We cross the door of the Jubilee of Mercy as a Church. It is a year of grace wanted by Pope Francis and which is so close to his sensitiveness and to his style, but also in tune with the heart of the Gospel and of the Church: an event of mercy for every person who is wounded by evil. This Jubilee is a way of learning what it means to be a Church of mercy, approaching people with this type of heart and face, impressing this central dimension of this Christian event on our pastoral endevours and our formation programmes.

It therefore makes sense that we ask ourselves what living the Jubilee of Mercy means for Catholic Action.

It is Catholic Action’s style not to run parallel to the Churches or to go cross-wise by offering its own programmes and targets: we place ourselves in our dioceses, in our parishes and with them we welcome the gift of the Jubilee, we try to make it known through our way of life, through our behaviour, in our structures, in our organisations, in the projects, which as citizens, we propose in social life.

The attitude of Mercy has above all a personal dimension which has its roots and is fostered in man’s heart: it means going  back to the Lord after having distanced ourselves from him, with our torn and soiled clothes, with the weight           of our dented life. The first wonder of the Mercy of God is we ourselves: forgiven, inwardly at peace, made capable to see others and things with a serene and friendly eye, with a bond of friendship, just as God looks upon us.

I think that Catholic Action should assume this “style” of Mercy even in its ecclesial relations, in parishes, in the dioceses: it means always trying to favour and facilitate encounter, the “we” fostered by synodality and collaboration, even with other ecclesial programmes, even when the style  used by organisms or individuals seem to be indifferent or outrightly repulsive with regards to CA’s proposals. It means loving our Bishop and priests, never leaving them alone, even from the human aspect, building bridges which foster encounter and dialogue and never letting ourselves to “freeze inside” by seasons which are particularly cold.

Above all I think that Catholic Action should follow the way of Mercy by looking at itself and projecting itself as “an outgoing Church”. The theme of Mercy directs us to be a Church which is no longer introvert, self-centred: Mercy is not an accessory for gardens and lounges but for the street, for marshes, for the wounds in trenches and borders. Mercy is the typical equipment of the mission, of an outreach towards life, towards people’s situations. The Church cannot select its recipients, cannot establish beforehand the starting point. We indicate an aim and a way, but these are presented to all, precisely to all, and not to selected categories. The starting point is predetermined by us, we receive it as it is. And this is a gift, it is not an embarrassment.

Our Churches seem to work hard, maybe sometimes they resist to think of themselves as “outgoing”, towards the people in alleys and in boundaries, towards beggars, the blind, the crippled, offering all these the wedding garment and inviting them to the wedding feast. (Cfr. Mt 22, 9-10).

Mercy and Mission are interchangeable and one includes the other, as if one is a vital condition for the other, and both of them are the heart of the Gospel and as such the soul and duty of the Church. Catholic Action thus opts to be, within the dioceses and the parishes, a strength and a prophetic voice, which calls, persuades, and drives them to become, in their hearts and in their deeds, a Missionary Church, a Church full of Mercy.