 |
|
|
|
 Monsignor Guerino Di Tora
was born in Rome on 2nd August, 1946, obtained the degree
from the Lateran Pontifical University. He was parish vicar of San
Policarpo all’Appio Claudio, later on Parish and Prefect of the XXI
Prefecture. He is the Director of the diocesan Caritas of Rome since
1997 and rector of the Basilica Santa Cecilia in Trastevere.
As
Director of the Diocesan Caritas, he presides the arch-fraternity of the
Most Holy Sacrament, Most Holy Mary and St. Gregory Thaumaturge, the
Consorzio Roma Solidarietà and the Fondazione Antiusura, “Salus Populi
Romani”. Moreover, he is a member of the Administration Council of the
Inter-diocesan Institute for the support of the clergy and the College
of the Presbyterian Council. We have addressed some questions to him on
the social thematic in relation with the Church.
Before the globalised society, the phenomenon of the marked aging of the
population and the crisis of work, how can and must the Church get
integrated in this context?
“More
than reasoning on how to get integrated, I prefer to go deep into the
way with which it is possible to give testimony and proof of the
Church’s capacity to be near everybody in the historical and social
context. I refer to Gaudium et spes that shows a Church as
ferment in the historical context. One of the first documents of
Christianity, “The letter to Diogneto”, speaks of Christians as
persons who live in the same cities and the same realities as those of
all men, but in a different way, without doing the same things, but
pointing at their culture and faith. In fact, it is possible to
understand its value also by analysing the history of Christianity and
by studying how the Church models her needs as well as the actions of
the Popes and Bishops as measures to face new styles of life or to
defend us against the invasion of the barbarians. I think that today we
need an external welcome, such new ways of insertion as to offer a deep
sense of welcome to the new problematic, starting from the phenomenon of
globalisation, the immigration problems, ecumenism in the Christian
field, always with a particular attention to the person”.
The defence of life from the origin up to its natural conclusion, is one
of the cardinal points of the Magisterium of the Church. Which modality
can be used to furnish the necessary support to such an important theme
and how can it be proclaimed to a society that does not pay enough
attention to the dignity of the person?
“First of all, I think of the family with renewed attention. The family
reality, which has always been the foundation of human society, lives
moments of difficulty. People speak of “open family” and of “family
beyond the institutions”, realities without any fundamental values. We
must keep in view the family in its mono-nuclear and patriarchal
context, without losing sight of all the implications that these
differences imply. We must not forget also the economic aspect and the
exigencies of the families which find difficulty to let both ends meet.
There is also the education question, starting from the nursery stage,
with its enormous burden of responsibility, especially for the future
system of the country. They are all concrete exigencies waiting for an
answer, drawing a hint from the fantasy of charity. Let us imagine, for
instance the parish of the Ottavia village in Rome, where the families,
above all of immigrates, are compelled to work and do not know whom to
entrust their children to. The mothers of that territory, together with
a sister, have proposed the idea of starting a nursery within the
parish. It is an exemplary story about the capacity of giving value to
family charisma.
Let
us think again of families in difficulties, psychologically frail –for
instance the case of young couples- who need a net of assistance, of
proximity within the quarters and in palaces.
How can the Church offer the alternative answers to a society that is
always more spurred by market mechanisms and by exasperated
individualism, which reject the values of solidarity and co-operation,
as well as the family founded on matrimony?
“We
must stress the formation of Christians who believe in these values.
Today, we do not need “buonismo” but firmness, to be solid in our
Christian values. This implies a passage, for instance, fro a life of
sacramental religiosity –founded on participation in the Sunday Mass or
on being present in funerals- to a formation for life in the world and
in society as missionaries.
For
instance, in Rome they speak much of city missions. John Paul II pointed
at the parish that re-discovers itself by coming out of its boundary in
order to grow in paying attention to the persons who attend the parish
church and who can be transformed into occasions of renewal. Thus,
various interesting initiatives have been given life to, such as groups
of the Gospel, prayer meetings in the family and so on and so forth. It
is important to find again the centrality of Christian life founded on
the experience of encounter with Christ, rather than on a mere
tradition. Often a type of Christian possessing nothing as such has
derives from a simple tradition, such as Baptism, and from the habit of
attending the Sunday Mass. To witness to the Gospel we need people with
clear ideas. Paul VI used to say: we need witnesses, not teachers; we
need persons who, in their context of social life, know how to express
the reality of coherence with their faith.
