Assembly of Delegates of Charity of the Southern European Conference

From the 15th to 17th June at the Domus Pacis at Our Lady of the Angels, in Assisi, the Assembly of Delegates of Charity of the Conference of Southern Europe (CEM) was held. The meeting, entitled "Brothers and minors at the service of the fragility of our time" and led by Br. Francesco Piloni, President of the CEM, wanted to analyze, in the light of the Gospel and the Franciscan charism, the new forms of poverty and vulnerability that cross contemporary society, highlighting the importance of a Franciscan network of charity capable of putting experiences in dialogue, resources and sensitivities from the different territories. 

On the first day, the biblical scholar Fr. Giulio Michelini, OFM proposed a reflection entitled "Charity at the heart of the Gospel: the new commandment of love", placing at the centre of his speech the very root of Christian charitable action: not a simple ethical commitment, but the response to God's prevenient love. "God loved us first" was one of the key affirmations of the report, in which the Franciscan recalled how every authentic work of mercy is born from the imitation of divine action and that "if we can perform works of charity, it is because God first performed them". 

Br. Cesare Vaiani, OFM, Definitor General, addressed the theme "Charity in the Franciscan charism: Francis and the encounter with the leper", a topic that recalls one of the founding episodes of the spiritual experience of the Poverello-the Poor Man of Assisi and that still today questions the Friars Minor on the ability to recognize in the face of the most fragile people the privileged place of encounter with Christ. 

Amongst the speeches of the final day, particularly significant was that of the psychotherapist Alfio Lucchini, who offered a lucid analysis of the phenomenon of addictions in Italy. Retracing the evolution of the last decades, Lucchini showed how the phenomenon has profoundly changed: no longer just drug addictions related to substances, but a galaxy of behavioural addictions involving gambling, digital technologies, the web, affective relationships, and new consumption models. Any effective response, according to the scholar, must start from the person in his or her complexity and from the search for paths capable of enhancing his or her resources and dignity.

To take up this challenge from the Franciscan point of view was Br. Stefano Gennari, one of the organisers of the meeting, together with Br. Antonio Ridolfi, Minister of the Province of the Immaculate Conception in Italy, and Br. Antonio Lembo, referent of the Charity Commission of the CEM. Br. Stefano is the head of Mondo X Sardegna and gave a report entitled "The evolution of a Franciscan intuition:  a prophecy to be revived".  

"More than proposing a model," said Fr. Stefano, "I believe that we can bear witness to a style. Charity is profoundly vocational because it helps each person to rediscover the plan of good that God holds for him. Accompanying someone means helping him to recognise his own dignity and his own calling. This applies to those who live with an addiction, but also to every young person in search. Charity then becomes a place where the face of God is proclaimed through concrete closeness to people." 

Various ideas emerged from this meeting, on which we must reflect in the face of new fragilities, structures, or projects that are not enough, but communities capable of generating relationships are needed. In this sense, Franciscan charity continues to show itself not as simple assistance, but as an experience of fraternity that restores dignity, hope and future to people, guarding the prophecy of Francis of Assisi and translating it into ever new forms of closeness to the least. 

In a time marked by loneliness, marginality, and new forms of poverty, the CEM confirms itself as a laboratory of discernment and hope, where fraternity becomes a concrete instrument of service to the fragility of our time. 

Source: www.assisiofm.it