The Words of the Ciacciarelli Family
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The Words of the Ciacciarelli Family |
The history of the Unification Church in Italy began in May 1965, when an American woman, Doris Walder (who was to become Mrs. Doris Orme in the 43 Couple Blessing in 1969) arrived in Rome as the first missionary. She had a difficult time at first: She had no money, no knowledge of the Italian language, and many problems with her visa. However, her faith was very deep. By the time True Parents came to Italy for the first time in August of that same year, she had already established a group of four families who accepted and followed the Principle.
On August 19, 1965, Father established a holy ground in a large park in Rome. We can imagine how overjoyed those first few members must have felt, seeing Father for the first time, and receiving his power and love. The following day he established another holy ground for the Vatican. It was impossible to perform such an elaborate ceremony within St. Peter's Basilica, so Father blessed the ground in the center of the huge plaza in front of the Basilica, near the famous obelisk.
In 1966 Doris opened the first church center in Rome. It was actually just a small, cheap apartment.
The early members had economic troubles, but now they can recall the many wonderful ways in which God revealed Himself and was able to help them through difficult situations. During that time they undertook the translation of the first Divine Principle text, written by Dr. Young Oon Kim and published for the first time in 1968.
Father returned to Rome in 1969. The number of people who had accepted the Principle by then numbered about 60, but very few were actually living in the center. In the same year a center was opened in the city of Milan, and one of the Italian members was even sent to Syria as a missionary. He stayed there only a short time, though, because he was deported on account of his religious activities. In 1970 the first Italian member was blessed in the 777 Couple Blessing in Korea.
In 1971 Doris Orme went to England, and Rev. Martin Porter became the new leader of the Italian church. It was a new beginning -- the end of a period of pioneering and the beginning of our period of development. The second Divine Principle text by Dr. Kim was translated and printed. We began trying out different methods of fundraising, and we inaugurated weekend workshops in a house in the countryside.
On April 2-4, 1972, Father came to Rome yet another time. He spoke to all the members and visited the cities of Pompeii and Naples. It was a time of great enthusiasm and dedication. We began an intensive witnessing campaign, and some members joined the first IOWC in Germany. As a result, 1973 became a year of accelerated growth for the Italian church. We gained many new members, and some went overseas to work with the IOWC in America. The first mobile witnessing team in Italy was formed, which traveled between our centers in Rome, Milan, Genoa, and Bergamo, giving support to the local members.
In 1973 our tradition of summer fundraising began. We followed the migration of Italians to the beaches and the mountains and offered them booklets with an introduction to the Principle for donations. In 1975 Tongil Trading Company was founded in Italy and ginseng tea was sold.
In the meantime, centers opened in Turin and Naples in 1974 and in Florence and Bologna in 1975. We held the first workshop for the parents of members in 1974. We wanted to dispel all the rumors about our church and let the parents know what their sons and daughters were really doing. These workshops were a great success. Missionaries and members alike gave their prayer and their support for all these new undertakings.
A very special event occurred in 1974: The Little Angels came to Rome and were very well received at the Roma Theatre. They sang on the Vatican radio and also had an audience with the president of Italy! For our little church, this was really exciting. We were given the opportunity to grow on the foundation of one of Father's finest accomplishments.
In 1976 the European IOWC arrived in Italy; its 300 members divided themselves among all the centers and launch d an intensive witnessing campaign, lasting from April to July. At Easter the IOWC choir was invited to sing for Pope Paul VI in St. Peter's Basilica! They also sang in the Cathedral of Milan, and on the Vatican radio. They were much appreciated everywhere they went.
The impact of the IOWC in Italy was great. Many important changes took place on a spiritual level. Thanks to the work of the IOWC, many more people came to know us, and many new members joined our church. We were able to open still more centers; by that time we had centers in 12 cities. Some of these centers had to be closed down in 1978, however, when we sent 70 members to work in Great Britain.
The first International Parents' Meeting took place in Mauny, France, in 1978. Forty Italian parents participated. We opened two new training centers, a large one in Varese serving northern Italy which replaced a smaller one we had had previously, and another one near Rome, serving central and southern Italy. We published a translation of Unification Theology, which was sent to our New ERA contacts, theologians, bishops, and important libraries. CARP also established its first center and began the publication of a monthly CARP magazine.
Most important of all, however, was the spiritual revolution Father brought to Europe in 1978 through the initiation of home church activity. Overnight we changed not only the pattern but also the spirit of our witnessing, leaving the streets and public places to approach people in their homes. That year we worked very hard to strengthen our foundation throughout Italy.
Today the leader of the Italian Church is Franco Ravaglioli, who succeeded Rev. Porter when he left to take charge of the Canadian Church in 1977. Two regional directors assist him, one who is responsible for northern Italy and the other for central and southern Italy. Our church is more developed in the north. Milan is the largest northern center, with the workshop site at Varese nearby. A printing shop run by members, the headquarters of Tongil, and another center are in Bergamo, which is near Milan. SAEILO also has its headquarters near Bergamo, and there are two other church centers in the north -- in Turin and Padua. In central and southern Italy we now have centers in Bologna, Florence, and Rome, and there are workshop locations in Colle Mattia and Latina. Seven hundred members in Italy have accepted True Parents and assist the church; 115 of them are center members. There are many more Italian members working for the church throughout Europe and in America.
Currently, we have completed our efforts to establish two centers in each city -- one where members live, and the other where public activities are held. In the public centers we have video set-ups with tapes about our national and international activities, and we hope to have the videotapes of the Principle in Italian very soon. Also, because the education of members is one of our main concerns, we organize 21-day Principle workshops from time to time which are based on those taught by Rev. Sudo in America.
