European Volunteer Ministers Cavalcade Targeting Crime in Southern Italy

The city of Bari, Italy should be a great place to live: located on the Adriatic Sea, near some of the most popular resorts of Europe, it is a major financial center with a famous port and a strong economy driven by agriculture and industry. So why would 60 per cent of those interviewed in a survey released two weeks ago say they would have no qualms about moving away from the city?

The answer lies in something for which Bari is famous. Crime. In fact, the same survey mentioned above named Bari the second most dangerous city in all of Italy.

Driven by the purpose to truly "Do Something About It," the Scientology Volunteer Ministers program provides traveling Continental Volunteer Minister Cavalcades that take real help to major cities and communities throughout the world. And the European Cavalcade’s June arrival in Bari couldn’t have been more perfectly timed, as the Volunteer Ministers were determined to help officials, community groups and civic leaders with real solutions to crime and recidivism.

The Public Affairs Director of the Church of Scientology of Padova traveled to the region to open the Cavalcade and was joined in the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony by an officer of the local "carabinieri," the police organization charged with controlling crime in the region. The carbanieri are all too familiar with what is called the "revolving door" of the prison system. Without effective rehabilitation, the criminal simply returns to the streets, often better equipped to commit crime than before he served his time.

L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the Scientology religion, did a great deal of research into the cause of crime and how to overcome this problem on an individual and social basis. What he found was that "the criminal uniformly has lost his self-respect," and he discovered that this occurs when the being realizes he or she can no longer trust himself.

One of the courses offered by the Cavalcade, based on the chapter of the Scientology Handbook called "Integrity and Honesty," includes simple techniques the individual can apply to herself or himself to begin on the road back to self-esteem.

For more information on the Volunteer Ministers Continental Cavalcades visit the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site or contact the Volunteer Ministers Consultant at vm@volunteerministers.org. For additional information on the techniques VMs use, visit the on-line version of the Scientology Handbook.