By November 16, 17 and 18, 2018 a meeting was held in Rome to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the foundation of CONFEDEREX, the Confederation of Associations of Former Students of Catholic Schools in Italy, which is also an OMAAEEC member. The historical reference goes back to 1953, in the Roman Institute “Giuseppe de Merode” FSC, after Pope Pius XII asked the various Catholic associations, even international, to meet to coordinate their actions and form the various national federations.
The anniversary meeting was held at the Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools in Rome, where the National President, Liliana Beriozza, together with the National Council of CONFEDEREX, welcomed the conference participants and presented the greeting messages, starting with that of the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
Two important testimonies were presented by H.E. Msgr. Francesco Giovanni Brugnaro, Archbishop Emeritus of Camerino-San Severino Marche (MC), and by Senator Gabriele Albertini, former Mayor of Milan, Member of the European Parliament and Senator of the Italian Republic. Archbishop Brugnaro underlined the expectations and potentialities of an ecclesial dimension dynamically faithful to the evangelical calls, where the laity, attentive witnesses of the strong values received, are always ready to realize personal, social, material and intellectual charity. Mayor Albertini” showed how politics can be a context in which to develop the meaning of the person authentically on a human nature and, if necessary, Christian scale: real politics, in short. 
In the second part of the conference there were other youth experiences of former students of Catholic schools, which demonstrated well the validity of the motto of the educational experience: “We enter to learn, we leave to serve”.
The Pope Francisco addressed a greeting message to CONFEDEREX at the Angelus on Sunday, November 18.
