Don Mario Prandi parrish [275-291]
The centenary of the birth of father Mario Prandi, a priest from the diocese of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla and founder the «Case della Carità», was celebrated in 2010. This contribution provides a biographical and spiritual profile, describing the context where the Case della Carità were first established and following their development until the founder’s death in […]
Looking for a fair economy [247-273]
This contribution would like to help shed some light on the present economical crisis. This cannot be done but in two ways: by being fully aware of what happened and of the causes which determined it and by looking for new values that can lay the bases for a really fair economy at the service […]
On the occasion of the sixteenth centenary of the Conlatio cum donatistis [221-245]
On the occasion of the sixteenth centenary of the Conlatio cum donatistis held in Carthage in June 411 under the decisive influence of St. Augustine, this note describes the most important phases of the preparation and development of the meeting which gathered in Carthage nearly six hundred bishops from both parties, then highlights the various […]
Lectio divina and vocational proposal [205-220]
This paper investigates the relationship between the two fields of the ecclesial experience: lectio divina and vocational proposal. Owing to our idea of «vocation», there is a risk that the lectio divina is bent to functional or introductory needs and any reference to the biblical icons is often made more in terms of analogy and […]
Starting someone at praying today: obstacles, resources, priorities [181-204]
After considering four essential aspects of the Christian prayer such as difficulty, listening, interiority and the communitarian and historical dimension which represent a sort of obstacle in today’s cultural context, the article indicates three priorities in the process of education on prayer: development of the listening ability, approach to interior life, teaching people to think. […]
Proclaiming the Good News about the evil. Biblical perspective. [159-180]
This contribution revisits the Scriptures of both the Ancient and the New Testament looking for an answer to the problem of evil, of sin and of suffering. At the very beginning God had devised a world without evil and without suffering, yet man is dramatically faced with both of them throughout his historical existence. The […]
An attempt to produce a quantitative and qualitative analisys at the end of Darwin Year [141-158]
The Darwin Year has been full of celebrations and symposia which confirmed evolutionism to be a critical point for the western culture and a challenge for philosophy and theology. After some biographical notes on the evolution of Darwin’s thought regarding his faith in God, the first part of the study gives a variegated picture and […]
Reason and faith in the catechism by Matteo Ricci [51-74]
The outstanding human and Christian qualities of Matteo Ricci are nowadays widely recognized both in the West and in China. His work, however, has been the object of serious and painful misunderstandings from the beginning: by his Chinese contemporaries, by the Church itself and by all those who simply see him as a «man of […]
Catholicism and the Church in Italy at 150 years from the Unity [103-115]
This paper dwells on the reasons, and consequent implications, which explain why it is nowadays possible to define the Catholics as «promoting founders of this Country» and to affirm that the identity of the Catholicism and the Church is strictly connected with the identity of Italy. This does not mean that Catholicism and Church have […]
Variety of cultures and variety of faiths: the secularity of institutions in our Constitution [117139]
The secularity of the institutions is a recurring theme that nowadays needs to be read in the light of the variety of cultures and plurality of faiths characterizing our society and that is linked to the way diversity is governed with specific reference to the so-called «public space». Our Constitution basically refers to the freedom […]