Resistance against the camorra

On 19 March 1994, at 7:20 am, the Camorra killed Don Peppe Diana, the priest in Casal di Principe, who had dedicated his life and pastoral commitment to combating illegality, abuse, privilege, assassination of hope in the future. His sermons were not generic or exhortations good for any ceremony, but reasoning rich examples of names and surnames, complaints of ethical and political. It had nothing to do with that part of the Church, who blessed the feasts of the Camorra, attending corrupt and collude, even going so far as to deny the very existence of the Mafia. Don Peppe was the same mold of Don Pino Puglisi or of Archbishop Romero, murdered on the altar because she chose to side with the latter, who contrasted marginalization and exploitation.

Don Diana was killed because he had surrendered to sunset the rule of law and wanted to educate young people about law and the rejection of connivance and co-existence with the Camorra and its power system, the invisible and the visible, represented by its delegates in institutions, in business, in the professions. This "claim" this civic action daily, this use of the word cost him his life.

The best way to honor him we seem to republish his "sermon" most famous for the sake of my people will not keep silent, the document read in all the churches of Casal di Principe on December 25, 1991.

We are worried. Helplessly witnessing the pain of so many families who see their children end up miserably victims or instigators of the organizations of the Camorra. As baptized into Christ as pastors of Forania of Casal di Principe feel invested in the midst of our responsibility to be a 'sign of contradiction'. Aware that as a church 'we must educate with the word and the testimony of life to the first beatitude of the Gospel which is poverty, such as separation from the research of the superfluous, ambiguous from any compromise or unjust privilege, as a service to give themselves up, as experience generously lived solidarity '.

The Camorra - La Camorra today is a form of terrorism that strikes fear imposes its laws and try to become endemic in the society component bell. The Camorra impose with violence, weapons in hand, rules unacceptable extortions that have seen our areas become more and more areas subsidized, assisted without any self-development capacity; bribes to twenty percent or more on construction work, which would discourage the contractor most reckless; trafficking for the purchase and smuggling of drugs whose use produces arrays marginalized young people, and laborers at the disposal of criminal organizations; clashes between different factions that strike as devastating plagues on the families of our area; negative examples for the whole band adolescent population, real laboratories of violence and organized crime.

Precise political responsibilities - It is now clear that the disintegration of civil institutions has allowed the infiltration of power at all levels of criminality. The Camorra fills a power vacuum in the country that in the peripheral administrations is characterized by corruption, red tape and favoritism. The Camorra is a State deviant parallel to the official one, but devoid of bureaucracy and of intermediaries who are the scourge of the state legal. The inefficiency of the employment policies, health care, etc.; can only create distrust in the inhabitants of our countries; a worried sense of risk which is becoming stronger with each passing day, the inadequate protection of the legitimate interests and rights of free citizens; the shortcomings of our pastoral action also must convince us that the action of the whole Church must be sharper and less neutral to allow parishes to rediscover those spaces for a "ministry" of liberation, human development and service. Perhaps our communities will need new models of behavior: certainly reality, testimonials, examples, to be credible.

Christian commitment - our commitment to prophetic denunciation should not and can not fail. God calls us to be prophets.
The Prophet serves as sentinel sees injustice, and the complaint refers to the original plan of God (Ezekiel 3:16-18) The Prophet remembers the past and uses it to capture in this new (Isaiah 43), The Prophet invites you to live and he lives, Solidarity in suffering (Genesis 8:18-23); The Prophet identifies as a priority the way of righteousness (Jeremiah 22.3-Isaiah 5). Aware that "our help is in the name of the Lord" as believers in Jesus Christ, that "at the end of the night he withdrew to the mountain to pray" reaffirm the value of anticipatory Prayer which is the source of our hope.

Not an end, but a beginning - our "Churches today have an urgent need to set directions articulated courageous pastoral plans, adhering to the new reality; in particular, they will become promoters of series analysis on the cultural, political and economic involvement in what the intellectuals too far away from these plagues. " Priests and brothers ask our pastors to speak out in sermons and in all those occasions when you require a courageous witness. At the Church that does not give up its "prophetic" role to ensure that instruments of the complaint and the ad will materialize in the ability to produce new consciousness in the name of justice, of solidarity, of ethical and civil values ​​(Lam. 3.17 to 26) . In a few years, we would not want to beat your chest and say guilty with Jeremiah "We stayed away from peace ... we have forgotten what prosperity ... The continuous experience of our uncertain wandering, top and bottom, ... from our painful confusion about what you need to decide and ... I do like absinthe and poison. "