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April 1, 2001
Church of Scientology: A New Era in Milano
A marching band, balloons and a parade of representatives from regions all over Italy, culminating at Lepontina Street 4, were just the beginning.
The fanfare on 25 November 2000 was an impressive reception for the new home of the Church of Scientology in Milano. Auspiciously, the torrential downpours which caused floods throughout the region for many days had suddenly ended that morning, and more than 3,000 Milanese citizens, authorities, religious representatives and neighbors filled Lepontina Street, closed to traffic for the occasion. They were joined by special guests for the ceremony, including Mr. Guillaume Lesevre, Executive Director of the Church of Scientology International, Mr. Greg Wilhere, representative of Religious Technology Center and the Honorable Alfredo Biondi, Vice President of the Italian Parliament.
But the grand opening of the eight-story building represented much more than just a beautifully renovated new home for the Milano Church. It meant nothing less than the beginning of a new era for the Scientology religion in Italy.
“I believe that this opening is something more than a historic event,” said the Hon. Alfredo Biondi. “This is a fact that concerns the community itself. It concerns everybody. It is a conquest, an achievement, a value. It is with this feeling that I accepted this invitation and I am here, as a friend.”
“Monumental Achievement”
Milano has a special significance for Scientologists in Italy. While books of the founder of the religion, L. Ron Hubbard, had been popular in Italy since the 1950s, it was in the 1970s that the first organized group of Scientologists was established in Milano. From there, the Scientology religion rapidly spread from the Lombardia region throughout the rest of Italy. In 1978, the first Church of Scientology in Italy was officially established in Milano, recognized by the international ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Since then, the Scientologist community throughout the country has grown in a way that validates a description used by many for the religion: “The fastest growing religion in the world.” In just a little more than the 25 years since the formation of the first official group, Scientologists now number in the tens of thousands in Italy and span three generations. The Scientologist community comprises individuals of all walks of life and has become fully integrated and accepted into Italian society over that time. That fact was also sealed just weeks before the November grand opening with a landmark Milano Court of Appeal judgment upholding religious freedom for Scientologists in Italy.
Church of Scientology International Executive Director Guillaume Lesevre, who headed the Italian Churches of Scientology during the early 1980s, thanked the entire Scientologist community in Italy for their dedication, commitment and support of their religion over the years, calling the opening of the new church a “monumental achievement” for all it represents. He set the audiences’ sights on the aims of Scientology: “A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights,” as written in the words of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
In dedicating the new building to Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Lesevre unveiled a bronze plaque for the edifice:
“This building is named after the great humanitarian and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard.
“‘All great cathedrals began their building by the placement of a single stone. The building unit of a great society is the individual.’
L. Ron Hubbard.”
Community Effort
The purchase of the building and its complete renovation were achieved by Church members from Milano and the rest of Italy in a coordinated effort by the entire Scientologist community. Thousands of man hours and a spirit of cooperation were common factors for the hundreds of Scientologists who came from all over the country. The purpose was to create the ideal church, comfortable and open to anybody who wants to share the religious, humanitarian and social aims of the Church of Scientology.
“This building represents a milestone for the Italian Scientologist community,” said Fabio Amicarelli, Public Affairs Director for the Church in Italy, who presided at the opening and joined Church of Scientology Milano Executive Director Maria Rosa Dal Mas in acknowledging the church members who contributed to the purchase and the renovations of the building. Amicarelli thanked neighbors for their support and expressed the Church’s intention to continue community programs to fight drug abuse and crime and to improve the quality of life for all in Milano.
The Church’s community programs, including its highly visible religious freedom and anti-drugs campaigns, are well-known throughout Italy.
In addition to the chapel, public information spaces, church staff offices, course rooms for the study of the religion, and 32 rooms for spiritual counseling, the building also houses a large space for the delivery of the Purification Program. The Purification Program was developed by Mr. Hubbard in the late 1970s following his breakthrough discoveries into how to free individuals from the damaging effects of drugs on the mind and spirit. Hundreds of thousands of individuals around the world have completed the program and attest to increased awareness, ability to think clearly, and general happiness as a result.
Renovated primarily through the hands-on work of Church members, the Church has marble floors throughout, with the exception of the tiled basement. Solid wood furnishings and many glass doors contribute to the open-air feeling of the church.
Tours of the magnificently renovated building were conducted continually throughout the day and evening.
“A Higher Purpose”
“To work for my religion was very gratifying, and gave me a sense of a higher purpose for my art. It was a validation for me as a professional and most of all, as an artist,” said Antonio Sarais, creator of the mosaic of the Scientology cross placed at the entrance of the Church.
The renovations of the building were completed in record time, due to the dedication of Church members of Milano who reduced by months the estimated time for completion of the work. “I appreciated the teamwork that reduced the estimated time to complete the renovations,” stated Franco Losa, professional designer who supervised the renovations. “It was nice to see that the two persons at the beginning of the project became four, then ten, then twenty and on up from there.”
Many experienced an esprit de corps they had never before experienced. “I am now sure that the way to go toward freedom is to help. I thank everybody and you can always count on me,” concluded Giovanni Zamboni, Church member who helped on the new building.
Aside from the aesthetics and the grand dimensions of the building, the opening also represents, for Scientologists, a constant reminder of their purpose to create a better future for all—through the Church’s services and community programs, and also through the social programs it supports. These include the Narconon drug rehabilitation program to defeat drug addiction, literacy projects, efforts to eradicate abuses and violence committed against individual freedoms, and the restoration and advancement of human rights and liberties for all.
“We laid our first stone,” said Fabio Amicarelli, referring to the quote by Mr. Hubbard on the dedication plaque for the building. “This is our modern cathedral. And one by one, we are helping to build a society which is free of insanity, crime and war, and in which man does rise to greater heights.”
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