MY OTHER JOB!

It is unlikely that many of you will have heard of the Cenacolo Community. But this Community in Cumbria is where I spend some time each week. Besides being Parish Priest here, I am also Spiritual Director for this Community of men who are former drug addicts. To give you a little flavour of what goes on I need you to travel not just back in time 25 years but also a thousand or so miles into northern Italy to the city of Saluzzo (about 60 miles from Turin). It was here that a little Italian nun, a cook and kindergarten teacher, Sr. Elvira Petrossi finally convinced her superiors that she was being called to work with young lads and girls who were addicted to drugs.  It was a very inauspicious start: a tumble-down property was leased to her by the city of Saluzzo and there she began what is now referred to as a ‘School of Life’ – scuola di vita. Her aim was not just to get the young people off drugs but to give them a whole new way of life. Indeed, to teach them how to live; how to live free from the shackles not just of drugs but from the shackles that contemporary society places about all of us but especially the young.  Elvira seems to speak the language of the young; she fiercely challenges them to a different and new way of living.  And they accept the challenge. They begin to really live, they learn to put God first, others second and themselves way down the line. It is a hard regime centred on three principles: prayer, friendship and work. The members of the Community rise at 6am, they fill their day with work punctuated by prayer – the rosary, sharing the Gospel, Mass when a priest is available – and time to talk with and encourage each other.  Oh, and football. That is one addiction they seem not to be able to overcome! The movement is called ‘Cenacolo’ because it is Eucharistic based. ‘Cenacolo’ is the Italian word for the Upper Room where Jesus had his last supper; in English we might call it The Cenacle. One of the most important ingredients in their ‘walk’ as they call it, is their hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. This is usually carried out in the middle of the night, each lad spending an hour before the Lord. So, if ever I am not available, it is likely that I am working with the lads in Cenacolo at Dodding Green