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A reflection by Fr. Oscar Pezzarini, director of Cottolengo Don Orione in Claypole and Economist and General Commissioner of the Work of Don Orione

Father Oscar Pezzarini

"Solidarity is given and also is demanded"

Father Oscar said that "solidarity is the call of the poorest" and therefore asked for solidarity towards them. He also held that solidarity needs to confront many challenges in a world with inequalities, injustice, and inequity. It must be practiced at a personal level - by material, intellectual, and spiritual means - and from a community point of view.

Buenos Aires, Sunday, January 19, 2003.- Father Oscar Pezzarini, in charge of the weekly comment in "La Manga", Fr. Julio Grassi's radio program (Radio Rivadavia -AM 630 kHz- Sundays from 2 to 5 a.m.) said tonight that solidarity "is lived and paradoxically is also demanded" due to the levels of injustice and inequality in the world.

"Solidarity has multipled in several levels and domains of human activity. Throughout the world people of different countries and cultures have joined in solidary actions."

"When some values are present we feel we actually can move along and as a country recover the grandeur of which we all talk. The Catholic Church says that one of the signs of present times is the strong spirit of solidarity we are experiencing, and which paradoxically is demanded many times", Father Pezzarini remarked.

"We in Argentina have a lot of experience on this issue because when faced with catastrophes, injust situations or accidents, we at once show the solidary spirit needed to help those who need it, whatever the cause may be."

"As I said before, solidarity many times is demanded. This is so because it is the call of those who are most in need, which they shout together through institutions, organizations, social structures and movements. Its spontaneous character in the face of difficult circumstances shows the need of joining in order to give a solidary anwer."

"Furthermore, there are institutions which for a long time now are engaged in intense solidary activity. Another sign of solidary joy is how this gesture is promoted through the media and through sport clubs, just to mention two examples."

The Economist and General Commissioner of the Work of Don Orione furhter said: "Solidarity needs to confront many challenges in a world with inequalities, injustice, and inequity. There's the pauper who joins other poor people in order to manage, and on the other hand there are those who own much more, who should be solidary with those who own less: the need to be solidary with the poor."

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