REPORT from ITALY BY ANTONELLA

Antonella, lavorando sul serio

Antonella Portinaro is a young, intrelligent and very seriously devoted child of Our Lady of La Salette.  She was the only delegate from Italy to come to the first International Reunion of La Salette Lay people gathered from most of the many countries where the Missionaries are located.  Antonella is fromTurin, just a short drive from La Salette, but a very long drive down the Italian coast to Naples and Rome.  Be that as it may, she made it a point to go to Rome and Naples to spread the word about the lessons learned at La Salette during the International reunion.
Until now, Italy is one of the countries where their is no officially organized Lay La Salette community such as exists in the United States, Brazil, The Philippines, Spain, France and other countries.  Antonella, a friend of La Salette, has, for years been hosting a home rosary group in Turin and supporting similar groups in Naples and Rome.  She was invited to France by Father Silvano Marisa, M.S., Vicar General of the Missionaries of La Salette.  He is seated at Antonella's left in the above photo.
The report below, translated from the original Italian as written by Antonella, relates the story of the three meetings that she organized after the International Reunion in France.
In  private email to me, she said that she has scheduled a national meeting of  Lay People of La Salette in Italy for May of 2012.  It will be held in Salmata, a La Salette Shrine location in Italy.  I now turn the page over to Antonella.
                        WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW


L'organisation des Laics en Italie
«le début d'un voyage… qui regarde au futur"
[Organization of the Laity in Italy  "The beginning of a voyage...a look to the future"]

First step: the transmission of the experience of the "International Meeting" to groups of lay people in Turin, Rome and Naples.
As a representative of the Italian delegation attending the "International Meeting of the La Salette Laity," when I returned to Italy my first commitment was the organization of meetings to convey to the lay groups of Turin, Rome and Naples, the great Treasure received during the Meeting in France.
Immediately, it seemed obvious that the vast quantity of material available should be translated and then reorganized to be used in meetings with the laity.
This difficult task of preparation occupied me for one busy month full of work. Thank God, a few members of the prayer group in Turin (Mimmo, Annalisa and Laura ) appeared and provided me with invaluable help.   In fact, without their presence, patience and availability, language and computer skills, it would not have been possible to achieve this important commitment with which I was confronted.  The first meeting with the laity was held in Turin on October 15, 2011.  Then, during the month of November, there were meetings in Rome and Naples! For me it was exciting to relive the experience of the International Meeting in teaching others. Each and every session has been another opportunity to deepen the personal enrichment received!
The international meeting was presented in its main content: organization, objectives, themes and conclusions. For sure, the reflection on the charism of La Salette from the "Ten Commandments of reconciliation"  was not ever omitted.
Antonella