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FROM OUR LADY OF THE SEA TO OUR LADY OF BONARIA
THE STORY OF CALA GONONE: FROM PREHISTORY TO 1700 As well as the outstanding natural beauty of the area, the obvious attraction for inhabitants of Cala Gonone in ancient times was the security it provided. With its sea, caves, valleys, ilex woods and mountains stretching out to sea, Cala Gonone combined the two aspects and sheltered them in a protective embrace. It is highly probable that humans settled here as early as 5th millennium BC, though concrete traces are onlyvisible from 3000 BC until the birth and explosion of the nuragic cilisation 2000-1000BC. The nuragic villages of Arvu and Mannu remain as documents of this period; the Nuragheddu, a short distance away from the latter; the La Favorita nuraghe. In the Nuraghe Mannu village there once stood a nuragic temple, later destroyed by the Romans. In the Gonone area the Phoenicians (600BC), the Punics (500BC) and especially the Romans passed. The villages they built, in places particularly impervious and inaccessible demonstrate both their will for power and spirit of invasion and their pride in and love for our forbears. In 900 AD, pirates probably also landed. Two facts are significant in this regard: a) the mountain which separates Dorgali from the sea is called “Bardia”, i.e. “guard”, perhaps to indicate the security which it guaranteed against any form of invasion or incursion. b) moreover Dorgali has never had a professional fisherman, which says a lot about the diffidence of its inhabitants towards this beautiful stretch of sea. Added to this is the lack of direct connections between the two localities. This happened only with the first tunnel in 1860 and the present tunnel from 1928. It might be said that the two tunnels opened, though in a minor way, Gonone to the world. CALA GONONE FROM 700 TO THE PRESENT DAY a) THE SMALL CHURCH The middle ages and the period of judges ruled tell us very little about this region and the sea. In the 18th century, 100 metres away from the crag which overlooks the central beach and all the arc of the Gulf, a small chapel was erected in the Sardinian baroque style, which in its turn, dominated the various outcrops of houses which slowly, starting from the end of the 19th century were built leading down to the sea. They were built by wealthy Dorgalese families who had discovered this corner of the world, unique for its love of peace. b) TRADE Small church and the first habitations are the sign of life, which was starting again. Trade in wine and cheese is, transported over land by horse first and then by cart when the old tunnel began to function, to which one acceeded from the western side, because of an almost inaccessible feature called “Scala Homines”. Goods were collected and taken beyond the island by capacious vessels which the old people remember by the names Ichnusa and Tirrenia which, mooring on a temporary wooden wharf which extended out to sea for around 50 metres pasta, flour, sugar, as well as kitchen utensils were loaded onto the boat. The very thick forests of the surrounding countryside, allowed the possibility to begin coal production from the end of the 19th century, which worked on site by hand was traded was on the island and the Italian mainland. Still today, before the boat moors in Cala Mariolu, one observes on the coast, and iron staircase, “on whose steps - reports a guide of the maritime transport consortium of Cala Gonone - ascended predators from the ships, who having destroyed entire woods of ancient ilexes took away the coal in huge quantities towards the shores of the mainland”. a) THE FIRST TOURISM The first taste of tourism for Gonone came immediately after the Second World War, with the renting out, generally for a few weeks or rooms in the very few extant habitations; but above all, allowing families coming from Dorgali, Nuoro, and above all from Oliena, to build, under the wild olives, very short distance away from the beach (Palmasera), a dense series of huts, made out of plaited together oleander and rock-rose branches. These families arrived in Gonone only usually by ox-drawn cart with all the household goods and provisions necessary, for the foreseen period. But usually a supplementing their supplies with goods from the area, such as coal, “Carasau” bread from Dorgali, and Ponzesi fish. Already however, before the last World War, the houses of the well-off Dorgalese were used for a form of elite tourism with a sort of private, bathing area on the central beach, a kind of family seaside resort made up of that rectangular cement basins immersed in the water on top of which was a wooden pile construction . The construction was blown up towards the end of the war, as it was mistaken perhaps for an arms depository In the Fifties, the first tentative visits to the Bue Marino cave (monk seal) were made, with groups of speleologists such as that of the Jesuit P. Furreddu and the engineer Giacobbe. The present author took part in one of these visits, and remembers passages, today, comfortable and wide passageways, previously narrow tunnels which could be passed only crawling along the floor. The Pro Loco had kitted out hazardous wall sheer above the sea, of staircase with mobile ladder, to ease the entrance to the caves for these large parties, which came overland from Cala Fuili. What the consortium for boats does today in this regard is the development of the courageous work of those pioneers. FROM THE ANCIENT SMALL CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE SEA TO THE PRESENT CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF BONARIA 1) THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE SEA The old chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the sea . now the object of intense nostalgia on the part of the Dorgalese and in particular the people of Gonone of a certain age, alone dominated for two centuries, the beautiful marina, which extended out straight from the church for 100 metres There were no documents which dates its erection. In the fields of Dorgali in the 17th century numerous churches will one knave were built, only developing lengthways. On the external walls, numerous robust buttresses descending downwards, which guaranteed its stability Generally they were equipped, at the side of the Presbytery, with a room which functioned as the sacristy, and sometimes enriched all-round with a large courtyard enclosed by a series of small houses (CUMBESSIAS) which served to welcome pilgrims on Sundays feast days.
