An entrepreneur: I built a citadel for maladjusted children
By ANDREA TORNIELLI
“Before coming here I went to church only at Christmas and Easter. I came to Medjugorje alone, one month after the attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, an event which really shocked me. To me it was as if I had come home, to find myself and true peace. That first time when it was time to leave, I was terrified, I feared that the happiness I experienced would vanish ....”.
It's almost noon and the sun warms the brown stones of Mount Podbrdo, apparition hill, where thirty years ago, in June, children from this remote village in Herzegovina claimed they had seen "Gospa" the "Queen of Peace" for the first time. There is a man who is saying the rosary whilst climbing the uphill path, barefoot. His name is Fabio Sghedoni, 46, he is married with four children and is the owner of Kerakoll a company in Sassuolo with a turnover of 350 million euro a year and eight plants in Europe with over one thousand employees that manufacture tile glue and export it around the world. That first trip to Medjugorje a decade ago has changed his life and now Sghedoni, who returns every three months, has just finished building a town to give misfit children a home and teach them a skill.
"In 2001 - he says - I was supposed to come to Medjugorje with a Polish priest that I knew. But because of a problem with his passport, he was stuck in Munich and as if that wasn't enough, my luggage got lost. I found myself alone in Medjugorje, without anything, without knowing the language. I participated with the other pilgrims in the Eucharistic adoration, I visited Mount Podbrdo for the first time, I met one of the visionaries, Vicka. And while she spoke of the apparitions of Our Lady and her messages of conversion, I began to cry bitterly. At that moment I realised what it meant to experience the love of God .... ".
This was an unsettling encounter for the entrepreneur from Italian city of Sassuolo. It brought him closer to faith and led him to decide to do something for those affected by civil war in the Balkans. "I had received so much here and I felt the need to help heal at least some of those inner wounds that I felt in this land". Even if the small country of Bosnia Herzegovina, which has become one of the world's most visited pilgrimage sites, was spared from the bombs during the war in former Yugoslavia, all around, the conflict has left many inner and outer scars. "It hasn't just destroyed homes - confides Sghedoni - but has also left wounds in people's hearts. I still remember a man once telling me: "I know who killed my father, it was my neighbor. But I have forgiven him". Many others find themselves in this same position and are unable to overcome it. I wanted to do something to restore their hope .... ".
Fabio is an entrepreneur from the region of Emilia Romagna in Italy, he’s not a mystic. He knows nothing of the theological debates surrounding the Marian apparitions: those of Medjugorje are not recognized by the Church, also because they have been going on for thirty years and the messages have not yet stopped. The Bishop of Mostar is against, other bishops and cardinals are in favor, Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Cardinal Camillo Ruini to head an investigative commission to examine the testimonies and messages. "We - says Sghedoni - trust in the Church and its decisions. I do not want to go into the matter any further... I come here to pray to Our Lady, I saw thousands of people receive the sacraments, rediscover the faith and change life. Just as it happened to me".
A tangible mark which he, together with his family, decided to leave on this place, to express their gratitude, is a citadel that covers seven acres just outside of Medjugorje. It is made up of seven buildings, including two homes to house and train disadvantaged young people. "I wanted to offer these war children a second chance, the possibility of making it, by teaching them a skill". So in the citadel, as well as a hotel for pilgrims, there are also workshops and cooking schools. Young people learn to become bakers and cooks. There is also a small building for sports activities which can hold up to two thousand people. This is open to all young people's teams in the area who want to train. The Citadel of Joy ", is now run and enlivened by the New Horizons community, founded by Chiara Amirante. "It costs about ten million euro, we built it thanks to the help of many others, even though the bulk of the funds came from my family and from Kerakoll". Fabio looks down, as he says the rosary again and resumes the climb, barefoot, stopping for a lengthy prayer before the white marble statue that stands in the place where the first apparition was witnessed. "I will never be able to pay back - he whispers – as much as I have received .... ".