Which type of co-operation can the Church and the
religious offer in the light of the
actual society’s critical knots? How must they dialogue with other
no-profit associations?
“The
Council has made us to re-discover the presence of the lay faithful as
members of the Church. Once we thought that the laity was just an
apparatus of support. The Council has made us to re-discover that every
Christian, as a Baptised person, is a witness of the Gospel, a
missionary; he is one who in his family celebrates in prayer the mystery
of redemption and the encounter with Christ. We must make clear the fact
that the lay Christians have a fundamental role in all this. It is not
so much the religious, as the lay persons that give testimony in the
family and in the field of work. Each person, in one’s own role and
charism, aims at a project, namely at the proclamation of Jesus Christ,
the Saviour
Today
there is the birth of new religious orders and a new form of
associationism, each with one’s own peculiarity, capable of answering
the expectations that society proposes. It is here that we can see the
effect and liveliness of the Holy Spirit, who calls us to unity of
intention through a plurality of forms. We need to recognise these
different charisma – a thing which is not too easy, especially in the
parish among different movements- keeping in view that they are
different means to reach a unique end. As religious, we are called to
collaborate with these new realities, overcoming the instinctive
differences. Those who, like me, have forty years experience as Priest
understand how complex the mechanism is and that it is not easy at all,
especially when we speak to new movements of pastoral character of
insertion in the parish activities. The Church is constantly renewed
because she lives in time and history. Collaboration is the secret”.
From the Rerum novarum up to the Centesimus annus, has the way
taken by the Church in the sector of social politics, from the very
birth of industrialisation, revealed itself as winner?
“More
than of winner, I would speak of the fact that the Church has revealed
herself capable of facing the times. She has revealed herself prophetic
and attentive to man. These are three inseparable elements, which say
whether she is winner or not. She has revealed her capacity to manifest
the sense of the saving presence of the Church also in difficult
contexts such as the social one. Let us think only of her being able to
intuit and to propose a way of managing the complexity of the
situations. From John XXIII up to Paul VI: each person has been able to
catch determined aspects, which at their time were signs of prophecy.
Above all, the context of the social encyclicals of the Church has
revealed an anthropology, which was not a simple attention to man in his
concreteness, to man who changes, though always remaining identical.
Today’s man is surely not to be compared with that of the mines and the
tiny social tutelage with its relative exploitation. To know how to
distinguish that work is a means for… and not vice-versa proves the
greatness of the Church, as well as to speak of the salary at family
level useful for the well-being of the family; the prophetic capacity to
prevent situations reveals the wisdom of the Church. Let us think only
of the denunciations contained in Populorum progressio by Paul
VI, which have been able to throw light, first of all, on some
distortions today visible by everybody. Her greatness is also to be
found in the capacity to offer very actual proposals and themes, such as
peace in the world and the world reality.
In the light of Centesimus annus, no. 48, how does the Church
intend to actuate the principle of subsidiarity on the basis of the new
social pathologies?
“To
me, the Church proposes a talk like that of subsidiarity and the
capacity of the person, taken individually in its corporative ability.
The Church offers principles through which men can find the modality to
realise the good of Society. The principle of subsidiarity is a very
strong principle in the actual society, where many times the
annihilation of the person has been verified, losing sight of the weaker
and the marginalised, who were considered as such not only in their
initial phase of life, but also in their last days. The Church pays
attention to life in all its moments, on the basis of a deep respect
During these last times, the interventism of the state has been rather
lacking with the result of making the principle of subsidiarity to
coincide with free privatisations and a re-dimensioning of the
intervention of the state. Can the Church solicit the answer of the
states in case of a hypertrophy, and eventually give an answer on the
basis of the newly delineating exigencies?
“I
think that the Church with her doctrine and the theology on Christ is a
critical conscience of humanity as far as attention to man is concerned.
She does not offer immediate solutions in this sense, but approaches it.
She is near the journey of man, above all, in the constant research of
an answer to these problems. Pre-manufactured recipes for the problems
of society do not exist and often technology can endanger the thought
and reflection on the problems to be faced daily. This tells us how
important it is to be close to man. Paul VI loved to say that the Church
is a teacher of humanity. It is not the matter of empty words, but of a
person who has the most complete humanity, namely Jesus Christ. It
pertains to the local churches to offer help to the specific context in
which they are called to work”.
|
