“Bistro” with chapel” “” “

The innovative experiences of recent decades also include the new forms of evangelization and “spiritual guidance”, practised in particular by the lay members of associations, groups, communities and movements. The phenomenon is growing strongly. We have gathered some examples present at the European level. “Evangelization on the street” is one of the “specialities”, though not the only one, of the Emmanuel Community, founded in France (in Paris) in 1973 and now spread over five continents. It consists in this: a group of laypeople belonging to a community congregate round an icon in a central square of a big city. They pray together. They sing together. In the meantime, as generally happens, a crowd of curious passers-by gathers round them. Then, in pairs, the animators begin to strike up conversations with the individuals who have stopped to listen. “While the one prays, the other listens in silence. They try to get the person who has agreed to talk about questions of faith to ‘speak out’, explains Mauro Versari, one of Emmanuel’s animators in Rome; it’s not unusual to hear a series of attacks on the Church, on priests, but then in general the dialogue becomes wider. People often have a need of someone to listen to them, of someone to whom they can unburden their deepest problems, doubts, anxieties”. This street-based evangelization is conducted in many European cities. In Paris the Emmanuel Community has even opened a bistro with a chapel annexed, to the rear of the establishment, at Pigalle, one of the city’s most difficult quarters. The nearby parish of the Trinity has also been entrusted to priests of the Community. “In the bistro the approach – Versari explains – is similar to that used on the street: and in the chapel there’s always someone praying. Everything takes place by placing every word and every action in God’s hands, so that people may once again rediscover serenity and faith”. Similar forms of evangelization are practised in Ireland (“a country scarred by years of civil war, and in need of reconciliation”), in some countries of Eastern Europe, and in various states of the old continent. “In Rome – Versari explains – we’ve opened a ‘School of charity and mission’, an experience begun in Slovenia and then adopted in Fatima, Milan and Paris. Anyone who wants to rejoin the faith enrols in the school which consists in two evenings of intensive formation each week, as well as some weekend retreats. The aim is evident: accepting the charity of the Gospel and beginning one’s own ‘mission'”. Another particular form of “spiritual guidance” that is now widespread at the European level is that of the Cvx (Communities of Christian Life). In Europe some 8,000 laypeople follow this form of community experience inspired by the spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola. “The dimension of spiritual guidance is important for the Cvx – explains the Italian assistant, Fr. Gianni Notari – in that it is aimed at the greater glory of God in each person and the search for the complete human development of the individual person. The objective is to increase apostles and multiply charity”. Those who join the Cvx are accompanied in a journey of seeking the presence of God in their own life, identifying and fostering the specific gifts which each person has and placing them at the service of others. So each person has, in his initial journey, a “tutor” who – explains Father Notari – “takes to heart that person’s personal story, conducts a process of discernment, and encourages him to look inside himself to seek the presence of the Lord”. The members of Cvx often work in fields such as charity, welfare of the poor, politics, research and study, the universities. “The risk in the European countries – adds Fr. Notari – is that the Gospel is accepted mainly by the higher social classes from a cultural point of view, whereas in Latin America, for example, the Cvx are widespread in poorer sections of the community”. A different form of spiritual guidance is represented by the OFS (Secular Franciscan Order), one of the largest in numerical terms: there are over 500,000 members worldwide. In Italy alone, the land of St. Francis, there are 120,000. “Among the Franciscans – explains the international head of the movement, Emanuela Di Nunzio – the idea of spiritual guidance by the laity was born just a few years ago, in an experimental form, in France and the USA. Each local OFS community has its own spiritual assistant, normally a Franciscan priest. Since such posts are becoming increasingly hard to fill, here and there it was decided to involve some particularly well-formed and sensitive laypersons in the mission. In the constitutions recently approved by the Holy See this practice was authorized, together with the formative process that this particularly delicate ministry requires. There is a selection process and a specific preparation. The formation that prospective lay assistants need to undergo is very thorough, and under the responsibility of the superiors major and the secular institutes. In France in particular there has been a great deal of discussion of this ministry, also by the episcopate. A development of these forms of spiritual guidance, for the time being limited to some tens of persons, is presumable in the near future”. Luigi Crimella A growing phenomenon Men and women religious, animators of spiritual retreats, priests and laity, deacons and community leaders: in France they are all agreed that never before has there been such a growth of requests for “spiritual guidance”. According to the Catholic daily La Croix, which conducted a survey on the phenomenon (27-28 October 2001), it is not only growing in numerical terms, but is assuming very precise contours in terms of the spiritual needs it is intended to address. “People are constantly arriving [at the abbey] presenting the existential and religious problems they face in their own life” – explains Fr. Raymond, Cistercian monk at Maine-et-Loire – “so much so that two fathers of the abbey have been allocated permanently to welcoming them and offering them spiritual assistance”. The sisters and animators of various houses of spiritual exercises report similar experiences. “We accompany a large variety of people – explains Fr. Odilon de Varine, Jesuit and spiritual guide in Paris –. Some arrive with an explicit and precise question, others on the contrary are prey to an inner malaise, almost a disease of the soul that they cannot define or give a name to”. Another common denominator may also be ascertained from the replies of all the “spiritual companions” interviewed: “This service may also lead to ‘cures’, to a healing process, but it’s aim is not primarily therapeutic. Our task is rather that of helping someone to recognize himself before God, as a person who is the object of his Grace and at the same time a sinner”. Apart from the well-known cases of religious orders and congregations that provide a welcome to those seeking spiritual guidance, in response to their own “charism”, some innovative experiences are also being registered at the diocesan level. At Rennes, for example, a formation programme for the laity that provides for a personal experience of spiritual guidance has been on offer for over a decade now. Its aim is to form persons who are then able to perform this service, in turn, beyond the restricted circle of male and female religious communities. The work of “pioneers”, discreet and modest, this apostolate in the diocese of Rennes is based on the methods of Ignatian spirituality.