To Return Something… Story of My Social Apostolate
Markus Inama SJ
One of my boyhood dreams was to save lives, a dream which is quite common among young people. I think my dream was rooted in the story of my ancestors. As a young man, my great-grandfather migrated from Northern Italy to Western Austria looking for a job. He was known in my hometown for his strong Italian accent. My grandfather returned from World War I with a disease and died six months after my father was born. My grandmother with her four children was reliant on the help of Caritas and the parish community during World War II. My father was shaped by these experiences. For him and my mother it was important to live in solidarity with poor people and that we become involved in the social field and our community.
After I finished high school and military service, I decided to travel to the US and Mexico. During this half-year-trip I met a lot of people. I learned what life looks like from the perspective of young people who experienced hardships and didn’t have the support of their families. After I returned from this trip, I had a hard time adjusting to normal life in Austria. For one year, I looked into different options. Then, I started volunteering in a social project for homeless men in Vienna. I planned to stay for two weeks and ended up staying for two years. This was what I was looking for. During my stay in Vienna I took part in the Jesuit European Volunteer Program. I heard about the vision of Fr. Arrupe about “a faith that does justice”. I learned what living in a religious order could also mean: “Committing myself at the hotspots of today’s society, rooted in the Gospel.” After this, I joined the Society of Jesus.
When the communist system in Eastern Europe collapsed, our provincial sent an Austrian Jesuit to Romania to help street children in Bucharest. Since then, an international social project for children and youngsters in need called CONCORDIA has been built under the motto “going where the need is greatest”. In the year 2008, I was sent to Sofia/Bulgaria to start CONCORDIA Bulgaria. I lived and worked there for four years. Since then, I’m a member of the management board of CONCORDIA.
CONCORDIA Social Projects has set its goal to help families in Eastern Europe which are struggling to survive. In Bulgaria, the Republic of Moldova and in Romania, many children are living in poverty. They don’t have enough to eat. No home. No future. We want to enable children to grow up happily and live independent lives. We give them a safe home. We open up future chances for them through a well-founded education.
The main challenges we are facing in the CONCORDIA projects are connected to the change of the political situation in the early 90ies, when the map of Eastern Europe changed. Since then, we are facing an ongoing transition process not only in Eastern Europe. Economically, this process has a lot of advantages. But the social welfare systems in the new membership states of the EU can’t keep up with the social problems, e.g. work migration to central Europe or rights of minorities. In the EU, we are noticing an atmosphere of de-solidarization.
CONCORDIA is taking care of children and elderly people that are left behind, and we work for vulnerable groups like the Roma community. We are doing this by building bridges between East and West, young and old. About 300 Volunteers are active in our projects in four countries. Especially the engagement of young volunteers gives us hope.
CONCORDIA Social Projects relate to the Jesuits through the CONCORDIA guidelines which we took from Fr. Ignatius: “We go where the need is the greatest and where others do not go.” I started to work with CONCORDIA after twenty years in the society of Jesus. I realised that I’m living in a huge network of Jesuits, friends and different collaborators and that this network is supporting social projects like CONCORDIA generously.
Experienced staff members of “Kardinal König Haus” are supervising Concordia-managers and offer courses for social workers. With their help, we are establishing our own Academy for people who are active in the social field in Eastern Europe. I think that at least two of the new apostolic preferences relate strongly with CONCORDIA: Walking with the poor and Journeying with Youth.
When I went to Bulgaria in 2008, I was told that it is too dangerous to enter the ghettos where Roma people live illegally. After two years, Milan, a young boy of 11 years who wanted to live in our social centre took me to his community. He led me to the hut where his parents and five siblings lived. This encounter showed me a reality of life I hadn’t expected in the middle of Europe. That evening, I asked Milan and other children about their dreams. Their dreams didn’t differ from the dreams of children in well-situated families in Vienna. But without help, their chance of realising their dreams is almost zero. Some of the children and youngsters we tried to help in the first years died because of drug use or different diseases. It was very disappointing to realise that changing things and saving lives is not that easy and that our work requires perseverance.
I’m glad that through the Society of Jesus, God offers us a way to take part in his path of reconciliation which includes every human and especially those on the edges of society. I’m happy to be part of a community which is engaged in different social fields and that we are using our hearts and our brains. I’m grateful that in the Social Apostolate, I’m able to return to society some of what I received through my parents and other people who gave me their love and care.
