From NDUE DEDAJ
Memorie.al / It was the unusual confession of Dom Ernest Troshan before Pope Francis, a few years ago in the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Tirana, that brought about his appointment as Cardinal, (on September 9, 2016), a “sui generis” Cardinal, who due to his old age (then 88 years old), he will not participate in the meetings of cardinals in the Vatican. The fact that the second Albanian Cardinal, after Dom Mikel Koliq, twenty-five years after the fall of the communist regime, comes from the ranks of the saved Clergy, from the dictatorship of the proletariat, shows that for the Western world, that regime has not yet fallen.
And indeed, no matter how much we try to mask them, the reminders of communism are still present, as long as the old professors, instead of getting used to reading and re-reading Fishta’s work in schools, auditoriums, the Academy of Sciences, stain the biography of the national poet, all in a monistic style.
It would be a good idea for any of the people of letters to read parts of Fishta’s work to the young people, especially since October has been declared the month of reading, and we should leave the biography to the historians of tomorrow and to those of today.
But apparently, the great figure of Fishta is said to always be followed by urban legends, such as the famous one from the 70s that the poet allegedly declared: “Let the whole world know/ That Pater Gjergj Fishta is no longer Albanian”, a malicious interpretation of his satirical poem “Metamorfoza”, published in 1907. Completely different happens beyond us, where everyone’s merits are read without ideological glasses and titles, awards, nominations etc. are also given.
We had “forgotten” here, the long-suffering priest from Shkodran who brought the Pope to tears, but he had not brought it out of himself, the head of the Holy See, who, starting after the consecration of Mother Teresa, would once again turn his eyes from Albania.
While the long-term process of canonization of the martyrs of the Church, culminated with the announcement of 38 of them, who would be beatified on November 5, 2016 in Shkodër, names that have been illuminated, such as; the writers Dom Ndre Zadeja and Father Vincens Prenushi, Bishop Frano Gjini, Father Gjon Shllaku, Father Bernardin Palaj, etc. Little by little, a historical framework, severely deformed, has been clarified.
Today, everywhere you hear about Father Zef Plumi and his work “Rrno only per me tregue”, read massively these years and translated into Italian, but the reader who is not sufficiently informed about the persecution of the Catholic Clergy should know that every priest of convicted, was one; “Father Zef Plum”. It is enough to research continuously in their human and cultural mission, to feel this.
In this view, it was lucky that another figure, now His Eminence, Ernest Troshani, was recognized and honored, being crowned and more Albanian missionary works.
In an interview two years ago, Dom Ernest Simoni (Troshani) said that, when he was released from Spaçi Prison in 1981, he had walked for ten hours from those steep cliffs to Shkodër.
It must have been a tiring road, so hard to believe, after 18 years inside the barbed wire, with a palm of sky overhead. He had worked underground and touched “hell” every day, and now he was climbing from his ninth circle. He was ascending to the sky, as in a dream.
He had committed no crime, he had simply said a mass for the death of a man named John Kennedy, who was not of his “parish”, but of the universal church, which had cost him the death penalty, which would later returned to long political imprisonment, where better than Dom Shtjefën Kurti, who had sacrificed his life, for the baptism of a child in the early 70s.
Dom Ernesti, together with Dom Simon Juban and other surviving priests, rebuilt the Church from scratch. He remembers that he reconciled a lot of blood with the Cross of Christ, a tradition of the missionaries in our mountains, which after the 90s went down to the field together with the mountaineers. His arrival as a Cardinal at that age is to tell us that the mission is never done for people dedicated to high ideals.
Have you seen all these years any sufferer of that regime “protected” from that time? None. This is done only by the former officials of yesterday’s regime, whose apology, even after a quarter of a century, has not appeared on screens, newspaper columns, or various ceremonies, since they still have followers.
They continue to receive decorations and medals, more quietly than publicly, while those who suffer from them are not felt, only when some prestigious international headquarters or institution is remembered.
Indeed, today’s society is overwhelmed by the debate and citizen protests to prevent foreign travel garbage, which is also called waste, so as not to pollute this country more, but it is surprising how we still have not cleansed our conscience from “waste” ” ideological of communism, as a way of thinking, social behavior, state and political practice.
This is also seen in not reflecting with dignity on yesterday, the stones of history, placed straight or crooked, with the right brightness or not, but always being two-way or two-pole in our attitudes, as in the case of the marriage of the Royal heir , which can simply be called something normal within Albanian abnormality, etc.
Debate about anything, even televised and with selected panels, without a real trigger, is not democracy, but it reminds you of the former, noisy meetings of the Democratic Front, all gossip and gossip.
In the name of the public, it makes no sense to debate today and tomorrow something for which the public has no interest. We should occasionally have events like that of Cardinal Troshan, to elevate something more in ourselves, society and especially politics with its “waste”, unfortunately, “recyclable”. Memorie.al