Gonone could not remain excluded from the valuing of a strategic sites for religious devotion, and the name of the Church, which was constructed, probably at the end of the 19th century was dictated by the same nature is the place: Church of our Lady of the Sea. This title was very lucky and as such entered into the hearts of the faithful, who in Dorgali were not lacking. The mothers who in homage to Our Lady of the Sea, reserved for their children the Latin name of Maristella (Maris Stella), star of the sea in the exact translation. Legends? Only very forced and moreover retracing the history of Bonaria hill in Cagliari. The church had no sacristy. The only nave extended out for a surface area of around 120 square metres. Especially in the morning, an intense light, invaded it coming from the wide window onto the sea, the central rose and from the two side windows, parallel with the presbytery. It constituted the religious cultural and social centre of the small village. There are those who remember while altar boys, that during Mass the unique vision of the sea which shone in the sun and its horizon beyond which was found the promised land; and groups of young people who competed to see who could get first, at full pelt, to this sea space called “S’Abba Irde”, from where one could admire the façade of the little temple. Also those who less poetically cry over the missed opportunity to acquire for the religious and civil communities as well as the site for worship, an adequate area for Christian formation and socialisation of young people at the world of youth. It contemplated with love, the sea until the Fifties, 1951 to be precise, when the church was damaged by a flood. Could it be saved? Could it be equipped with surrounding areas of logistical support for pastoral activities with the prospect, not out of place, of a possible erection as a parish? Over the pastoral intuition of the time, the commercial and tactical thinking won, for which in the years immediately following, after an attempt to repair the existing building confirmed by an assessment carried out by the office of civil engineering in Nuoro, the decision was taken to demolish the chapel and in its place to build a new building for worship. 1) CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF BONARIA
The placing of the first stone on this new building occurred on 30th January 1959 and was solemnised by the presence of the Bishop of Nuoro Mons Giuseppe Melas, secretary Don Giovanni Delogu, of Canon Basilio Meloni, parish priest of St Catherine’s, Dorgali, Don Pietro Orunesu and Don Nunzio Calaresu co-workers of the latter, and by a new a large crowd of faithful, hoping for great things of the new church. It was inaugurated solemnly on 19th May 1963 by the same Monsignor Melas, with all the local authorities present. The joys of title on “Our Lady of Bonaria” is due simply to the personality of the bishop, who, born in Guasila and coming from Cagliari, harboured for this Madonna a strong and faithful devotion. The new church was built on 20 metres from the former, suddenly demolished church. It was in rectangular form with a small apse without side chapels and niches and with two windows on the West side 3.5 metres high. The roof, in two layers, was held up by a triple coupling of cement rafter which came together in the highest part, and that these in turn, rested of respective pillars perfectly built in to the perimeter walls. The only gave was 10.6.5 metres, with an extra 4.3 times three metres of the presbytery. The facade formerly eastward facing to remember the Christian people that the church community is welcome and assimilation of the Sun of Christ, to give it back to the world in evangelisation, now looks northwards. With the hope that if the Church of limestone and rocks has changed direction, because of the inadvertence of a number of men, the Church made of living stones never takes away its look from the light, which illuminates the just way of unity of faith, intensions and concrete service of love.
