Experience of Fathers Enrico Gemma, Paolo Benetton, Gian Marco Merlo and Diana e Fabio Martino

St. John of the Cross Parish, Rome

In a Roman parish priests and lay people of various ecclesial Movements are committed to living brotherly communion

Father Enrico

Seventeen years ago I was sent to begin a new parish community in a populace area of Rome .

I rented a small store on the ground floor of a fifteen-story building which I turned into a chapel and my living quarters. For thirteen years it was the only structure of the nascent community.

I was alone, but I had begun to meet with a group of priests who live the spirituality of unity. I felt attracted by the simplicity of their life and by mutual love that bonded them. With them I learned to “write” the Gospel in my daily life. Above all, I learned the art of loving.

Every morning I got up “and went out to love.” I went to the school-bus stop to wish the children and their mothers a good day. I went to the supermarket a couple of times each day to meet the people: lining up at the cash register I met new people, I suggested to some mothers that they become catechists, helped elderly people carry their shopping home. Little by little, the community was formed. Others gradually joined the first group.

To love, to be ready to give your life for one another, to do God’s will in the present moment: I in the parish, you in the family, he at work and then all together to share our experiences ready to begin again each time we did not succeed: this was the departure point for building the family of God in this area.

Father Gian Marco

In the recent history of the parish, in a way that we did not plan, but which was certainly prepared by God, three of us priests began to live together, priests from three different ecclesial realities (Focolare, Neocatechumenal Way , House of Mary).

At times I ask myself how our being together for our common pastoral work gave rise to an experience of true communion of life?

I find the answer in the fact that each one of us is free to fully belong to his own spiritual family, and I feel that it is really this bond that nurtures our life of communion.

Each one of us, then, is able to communicate and transmit his charism in the parish, first of all by witnessing to it with his own life and also in concrete forms of association.

A confirmation of this experience of unity in diversity came from John Paul II, who met with us priests for lunch and then with all the parish community. He left us a precious gift in these words which we keep as a testament: “A united parish, in which the diversity of charisms and ministries is respected, is like a family open to all.”

Fabio

In our community, besides the ministries and activities present in every parish, some ecclesial Movements developed harmoniously.

There is a good-sized group of the Focolare Movement, to which the pastor belongs, and the two of us with our two children; then there is the Neocatechumenal Way, to which Father Paolo belongs; now a group is being formed of the House of Mary which is the spiritual family of Father Gian Marco, and finally, there is the Community of St. Egidio.

There are relations of esteem and acceptance among these movements with concrete gestures of collaboration. For example, when the parish had very limited space, we focolarini received hospitality for our meetings from the Community of St. Egidio.

Diana

Each movement concretely contributes, in line with its charism, to the parish’s work of evangelization: in the liturgy, catecheses, Caritas, preparation courses for marriage or baptism.

We have about 400 children in our parish, and there are a variety of experiences with them too. Besides the normal groups of catechism, we have two experiences in parish recreation centers: one with focolarini animators and methods, the other with animators inspired by the method of don Bosco.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar of Rome , at the end of one of our parish meetings, told us: “There are other parishes in Rome in which different realities and spiritualities are present. But here, it seems to me that you realize that the presence of these spiritualities is a gift for the growth of the whole community. So to all those who come to the parish, you do not offer only the possibility of a practical service, but also the possibility of spiritual experiences and journeys.”

Father Paolo

Our life of communion is facilitated by the fact that we priests live together in the parish house. Two other priests who collaborate with us also live there, Froilàn from Bolivia , Mario from Vietnam , and a seminarian, Richard from Nigeria .

Our relationships are simple and joyful, as in a family. We try to eat together. At times we doing the cooking. We try to facilitate one another’s participation in the life of the communities we belong to. We share our experiences and difficulties.

Occasionally we go out together for a day of rest.

We realize that this experience of communion is a gift of God and that it is built every day, accepting one another as we are, each one with his gifts and weaknesses.

The serenity that comes from this lifestyle is then reflected in our pastoral work, which proves to be more effective.

For as long as the will of God keeps us together, we hope to merit the words that the Cardinal Vicar addressed to us at the end of his recent pastoral visit. “This really appears to be an exemplary parish because it is a community open to others. It welcomes others because here there is the true Christian spirit, that is, the spirit of communion. And when this is present, pastoral integration is easier.”