Frontier workshops

“Which future for Italian Catholic missions in Europe?” This was the theme of the first annual meeting of the national delegates of Italian Catholic Missions (MCI) in Europe (Msgr. Giambattista Bettoni, Belgium and Luxembourg; Msgr. Leandro Tagliaferro, Swizerland; Fr. Pio Visentin, Germany and Scandinavia; Fr. Federico Andreoletti, France; Fr. Antonio Belsito, England). The meeting, held a few days ago in Rome, was especially “important”. In fact, the national Catholic Missions shared their experiences and future engagements were defined. A path of commitment. “Catholic Missions – Msgr. Giancarlo Perego, from the CEI Migrantes Foundation told SIR Europe – are a large family who for a long time have been engaged in the pastoral care of Italians living throughout the Old Continent”. The annual meeting has become an occasion to resume reflections on the current situation of the Missions, to address new missionaries’ spiritual formation, and for an update on the initiatives under way. National delegates underlined “the fatigue, dedication and suffering experienced by missionaries, most of whom are growing old and must coordinate various communities of reference, pastoral units also addressing the new migration flows with younger people”. However, delegates also highlighted the “faith vitality of our compatriots and the appreciation on the part of local Churches”. The encounter models between the faithful, the Italian priests living abroad and the local churches differ from those of the Churches in Europe. “The encounters are marked by significant cooperation – explains the director of Migrantes – recognizing the originality and the richness of the experience of Italian Christians’ for the Churches, and acknowledging the distinction between the Italian community and the local Church”. From the debate between the national delegates and Migrantes workers it emerged that today “it is necessary to reiterate the value of the spiritual counsel of Italians abroad, and to reconsider the experience of the local Church in the different Countries from the perspective of cooperation and project, to the light of the ecclesiological principle of unity and difference, which demands a renewed relationship between the different experiences and communities of Catholics from the local Churches, enhancing new experiences. This is the concern of the Italian Church, which through the Migrantes foundation intends to address the ‘Evangelization plan’, starting from a thorough appraisal of the various situations and of local Churches’ experiences”. “A frontier” for the Church in Europe. The “Church of the Churches” – adds Msgr. Perego – “Europe, can identify in the Missions a workshop or a frontier” enabling to “envision the future Church”. From this perspective, it is necessary “to envisage a community of missionaries, enhancing the role of the laity, also by with appropriate formation, accompanying the departure of historical religious witnesses (Scalabrinians, Pallottines, Rosminians, Salesians…), reappraising the service to the Church of departure (a qua) and to the Church of arrival (ad quem) of Migrantes, a CEI pastoral institution called to study and accompany human mobility as a ‘place of grace’, and ‘sign of the times'”. In Europe. There are currently 400 Italian Catholic Missions working for Italian immigrants abroad, with over 500 priests, some 200 nuns and several lay faithful. There are 2,200 Italians living across Europe and some 250 Catholic Missions with over 300 missionaries. At least 80 Italian dioceses have helped their diocesan presbyters “to enhance with their own priestly experience a period of life abroad, among their own compatriots and in communion with the local Church, bringing pastoral richness to the diocese”. Some national delegations and Missions invested in ecclesial communication, with FISC membership (Italian Catholic weeklies federation), and set up a delegation that meets periodically to collect and share reflections on issues of mutual interest for Italians abroad, publishing the reports of SIR news agency. FISC includes the Migrantes Foundation weekly “Migranti-press”, the “Il Corriere degli Italiani” (Switzerland), “Corriere d’Italia” (Germany), “Nuovi Orizzonti Europa” (France, Belgium, Luxembourg), “La Voce degli Italiani” (England) and the online “Web giornale” (Germany). Latest initiatives include the mapping of the various foreign Catholic-inspired publications. “It is but another step towards ‘communion’, which seems to be the apposite path for the future of Italian Catholic Missions in Europe”, concludes Msgr. Perego. While the V edition of the “Italians in the World Report”, promoted by Migrantes on Italian migration, is currently being drawn up. The “Report” was conceived as a social, statistical and cultural handbook, and as a pastoral compendium in order to promote knowledge on Italian emigration and disseminate updated data to this regard.