THE COMMUNITY OF CALA GONONE
IS RAISED TO THE RANK OF A PARISH WITH THE TITLE OF “OUR LADY OF BONARIA” In the Sixties, the desire for houses in Cala Gonone rose tremendously. Holiday homes houses for permanent living. A few dozen fixed inhabitants rose to around 300. The spiritual needs of the people brought less desultory responses than up to that point had been given, according to the limited possibilities of the clergy of the parish of St Catherine in Dorgali. Given the continued and motivated petitions, and considering that the fraction of Gonone in the summer months, reached 2000 people “for bathing cures” the then Bishop of Nuoro, Giuseppe Melas, decreed thus: “In the borough of Dorgali, in the fraction of Cala Gonone, the new parish dedicated to Our Lady, under the title of Our Lady of Bonaria is erected with all the rights, competences and privileges, together with the duties burdens and obligations.” Segue la definizione dei confini: The definition of the boundaries follows: “ – The Tyrrheanian Sea on the front, which goes from Rio Osala to the border with the plains of Orosei, as far as the plains of the borough of Baunei, beyond the rio Codula, Cala Luna;
- the line which runs to the west on the top of the mountain, beginning from the “Sutta Terra” summit, passing to the summit of Su Truncu Mannu (950 metres), Cuccuru Nieddu (850 metres),Tului(934 metres), Mount Bardia (885 metres), as far as the passage known as Littu and Ghirveri, with the understanding the slope which points out on to the sea will belong to the new parish of Our Lady of Bonaria, and the other behind will belong to St Catherine of Dorgali. The present decree will enter into action, to all effects, as soon as the new parish has obtained civil recognition. Nuoro, 2nd Feb 1962 - Feast of the Purification of Mary”. GIUSEPPE MELAS, Bishop of Nuoro Countersigned: PIETRO M. MARCELLO vice-chancellor of the Curia The civil recognition occurred with presidential decree on 7th Feb 1963 (officially approved 18 Apr 1963). I PASTORI DELLA NOSTRA COMUNITÀ THE PASTORS OF OUR COMMUNITY From the date in which Gonone was made a parish, dedicated to the Madonna, under the title, Our Lady of Bonaria (2/2/62), there were no resident parish priests until September 1972. The came down to the locality to celebrate Mass on Sundays, first Fridays, and whenever pastoral necessity required it. Here is the list of priests whom the Bishop entrusted with the charge: 1) Don Giovanni Antonio Carta, born in Ollolai 2nd May 1934, then curate of Dorgali. He was named with the bull of Monsignor Melas on 11th February 1963. Non-resident parish priest, he carried out his ministry until 30th August 1963. 2) Don Albino Saima, born in Gavoi on 1st March 1939, then spiritual director in the seminary, he was named by bull of Monsignor Melas on 10th September 1965. Non-resident parish priest, he continued his ministry until 31st Aug 1972. 3) Don Gonario Nieddu, born in Orani 15th January. He was the first residential parish priest, when still in Gonone a presbytery did not exist. He was the job from Monsignor Giovanni Melis from 1st Sep 1972 to 30th Sep 1974. 4) With a bull of 1st Oct 1974, the same Mons Melis named his successor, in the Person of Don Michele Cosseddu, who guided this community without interruption for 22 years, until 20th Oct 1996. From 27 Jun 1996, to 20th October of the same year, the date on which his mandate finished, Don Cosseddu, considering his poor state of health, was given of a parish administrator as a help, from the parish of St Catherine’s in Dorgali, Don Giuseppe Cugusi. With the transfer of this latter to the parish of St George in Bitti, Don Sebastiano Corrias took on the charge of parish priest from 10th Sep 1996 to 11th Jan 1997. Don Corrias, who functioned as curate of St Catherine’s Dorgali was born in Orgosolo 15th October 1955. With the bull of Monsignor Pietro Meloni of 10th October 1996, the priest Don Salvatore Angelo Nieddu was elected the fifth parish priest of Bonaria, born in Dorgali, 8th December 1935. His ministry began 11th January 1997. VERSO LA RISTRUTTURAZIONE DELLA CHIESA DI N. S. DI BONARIA TOWARDS THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF BONARIA The Church considered as seat of a new parish community breathed difficultly from its beginning. The problem was not so much the 300 inhabitants in the Sixties, nor the 600 in the Eighties, so much as the particular identity of Cala Gonone, which is at the same time a fraction of the borough of Dorgali and a tourist resort at the national and international level. In winter, it is a quiet dormitory; however as soon as March begins the doors and windows are opened, and laundry is dried in the sun. With Easter, as well as the swallows, the first groups and tourists arrive; in the summer season Gonone is already a metropolitan town. To the need of a 1300 assiduous Sunday worshippers, a small church with a maximum capacity of 100, could not satisfy the needs. It was thought for some time that a new church should be built to resolve not only the problem of worship that also all the logistical problem of parish activities to permanently and comprehensively train the faithful. After 20 years of attempts, conducted in particolar by the then, parish priest Don Michele Cosseddu, together with the ecclesial community, with bitterness it was confirmed that nothing had ever changed, giving reason to the ancient philosophy which taught that movement is pure illusion. To complicate matters, an extra factor was added on 24th May 1996 by the Protection