Buongiorno! Guten Morgen! Bun dé! Hello, my name is Sarah. I greeted you with a “Good morning” in three different languages: Italian, German, and Ladin. These are all official languages of the region where I am living for ten months in northern Italy, Alto Adige/Südtirol. South Tyrol, as the region is called in English, was part of the country of Austria before World War I. I came here to the town of Brixen on a research grant to study how Catholic parishes integrate the three languages together. I am curious about how Catholicism can encourage social unity or togetherness between people who speak different languages.
To help me to explore this question, I will use the writings of a Catholic woman named Chiara Lubich. She founded a movement called Focolare, which means ‘hearth’ or ‘fireplace’ in Italian, in the region right next to South Tyrol. Unity between people is the mission of the Focolare Movement. I will spend my time abroad meeting people to learn about their lives and how being Catholic affects their relationship to language. In my hometown in Texas, I go to a bilingual, English-and-Spanish Catholic parish named after Saint Michael the Archangel. In Brixen, I will go to a trilingual Catholic parish that is also named after Saint Michael the Archangel. I am excited to share my adventure in Italy with you!
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