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You are here:Home / Family News / NEF 2016 / Family News - June 14th, 2016 / Signs of Mercy
Jun 16, 2016

Signs of Mercy

He who is not welcoming cannot call himself a Christian

 Fr. Maurizio scj with Karim and his family

“ ... The Jubilee Year of Mercy is coming up , and I make an appeal to the parishes, to the religious communities, to the monasteries and the sanctuaries of all Europe to express the reality of the Gospel and welcome one family of refugees...” (Angelus 6 September 2015). Answering this appeal of Pope Francis, the religious and parish community of Montemurlo (Italy) tried to find a concrete response as a sign of closeness to the little ones and to the marginalised, bearing in mind mainly these words of Pope Francis: “We are called to give a concrete hope and not simply say: “Courage, be patient!”

Every day on television we see unfolding pictures of the modern day tragedy of men, women and children taking to the seas at the peril of their lives to escape war or poverty and to seek hope in Europe. Such scenes appearing so often that they become more like an episode in some drama are far removed from our own lives. We become so used to them that we run the risk of being unfeeling of the pain and suffering of all those men and women living like refugees, escaping the poverty and violence which has turned their homeland and their houses into inhospitable territory. Our Rule of Life, No 115, asks us to be close to the various forms of poverty and not to be indifferent. This is the spirit which the call of Pope Francis during the Angelus of 6th September 2015 touched us deeply as a community: “In the face of the tragedy of tens of thousands of refugees escaping death because of war and hunger, and who are on their way towards fresh hope, the Gospel calls us and requires us to be “near” to the smallest and most abandoned and give them reason to hope. It is not enough to say “courage! Have patience!” said Pope Francis. Christian hope is a fighter with all the determination of one going towards a safe future. Therefore in view of the Jubilee of Mercy I call upon parishes, religious communities, monasteries, and sanctuaries throughout Europe to show the real aspect of the Gospel message and to take in a family of refugees.”Afterwards, during a community meeting Fr Maurizio spoke to Fr Pietro and myself about the possibility of opening our three parishes of Montemurlo to receiving a refugee family. The decision was unanimous but how could we go about it. How were we to handle the official side? Where would we find the ideal place? Providence came to our aid! At the first clergy meeting at Pistoia, the Bishop, Mgr Fausto Tardelli resolved several of our questions by offering all the parishes of his diocese the financial resources and projects of Caritas who undertook to contact the different authorities for the distribution of refugees in the parishes.

The months following the meeting were decisive for implementing our project for Montemurlo. It was not easy to find a rented house! Suspicion of the refugees and fear created difficulties for us but finally the willingness of countless parishioners who get together to find a house and the where- with- all to furnish it, helped to resolve the problems for the best. And so it was that on the 2nd February (the eve of the feast of Consecrated Life), Fr Maurizio and some parishioners welcomed a refugee family from Guinea into their new home - Karim Barry, his wife and their two children aged 3 and 5 years. They had attempted, like many others before them, to escape the poverty and violence. Karim had escaped towards Italy two years previously by crossing the Mediterranean on one of those overloaded boats which we see so often on TV. He was granted asylum as a political refugee and during those two years he had obtained a college diploma in Italian and had found work as a gardener. Once he had been sufficiently settled he brought his wife and family to Italy where they were at last able to hold him in their arms! For the past four months our community has been living in close contact with the everyday reality of the refugees; for us it has a name, a story and a face. We are now part of their history and share their daily problems. It so happens that sometimes Fr Maurizio rushes to the hospital during the night to take Karim’s daughter to E and A; or I may be called upon to mend a leaking pipe on the shower. We even buy an extra chicken for sharing. We sort out the problems for getting a resident’s permit. We even sometimes do some baby-sitting for their son Amaduri to allow his mother to go to her Italian classes. By our welcome we are being faithful to the demands of Mercy: being near to the poor and who are in need not only of food or money but of a familiar face which they can recognise.

Simone Panzeri scj

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