Office of Nuoro, which gave a negative verdict on the proposal for restructuring, included in the “Plan for the Fishermen’s District” which leaving the building in its original structure, foresaw a widening externally under the guise of an open gallery, which for the Office did not correspond to the ecology of the environment. In June 97, the last blow, the Sardinian region did not welcome, an overall plan of the borough council called “integrated project of urban requalification” of which the “new church” problem formed an integral part. There only remained as an extreme option of hope, the already done identification of are an area for a new temple of around 5000 metres along the Bue Marino road The facts of the external wrangle over pine groves and schools, utility rooms and squares to satisfy the community need for Sunday worship. Continue in this way? For how long? The opinions were discordant and divided ecclesiastical life: new church or restructuring? One part of the community supported the parish priest in the decision for that” unum facere et aliud non omettere”: To ask for the restructuring of the existing building with the prospect of 100 new places and to work at the same time for a definitive solution in favour of a completely new church. Here are extracts from the message which the parish priest, delivered to the community in the leaflet, “Beginning a journey” of September 97, when the works were about to be undertaken. “The restructuring of our church? I think that’s, we really need it! We need it is for the decoration of our liturgy, for a respect to the faithful of Gonone, who are not from the Third World, the dignity of the church itself. Tourists in such a beautiful village, ought not to find as a place a prayer a big, ugly room, as high as it a bell tower, and as short as a coiled springs, which does not await anything else but for wise people to open it to proportion and freedom”. “… We will work with all our might for the construction of the new church. But experience ought to teach everyone that for a multitude of reasons, the times are unforeseeably long. Now is the time to look reality in the face, which is the reality of necessity: awaiting the new house, which is far off, we have the right and the duty to be united in putting the roof on the old house which is leaking water and to defend ourselves and the entire ecclesiastical family from the bad weather which slaps us in the face and humiliates us. This i san invitation to wisdom and unity (though remaining for everyone the right to their own identity); wisdom and unity which ought to constitute the first roof, which says the dignity of our parish community; absolutely the first roof to restructure, if there were need of it”. These were the ideas which the new parish priest had already at the beginning of his mandate in Cala Gonone. He hurried therefore to make contact immediately with the Administration, presided over by the then the Mayor Fausto Canu who demonstrated an appreciable availability for which the bureaucratic path to set up the practical side of restructuring began with the approval of the council committee of the public Works programme, N° 31, on 12th March 97, in which the work of renovation and enlargement of the parish church was included. The head of the Technical Officer of the borough council of Dorgali, the quantità surveyor Gian Michele Porcu, uniting to his evaluations and technical knowledge the functional indications of the parish priest, as well as useful ideas already planned in previous attempts, drew up a plan with inter-exchangeable modules, in case in the organs proposed for approval should emerge problems of respect for the environment. This project, presented in person by the planner and the parish priest to the Protection Office in Nuoro, in March 97, immediately obtained the verbal approval of Dr Fresi and on 15th May 97, the Council of Dorgali approved it formally. The tender for contract, called on 17th July 97 was won by the Dorgali businessman Salvatore Carta-Cudina, and responsibility for the work handed over on 8th September 97. These began on 10th Sep 1997. The new Council Administration, taking up office on 15th May 1997 and presided over by the Mayor Caterina Loi Medau, was no less motivated in sustaining already in course project. While works continued, the same administration, also because of the eager mediation of the assessor to the LL.PE Tonino Pinedda, ensured further financial backing, for the installation of air-conditioning indispensable in the summer months, as well as for the waterproofing and the supply of materials necessary for the restructuring for the restoration of the old roof. With the above-mentioned construction manager Salvatore Carta, the builders Tore Cucca, Salvatore Corrias, Lino Fancello and Francesco Nonne carried out the works of restoration and enlargement. The colouring was carried out by the craftsman Mario Carta Cudina; the Venetian stucco of the Presbytery by Gianni Piredda; the electrical and sound system installation, were the work, respectively, of Graziano Muggianu, Mario Loi and Fabio Angius from Loceri, representatives of the Fulgor firm; the heating by Tony Lulia, Nuorese worker resident in Dorgali. The panelling was done by Salvatore Ruiu. The structure for the systematising of the bell tower, a welcome gift from the parish of St Catherine’s, was carried out in a masterly fashion by Salvatore Arras. Following them day by day, was the prayer and trepidation of the parish priest, and the entire Gononese community.
