The Sant'Egidio Community and Catholic Social Thought
By Grace Hanrahan
On March 1, 2016 Dr. Mauro Garofalo from the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome spoke at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs about the global mission of this organization. Sant’Egidio is an international lay community of more than 70,000 members working in 73 countries promoting peace and helping the most vulnerable people in our society. Members of Sant’Egidio commit themselves to prayer, active solidarity with our world’s poor, and living out the Gospel. They are a self-proclaimed “Christian living body” that exemplifies many important lessons of Catholic social teaching.
Dr. Garofalo focused his discussion on Sant’Egidio’s involvement with the refugee crises and how they are a mediating force between governments and world leaders embroiled in divisive conflicts. One of the most striking things that Dr. Garofalo recounted concerning the refugee crises was of one refugee—an 8-year-old girl— that had been diagnosed with cancer and lost one of her eyes to this disease. Through its relentless efforts to open Italy’s doors and provide respite to refugees, Sant’Egidio was able to offer her family a new beginning with better access to healthcare and more opportunities. Connecting a real, human face to these issues illuminated the need for the good work that Sant’Egidio is doing and demonstrated why Catholic Social Thought must be realized in our world today. Sant’Egidio serves as a light for others due to their efforts to open Italy’s borders and house the first families in need of refuge. As Pope Francis has urged, we must “open our doors” to our most vulnerable brothers and sisters. We can open our doors in many different ways including working to alleviate the suffering of refugees, lending a hand to an elderly neighbor, or simply offering a smile to the homeless man at the subway station.
Furthermore, in the work of Sant’Egidio’s mission, we see many of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy at play. During this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we are all called to more actively live out these touchstones of our faith. Sant’Egidio’s work with the refugees embodies our call to comfort the afflicted and harbor the harborless. Furthermore, its mediating work relies heavily on the virtue of patience when facilitating diplomacy between leaders. In these efforts, Sant’Egidio exemplifies the spiritual work of mercy to bear wrongs patiently. We can all learn from the Sant’Egidio example about the importance of taking up our cross and implementing the ideals of Catholic Social Thought in order to lift up the most downtrodden in our world.
Grace Hanrahan (C'18) is an undergraduate studying classical studies at Georgetown.