FCAPP 2009 Conference and Papal Audience

                                                                                                                                              Robert A. Nalewajek, President

 

On June 12 and 13 our annual conference was held in Rome and, as has come to pass since 1993, the Holy Father met with our members. We should be clear what an honor this is/has been. The Pope has not met with any lay organization so routinely and consistently. Why does CAPP receive this honor?

While I do not claim to have the answer, perhaps we can look to our founder, Pope John Paul the Great, for an explanation. He saw CAPP as a vehicle for the New Evangelization – an evangelization to be led by us, the laity. He looked to CAPP to be a force in assisting lay, Catholic leaders to (re)form their consciences on the tenets of CST. He took quite seriously Vatican II’s call for the laity to be the voice of the gospel in the world and longed for us to play that role with vigor, efficacy, focus and humility.

 His successor, Pope Benedict XVI, continues to view the “dictatorship of relativism” and inappropriate secularism as prime evils of our time and looks to us, CAPP, to be a lay voice in the Church’s battle with these forces. He also took the occasion of meeting with us to announce that his own major social encyclical will be released very soon.

 This year’s conference also saw outstanding presentations by Catholic University of America (CUA) Professor and instructor in the CUA-CAPP Certificate Program in CST, Dr. Andrew Abela, Chairman of the Department of Business & Economics at CUA, and CAPP-DC member Dr. Thomas Rehermann, Economist, IFC - World Bank Group. 

 Nor was the time all work. You will note below that participants enjoyed a very special Saturday night dinner and a wonderful day trip on Sunday.

 We continue to be blessed and I ask for your prayers as we begin investigations for a capital campaign, which will allow us to implement a wide range of programs to help fulfill our mission.

 There are multiple links in the stories, below, and, for ease of use/reference, they are also listed here:

 For those fluent in Italian, our audience was the lead article in Osservatore Romano on Sunday, June 14, 2009 on Page 1: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/or/or_quo/135q01.pdf

 The official translation of Pope Benedict's speech may be found at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/june/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20090613_centesimus-annus_en.html

 A YouTube presentation of our meeting with Pope Benedict on the 13th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlTnF5BzyCE

Vatican Radio coverage, which includes our (CAPP-USA) address to the Holy Father, is at: http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=294968

 Andrew Abela’s presentation can be found at: http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/catholicbusiness/2009/06/meeting-with-the-pope-and-presentation-on-consumerism.html

 Thomas Rehermann’s talk: Financial Globalization – From Crisis to Rebuilding - presentation paper - read here­­     
 Dr. Rehermann's slide presentation - view here­­­­­­­­­­

 Finally, the Annual Meeting of FCAPP led by the President, Count Lorenzo Rossi di Montelera and the vice president, Domingo Sugranyes Bickel, followed the Conference. There was a comprehensive discussion of the year’s activities of the Fondazione, and the group heard brief reports from several national representatives, as well. The members of FCAPP, who are entitled to elect one member of the FCAPP Board, elected a member from Milan to serve a 5 year term.

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FCAPP, Rome 2009 – The Papal Audience

 Dr. Karen Shields-Wright, CUA-CAPP Cert. Program Director

 

On Saturday, June 13th all the participants and their guests attended Mass in the Vatican Gardens and were received in audience by the Holy Father.
The morning started with a Mass in front of the Lourdes Grotto, in the Vatican Gardens. Approximately 200 of the members and their families entered the gates of Vatican City and began the trek up to the grotto, which was at the highest hill in the gardens.
The first reading in English was given by the lector, our Valencia Camp of Washington DC chapter, and the English section of the Prayers of the Faithful was given by the lector our Don Readlinger of the Newark Chapter.
 The liturgical music from Bach, Mozart, Cesar Frank, Handel, Tartini and Albinoni was beautifully played by the violinist Rosanna Vastola, Oboist was Guiseppe Ronzano  and pianist was Ferruccio Bisceglia.  
 Following this Mass all walked over to the Apostolic Palace for refreshments before we were escorted to the Clementine Hall for the audience. 
 As the Holy Father entered the hall and after the joyous extended applause and standing ovation, Count Lorenzo Rossi di Montelera gave the greeting from the foundation and presented him with a gift for His Holiness’ charities.