ART IN THE CHURCH OF BONARIA The ancient little church, possess nothing in terms of art, other than itself, its Sardinian soul, the ease with which it offered people the chance to contemplate and almost to meet God as one of us, in that great room, protected by the perfectly sweet, small Madonna, in blue and white, with which everyone felt at home. In a certain sense the fascination, which came from her look, always looking towards the sea and its infinite horizon, was art, an invitation to all people who passed beside her, believers or not, to turn towards the mystery of God. Of works of art on the other hand, the new church began to become rich , from the time of the inauguration of 19th May 1963, when the first gift of a panel in embossed copper was made, a triptych of 2.9 x 1m, figuring three moments in the history of Our Lady of Bonaria.: the tempest in the sea of Sardinia and the unloading among the waves of a mysterious casket to make the sailors more worthy to overcome the difficulty of sinking; the casket which headed quickly towards the Gulf of Cagliari; its finding on the beach of the Poetto and the devotion on Bonaria hill. The Dorgales artist Totorino Spanu was the generous donor of this painting. 1967, Antonio Marras, a married man, and retired sheriff, from Dorgali, and with artistic leanings, perhaps to carry out a vow made in the course of his difficult official duty, carried out alone and gave to the church an original Via Crucis in multicoloured pottery, of 31 x 21cms. On 25th January 93, the church proclaimed Blessed our co-citizen Sr Maria Gabriella Sagheddu. The Dorgali artist Pietro Mele had sketched out the image of the Blessed as a gigantic picture to expose in St Paul’s Basilica during the solemn ceremony of beatification. Through a group of Cala Gonese guided by Mrs ignazia Mula and Mrs Luisa Sireus, around 2 million lire were raised and the work was bought by the parish in spring 1984. The acrylic, 1.2 x 80 cm represents the ideal lived by sister Maria Gabriella. The good Shepherd, who represents Jesus has a little sheep on his shoulders and leads the flock towards the one fold. On the flock stands out the figure of the young Dorgali sister, who at the age of 25 gave her life so that the prayer and dream of Christ for the unity of all believers in him, should not be broken by egoism and division of peoples. A year bifore the beatification another genial artist from Dorgali, Mario Spanu, engaged with the theme of the unity of the Church. The young Tonino Piredda, construction manager from Cala Gonone was aware of the great devotion which his mother Mary had for the saintly sisters, who had been a childhood friend. He therefore bought the great 2 x 1m oil painting of Spanu and gave it to the parish as a filial homage to his mother Mary and father Vincenzo. The scene of the composition presents Christ, who is dying on Calvary, after praying for the unity of his faithful, in the background. In the centre there is a large globe on whose circumference stand number of temples, symbols of the different Christian confessions of the world. The figure of sister Maria Gabriella fills the globe, who pointing to Calvary calls on the dying Jesus to unite Christians, for this end uniting to the Father the offer of her own life to His. In 1991, the widow all of these above-mentioned painter Pietro Mele, Mrs Grazia Mulas, gave our parish, thanks also to the good offices of the quantity surveyor Graziano Secci, an acrylic on canvas with the effigy of St Catherine of Alexandria, patron of the parish church of Dorgali, portrayed at the moment of her martyrdom. The Acts of the Martyrs tell how Catherine, daughter of a powerful Egyptian ras, become Christian, was invited by her father to renounce her faith. The young girl, persevering in her decision was closed up in a tower by her father, so that solitude would take away her incomprehensible stubbornness. Obtained nothing, he entrusted her to the civil authorities, who applying the anti-Christian laws of the era, subjected her to the torture of the wheel, which, had it worked would halve ripped her body apart. It is said, however, that the wheel broke as soon as she made contact with it. The gift was of the single canvas, which was framed for free by the Dorgalese carpenter, Tonino Mesina, nephew of Sr Maria Gabriella. In June 1994, the parish priest, Don Michele Cosseddu acquired the monumental wooden statue of the Madonna of Bonaria, which now towers over the central niche of the apse, work of the Dorgali sculptor Pier Giorgio Gometz. At Christmas of the same year, the Administation conceded a promotional financial backing to the craft shops of Dorgali. One consequence of this generosity was the donation by the ceramicist Gian Luigi Mele, from Cala Gonone, of a multicoloured ceramic depicting the Nativity scene. From the craft workshops come: - the beautiful wooden, hinged crucifix (Naples 1998); - the wrought iron lantern for the liturgical candle, next to the Blessed Sacrament, copy of an original belonging to a noble Piemontese family, gift of the parish priest (work of the craftsman Nunzi, Fermo ’98); - the lectern, turned, with symbolic decorations towards the top, gift of Vannina Mulas (Francesco Pira Dalè, Dorgali).
