| 01-09-2006 - Traces, n.8
NewWorld The Meeting through american eyes The Rimini Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples was born from the experience of some friends in the Movement. Now in its 27th year, the Meeting is the largest cultural event in the world. An introduction and testimonies from U.S. visitors to this phenomenal event by Michelle Riconscente In The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis’s tale of a journey from hell to heaven, everything about Paradise–people, water, grass, colors, sounds, smells–is described as extra-solid, super-dense, ultra-real. This image of the “solid people” came to my mind as I absorbed the spectacle of this year’s Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples. Perennially set in the seaside town of Rimini, Italy–a spot best known for its discothèques and beaches–the Meeting is a showcase of life brimming over in all dimensions, of a “solidity” of identity that makes it possible to engage in true dialogue, exploration, and beauty. And the event draws quite a crowd: 700,000 people pass through the entrance over the course of the week. Imagine a convention center offering free admission to a week of guided exhibits–in several languages–about subjects such as the Milky Way, the paintings of Edward Hopper, life in Benedictine monasteries, and happiness in Dante’s Paradise, to name a few. Down the hall, thousands flock to panel presentations on an astounding range of topics featuring internationally renowned speakers. For instance, at 11am on Thursday, one could choose among panels on “Identity and Modernity,” “Work in Prisons,” “Infinite Reason,” “Out of Crisis: An Italy that Works,” “Invitation to Literature”(where books are presented by their authors),“Models of Industrial Development for the 21st Century”(featuring Carnegie Mellon professor Ashish Arora and Northwestern University professor Scott Stern), and “Songs of the Mountains”(a live musical performance). Throughout the week, over 120 panels, 10 exhibits, a host of displays–from regional foods and wines to grass-roots organizations to sporting activities and shows–welcome visitors, inviting them to share and dialogue. Each evening offers its own selection of concerts and theatrical performances, while six full-service restaurants serving a variety of regional cuisines–plus a host of fast food vendors, Italian-style (no KFC here!)–feed the multitudes from morning to night. But simply describing the magnitude of the event–it’s the largest cultural initiative in the world–does not begin to capture its deeper significance as a vibrant expression of a proposal that is valid for living year-round. “The Rimini Meeting is explicitly inspired by a Roman Catholic view of the world, the result of the initiative of individuals and groups who live their Christian experience through Communion and Liberation…. At the root of the Rimini Meeting, therefore, lies a view of the world certainly not held by the majority of people in the culture of our time; a view considered by the established order of contemporary thinkers to be, at best, nobly ‘specific,’ incapable of universal relevance. On the contrary, the Meeting seeks to be a place where the Christian faith ‘boldly announces its love of human nature to the world’” (from the Meeting’s website). This love of human nature can be glimpsed in the decision of nearly 3,000 individuals to volunteer a week of their vacation time to make the Meeting a reality: they build sets, wait tables, serve as hostesses for invited guests, and attend to myriad other tasks. In fact, only seven people make up the official staff of the Meeting! Attempting to live this love, one quickly realizes that divine help is necessary to live a human experience. So each morning, you’ll find many of these volunteers and staff starting the day together at Mass. While there’s much to be learned at the Meeting, the success of the endeavor is itself the fruit of an education. Why else would thousands of youth pack an auditorium to hear about a contemporary Russian martyr, or overflow a concert hall for two hours to hear a singer perform folk songs he wrote for the Movement? And how is it possible that at a conference organized by Catholics, many invited speakers hail from the traditions of Protestantism, Islam, Judaism, and beyond? It is because the content and method of Giussani’s charism has helped us to be open, engaged, and interested in everything that exists and that happens. And since the human heart is the same for all, those new to this experience feel a deep resonance, often more than ever before. As explained on the Meeting website, “The fact of having met something acknowledged as radically certain does not close a person up but rather stimulates a desire for the discovery and recognition of all that is beautiful and good, following the invitation of St. Paul to ‘sift everything and keep what is good.’” Each Meeting theme builds on the previous years. The trajectory of these themes, and of this great initiative, underscores the centrality of true experience–rather than discourses–to a life lived in the “solidity” of which Lewis wrote. As the following contributions verify, the Meeting, like Christianity, is an encounter with an attractive humanity through which the Divine communicates Himself. Which is why the Meeting is just one example of what is possible every day. Living the Question at Work by Moira Luthin Boston, Massachusetts For me, the true highlight was the pre-Meeting, which is the time when volunteer students help build the various structures of the meeting and prepare the building for the exhibits and visitors. The students whom I had the fortune to work with impressed upon me a clear definition of what it means to work. At home, certain colleagues and friends of mine have a tendency to spend more time complaining about the task than doing the actual work. Yet, here, in Rimini, once a task was assigned, the job was not only completed but done quietly and with a care and enthusiasm that I have never before witnessed. Students showed a compassion toward one another that was new to me, whether they were demonstrating a better way to paint or giving directions for the project at hand. The people with whom I worked took special pains to communicate with me, a non-Italian speaker, and made certain that I was part of their work and conversations. These simple acts of generosity and kindness gave me a more optimistic feeling toward work and made my experiences at the Meeting much more meaningful. The idea of people moving in a specific direction together is a beautiful notion; but for me this reality was made concrete through witnessing the compassion and work ethic of the students. Both at home and at the Meeting, the worker asks, “Why should I do this work?”–but only at the Meeting was anything accomplished while the question was being asked. Many of the workers of the pre-Meeting were unable to attend the Meeting itself. One day, I asked a friend I had made if it made him upset to not see the fruits of his labor. His response was a simple but genuine, “No!” He elaborated by stating that he would love to see the Meeting but if he was only being asked to be at the pre-Meeting for a few days then he would work and be glad that he was sent for this task. This experience of the pre-Meeting not only made the impact of the Meeting stronger, but made me love it more, as it was created by a passionate group who realized that the task depended on them not as solitary individuals, but as a totality composed of individuals. Passions within a Unity The Beauty of the Event |