you could identify resources or people in the Milan area who work with families affected by this condition, and recommend books or testimonies.
Thank you, and all the best to your work.
Beatrice Leali
We wrote back to express our regret at being unable to find adequate information beyond clinical descriptions. Can any of our readers share news and experiences related to this illness?
A Day in Favignana
Dear friends at Ombre e Luci, I am thrilled to tell you about the wonderful day that our communities from Palermo, Mazara del Vallo, and Salemi spent together on August 19 at Favignana, thanks to the hospitality of Mayor Lucio Antinoro and his staff. They placed the Radangia beach at our complete disposal, equipped with an accessible ramp, a large tent with chairs and tables, bathrooms suitable for our young people's needs, and the opportunity to enjoy free refreshments at the beach bar. In the afternoon we toured the famous Favignana Tonnara, and afterward we took a brief tour of the island. Most importantly, we were able to bear witness to the splendid reality of Fede e Luce—particularly significant in this place, where attitudes toward disability remain backward and many parents feel shame about bringing their children into public view. These young people live their lives at home, without stimulation or diversion. This is why we chose to spend that day in Favignana. Salvatore Vultaggio, recently elected coordinator of the Salemi community, had met with local families and recognized both the need to start a Fede e Luce community there and the difficulty of making it happen. Given these obstacles, what better way to begin than by sharing our testimony? And it was received with tremendous warmth by Esmeralda, one of the very few courageous mothers who, along with her son Francesco, spent this beautiful day with us. The road ahead is still long, but we hope—as a wonderful song says—that "brick by brick a great house is built."
Chiara Calascibetta
The Gap Between Words and Actions
I was shocked last year during a bioethics debate. I watched as some regular parishioners, who fiercely defend life at all costs, were unable to offer a sign of peace to my son Antonio during Mass—a boy with severe disability.
This gap between their words and their actions truly pains me. We do encounter magnificent priests—just, humble men—but it is sad that this witness shows up mainly at Fede e Luce gatherings and at Lourdes. The Church belongs to the smallest and most fragile among us, everywhere and always. Because it is in each of us that fragility is hidden—that fragility which our "illuminated troublemakers" reveal to us.
R.B. from O&L no. 176
It Is Not Always Easy
I am a healthcare worker in a residential care facility connected to a psychiatric clinic. It is exhausting work. Many patients suffer from Alzheimer's. We hear often about mistreatment of elderly people, but who speaks of the mistreatment suffered by care staff—from residents and their families? The Church is hardly present in our facilities. So how can we blame relatives for their absence? What do we know of what they endure, what physical and mental state they are in when they entrust their elderly parents to us? What would we do better in their place? We must bring much attention, tenderness, and listening to them as well.
Our facility has Mass occasionally. Volunteers walk past our elderly residents and ask: "Good morning—are you a believer? Would you like to go to Mass?" No response, or incomprehensible answers... then they move on. These volunteers need urgent formation and training.
We have an elderly woman to whom we are deeply attached. Some of us knew her before her mental state declined. Now she removes her clothes, spits, hurls insults... The volunteers asked us not to bring her to Mass anymore. But if she is not among the "Little Ones," who is?
C. A. from O&L no. 176
The next issue of Ombre e Luci will be devoted to elderly people with disabilities or illnesses. If any of you readers send us reflections, texts, stories, testimonies, and significant photographs, they would be of great help to us.