Complementary

A few days ago I reread what the president of the CEI, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, said in Bologna in 2022 to the members of Retinopera. And I thought about it in terms of associations, movements, and local organizations. I'm revisiting it because it's normal for us, lay associations and third sector entities, to see diversity as a source of wealth, but frankly, it's not normal for us to feel complementary. And perhaps it's an exercise we should undertake for the benefit of each other and the common good.

I'll repeat Zuppi's words: "You have always tried to walk together, laboriously because—as Gianfranco mentioned earlier—it's not that easy to do so. Only by walking together do we discover our complementarity and also our need for each other! By walking, we also understand that, rather than by comparing ourselves, we can focus on complementarity, on our need for each other. It's tiring to seek complementarity, because it means thinking of ourselves in relation to others, and this is often experienced as a reduction of our role, our charisma, our gift, our reality. Instead, we must all tune in to the opposite: complementarity takes nothing away, but enriches, and it's not at all a given; in fact, it's quite tiring. We need it.

Of course, we must apply creativity, imagination, and reciprocity to think in a complementary way. However, it's clear that, for the many needs of our community and society, our parishes and neighborhoods, living complementarity would mean giving more concrete form to welfare.

The effort to harmonize ourselves in complementarity seems utopian: perhaps, however, a deeper understanding of the concept of complementarity could be useful to everyone. Understanding the operational purpose of complementarity could be advantageous for everyone. There are issues and problems that seem completely insoluble for each of us: perhaps if we thought about them in a complementary way, we could attempt some solutions. And obviously, to do this, we need to recognize ourselves, respect ourselves, and understand its usefulness. And we need to gain recognition from other entities, both public and private. In short, a truly uphill journey, but one capable of producing results without the prerequisite of money.


Gianfranco Cattai
NP May 2025