Talk of Bishop Raymond Field
Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin

I wish to congratulate the Community on the Dublin launch of the nook �Sant�Egidio Rome and the World� by Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Community in Rome in 1968. I have no doubt that other and better-informed speakers will say more about Andrea, the prophetic aspects of his life and the broad-based work of the community in promoting peace and ecumenical dialogue internationally. 

In his Apostolic Letter Novo Millenio Inuente Pope John Paul II quotes from St John�s Gospel 9Jn 12:21). The request made to the Apostle Phillip by some Greeks on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover: �We wish to see Jesus� (NMI Par 16). Like those pilgrims of 2000 years ago, the men and women of our own time � often perhaps unconsciously � ask believers not only to �speak� of Jesus Christ but in a certain sense to �show� Him to them. Since its foundation in 1968 the Community has done this, it has endeavoured to show the face of Christ to the world through its threefold principles:

• Spreading the word of God

• Serving the poor; the poor are at the very centre of the life and work of the Community and

• by promoting Ecumenical dialogue.

The way of the Sant�Egidio Community is a full, 24-hour commitment to the Christian way �in the world and of the world� whose reference points are the first Christian communities of the Acts of the Apostles and Francis of Assisi.

While the Sant�Egidio Community has an estimated membership of 40,000 and is present in over 60 countries, nowhere is it more vibrant than here in the Dublin diocese. With about 25 members � many of whom are young adults-the community combines a committed spiritual life along with the social concern for, and engagement with, the elderly in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council.

As with member of the Community worldwide, prayer is at the heart of everything and is its first work.

By reading the Scriptures and putting them at the core of their lives, these young people accept the challenge to live a more authentic life and discover the invitation to truly become disciples of Christ. The Community wherever it meets, is a sanctuary of the Gospel. The Gospel is Good news, a precious treasure to be shared with other people, a light not to be hidden. The impetus here is that the Gospel is not a private possession but a treasure to be lived and shared.

We live in dramatic and ever-changing times politically and culturally. Such changes could be summed up in terms of a pervasive media culture, membership of an expanding European Union, an economic growth that spawned the Celtic tiger, huge advances in and dependency on technological developments, secularisation and pluralism, all of which have impacted on our society. It is the call to go against the culture of the day not to live lives just for oneself, in a narrow individualistic and self-centred manner, but rather to be instruments of a wider more inclusive love for everyone, men and women, and especially the poor, this is the focus of he /community here in Dublin. 

They meet together several evenings a week in prayer and reflection on the Scriptures in Rathmo9ines Church. In addition, in response to the call to serve the poor, they mot only visit the elderly in St. Mary�s Hospital, but they also make friends with the elderly wherever they encounter them � in genuine love and friendship, in support, in socializing, especially with those who might be neglected or forgotten. In turn, they try to be the face of Christ in love and compassion for the elderly.

Since meeting the Community here in Dublin in 1997, I have often though that small, ecclesial communities such as Sant�Egidio, are the secret for the future of the church. It is no wonder that Pope John Paul II spoke so positively of the immense value of the new movements for the Church when he addressed a gathering of over 50 ecclesial movements in Rome on Pentecost Sunday 1998:

�represent one of the most significant fruits of that springtime in the Church which was foretold by the Second Vatican Council, but unfortunately has often been hampered by the spread of secularisation� The Holy Father went on to say �Movements can thus make a valuable contribution to the vital dynamics of the one Church founded on Peter in the various local situations�.�

I think that these new movements working in communion with the Church will find their rightful place in the Church in the West where, as Cardinal; Murphy O�Connor said recently, parish communities themselves may in future become more a movement. As a public association of lay people in the church recognized by the Pontifical council for the Laity in 1986, Sant�Egidio works within the Church and is of the Church. They grow in the local Churches in a commitment of communion with the local community.

Communities such as Sant�Egidio are the source of new inspiration, for new hope and for a new evangelisation for the Church and for the future.

In congratulating the members of the Community on the launch of Andrea Riccardi�s testimony today, I give heartfelt thanks for the work of the Dublin Community on behalf of the elderly and the sick and for their witness to the Gospel in our society today,

Their life and work lead others to wonder, and as Pope Paul VI observes, that is the first act of spreading the Good News to others. You not only speak of Jesus, but by your way of life and commitment you also show Him. Yours is a living response o the request of the Greeks to Phillip: Show us Christ! If we hide our light wee puzzle no-one � when we share it with others, as you do another Christian is born.

I wish the Community continued blessings and I join with the many others that the Community may continue to flourish, for the XXI century and for the third Millennium which is more and more marked by cultural and religious pluralism, they are an opportune and hopeful sign that the future can be enlightened, as they show us Christ, in diverse and meaningful responses to the circumstances of our times all over the world. All of us pray that the Gospel will continue to be lived with enthusiasm and joy through the work of the Community of Sant�Egidio.

+Raymond Field
Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin