Massimo Camisasca

The vocation to be a priest relies on a daily dialogue with Jesus, living with the Church

Seminarians get a letter from Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Prefect of Congregation for the Clergy for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, advocating the need for the daily dialogue –the salvific meeting (an encounter)– with the Lord which builds a beautiful edifice of life and love.

The cardinal highlights Pope Francis’ idea that in the priestly life there is a primacy of grace: a joy of bearing the cross of Jesus Christ, without which the priest is a mere functionary, not a disciple following a path cut out by the Lord –and, today, the Church– that is certain and life-giving. Only in the cross do we see the self-giving nature of God the Son; the lack of an embrace of the cross contributes to worldliness, secularism, the primacy of the self as the measure of all things.

Highlighted, too, is the faithfulness and thus dependence upon the proven tools of the spiritual life: silence, discernment, sacraments, spiritual direction, human and theological formation. Of course, all this demands that the formators in seminaries aren’t dysfunctional and ideological.

For more about the formation of men to be priests is a book written by the Most Reverend Massimo Camisasca, FSCB, The Challenge of Fatherhood (Human Adventure Books).

On the solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we celebrate most significantly the day for the sanctification of priests and, as you are in the Seminary to respond in the most fitting way possible to your vocation, it is important for me to send you this letter, with great affection, so that you may feel involved and, as such, remember this important occasion.

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Pope speaks to the Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo, Fr Paolo Sottopietra elected new superior

At the end of the Pope’s General Audience on Wednesday, 6 February, Benedict XVI received in the Paul VI Hall the participants of the 12th General Assembly of the Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo. They had just elected a new Superior General, Father Paolo Sottopietra, 45. Father Sottopietra is the second Superior General following the founder and Superior General the Most Reverend Massimo Camisasca who was ordained bishop for the Diocese of Reggio Emilia on 7 December. Camisasca served as the leader for 27 years. The Fraternity developed from the charism of the Servant of God Father Luigi Giussani and the ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation.

Present at the papal audience were Bishop Massimo Camisasca, FSCB and Father Julián Carrón.

The Holy Father’s address

It gives me great joy to be with you. I remember well my visits to Palazzo Borromeo, next to St. Mary’s Major Basilica, where I personally met Fr. Giussani; I have known his faith, his joy, his strength and the richness of his ideas, the creativity of his faith. A true friendship developed between us; and so, through him I got to know even better the community of Communion and Liberation.

And I am glad that his successor is with us, who continues this great work and inspires so many people, so many lay people, men and women, priests and laity, to collaborate in spreading the Gospel and the growth of the Kingdom of God. And among you I have also had the opportunity to get to know Massimo Camisasca; we have talked about different things; I have gotten to know his creativity in art, his ability to see, to interpret the signs of the times, his great gift as a teacher, a priest. I once even had the honor to ordain some priests in Porto Santa Rufina, and it was nice to know that here a new Priestly Fraternity is arising in the spirit of St. Charles Borromeo, who always remains the great model of a Pastor who is truly stimulated by the love of Christ, who seeks out the small, who loves them and so truly creates faith and builds up the Church.

Now your Fraternity is large, and it is a sign that there are vocations. But there is also a need to be open to finding, accompanying, guiding and helping vocations mature. This is the thing for which I thank Don Camisasca, who has been a great educator. And today, education is always important to the growth of the truth, for us to grow in our status as children of God and brothers of Jesus Christ.

Now, thanks be to God, I have also known for a long time your new Superior General, who has also been in touch somewhat with my theology. So, I am glad that I can be spiritually and intellectually with you and that we can offer fruitful help to each other through our work.

May the Lord bless you all. I thank the Lord for this gift of your Fraternity: may it grow and deepen always, even more in the love of Christ, in the love of men for Christ. The Lord accompanies you.

Pictures of the meeting with Pope Benedict

Continue reading Pope speaks to the Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo, Fr Paolo Sottopietra elected new superior

Massimo Camisasca, FSCB, ordained bishop

On Friday, Monsignor Massimo Camisasca, FSCB, 66, was ordained a bishop at Basilica of Saint John the Lateran (the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome) by Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop Adriano Bernardini and Bishop Adriano Caprioli.

Camisasca is now the bishop of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla, a diocese that has had a bishop since the first century. The bishop is the founder and until his episcopal election was the superior general of the Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo, which follows the charism of the Servant of God Father Luigi Giussani (& Communion and Liberation).

Bishop Massimo said of his new ministry,

This is the fundamental reason for my episcopate: to
announce Christ, the Son of God made man, who underwent the Passion and the
Cross for love of us, is risen and so is living, and acts in the history of
mankind with the attractive force of his divine humanity through his Body in
history, which is the Christian people, his Church.

Massimo Camisasca, FSCB

Bishop of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla, Italy

Ordained to the episcopate, December 7, 2012

Perhaps what Bishop Massimo clarifies a little what Blessed John Paul said about CL,

Communion
and Liberation, therefore, has chosen and chooses to indicate not a road, but
the road toward a solution to this existential drama. The road, as you have
affirmed so many times, is Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, who
reaches the person in his day-to-day existence.

Bishop Massimo is one of two bishops who are members of the Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo and 15 other bishops who follow the charism of the Servant of God Father Luigi Giussani and the life of Communion and Liberation.

Veni Sancte Spiritus.

Veni per Mariam.

Massimo Camisasca, a ‘ciellino’ named bishop of Reggio Emilia

This morning His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, nominated Monsignor Massimo Camisasca, 66, as the new bishop of the Italian Diocese of Reggio Emilia – Guastalla. The Reggio Emilia was erected as a diocese in the first century and as 2010 notes about 504,000 Catholics.

Bishop-elect Camisasca born in Milan on 3 November 1946, ordained priest of Bergamo in 1975 succeeds Bishop Adriano Caprioli who has been Ordinary of the diocese for the past 14 years.

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Where do you remain, and with whom? Where is your joy?

On January 14, Monsignor Massimo Camisasca admitted several men to Candidacy. This means those who are asking to be ordained priests in the Missionary Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo. Monsignor is the founder and Superior General. The reason I am posting this homily is because of Monsignor Camisasca’s imagery of the house of God and the invitation given to enter. He sets the stage of what priesthood is about… Where do you remain, and with whom? Where is your joy?

To introduce us to the profound meaning of what happens to you today and in reflex to us, let us place ourselves on the same wavelength of the question that Andrew and John directed to Jesus: Master, where do you live? (Jn 1.38).

As well as this evening we also ask: “Where do you live?”. To be able to stay with Him, we must know where he lives. Your “yes” today is placed on the path that you are completing here in the seminary, a path in which you learn where Jesus lives and how to stay with him. To know Jesus, to know Him interiorly, profoundly, to experience him constitutes the fullness of our existence.

Continue reading Where do you remain, and with whom? Where is your joy?

New Fraternity of St Charles priests and deacons

Tremendous joy exists when a man is ordained for the service of Christ and the Church.

Let’s live ”the glory and joy of the priesthood in the service of Christ and His Mystical Body’ in the communal life ‘experiencing the help of Christ in our existence, calling all the brothers to a continual configuration that is always more profound to you your person.”

Saturday, June 25, was a day of joy for 8 religious men of the Fraternity of Saint Charles Borromeo were ordained priests and deacons by His Excellency, Archbishop Rino Fiscihella, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Monsignor Massimo Camisasca, founder and Superior General of the Fraternity presented his spiritual sons and brothers for the Lord’s service.

The Fraternity now has 2 new priests (Patricio Hacin and Christoph Matyssek) and 6 deacons (Emmanuele Angiola, Diego García Terán, Simone Gulmini, Tommaso Pedroli, Ruben Roncolato & Luca Speziale).

The pictures from the ordination…

Here’s the vocation narrative of the new priests, Don Patricio and Don Christoph.

Father Julián Carrón’s letter to the newly ordained: Fr Carron’s Letter to the newly ordained 2011.pdf

Pope speaks to the Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo

Fraternity of
St. Charles Borromeo is celebrating their 25^th anniversary as a
congregation of priests. The Fraternity is a new community of priests in the Church, founded by Monsignor Massimo Camisasca in 1985. It was signed into Church law in 1999 by Pope John Paul II as a Society of Apostolic Life. On Saturday, February 13, His Holiness Pope Benedict
XVI met with the Fraternity’s
founder, leadership and seminarians. Here’s the text of the Pope’s address
to members of the Fraternity.

It is with real joy that I meet with you, priests
and seminarians of the Fraternity of St. Charles, who have gathered here on the
occasion of the 25th anniversary of its birth. I greet and thank the founder
and superior general, Monsignor Massimo Camisasca, his council and all of you,
relatives and friends who are part of the community’s circle. I greet in
particular the Archbishop of the Mother of God of Moscow, Monsignor Paolo
Pezzi, and Don Julián Carrón, president of the Fraternity of Communion and
Liberation, which symbolically expresses the fruits and the roots of the work
of the Fraternity of St. Charles. This moment brings back to my mind my long
friendship with Monsignor Luigi Giussani and bears witness to his charisma.

Continue reading Pope speaks to the Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo

Is a Strong Priesthood In the World’s Future? asks Massimo Camisasca

On February 26th Zenit published an article by Father Massimo Camisasca looking at what he considers to be the pillars (prayer & Liturgy) of priestly reform in the Catholic Church. Reading a bit of Church history recently there’s been a lot to consider when thinking about the state of the Catholic Church viz. the rise of Portestantism and then the decline of the Christian religion in some parts of the US and the world. Father Massimo Camisasca is the founder and superior general of the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo. The Fraternity was founded in 1985 and recognized as a Society of Apostolic Life in 1999.

Statistical data of the past 30 years reveals an increase of 5% more diocesan priests worldwide, compared with an increase of 48% more baptized persons.

This alone could explain the question in the title of my latest book, “Padre ci saranno ancora sacerdoti nel futuro della Chiesa?” (Father, Will There Still Be Priests in the Future of the Church?) — a theme that underlies the entire text.

However, even more than the number of priests, the Church is interested in the truth of their experience. For reasons connected with my work as superior of a fraternity of missionaries, I travel throughout the world and am in contact with the most diverse realities. And, meeting with priests of different regions, I note that many of them experience difficulties not so much of an ideological type as of an emotional order.

Why is it that today the priestly life — which has made thousands of men happy and contributed enormously to the spiritual growth of humanity — is going through such a profound qualitative crisis?

My [Italian-language] book stems from this question. It is an attempt to rethink the life of a priest from its roots.

Rebirth

The regeneration of priestly life is one of the conditions for the new flowering of Christianity in Europe, and more generally, in our jaded West (Asia and Africa merit separate treatment).

I have attempted to trace the path for a rebirth returning to the fundamentals of the priesthood. I find one of those fundamentals in prayer.

Today many priests lose themselves in action, in the infinite number of activities and preoccupations that entrap them. For the action of each one of us to always be a source of nourishment, it must be constantly redirected to our relationship with Christ. And the place of our relationship with Christ is prayer, inseparable from silence.

Silence, prayer, reflection and study are the answer to one of the evils that afflict the figure of the priest: activism, which remains on the surface of things and absorbs the time of our energies and our feelings. Instead, action that stems from charity introduces us in the work of God, who precedes and exceeds us.

Liturgy

Another pillar of the renewal of priestly life is the liturgy. I say this following the teaching of the Pope. I am not ruled by the desire to accommodate myself to a current, but by a profound conviction that is born from experience.

If the priest does not rediscover the true meaning of the liturgy in his life, he cannot find himself.

Surmounting the process of trivialization, which we have witnesses in the last 30 years, it is necessary to return to that “fons et origo” that the Second Vatican Council identifies in the liturgy.

When it is faithful to the one who instituted it, when it is lived in all its rigorous totality and is attentive to the tradition of the Church, the liturgy is the place of education to communion.

The protagonist of the liturgy is Christ. By living the liturgy, we can enter into the life of God, and only thus can we priests be an effective company of men.

In the third place, the emotional question is central in the life of a priest. Loneliness is the other great evil that today afflicts thousands of priests.

Only by discovering himself a son can the priest be a father.

Friendship is a positive experience in a person’s emotional life. In the Church there is still much fear of friendship. Pathologies are not channeled if one is not helped to develop a healthy life.

Unhealthy and negative friendships, which because of this are not proper friendships, must not close us off from the essential value of these bonds of preference that open us to the love of others and help us to understand who God is.