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The International Prize
"For the Dignity of the Elderly" awarded by the Matilde Maresca di
Serracapriola Foundation, presided over by the Receiver of the Common Treasure,
Count Carlo Marullo di Condojanni ANNUAL DINNER
British
Association - the Cavalry and Guards Club, London - 27 November Your Royal Highness, Your Excellencies, Confreres, Ladies and
Gentlemen, First of all I should like to thank you very much for your kind
invitation to be here with you tonight. It is always a great pleasure for us in
the Grand Magistry to visit the Associations, as in this way we can much more
easily appreciate the good works you are doing for Our Lords the Sick and Poor.
A five minutes face-to-face talk is worth fifty letters and reports. As you know well, there have been dramatic moments in the last two or
three years, which have given us a lot more to do. First there was the terrible
earthquake in Armenia, for which you responded so generously to the Grand
Master’s appeal. As a result, we were able to send teams to Erevan and to
arrange for children who had been injured to go abroad have artificial limbs
fitted. More recently there has been the trouble in Northern Iraq which meant
that thousands of Kurds became refugees. There again we were able to send a
team out, which set up temporary camps and arranged for water-purifiers,
something very important and which probably prevented the outburst of serious
diseases among the refugees. In Central Europe, following the collapse of Communism we have been
able to step up our work in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, countries where
for the last forty-five years a few of our members had courageously continued
to do what they could for their co-nationals in extremely difficult
circumstances. In those three countries now the Grand Priory and Associations
are building up their hospitaller work and organizing ambulance corps, clinics
and care-centres. What is even more interesting is that we have extended our
work into Russia itself probably for the first time in over one hundred and
fifty years. We are starting ‘soup-kitchens’ in Kiev and St. Petersburg, and
bringing aid to Lithuania. We have also sponsored children who suffered in the
Chernobyl explosion to spend a few weeks in Italy, where they were able to eat
and drink uncontaminated food and water and milk and to breathe clean air. You
should have seen the difference in them, when they left. Speaking in my capacity as the Receiver of the Common Treasure, I can
tell you that the Order’s financial standing is fairly satisfactory in view of
the work carried out. It may also be noted that the Grand Magistry has made
contributions directly to several charity works among which the Bethlehem
Hospital, the ‘Piccolo Cottolengo’ in Montevideo, the aid to Eastern Europe
Countries, etc. Furthermore, I also wish to mention the ‘Future Strategies’ programme.
I can assure you that by the set date (next Spring) the various working groups
will send their final reports to the Grand Magistry for examination before the
next Chapter General. In the meantime, the first results of the programme are
being realized. You have already seen our efforts in the communication field
and will shortly also see the ‘report on the activity of the Order in the
world’. As far as the internal structure of the Order is concerned, the automation
of administration services is being introduced, in particular, the Land estate,
Chancery and health services. In conclusion, the ‘Future Strategies’ programme
has already seen very good results and it looks very promising for the future. I will not keep you any longer from enjoying this evening, so will
conclude by thanking you all very much indeed for your generous hospitality,
and saying how pleased I am to have had the opportunity of meeting so many of
you again and being able to talk with you. Thank you so much. |
