{"id":306492,"date":"2018-09-18T23:10:12","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T21:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/a-flower-in-the-bishops-district\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:38:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:38:07","slug":"a-flower-in-the-bishops-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/a-flower-in-the-bishops-district\/","title":{"rendered":"A Flower in the Bishop\u2019s District"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Focolare community wanted to look around in the local environment for positive things that it could highlight and spread through mutual love, especially in the outlying suburbs where the poorest were waiting.<\/strong> We\u2019ve listened to so many poor people. On the first day, fifty children, who had been gathered by Friar Michele Floriano, were waiting for us at St Joseph\u2019s Parish. It was a joyous \u201csiege\u201d that we faced with abandonment to God\u2019s plans.\u201d Nocera Inferiore is an ancient town, tormented since the 1980s by criminality and unregulated building and development. In the 1980s a violent earthquake shook the whole province, sweeping away entire country-sides and causing many building collapses and victims<\/strong>. For almost forty years entire families of the Vescovado district have been living in pre-fabricated and unsanitary building, still waiting for more decent housing that keeps on being promised and then postponed. \"\"<\/a>For three days (June 21-23), the Hombre mundo<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> worksite offered to the adult and youth volunteers who had stepped up and pitched in a true experience of a Church<\/strong> that reaches out in accordance with Pope Francis\u2019s<\/strong> invitation. There were also the people in the background, in their own homes cooking dinners and suppers for everyone. \u201cThe neighbouring district of Calenda, which is part of the same parish,\u201d write Felice and Romilda from the nearby town of Angri<\/strong> \u201cmobilized their \u201cCircle of Friends.\u201d Moreover, several different associations became active in the worksite, offering their own contribution. \u201cHombre mundo\u201d turned out to be the fruit of a network of people and groups that surpassed us. In these parts, marginalization threatens to make us lose our identity. We realized it when we asked a girl where she lived and she answered saying: \u2018Lot 3,\u2019 \u2018Worse than Scampia, Bishop\u2019s District\u2019 stands in large letters on top of a gloomy rooftop, in a downward race that refers to the famous Naple\u2019s district that is known for delinquency and drug trafficking. In front of the building is a large and open space where games are held for the children. \u201cMothers and sometimes grandmothers and some great-grandmothers come down to keep watch and chat with us, \u201cunburdening themselves of some of their suffering.\u201d \u201cIn the morning, after some prayer and reflection and tossing of the Cube of Love,<\/a><\/strong> the children are given free reign over the area next to the parish. The youths get involved in workshops under the guidance of artistic, musical, and environmental experts along with to the paediatric unit of the nearby hospital. More than once we have experienced the prompt intervention of God who supported us by sending people to help us out just at the right moment. For example, on the third day we were having problems organizing the games. Just then we received a telephone call. It was from an expert in conducting activities for children, who was offering to help. Everyone chipped in, also the teenagers who looked after the little ones, cleaning the quarter of weeds and planting flowers to leave touch of beauty and love in a place reduced to such poverty and suffering. The young people were especially touched by the testimony of 49 year-old Roberto who had spent a long and painful time in hospital, which he lived as \u201csuffering transformed into love.\u201d \u201cHombre mundo\u201d concluded in Calenda where the Circle of Friends had supper prepared for everyone. It was a day of brotherhood and friendship, concluding with the final \u201cshow\u201d by the young people who had taken part in the music workshop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rione Vescovado (the Bishop\u2019s Discrict) in Nocera Inferiore is a town of southern Italy. The local district is marked by strong contrasts: noble palaces and pre-fabricated housing, the struggle between legality and delinquency, beauty and marginalization. It is a challenge for the local Focolare community that has given rise to a \u201cwork site for young people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-306492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306492\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}