Montagnaga – Inauguration of “Casa Iride”

New life for our house in Montagnaga: it has become Casa Iride, the new headquarters of Shemà, an association of social promotion, born in the ecclesial sphere and active for years in the Piné plateau, diocese of Trento.

As part of a parish course, a group of young people accompanied by a few adults – after a few years of educational and training service (catechesis, summer camps, retreats, etc.) – felt the need to form an association.

In 2022, Shema took over the management of La capannina, a small restaurant with a social function, where weeks of summer camps, retreats, and residential moments took place, allowing people to grow spiritually and in a dimension of active citizenship.

Fifteen university students, forty teenagers, a group of children and young boys and girls from middle school, sometimes reaching a hundred and fifty participants, need large venues.

Thus, the search for a suitable space met with the Sisters of Charity: the shared educational project for young people and the desire to maintain a Marian place of spirituality led to an agreement whereby the Shemà association will manage the ‘Domus Mariae’ in Montagnaga di Pinè for the next few years.

Thus Casa IRIDE was born, the new name by which the convent will be referred to.

IRIDE stands for Identity, Reflection, Inclusion, Dialogue, Education.

Also present at the inauguration on 13 July 2024 were archbishop Lauro Tisi – who gave a symbolic mandate to the young promoters – mayor Alessandro Santuari, the president of the Comunità di Valle Andrea Fontanari, and parish priest Don Stefano Volani.

An exhibition entitled “Women’s cry”, curated by Lia and Marianna Beltrami, was also inaugurated, followed by a buffet with live music by the group Elissa.

The Domus Mariae thus has a new life, bringing back into circulation its charismatic, spiritual, ecclesial values, enriched by the collaboration with the Shema association.