Andreea Stefana Vintila from AC Romania and Mikiel Cassar from AK Malta partecipated in the First Summer School of the European Academy of Catholic Leaders in Spain.
The school was organized by the International Academy of Catholic Leaders, the School of Government and Leadership Isabel la Católica, Francisco de Vitoria University, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), COMECE.
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Report by Mikiel Cassar
International and intercultural collaboration have always formed the backbone of Catholic Action. It is through our international networks and intercultural diversity that the organisation has been able to grow and prosper as we work with one another and most importantly grow together, ever honing our service to be better instruments of God’s love. Thanks to these ties we have with FIAC and -Spain-, Andrija from Romania and I from Malta were able to further develop within the confluence of these networks as we attended the first edition of the European Summer School organised by the International Academy of Catholic Leaders in La Vid, Spain.
This week-long experience was of course filled to the brim with incredible insights and religious reflection. The course itself was oriented around equipping the attendees with the skills and support to be able to fulfil their respective vocations within the various organs of the state and the EU, to be able to truly spread God’s love through the commitment towards upholding the common good in whatever position we may come to have.
Thus, through the diverse array of lectures, workshops, and discussions, we were provided the opportunity to learn these skills not only from the many experts and professionals who shared their insights and experiences with us, but also from one another as we discussed faith, Europe, and our collective role within it all with participants and guests coming from 12 different countries, European and none European alike.
However, from within the trove of information and experience received throughout the program, one particular teaching stuck out as central to not only the role Christians should play with the EU and the state but also within every organisation, big or small. Running throughout the entire course ran the thread of friendship. This may appear somewhat naive and perhaps redundant. One may read it and think how can there be friendship in politics or inversely how can there be smaller organisations without friendship? However, the friendship we are called to live by the person of Christ is not a weak friendship of platitudes, where we are simply amicable until push comes to shove.
So frequently do we see nations only fighting for themselves, politicians only fighting for their parties, and people only fighting for what they think is right at the expense of others. Whether it be in the European Parliament or within our local organisations and communities, even when we are fighting for what is right, we forget that the friendship we are called to live is not one of winning, but one of loving. Many times we enact what is “right” at the expense of our adversaries, pushing those who do not agree with us further away as we “win” and they “lose”.
In whatever role we come to fulfil it is thus this that lies at the heart of the matter, we are called to save souls, not to push them away and so in whatever form of service we come to provide, it is this friendship we must embody, the friendship of keeping those we disagree with within the fold of God’s love rather than trying to trample them underfoot. Maybe then perhaps we will all begin to recognise the value of community once again, reigniting the drive for it both at the local level and also within the European Community we form part of.
