To serve unity ” “

Bucharest, Ciocanari, Sibiu, Darmanesti… They are some of the Romanian towns that host a Carmelite presence. Experiences of faith that intersect with the daily life of the local people and their problems: housing, employment, assistance to the elderly and the weak. But the Carmelite presence also means celebrating mass together, and engaging with a civil and ecclesial reality that in a few months time will once again become an integral part of the Europe that “breathes with both lungs”, that of the East and that of the West, as prophesied by John Paul II. Church without frontiers. Especially thanks to the CEM, Carmelite Ecclesial Movement, the distances between Romania and Italy have been shortened. A community of Carmelite friars has been present in Bucharest for five years now. Their monastery is an unusual one: nothing but a double apartment in an ordinary apartment bloc in the suburbs, where a group of five Italian friars led by the prior, Father Tarcisio Favaro live. There is no concession to aesthetics, but in this mini-monastery everything is well organized and the continuous to and fro of the people of the neighbourhood is an indication of “an ecclesial presence that would like to be a sign of human solidarity and Christian hope”. A new religious vocation has also been born in these rooms: a Romanian youth has begun his novitiate. Not very far away is another convent: four nuns, two with an Italian passport and two from Madagascar, to whom a Romanian postulant has been added, live in another housing estate. Father Favaro explains that “probably at the end of this year we will be able to enter our new monastery, which is being built a few kilometres from the centre of the capital. “In the process of time – adds the prior – we hope to add a spirituality centre and, then, the sanctuary we wish to dedicate to Mary, mother of unity Faith and solidarity. “We believe – explains Adriana Formenti, lay leader of the CEM in Romania – that the Carmelite charism, lived and shared by laypeople, friars and sisters in communion between each other, though each with his/her own specific vocation, is the finest gift we can make to the Romanian Church”. “We wish to walk alongside those who wish to walk with us – continues Adriana -, having as our goal the meeting with Christ in our daily life”. Meanwhile, a number of religious and educational projects are flourishing around the Carmelite friars, sisters and laity (including foreign-language courses, evening discussions on current issues, choirs and charity events, while architects and builders are busily at work completing the new monastery. “All these are important activities, that absorb a great deal of energy”, explains Adriana, she too resident in an apartment block that recalls the Ceausescu era. “In the meantime – she continues – two Italian lay couples are present in Bucharest. Their task is to realize by 2006 a “Youth Home” at Ciocanari, outside the city. It will provide a home for adolescents, mainly tzigans, who leave the orphanages at the age of 18 without any prospect of life, education or work”. Caritas in Bucharest and two Italian associations (“29 Maggio” in Ghedi, Brescia, and “Fratello Mio” in Milan) are also involved in the project. Summer camps, animated by Italian and Romanian university volunteers, are organized in the hot months. Last year, Adriana recalls, “300 kids were present” at the camp at Darmanesti, in Moldavia. Different views on Europe. The Carmelite presence in a country with a large Orthodox majority has also become a meeting place for university students, families, young couples who are giving rise to a kind of “cultural laboratory”. It is a forum for discussion at which the participants reflect on the future entry of Romania into the EU, planned for 1st January 2007. Opinions on the matter are rather discordant. “The fears of EU accession are growing – explains Larisa Balbuzan, lecturer in theology and social doctrine at the university of Bucharest -. People fear a further impoverishment for the population, given that our economy will be unable to support the impact of the competition of EU countries. People also wonder whether families will have enough to eat or whether unemployment will get worse…”. Isabela Stefan, who will shortly complete her degree in law, says: “Our economy is backward, but we must also take into account the risk of losing our identity in so large a Union. On the positive side, however, we will have the possibility of dialogue with other cultures and traditions”. The “Western model” and “consumerism” are dreaded by everyone; Iulia and Stefan Pantea, newlyweds awaiting the arrival of their first child – she’s a musicologist, he’s an engineer – also point out “the problem of emigration to Spain, Italy and Germany. People are leaving because they are attracted by the dream of a better life. Communism left a crippling heritage; now consumerism risks having an equally perverse effect”. Dana Ciot, who has just graduated, points out, on the other hand, that “Europe may represent a good opportunity to grow, to combat corruption and to transform the country”.