News

Green Bay welcomes Sant'Egidio

By Jeff Kurowski
Compass Assistant Editor

	LAY MOVEMENT INTRODUCED: Bill Korinko, a junior at St. Norbert College in De Pere, lights a candle at the Old St. Joseph Oratory on the St. Norbert campus. The candle is one given to the Community of Sant'Egidio by Pope John Paul II. (Rick Evans photo)
	Community invited to prayer gathering The Community of Sant'Egidio will host a dinner in celebration of Peace Africa at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12 in the atrium at Old St. Joseph Church on the St. Norbert campus. Prayer for the Poor is offered at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesdays in the Old St. Joseph Oratory. For more information, contact Billy Korinko at billy.korinko@snc.edu or (262) 894-6179. Information about the Community of Sant'Egidio is also available online at www.santegidio.org.

DE PERE -- A Catholic lay movement that is rooted in prayer, Bible study and social justice has formed in northeast Wisconsin.

The Community of Sant'Egidio gathers to pray for the poor at 7:15 p.m. each Tuesday at the Old St. Joseph Oratory on the campus of St. Norbert College. Sant'Egidio began in Rome in 1968 following Vatican II and is recognized by the church as a public lay association. The first community in the United States was formed in New York City in 1993. Today, Sant'Egidio (Italian for Saint Giles) is present in more than 70 countries.

Billy Korinko, a junior from Waukesha, helped start the community at St. Norbert College. He was introduced to Sant'Egidio during a student trip to Rome in 2006. Religious studies professor Michael Lukens brought Korinko and other students to a prayer service at the Basilica of Santa Maria in Travestre.

"The church was packed on a Tuesday night," said Korinko. "There was standing-room only. Everyone there had such a profound appreciation of prayer. Afterwards, people stuck around to talk. It felt like a huge family. It was the most beautiful Catholic community I had ever seen."

The following semester, Korinko connected with Paolo Mancinelli of Sant'Egidio in Rome to express his interest in the community. He then attended a community retreat at Loyola University in Chicago.

Nov. 6, 2006, marked the first time the Community of Sant'Egidio gathered for prayer at St. Norbert College.

"Sant'Egidio focuses on ministry to the poor and has a wide definition of the poor including those on death row," said Korinko, a religious studies major.

"The poor extends to the poor in spirit," said Lukens, who was first introduced to Sant'Egidio in 2004 at the International Theological Leadership Conference in Rome. "You can be rich and be impoverished."

Sant'Egidio is attractive to young people, he added. "The prayers are sung. The atmosphere is so vibrant. Students sometimes get down on the church. When they connect with Sant'Egidio, they think it's fabulous. They like the energy and the sense of unity. Sant'Egidio may be the future of the church."

Prayer for the poor extends to service to the poor. The community at St. Norbert is organizing outreach to the elderly at nursing homes. Service focuses on building relationships, said Korinko.

"The only way we can do service is to do it with the basis of friendship," he said. "If we don't, we put up barriers. I've served meals at a soup kitchen. I knew I would be finished in a half hour and would go on with my life. I wasn't putting myself fully into that relationship. This is about a deep, lifelong sense of community with people. I have been a pen pal with someone on death row in Louisiana. I have developed a friendship. When we visit the elderly, we too benefit from that friendship."

Ann Pederson, a sophomore at St. Norbert majoring in economics, is currently involved with the community in Washington, D.C. while she is studying this semester at American University. Sant'Egidio answers a religious call in her life, she said.

"Sant'Egidio has enhanced my faith life because it has brought me together with people, not only from St. Norbert and the United States, but also around the world that share my call to social justice," said Pederson, who is from St. Cloud, Minn.

Sant'Egidio has impacted international issues. Members of the community worked as mediators in the Mozambique peace process of 1992. The community also hosts international ecumenical meetings of prayer and dialogue in the "Spirit of Assisi."

Sant'Egidio projects include a campaign for a world-wide moratorium on the death penalty, and DREAM (Drug Resource Enhancement against AIDS and Malnutrition), a program which assists in the fight against AIDS in Africa.

St. Norbert student Linda Maier of Cross Plains, Wis. who is studying abroad in Rome, said Sant'Egidio lives out the call to "preach the Gospel."

"They aren't a group that wants to convert the people they help," she said. "They just want to show other living beings compassion. Sant'Egidio has helped me solidify my own personal commitment to helping the poor so that I'm not just interested in helping when it is convenient."

Korinko emphasizes that Sant'Egidio is not a St. Norbert program. Anyone can join the community for prayer and service.

"Our hope is that it is just something that you do," he said. "It becomes part of your life. It can be lived out anywhere in the world."

The community at St. Norbert strives to mirror the community in Rome.

Growth nationally for Sant'Egidio is difficult to determine because it doesn't have an organized structure.

"I can remember when Paolo spoke to some of the students," said Lukens. "They asked him about forms for membership. He said, 'We don't have forms. There are no forms. We don't have membership. Sant'Egidio is for whoever shows up.' That's the early church."