What we do and why

A brief history of the Community

1958. The ‘Association for the religious education of youth in need’ is legally established. In the 50s Father Oreste Benzi is committed to helping the young people of the Rimini diocese and tries to help them meet Christ in a good and positive way through summer camps. The activities of this association continue through the 60s with an increasing number of young participants. In 1968 a summer camp was held with the active participation of some young people with disabilities coming from both, institutions and private families. This life shared together creates an atmosphere of joy that continues also after the end of the camp. It is realised that ‘wherever we are, they will also be’, since ‘the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest are indispensable’ (see 1Cor 12:22) to the Church and society.

1972. The statutes of the ‘Association of Pope John XXIII for the religious education of adolescents’ are drawn up. This association is recognised as juridical body by the President of the Republic of Italy with decree no. 596 of July 5th 1972. The association can now start to act legally and civilly in Italy

1973. The first family home is opened. From now on the Community will continuously question itself about the new situations of marginalisation, social malaise and poverty that it meets along the way. As a result of this, the Community will spread in Italy and worldwide.

1976. The Community starts a more serious social commitment in order to remove the causes of marginalisation in a nonviolent way. It also tries to raise awareness among institutions and the general public on the issue of justice. The concept at the base of all its actions is, ‘you cannot give as charity what is in fact a due act of justice’.

1977. The first issue of ‘Sempre’, the Community monthly magazine, is published. This is one of the ways in which the Community tries to ‘give voice to the voiceless’.

1979. Following the experience of foster care started in 1977, the first emergency shelter for children is opened. This is a family home further characterised by the ability to answer promptly to emergencies.
In this year the activities of social cooperatives also start. These aim at the social inclusion and creation of job opportunities for people with physical or mental disabilities. In the following years new educational and work cooperatives will be opened, cut to meet the needs of people with severe disabilities.

1980. Following a request made by Mgr Locatelli, Bishop of Rimini, the association’s attention is focused on substance abusers and the first therapeutic community is opened.

1984. The first emergency shelter for adults is opened, in order to give a prompt answer to emergencies.
In the same year, following a request made by Mgr Denis Dejong, Bishop of Ndola, Zambia, the Community questions itself on whether to start its missionary action and, in 1986, the first family home is opened in Ndola, Zambia. In these years, some members of the Community start to visit prisoners on a regular basis, in order to understand their problems and needs.

1987. ‘There are some poor people who will never come to ask for help. We must go and look for them’. This is the intuition that led to the opening of the first ‘Bethlehem hut’, an emergency shelter where the homeless found in the streets are invited to stay.
In the same year some people, moved by the Spirit, show the desire to lead a retired life of prayer and contemplation. As a consequence, in 1988 the first ‘House of prayer’ is opened. This will also allow many people to take part in this experience for a limited period of time.

1989. The Community starts to meet young people at concerts, in pubs, discos and other places where they usually hang out. It also continues to organise summer camps for them, who are always looking for answers to their lives. In this year the Community’s commitment to gypsies also starts.

1990. The Community realises the importance of being in the streets to help the women enslaved for the purpose of prostitution. In 1991 some centres of the Community start to be used as a valid alternative to juvenile prison.

1992. Some young conscientious objectors of the Community try to live out nonviolence in war areas. They also try to share their life with those who are forced to undergo violence in conflicts. This is how ‘Operation Dove’ started.

1997. The service for the protection of prenatal life and mothers in difficulty is initiated. It aims at helping pregnant women to give birth to their children, and not have an abortion. In order to raise awareness on this issue, and on the rights of unborn children, the Community starts to pray outside some hospitals on the days when abortions are performed.

2002. The Community realises that a great number of people – especially teenagers and women - fall into the snares of the occult and satanic sects, are physically and psychologically abused and can hardly escape them. As a consequence, the anti-occult sects is started in cooperation with the Italian State Police.

In order to respond to the needs of the poorest of the poor, the Community of Pope John XXIII is continuously looking for new ways to share life directly. This is one of the reasons for the growth and spreading of the Community in the world. At present, the Community runs about 520 centres in the five continents. These centres have different characteristics and aims, although they are all based on the ‘family-home model’.