NicolaOn the weekend of May 23rd / 24th 2 members of the Cenacolo Community situated at Dodding Green in Cumbria, came to share at each of the parish Masses their journey from drug addiction to a new way of living. The Community in Cumbria is part of a world wide family of Cenacolo which was established in 1983 and now has over 60 houses throughout the world. The focus of the Community is to work with disaffected young people many of whom have drug or alcohol or ‘life’ problems.

 

The Cenacolo Community is one of the best examples of the Church in action reaching out to these young people and giving them a second chance. The two young men who were with us: Sascha and Nicola, told how taking drugs helped them to overcome the difficulties raging inside the; they told how they started with ‘soft drugs’ but both eventually became heroin addicts. In the end the drugs did not help them to cope with life but were leading them to death.

 

The Cenacolo Community is known as a school of life. Its three foundations are: prayer, work and friendship. The house in Dodding Green can accommodate 16. One of the tenets of Cenacolo is that the Community lives off Divine Providence. That means that no benefits or grants are accepted from the State and that the young men eat whatever is given to the house by anyone who is so moved to support them. In the weeks ahead we shall have a box in the porch to accept any ‘providence’ which parishioners may give and Fr Loughran will take it to the Community on his weekly visit.

 

There are two websites that might be of interest and will give information for those who need help with addiction. The first is the UK website for Cenacolo: http://www.cenacolofriends.org.uk the second if the official website for the worldwide Community: http://www.comunitacenacolo.it