The watchword of the summer of the Movement of Catholic Action Workers (MLAC) is “treatment”, which is also the acronym of the title of the national camp that took place in Sicily, a Mascalucia (CT), from 17 to 21 August 2022. We guard Man, Relations, the Environment, precisely CARE.
In the five days of work, in addition to a dense cultural program and exploration of good practices inArchdiocese of Cataniathe MLAC met experts who addressed the issues of work in the perspective of spirituality, justice, legality, environment, enhancement and promotion of the territory. Mons.Luigi RennaMetropolitan Archbishop of Catania, President of the Commission for Social Problems and Labor, Justice and Peace of the CItalian Episcopal inferencestressed that it is important to have a vision that is open to hope and to have a “Thinking thought” and the gaze that ranges from the custody of creation to the custody of the brother.
Agatino Lanzafameadministrative magistrate at the TAR of Lazio, who has developed the dynamics of work and legality, recalled that our country is founded on work understood as the industriousness of man and, in a Christian perspective, man participates in the work of God of creation by living work not as dominion but as service.
Don Bruno Brignani, director of the national office for social problems and work of the CEI, he illustrated the perspectives of Italian Catholics after the seventh social of Taranto, noting that everything is connected in a perspective of integral ecology (health, work, animals, the poor, peace, migration, biodiversity); fragmentary and isolated knowledge, in fact, can become a form of ignorance if they resist integrating into a broader vision of reality, while sustainability is relationship. The program was enriched by a collection of local experiences on work for the enhancement and promotion of the territory with don Roberto Fucileresponsible of Terre dell’Etna and Alcantara Ecclesial Cultural Park, with Sebastiano Papandrea, a lawyer committed on the environmental front, with Don Piero Sapienza, director of the Social Pastoral Office of the diocese of Catania, who spoke of synod and work. In addition, a cultural program accompanied the participants in the footsteps of Sant’Agata, in Catania, welcomed by Msgr. Barbaro Scionti, parish priest of the cathedral, in which the participants prayed on the tomb of Sant’Agata.
On Etna, beyond a moment of spirituality surrounded by nature, the participants visited the Silvestri craters, remaining enchanted. Then, on a visit to the Lombardo winery, in San Cataldo, in addition to knowing the path to enhance the territory created there, it was possible to taste the food and wine excellences of the territory, as also donated by Coldiretti. Finally, laboratories on work and social planning have put into practice what has been discussed in theory. All this was possible thanks to the support of the Archdiocese of Catania and the Catholic Action of Catania and other realities in the area.
The presence of Msgr. Salvatore Genchi, vicar general of the archdiocese of Catania, of don Salvo Cubito, vice rector of the seminary, showed the closeness of the church of Catania to members and sympathizers of the MLAC.
Similarly, the testimony of Giuseppe Notarstefano, national president of the Italian Catholic Action, of Emanuela Gitto, vice-president of the youth sector of the Italian Catholic Action, by Sebastiano Distefano, regional delegate of the Italian Catholic Action for Sicily, was significant in showing the intergenerationality that distinguishes one of the most important Italian lay aggregations. to understand Born in 1936, the MLAC is the missionary expression of Catholic Action in the world of work. It includes young people and adults who have developed a sensitivity towards problems linked to the world of work and who intend to live work as Christians: a place of encounter with Jesus Christ, of proclamation and sanctification precisely through work. The MLAC, in its many facets, accompanies workers to rediscover the spiritual root of work and the teaching of the Gospel, to place man and his dignity at the center of work. The MLAC takes care of the formation of its members through the encounter with the Word of God, the study of the Social Doctrine of the Church and attention to the complex cultural, social and economic realities of today, to build a new culture of work.
The MLAC intends to help people look at their own work experience in the light of the Gospel, through community discernment, that is, look together at reality to clarify it, study it and concretely commit themselves to the service of the society in which we live. The MLAC is active in the territories through the feasts of St. Joseph in the month of March, the prayer vigils on the occasion of the workers’ day on 1 May, seminars and study days for in-depth study and training, summer school camps as an opportunity to meet , formation and fraternity.
Movement of Catholic Action Workers: “Guarding man, relationships and the environment” – Il Sycomoro