EUROPE/ITALY - EUROPEAN YEAR FOR THE DISABLED: “COOPERATION AT THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LEVEL MUST BE INTENSIFIED” DON ORIONE FATHERS SAY AS THEY PREPARE TO TAKE DISABLED TO MEET THE POPE

Tuesday, 3 June 2003

Rome (Fides Service) – On the occasion of the Year of the Disabled in Europe, on Wednesday 4 June, Don Orione “Persons with Different Abilities” Communities from all over Italy will meet Pope John Paul during the General Audience. Rev. Angelo Cordischi, head of the Santi Apostoli Orionini province in Rome, told Fides Service about the initiative. “When 2003 was declared the European year of the disabled, we felt the need to organise this encounter with the Pope, for the joy of our members and also to increase awareness with regard to the daily battles faced by the disabled and by the volunteers who try to help them live as full a life as possible despite their handicap” . The group attending the Papal Audience will comprise over six hundred people from Orionini communities in central and southern Italy, Avezzano, Ercolano, Messina, Naples, Pescara and Rome.
“At our centres you will find children, young people and adults affected by different pathologies – Rev Cordischi explains -. Some have serious psychic problems, others are mentally deficient, some are old people no longer autonomous. Disability is undoubtedly one of the most serious ills in society today. Through the work of our volunteers to help these weaker members of society, we strive to live the charism of Don Orione. The problems we encounter day after day are many and they vary according to seriousness of the case, they can be formative, educational or also practical, where there is no availability of means.”
Rev. Cordischi stresses the need for more co-ordination of institutions in this field: “On the whole, at the national level, the health care system in Italy is unable to cope, help is always late in coming. Moreover, until recently the state allowed objectors to military service to use their period of service to help the disabled. A new law passed on voluntary service has caused a decrease in the number of helpers available. This is why political and social cooperation must be intensified”. Besides their work in Italy, the Orionini have centres also in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela and Argentina where a large number of disabled are cared for at the Piccolo Cottolengo Centre. Now the Orionini are preparing to open Centres in Africa and Asia AP (Fides Service 3/6//2003 EM lines 30 Words: 401)


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