A YouTube presentation of our meeting with Pope Benedict on the 13th: [click on small speaker icon] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlTnF5BzyCE

Following his introduction representatives from Germany, Spain and the USA presented their greetings. I was honored to give our greeting this year:  
 “Holy Father I bring you greetings from the members of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice in the USA. I want to assure you Holiness that we are actively working to satisfy the need you identified for a mature laity to have an adequate knowledge of the Catholic Social Doctrine of our Church.  We want to convey our gratitude for your encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Its message is woven throughout the curriculum of our joint course on Catholic Social Teaching with The Catholic University of America. I leave you with a bouquet of prayers from our members and our families.”

 

Vatican Radio coverage, which includes our (CAPP-USA) address to the Holy Father, is at: http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=294968

 Following the greeting Pope Benedict XVI presented a preview of his upcoming social encyclical concerning the market economy stating it can serve man "only if oriented toward the common good…." While "freedom in the economic sector must be circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality."

 

The official translation of Pope Benedict's speech may be found at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/june/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20090613_centesimus-annus_en.html

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FCAPP, Rome 2009 – Notes from the Conference

                                                                                                                                                                        Donald Readlinger, President, CAPP-Newark

 

This year’s Conference was entitled “Values and Rules for a New Model of Development”

 Friday morning began with Mass at Pontifical Gregorian University celebrated by His Excellence Claudio Maria Celli. We then assembled in the conference hall and were welcomed by Count Lorenzo Rossi di Montelera and began our first session: Financial globalization: from crisis to rebuilding, presented by Michel Camdessus, former head of the Bank of France and managing director of the International Monetary Fund until 2000.

 This is the first crisis to come out of globalization and therefore affects the entire world, he remarked. ‘The Trillion’ is now the new amount tossed around.  It is said that $50 Trillion has been lost during this crisis and we should consider the ‘Human Impact’ as a result of that. The collapse of the new investment instruments such as collateralized debt obligations (CDO’s) and the mortgage-backed securities or asset-backed securities that were greatly ‘leveraged’ lead to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, AIG problems and the take over of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase.

 Comdessus continued to state that as we examine these investments and firms like hedge funds we see the ‘dark-side’ of human behavior, greed. Much of the blame is based on this greed and some of it happened due to a lack of adequate regulation and supervision.

 This presenter explained that in the U.S., what is taught is “work as much as you can to earn as much as you can and spend as much as you can”.   My own thought was Pope John Paul II warning us all about consumerism.

Some discussion ensued about the “G – 20” meeting and what we should be thinking of our own Human Dignity as it relates to all this fallout: We all rush to deny responsibility….. we must first acknowledge the mistakes before we can reflect and consider the change that must come.    This is for the Common Good and then it was stated…..’ consider the Way of the Cross’ for all the good of the world.  This made me think of something I read by Archbishop Chaput, “American Catholics need to be more Catholic, not less, and not simply “more Catholic”, but authentically and unselfishly Catholic---in the way we live our personal lives, and in our public words and actions.  That includes our political choices.”  “The more truly we love God, the more truly we serve the world”.

Italian economist and Chairman of the FCAPP Scientific Committee Alberto Quadrio Curzio referred in the conference to Catholic social doctrine as a guide for a new economic paradigm. In the short term, he said, governments were responding as best they could to keep the world economy afloat, "but in the long range, we must reflect on new means of development." He proposed a formula that includes creative solidarity for weaker elements of society, incisive instruments to stimulate the economy and sustainable development.

 Another session was Geo-economics and governance for the Development by Andrea Goldstein. He presented Consumerism as Super development.  He developed the thought that our ‘excessive availability’ to buy, buy, buy makes us slaves of possessions.  We are lost in the way we live, because we are misguided in thinking that life is a series of sensations to be experienced instead of understanding that Life has a goal of achieving eternal happiness with God in the Kingdom of Heaven.  People see all the advertising on TV, the internet and radio and try to live these experiences as if to make us feel better. They do NOT. Yet we go back to it again seeking that something else instead of realizing that is NOT what our gift of life is all about.

