Brazil 50 Years of Communion and Liberation The Arrival of Thousands A New Life A huge group of landless workers participated in the pilgrimage to the Virgin Aparecida, following Marcos. The story of his encounter with CL, the CDO, and Rimini by Isabella S. Alberto On October 23rd, the Brazil community made its pilgrimage for the 50 years of the Movement to the sanctuary of Our Lady Aparecida, 75 miles (165 km) from São Paolo, drawing together the communities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, and environs. A new reality was the presence of about 1,000 members of the Association of Landless Workers of São Paolo. These new friends were brought by Marcos Zerbini, a lawyer and town councillor of the city of São Paolo, and by his wife, Cleuza Ramos, President of the Association. Marcos and Cleuza, who founded the Association, have dedicated themselves for over 20 years to this popular movement, born of the desire to respond to the need of the city’s poorest to have a home. Last September, during a party organized by the Companionship of Works (CDO) to help Marcos’ electoral campaign, he said with great simplicity, “You say that I am a friend of CL, but I am part of CL.” Thus, he asked some CL members to begin a group of School of Community with him and his friends, to help him avoid getting lost in so many works, and instead to focus his gaze on Christ, the true builder of all things. 19 buses and 50 cars When he was re-elected as town councillor with 41,488 votes, his first desire was to share this joy with the friends of the Movement. Invited to participate in the pilgrimage to Aparecida, Marcos extended the invitation to his friends of the Association as well. Bit by bit, the people became involved, and every day he phoned the pilgrimage office asking if he could bring “another person.” The day of the pilgrimage, they showed up in 19 buses and 50 cars, with big banners that said, “50 Years of Communion and Liberation.” They arrived at the sanctuary curious to meet this Italian movement of which they had heard so much talk. They participated in the Mass celebrated by Archbishop Filippo Santoro, Bishop of Petropolis, with the participation of ten priests from the Movement. During the Mass, Archbishop Santoro reminded us that we were there to “look, thank, ask, and follow, with the goal of announcing Christ as the one way indicated and offered to us by Our Lady in the life of the Church.” Marcos and Cleuza understand this very well and, as a gesture of gratitude, they asked a singer-songwriter friend, Maurício Ramos, to write a song in honor of Fr Giussani and CL. After Mass, Marcos and a few of these friends participated in the moment of testimonies, and Maurício presented his song, thanking Our Lady for the encounter between “the Association and the holy people of CL.” At that moment, they spoke for all of us present in expressing our immense gratitude to Fr Giussani and those who caused us to meet his charism. The encounter The story of Marcos and Cleuza began in the early 1980s. They belonged to a movement demanding government-built housing for the poor and, instead of waiting for a response, took the initiative. Together with 18 families, they bought a large piece of land and divided it for the construction of houses. This experience continued and multiplied, and currently 14 lots have already been developed, hosting 12,500 families. The great new thing for Marcos and Cleuza in meeting the charism of Giussani was being able to identify and give a name to the thirst for the infinite that had always characterized them. As Cleuza said, “Having a house is not enough.” There are monthly meetings to discuss education, safety, and civics. People are welcomed into a community where the great concern is for the individual person. This has moved them to search for help for the Association, which today has many services, such as a police station and basic health facilities, and has negotiated affordable health care plans and agreements with universities to obtain scholarships. Marcos’ encounter with the Movement happened in August 2001. Alexandre Ferrari, a pediatrician, was appointed by the Federal University of São Paolo (UNIFESP) as a health assistant in the Pirituba region, in the western zone of the capital. There he met Marcos and Cleuza, and began collaborating with their Association. A friendship grew out of this encounter, and in September 2003, with the invitation to participate in the first Latin American Meeting of the Companionship of Works in Rio de Janeiro, Marcos became closer to the Movement of Communion and Liberation. We are not alone in the world Marcos says, “For me, the most important aspect of having participated in that meeting was perceiving that we are not alone in the world. Those who do this kind of social work generally experience a feeling of great loneliness. When you see other people, each with his own characteristics and with his own way of doing things, trying to build a better world doing his own work, it’s a comfort. After this meeting, we stayed in touch with different people, and in São Paolo we began having meetings to discuss especially the theme of subsidiarity. Out of that meeting also came the invitation to participate in the Meeting in Rimini, to tell about the experience of the work we do here.” Even though his electoral campaign for a second term as city councillor was in full swing, Marcos decided to go to the Meeting last August to get to know CL and the Companionship of Works a bit better. During their week there, Marcos and Cleuza were amazed, especially at the joy and enthusiasm of the young people, which is what they most desire to see in the inhabitants of their communities. They gave their contribution, participating in the meeting entitled, “A new world has already begun,” in which they recounted their experience in the Association that began in 1980. A new pace For Cleuza, meeting Dr Alexandre and the new CL friends has meant a new pace in her life. Responding to their request, some CDO members have begun meeting with Zerbini, Cleuza, and members of the Association in a new School of Community group, reading Traces of Christian Experience. “I don’t want to build houses anymore. Now I want to build the Church.”