For those who have leadership or other special responsibilities, we organize two-day seminars two or three times a year. Professors and theologians representing different religions are invited in and asked to make presentations on such topics as, "Protestant Reform and Counter-reform," "The Sacraments in the Catholic Church;' "The Coming of the Messiah in the Jewish Tradition;' and so on.
Once a month we hold separate meetings for blessed brothers, for the foreign blessed sisters living in Italy, and for all the blessed couples living in the same area. Each of these groups has different problems, needs, and goals to realize, and such meetings seem to be the best way to help the members meet them.
Following the advice of Rev. Young Whi Kim [He was recently transferred to Korea; Rev. Won Pil Kim has now taken his position as director of Europe], we have planned for 1986 three witnessing campaigns of 40 days each. For each one a theme is decided upon and we hold lectures on that theme, as well as on the Principle itself. The first campaign we held, which ended this April, was entitled, "The Path to True Peace Each center held meetings and invited speakers from outside the church to address this topic.
In past years we organized similar campaigns centering on such themes as, "The Hope of Youth" and "Towards the Unification Era In 1983 and 1984 we invited the European IOWC band to play in Italy during two of our campaigns. We would rent a theater in cities where we had centers and invite people on the street to come and listen. Afterward the center leader would give a short speech on the theme of the campaign and introduce our church. The response to these campaigns was very good; over 1,200 people attended. Later many of them came to visit the local centers.
We still witness in public areas on the streets or at the universities, and we attend local meetings on spiritual or religious topics where we can find people who might be interested in our ideas. We also street- preach; those who stop to listen often browse at our book table which we always have nearby, where we can invite them to come to the center.
Through Faith Jones, Heung Jin Nim gave us a suggestion a few months ago to witness in a more direct way: He said we should stop people and ask them if they believe in God, and if they believe that this is the time of the Second Coming. We also started a condition of blessing the area where we plan to witness on the following day, in order to create a good atmosphere and encourage good spirit world to work with us there. Our results have improved and we've become even more concerned about witnessing now.
Heung Jin Nim also asked us to organize a witnessing team of blessed wives to work for 40 days in the city of Turin. Most blessed couples are now pursuing home church activities and working with ministers.
Our centers are open from 5:00 p.m. for lectures, and most weekends we have two-day workshops for newcomers. Of course we also have seven- and 21-day workshops. Those who want to join the church after the 21-day workshop are invited to live and work in a center for a period of three months and then return to training in a special, more internal 21-day program. Seven months after joining, new members attend still one more special 21- day program.
We have an alternate program of evening meetings at the center for those who are interested but, cannot attend training. This course has the same content as the 21-day workshop. Once or twice a week we also have meetings for home members, during which we study Father's speeches and the Principle and help them prepare for the Blessing.
Sunday service, held every Sunday afternoon at the center, is also an important part of our witnessing activity. A few months ago we decided to have two different sermons -- one for members, and one for newcomers who do not yet know the conclusion of the Principle. This way the sermon for members can provide more inspiration by dealing freely with deep points of our life of faith.
Italy is a Catholic country. There are 56 million Catholics, 27,000 priests, and 40,000 monks and nuns living there. Italy has only 225,000 Protestants, as well as 45,000 Muslims, 39,000 Jews, 300,000 Jehovah's Witnesses, and smaller numbers belonging to other churches; but these comprise a very small percentage of the overall population. This means that "contacting ministers" is a virtually meaningless phrase; what it means for us is "contacting priests"
The center members and some home members dedicate Sundays to visiting priests. Since we have centers in only eight cities, we felt the need to organize a mobile team composed of four members who could visit priests in other cities. We found this to be a good plan. The team is now meeting priests who are very open and who desire to understand more about us. Often one of our members, after having established a good relationship, is asked into a parish to help the local priest. These priests know our affiliation, and they like us and understand our spirit.
When meeting a priest for the first time, a member usually gives him a copy of our newsletter, which we have prepared especially for them, containing certain speeches by Father, articles on the value of the family, our counterproposal to Marxism, and pieces on the revival of Christianity. We continue to send the newsletter to our contacts once a month. We have learned that some of the priests are using Father's words in their Sunday sermons! Others write to us, thanking us for the publication and expressing their appreciation for its contents. We are, of course, very happy with these results.
Also, according to Father's request, we have printed 15,000 copies of the pocket-size Principle Level 4 book and 15,000 copies of God's Warning to the World. We are going to send them to all the priests we have contacted.
The purpose of our ecumenical activities is to reach leaders of different churches and help them work together for common ideals. Besides collaborating with New ERA at the international level, we have created a new foundation in Italy called ARVAS (Academy for the Research of Spiritual Values). ARVAS has organized many conferences in which important theologians, professors of religion, and philosophers have taken part. Some of the conferences were entitled, "The Influence on Society of New Religious Movements',' attended by 50 participants, "The New Religious Movements: A Challenge to Catholic Theology',' attended by 60 participants, "Religious Proposals for Today's Family," attended by 50 participants, and "Religious Freedom Today," with 8 speakers and 110 participants. ARVAS has gained a good reputation among Italian theologians for its professionalism, and they like to take part in its activities.
The ARVAS program for 1986 has been designed to address the problem that very few people in Italy make effort to educate youth seriously about -- the importance and value of marriage. Since we know how great the value of the family is to the individual and to society, we decided to organize a round table discussion on family issues, to invite experts in to speak on this topic, and to follow this up with a conference in which we can share the Principle viewpoint of the value of the family and our own personal experiences as husbands, wives, and parents.