Who we are

If you are planning an event and there is a possibility of having it in Venice, there is really little more to be said on the matter. The Residenza Universitaria Gesuiti di Venezia has been the home of the Faith and Politics Workshop since it began. It’s a student hostel with no frills, but it’s a good place to hang around. It is next door to a magnificent a baroque church in a charming elongated square – Campo dei Gesuiti-and from the bedroom windows, at the rear of the house,there is a breath taking view of the lagoon which any swank hotel would envy. The backgarden is overlooked by a nine hundred year old brick tower. Venice is a complex place. It is, of course, beautiful and mysterious. One of its charms is that it is very easy to get lost, but you will never be completely lost. The place is too small not to come across some familiar landmarkin a reasonably short time. Campo dei Gesuiti is at the very north of the city and you can walk to St Mark’s Square at the southern end in twenty minutes. Its only seven minutes to the Rialto bridge.

We all know Venice as the city of canals, but it is not so obvious, until you are there for a number of days, that canals can have a powerful effect. They make for a quiet city, especially if you keep out of the tourist haunts,which take up a surprisingly small area. There are no cars, no loud engines, no irritating swishing of tyres, no rapidly moving objects to be avoided, no need for traffic lights and, if you do hear a boat engine, it is muffled and made friendly by the water. This is a place where you can learn to really listen to yourself.

On Sunday, 20 August 2006 everything was in placefor the first Faith and Politics Workshop-catering arrangements finalised, bedrooms ready, jobs allocated. The small group of organisers opened the doors and waited, but they weren’t waiting long when the first participants arrived. Some knew each other well, but no one knew more than a part of the group. They began to meet and talk. They got animated, laughed and listened.

The organising team had a plan, but what happened was bigger than anything they had prepared for. It was like a stage setting,which is unsubstantial and bare looking until the actors come and bring it alive in a work ofart. Or like a city,which is just a shell until it is lived in and filled with stories. In that first workshop –and in the workshops since –the numbers were small enough for everyone to get acquainted. Friendships have been made and there are always good memories. In different parts of Europe today these memories evoke a smile –we can be sure of that –but they bring with them something more.

There are those who say that being interested in public service is like having a disease, but that it not quite accurate. A disease can be cured! It’s better to talk about a condition like, say, diabetes or a heart problem or depression. You can live with a condition but you have to look after it and, if you don’t you can end up in trouble.

Altruism, idealism, patriotism, civic mindedness –many terms could describe this condition, but they always involve taking an interest in things beyond your own immediate needs or those of your family or your neighbourhood. If you have this wider public concern you can end up taking on more than you can handle. You can become overworked or simply overwrought by the problems you see around you. Your mental or physical health can be undermined. On the other hand you can end up compromising yourself in morally complex situations. You can become cynical and embittered and, worst of all, isolated.

If you have this condition it is important to have a good look at yourself, but do not think of this as an exercise in self-blame. That gets no one anywhere. It’s a ‘good’ look in the sense of seeking what is positive. It’s ‘a look’ in the sense of being honest. It’s a good thing to want to make the world a better place, but in your attempts to do so you will encounter both resistance from others and confusion in yourself. Much of the resistance will be purely passive, but some of it will be very nasty indeed and it may bring out the worst in you. This is why you have to have a ‘good look’ at yourself. You need to sift through the influences at work in your life and find those nuggets of wisdom,which give you hope and courage.

Those who came through the door on that first day had a hunger for this kind of thing – they wouldn’t have bothered coming otherwise – and the same has been true of every group since. That hunger is the most important part of the Faith and Politics Workshop.

The most powerful memories which participants take away with them from Venice is their experience of one particular daily exercise. Early each evening the participants gather in small groups to reflect on what has happened. They get talking about what drags them down and what raises them up. As the week goes by trust grows and, with it, a willingness to speak about deeper issues, to encourage each other and to gain new and valued insights. They get a sense that they need to do this, if they are to live a life of public service. They also get a sense from each other that this kind of life is good and generous and fulfilling. There is something sacred about what happens in those groups –a shared vulnerability and a courage which points beyond our limited humanity.

Another significant daily moment is the ‘Liturgy Event,’ a short simple gathering in the chapel off the main church. This takes place before supper, and lasts no more than fifteen minutes. Apart from some singing at the start and the end, and a short introductory reflection on the theme of the day, it is a time of silence. It is a statement that faith is first and foremost an encounter of the heart with One who remains unseen but present. First thing in the morning, we have Eucharist which also takes place in the chapel; it is not a required part of the programme but only for those, usually a good number, who so wish. Finally, every day there is a short input on ignatian (Jesuit) spirituality to provide you with well-tried ways of making sense of your experience.

The Monday and Tuesday are given over to reflecting on where we come from –our own individual stories, the stories of our countries and the story of Europe. On Tuesday afternoon each national group –or individual –gives everyone else a sense of where their country has come from and where it is now. On Wednesday and Thursday we look at the ‘discerning the spirits’ which is central to the Jesuit way of doing things. On Wednesday afternoon we invite three speakers to come and talk about living their faith in three different areas of public life –electoral politics, public administration and civil society. On Thursday morning we all visit Saint Mark’s Basilica.

It is, of course, a magnificent place but, for the Faith and Politics Workshop, it has an added interest. The Basilica is attached to the Doge’s Palace and is designed to show to the world both the power and wealth of the city and the Christian faith of its rulers and inhabitants. There is an undeniable beauty and piety about it all, but it is clearly of a very different time to ours and that difference provides food for thought. We end up in the crypt, a quiet and simple place, for a brief time of prayer. Then everyone is encouraged to spend an hour or so on their own in silence to reflect on what they have seen and heard and on the thoughts which occur to them at this point in the week.

Friday morning is spent preparing for a ‘symposium’ in the afternoon with an invited guest–someone who has experience of public life at European or international level. Our Friday afternoon guests have included Pat Cox, former President of the European Parliament, Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Commission and Hanna Suchocka, former Prime Minister of Poland. This session gives the participants a sense of what is like to deal with the really difficult issues, which few of us can influence directly but which none of us can ignore.

When the work of each day is done we gather for the evening meal in the spacious back yard. (The fig trees are usually ripe just in time for our arrival!) Does it ever rainin August in Venice? Sometimes, and we have a plan B, but either way it works fine. Afterwards there is time to wander around the city and have an ice cream or a beer.The final input, on Saturday morning, is about how to find God in all things. All week we have been focusing on the connection between faith and public life, but that is always only part of the story. We are loved as we are, with all our shortcomings, and we are called to love this world in which we live. Saturday afternoon is given over to preparing for one final Eucharist which takes place in the beautiful baroque church built in the late 1600s. In one way it dwarfs our little group, but in another way we fill it. Afterwards there is a party and, by this time, people are really ready to celebrate! Finally, after breakfast on Sunday morning we gather in the lecture hall where have spent so much time together during the past week. It is a big cavernous place with tall windows high up on both sides. We gather in a circle and we spend a moment in silence. Then there is a moment of friendly chaos as we all say farewell to each other and exchange a few last minute emails. Of course our little moment in Venice is a microscopic drop among the hundreds of millions of lives in Europe, but every drop of water is a carrier of life. There is a lot of life in this tiny drop!