New World
cl life

So far, yet... so near
In St. Augustine, a small but joyful fellowship has taken shape through the intuition of one family that took a chance on a vacation invitation. The first School of Community in the oldest diocese in U.S. is being driven by the “palpable realization of a Presence” sprung from the loneliness perceived watching a film years before...

by Daniel Hoffman

“I am now at the point where all I can do is make this isolation an offering and hope it sanctifies me and my household.” We were lonely and my simple journal entry was a formal acknowledgment; a confession, if you will. Our family felt as if there was not much occurring in St.  Augustine, Florida, ever since we moved here in 2007. My wife and I had some infrequent contact with Communion and Liberation , but nothing really came of it.  We stayed in touch with some of the “CLers” in other parts of Florida–Jose Pedro and Vince–but since there was no presence in our area, we were not very engaged. We were simply looking for friends and any kind of a response would be the sign. One evening in 2011, I was sitting in a hotel room in Sarasota on a business trip. I started to change into workout gear and head to the hotel’s gym but when I turned the TV on, I found myself drawn into the movie, Lost in Translation. The first attraction was undoubtedly Scarlett Johansson’s beautiful face but then, for some reason, I just kept sitting on the bed and watching. As I tried to categorize the movie, I immediately thought of my family’s encounter with Father Giussani and CL a few years back, and felt that same existential twinge. I am not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the realization that, as one experiences the substantive humanity of others, one almost imperceptibly senses Christ.These characters were lonely and so were we.  When the movie was over, I decided to look for an e-mail contact for Traces. A few minutes later, I received a reply from the editor, who not only encouraged me to renew my subscription but also invited me to write a review of the movie. That got me moving.  
My wife, Patty, and I joined the Movement a year ago because we were looking for friends, not mere acquaintances. Slowly, we began to meet others over the phone and Skype, but still we felt isolated when all of the activity was occurring in other parts of Florida. In 2013 our state “responsible,” Jose Pedro, invited me to help with the organizing of the annual CL Summer Vacation that he wanted to hold in St. Augustine, just 20 minutes from our home.  I jumped at the chance and told my five daughters that I wanted them to “come and see” with Patty and me.  My request was met with varying degrees of expectation and reluctance, but my entire family agreed to accompany me.
The vacation was an event that will take a long time to “unpack.” So much happened, and the genuine feeling of belonging was something that surprised our family. Approximately 60 people came to St. Augustine for the vacation, and we felt as if we were at a family reunion. When the vacation ended, we found ourselves alone again and wished we had these friends with us on a regular basis.  In fact, we were a bit discouraged to be back to “normal.” Desa, our Italian friend who lives in Miami, mentioned that this time together will not mean much if it just becomes a nostalgic feeling that we return to in the future when faced with our mundane day-to-day life and work. We had to seek ways to help it grow in our lives, making it a source to draw upon during those times when the life inside life starts to wane again.
At the vacation, we met Christ and, yes, Giussani in the midst of this little communion in Florida. We saw it in the Mass with our bishop, the talks, the games into which I was thrust as a team captain, the sweet comment from Elsa who leaned over and whispered her joy to us that we were singing “Romaria” in her native tongue (Portuguese), and in the spontaneous explosion of joy that Friday afternoon when we all hit the beach. That was an unplanned event, filled with the palpable realization that there was a Presence with and beyond all of us. 

The first mass. Our desire to remain within this CL household, helped along by a gentle lesson from Jose Pedro and with the encouraging words of our bishop, is educating us in the fact that we need to stay put, for now, and do two things:  realize that we are a presence here in St. Augustine, in the midst of this diocese and community, and begin to share it by first following. This diocese is the historic site of the first Mass in the United States where a continuous Catholic presence was maintained, home to the oldest continuous parish, and a local Church steeped in Spanish heritage and American history, from the landing of Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565 to the founding of one of the first schools for the children of freed slaves in 1866 by St. Augustine’s first bishop, the Frenchman Augustin Verot. While this is an old diocese, it is still young at heart and open to a variety of experiences.  Our bishop, Felipe de Jesus Estevez, recently celebrated a Pentecost Mass for ecclesial movements and lay associations as a sign of this openness.  It was an important sign for us and prompted us to keep moving. Bishop Estevez accepted Jose Pedro’s invitation to say Mass for us during the vacation, and graciously invited some other priests of the diocese to join him, along with our friend Fr. Michael Cairnes of the Palm Beach Diocese.
In an effort to create something here, we started a small family School of Community within our home. It is not “perfectly executed” but we decided we needed to start somewhere, in order to learn.  One way we learn is through the Skype interactions and occasional personal visits with the Miami community which hosts the statewide assembly.  Another friend, Esmeralda, recently decided to respond to a priest friend’s request to start a School of Community in her own local area, north of Miami (as  previously she had been participating via a Skype setup with the community in Madrid, Spain). Her willingness to take this risk was an inspiration to us all.

“Café Gius.”  While our efforts here in St. Augustine have been “choppy” at times, we decided to stick to our goal of following the Movement through School of Community, the Book of Hours, our new friends, and even reading the “Book of the Month.”  We also made more of an effort to sing together as a family–something that was easy since we enjoy singing in our home.  What sprung from this is a small family cultural project called “Café  Gius.”  It is a simple idea that my daughters took to immediately.  We gather in a café setting in our home to enjoy a nice dessert or sweet drink and then we each give a presentation in response to the questions posed.  We are currently focusing on explaining why we find certain things beautiful. The question is posed at least a day prior to our meeting, and everyone takes time to prepare their responses using pictures, texts or other examples. When we meet, each of us is asked to present to the group and we use a series of basic questions to assist, but the real point is to allow a discussion to flow that shows us how beauty can open us to something more. Our questions may include “What natural setting (or other subject) is beautiful to you?  Why did you choose it? What makes it beautiful?  Beauty strikes us, attracts us, draws us to it.  How did this subject do that to you?  If you were to write a poem or song about it, what would be the title?”  Of course, we always make sure it is accompanied with lots of singing.  During a recent Café Gius, one of my daughters told me that deep down inside I was a hobbit!  I laughed at her recognition of that truth in me.
Another response to the summer vacation came when our daughter Grace–a student at Florida State University–met “Gigi” and they decided to join the Florida CL university (CLU) group  via Skype from the Tallahassee area. Not only is there now a CLU presence there but the support of the wider Florida community has grown.  Since that vacation, we have met and discussed our interest with several priests within the Diocese of St. Augustine and some surrounding dioceses. They are helpful in connecting us to others who may be interested.  
Are we still lonely at times? Sure.  Now, we are ever so slowly beginning to realize that this sense of loneliness is pointing us toward something more. Have we found friends? Yes. These new friends, although still far from us, show us this is real and now we have something to build on and, more importantly, a way to follow this Mystery which has a name: Christ. A slow change that I see in this family is that we are starting to act with a bit more confidence, and we are realizing that our circumstances are indeed “an essential factor of our vocation.”