 He offered a joke to make this point: Ask a man in a Socialist society these questions: “Comrade, if you had 2 houses what you would do?”  He replied, “I would give one to the State and keep one.”  “Very good”, said the man.  Then he asked: “What if you had 2 autos? What would you do?”  The comrade replied, “I would give one to the State and keep one.”  Again, “Very good”.  “What if you had 2 pairs of Shoes?”……The comrade hesitated and the first man asked again, “Well, what would you do…..why hesitate?”  The comrade said, “Because, I DO HAVE 2 pairs of shoes.”  Everyone laughed because it is true for us too. It is easy when it doesn’t really affect you.

 The next session was Models of growth for developing countries by Kumaraswamy Veluppilai. He was critical of the United States and pointed out that the ten largest banks want to give the government back their T.A.R.P. funds so there are no regulations or restrictions on their compensation.  Overall, he implied that excesses in the United States caused the current global problems.

 The final session was entitled New outlooks for human rights protection by Giovanni Maria Flick.

 Andrew Abela, PhD, Chairman of the Department of Business & Economics at The Catholic University of America, and instructor in the CUA-CAPP Certificate Program in CST, made an excellent presentation which can be found at: http://extremepresentation.typepad.com/catholicbusiness/2009/06/meeting-with-the-pope-and-presentation-on-consumerism.html

 Additionally, CAPP-DC member Thomas Rehermann spoke on: Financial Globalization – From Crisis to Rebuilding. ­­­

 

At the general meeting, following the conference, several members expressed the desire for more interaction and Q&A opportunities in future annual conferences, and suggested that scheduling fewer speakers would open up the meeting for more attendee participation.

 

On our way home I reflected on Pope John Paul II’s remarks to CAPP. He often reminded us that Catholic Social Doctrine, at its root, is missionary. He said it is ‘an instrument of evangelization’. I truly feel that CAPP (our lay Pontifical organization) is a way to fulfill our role, especially as our Church needs us most now.

 

My wife, Cindy and I thought it was a truly wonderful experience and are sorry to have missed last year because of our pilgrimage to Lourdes.

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FCAPP, Rome 2009 – It Wasn’t All Work!           
 James Rice, Secretary, CAPP-USA

 

ROME DINNER

The US attendees at this year’s conference gathered for dinner on Saturday evening following the Papal Audience at Ristorante da Pancrazio, which contains a portion of the ruins of the Theater of Pompey adjacent to the Campo de’ Fiori. We were joined by FCAPP members from Malta, Italy and Germany, including Nicolosa Lostia, the hard-working assistant to Massimo Gattamelata (General Secretary of FCAPP in the Vatican) and her husband Federico. After a tour of the ancient dressing rooms of the theater adjacent to our private dining room, the group shared a traditional Roman meal, including veal saltimbocca and, of course, plenty of pasta and wine. We also shared thoughts on how national groups of FCAPP members might collaborate in advancing the spread of Catholic Social Teaching. The dinner was topped off by rousing choruses of traditional songs from all four countries, including a verse of “Volare” sung by all.

 

VITERBO TRIP

 Thanks again to the planning efforts of our good friend Luca Zucconi, a member of FCAPP from Rome; we were treated to another Sunday excursion, this time to Viterbo, a medieval town about two hours from Rome by train. Don and Cindy Readlinger, Valencia Camp and Jim Rice joined the trip. (Past trips arranged by Luca have included Florence, Orvieto and, in 2008, L’Aquila, the town devastated by an earthquake in April. Luca and his colleagues are in contact with the Bishop of L’Aquila to determine ways in which members of FCAPP might provide assistance to the victims.) The visit to Viterbo included a walking tour of the ancient parts of town, a visit to the historic Cathedral of San Lorenzo and the Papal palace (home to several Popes and even an Antipope!) and lunch at Ristorante Tre Re. The Viterbo trip was a fitting finish for another excellent annual conference in Rome.

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CAPP-USA Newsletter, September, 2007 from Robert Nalewajek, President, CAPP-USA