LAKE
JUNALUSKA, N.C. (USA) - Feb. 24, 1997
Catholic community chosen
to receive
1997 World methodist Peace Award
PLAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (USA) -- The World Methodist Council, representing 73 Methodist and united church bodies around the globe, will give its highest honor this year to a Catholic community in Rome, Italy.
The 1997 World Methodist Peace Award will be given to the Community of St. Egidio, a volunteer service group organized along the lines of Catholic lay movements in Renaissance, Italy.
The community, formed to channel the commitment of its members to serve society, came to the attention of the World Methodist Council several years ago, according to the Rev. Joe Hale, general secretary with offices here.
It was founded in 1968 by a group of students and young professionals, because of their Christian faith and commitment to serving society. They later decided to take up the purposes of the 1986 Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi, convened by Pope John Paul II.
Andrea Riccardi, the youngest professor ever to occupy the Chair in Christian History at Rome University, was instrumental in framing the vision and founding the community. He graduated from the university with degrees in law, contemporary and church history.
The 1997 award is the first granted to a community rather than an individual, according to Frances Alguire, New Buffalo, Mich., chairwoman of the World Methodist Council Executive Committee. Of the 17 previous awards, three have been given to heads of state.
Announcing the recipient for the 1997 award here Feb. 21, council officials:
* commended members of the Community of St. Egidio for the courageous way that teenagers in 1968 pursued a vision to care for all members of God's creation through expressions of concern that make for peace;
* cited the creativity shown by the community as it expanded its vision to form communities in other countries, and embarked on peace initiatives between warring factions;
* recognized the consistency of the community and its determination in recent years to bring together annually various international governmental and religious leaders to dialogue and to share together in prayers for peace locally and globally.
Recipients of the Peace Award receive a medallion, a citation and $1,000. The 1997 award will be presented during a meeting of the World Methodist Council Executive Committee in Rome late in September.
Riccardi said the honor is an "expression of the profound evangelical sensitivity of the Methodist Council" and "confirms us in our Christian vocation ... to commit ourselves more and more in the efforts to help the wounded men and women of our societies."
He also said the award serves as a challenge for the community to "explore all the possible chances of peace and reconciliation for those who are lacking them."
The Peace Award has special meaning to the community, he said, "coming from your tradition in which the preaching of the Gospel and the service to the poor are so eloquently interconnected."
The Rev. Valdo Benecchi, president of The Methodist Church in Italy, affirmed the council's choice for the award. "I know their work for every kind of poor and for peace and am often their guest at evening prayer meetings," he said.
In Rome alone, St.Egidio members regularly minister to 6,000 children, 5,000 elderly people, 2,500 with handicapping conditions and about 600 AIDS patients.
In the past three years, the St. Egidio Community Center has given hospitality to 50,000 immigrants. The Egidio soup kitchen in Trastevere has fed 70,000 homeless, refugees and immigrants. Volunteers have distributed an estimated 400,000 warm meals to people living in the streets.
The work of St. Egidio has spread to other cities in Italy and beyond. Now communities are located in other parts of Europe, Latin and Central America, Africa, and Asia.
Beginning in July of 1990, St. Egidio's Riccardi was one of the official mediators in the peace negotiations between the national government and guerrillas in Mozambique. The talks took place in the Rome headquarters of the community. Signatures on Oct. 1992 brought an end to 16 years of civil war in which one million people died.
"Hatred is the basis of all wars because it inflames and devours the hearts of some people and entire groups," said Riccardi. "Religions do not desire war. They do not intend to become instruments of war. There is no such thing as a sacred war. Religion insists: only peace is sacred!"
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