Father Gianni Notari.
A political training school inspired by the values of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and which for 38 years has inspired young people in paths of active citizenship and generation in territories that need to be explored and listened to. This is the commitment of the “Pedro Arrupe” political training school in Palermo directed by Father Gianni Notari, a Jesuit, and founded by Father Bartolomeo Sorge. «Those were years in which the social climate in Palermo was polluted by the mafia, by the logic of oppression, the mafia power was capable of extinguishing all hope in the hearts of people, so we Jesuits together with a group of lay people decided to give our contribution to side of that part of the city that did not want to bow its head”, explains Father Gianni Notari.
The training school today sees a group of 25 young people engaged in courses that aim to regenerate social and housing paths and contexts, with scholarships, thus trying to counter the phenomenon of brain drain from Sicily: «There are many qualified young people who they leave our land, some return, others never return, the flight is determined by poor public policies that do not enhance the resources of the territories, a self-referential policy that leaves little margin for growth, a tragedy”, adds Father Gianni.
The institute aims to accompany people, offering methods of reading and understanding reality, activating synergistic actions in the territories as in the “Generations” project. As happened in Borgovecchio, a district of Palermo, where young people following the training course are listening to people’s stories, creating study groups: «A territorial agora where citizens, measuring themselves with the institutions, identify viable ways to get out of certain situations» , drawing inspiration in a formula dear to the Jesuits to “a journey towards the Magis”, never being satisfied with what has been acquired, progressing.
The meeting entitled: will be held on November 11th in the “Pedro Arrupe” political training school Is it possible to return to imagining peace in a time that rehabilitates war as a tool for resolving conflicts? Vincenzo Ceruso, from the Community of Sant’Egidio, and Domenico Quirico, journalist from La Stampa, witness in some of the war scenarios of recent decades will talk about it. The meeting will be introduced by Father Gianni Notari, Emiliano Abramo, head of the Community of Sant’Egidio in Sicily, will intervene, the debate will be moderated by Anna Straropoli, professor at the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Sicily.