A COMMUNITY CELEBRATING ON THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE AND HOPE On 4th April 1998, the Saturday before Palm Sunday, the Bishop of Nuoro, his Excellency Rev Mons Pietro Meloni presided over the solemn concelebration with which the newly reworked church re-opened for worship. The parish priest, Don Salvatorangelo Nieddu, introduced the community prayer and offered the image of landing in an oasis after a long time wandering around in the desert. He greeted and thanked very vigorously those who had always believed in the undertaking with particular mention for Mrs Tina Carraro Ticca, who for an entire year had freely hosted the liturgical assembly in a large room, almost adjacent to the church in the basement. However, his greatest attention was reserved for the church-community, for whose construction there can never be a definite arrival point. There are stages which need to be reached and passed, not only moments of prayer, but -with a living and conscious prayer, at maximum that of the breaking bread or the Eucharist -, but also, and above all in the assiduousness of listening to the word; of the assiduousness of dialogue between flock and shepherds; and of the out reaching hands of every believer towards the Mother Church, body of Christ, like those of the Virgin, so to speak with the body and all passion of the heart: «Ecce ancilla . . .Fiat!» In the homily, Monsignor Meloni congratulated the community for having created such a structure, emphasising the necessity to create a structure of souls, through the sacraments of baptism and confirmation and the involvement of all believers in an effort for a new evangelisation. Miss Vannina Mulas, representing the Parish Pastoral Council, gave a warm welcome to those assembled. Expressing the joy for the refound common home, she looked to the future, wishing the community of Gonone, a sustained effort for a new church, which in the welcoming of the faithful in the summer, would unite the response to the needs for space socialisation and Christian formation and human formation of the new generations. The Mayor, Mrs Caterina Loi Medau traced the outline of the history of Calagonone, simply “Gonone” for the Dorgali citizens, drawing attention to the vicissitudes of the ancient church, to the flood of ‘51, to the sudden decision to demolish it, to its substitution with that dedicated to the Madonna of Bonaria, which demonstrated itself straightaway, inadequate to meet needs, and therefore to the proposal, happily undertaken for its renewal and enlargement, insofar as the pre-existing structure would permit it. And around this institution, and the school, which Gonone had built, its own identity and vocation, for its sea, mountains, caves and the richness of the area archaeological, to make itself a place of tourist welcome. “The administration is fully committed- concluded the mayor -to revitalising and strengthening the necessary conditions for an efficient economy for this village, sure that its well-being will constitute the well-being of the entire Dorgali community”. Also there to celebrate with the Mayor of Dorgali, were the members of the governing coalition of the local council; the ex-mayor Fausto Canu with friends from the previous administration, who had from the outset supported and followed with passion the request for re-modernisation of the then dated temple, despite only the 35 years since its erection. Quiet and moved, the planner Gian Michele Porcu was contemplating and perhaps was praying…. The huge number of faithful of Cala Gonone and Dorgali, those coming from other villages, who have harboured affection for our district and sea, gave the impression of fulfilling with their joyous presence a vow of gratitude to Our Lady of Bonaria for having regained in such a small short amount of time, more welcoming and worthy, the communal house of prayer, and given back to the seasonal tourists, the very many desired moments of rest for the soul. It was providential and highly significant the fact that on the auspicious occasion of the inauguration, the 19-year-old Sergio Sagheddu should receive baptism and confirmation, accompanied by his godfather Vincent’s Piredda, he too newly confirmed. The Church is a Mother open to life. She continually bears new children, welcomes them, illuminates them, brings them up with a constant permanent evangelisation to solidarity and fraternity; it leads them to the maturing of faith and makes communities of hope, grace and salvation. Children respect and listen; they experience unity in the diversity of their charisms; let them be salt, light and leaven for the surrounding world.
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