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14/02/2003 |
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The Community of Sant�Egidio celebrated its 35th anniversary with a Mass at Saint Paul Outside the Walls on Feb. 7. (They couldn�t do it at their normal liturgical gathering point, the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, because it couldn�t hold the overflow crowd). The site was fitting, since it was near St. Paul�s in Febuary of 1968 that the first group of young Catholics met to dedicate themselves to the service of the poor, founding a group that would eventually become Sant�Egidio. The movement was named for �Sant�Egidio� because that�s the piazza in Trastevere where they eventually established their headquarters. Sant�Egidio was born in Rome out of the radical student energies of the late sixties, by a group of young leftists who wanted to work for social change without losing their commitment to the Catholic faith. Sant�Egidio works on issues ranging from abolition of the death penalty to inter-religious dialogue. They are also successful diplomats, having played a key role in negotiating the Mozambique peace accords in 1992. In keeping with the Sant�Egidio spirit, a place of honor at their anniversary Mass went to an ecumenical delegation of visiting clergy from the Serbian Orthodox Church, in Rome for talks with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. I�ve written before that the Vatican does not see the �new movements� in the church the way some American Catholics do, i.e., as creatures of the Catholic right, in large measure because in Rome the most visible movement easily is Sant�Egidio, and it tends to skew toward the center-left. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 69, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, was on hand to celebrate the Mass. Re is seen as a moderate among the papabili, or candidates to be the next pope, and his embrace of Sant�Egidio will bolster that impression. In his homily, Re said Sant�Egidio has lived �an intense, complex 35 years,� saying they have managed �to live in the world, but anchored to the gospel.� Re praised the work of Sant�Egidio on behalf of peace, ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue, and the struggle against AIDS in Africa. Re also praised Sant�Egidio�s commitment to prayer and liturgy, noting the large crowds that throng to the regular evening prayer in Trastevere. �We stand with Sant�Egidio in sympathy and friendship,� Re said, �and pray that God will make them ever more instruments of good in our contemporary world.� One footnote: During Re�s homily, a woman stood up in the crowd at St. Paul�s and began shouting. Only bits and pieces were comprehensible, but it was clear that she was homeless and wanted someone in the church to take note. A few Vatican security personnel were on hand, undoubtedly for Re and the other curial power-brokers in attendance, and they swooped in as soon as the disruption started. In typical Sant�Egidio fashion, however, several community members surrounded the woman, comforted her, calmed her down, and eventually she took her seat and stayed for the rest of the Mass. They showed patience and compassion, traits with which it is possible to do a remarkable amount of good.
John L. Allen
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