The movement launched by Cappelletto spread by word of mouth throughout Italy, from Piedmont to Sicily. Today, it is recognized as a public association of the faithful, encompassing people from various backgrounds and vocations.
The community is made up of about 30 priests, a few laymen, and about 40 laywomen. In all, there are just under 70 consecrated people. The priests are incardinated in their dioceses, while the laypeople work outside — as bank officials, doctors, religious teachers, or employees of charitable organizations.
More than 200 associates have also joined the movement. They are not consecrated but participate in the charism of the community in some way. “But it is much bigger than that,” Rondanina said. “Many people frequent our houses; it’s difficult to quantify.”
The landscape has changed a lot since the early days.
“Before, there were hardly any non-baptized people. People knew the Church. Today, we find people who are far away but who haven’t moved away, simply because they’ve never been close.”
As in the past, the Reconstructors centers offer a methodical evangelization program, beginning with meditation, raising awareness of the sacred dimension, and then providing Catholic teaching.
The reconstruction of man
The name of the community — “Ricostruttori” — has a few different meanings.
“Our community is linked to the manual labor of reconstruction, as many of our out-of-town centers for retreats have been reconstructions,” Rondanina explained. “We began by restructuring an old building (cascinali) that had been used as housing for women working in the rice fields in the 1950s.”
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
This work of reconstruction also symbolizes the inner rebuilding of the person. For Rondanina, who teaches philosophy, personal reconstruction is an ongoing journey. Likewise, “to keep a youthful movement, and not close ourselves off in dogmatic forms, we must always be searching.”
Spiritual growth, the priest added, “happens when you move from the phase where you think you’ve found the magic wand to solve all your problems, the initial phase of youth where everything seems rosy, to a phase of crisis, where you take a step forward. The kingdom of God advances like this, with the ability to see our limits, to rebuild ourselves time after time, to understand where we went wrong, to remove the dross to get to the essential things.”
Emma Silvestri is a freelance writer in Europe.