When did you feel or hear your vocation?
Around 18. There were at least two elements that gave it "a start". The first was the emotional and "political" education I received from my family. At home the gestures of solidarity - inside and outside the ecclesial experience - were frequent, especially on the part of my father, who came from the world of the communist party and the trade union.
The second was when the parish priest of the Salesians suspended me from the oratory, because instead of the Gospel I read "Rinascita", the magazine of the communist party, and because with friends I crossed the fence that separated the male from the female oratory. I told him: "You throw me out, the guy who wants to become a priest?" Returning home I thought about those words and realized that there were elements to reflect on that hypothesis.
Why the Salesians?
I was fascinated by their way of life, fundamentally educational, and I shared their joyful style. Our vocation asks us to be intimately united with the world and its history, and to be open to the cultures of the countries in which we work. Our action must be directed towards the "poor, abandoned, and youth-at-risk" and towards the popular or working class environments, people who have a greater need to be loved and evangelized.
What roles do you have for the diocese of Naples?
I coordinate the sectors that concern to works of charity of the Church of Naples: pastoral care in prisons, health pastoral care, immigrants, Caritas and the "House of Tonia" which welcomes and hosts young single mothers and supports the birth and growth of their children. Each of these sectors is supported by friends who are priests of great ability.
How did you arrive at the Polis Foundation?
Providence first introduced me to Rita Borsellino (sister of the judge Paolo Borsellino, killed by the mafia) and then Father Ciotti (a priest active in the education of young people for the fight against the mafias). Fr Ciotti had the intuition to start an association-based journey against the mafia and founded Libera. For 15 years I was his referent in the Campania region. Polis draws its origins from this associative culture. It has its own mission and also takes into account the victims of common crime.
