Margaret Karram: the first words of the new President of the Focolare Movement
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Margaret Karram is the new President of the Focolare Movement
Elected on 31 January, she is the third President to lead the Movement after the founder, Chiara Lubich, and after Maria Voce who has just completed two terms. PRESS RELEASE – 1st February 2021 Yesterday, Margaret Karram, was elected President of the Focolare Movement with more than two thirds of the votes cast among the participants in the General Assembly of the Movement, composed of 359 representatives from all over the world. She succeeds the founder Chiara Lubich and Maria Voce who was in office for 12 years (two terms). Margaret Karram was born in Haifa, Israel in 1962 into a Palestinian Catholic family. She holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies from the American Jewish University in the United States. She has held various positions for the Focolare in Los Angeles and in Jerusalem. Her past experience includes membership of various commissions and organizations for the promotion of dialogue between the three monotheistic religions, such as the Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land and the ICCI (Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel). She worked for 14 years at the Consulate General of Italy in Jerusalem. Since 2014, she has been at the International Centre of the Focolare as councillor for Italy and Albania and co-responsible for Dialogue between Ecclesial Movements and New Catholic Communities. She speaks Arabic, Hebrew, Italian and English. In 2013 she received the Mount Zion Award for Reconciliation, together with the scholar and researcher Yisca Harani, for their commitment to developing dialogue between different cultures and religions. In 2016 she received the St Rita International Award for having promoted dialogue between Christians, Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, starting from people’s everyday life. The election took place yesterday, 31 January 2021, but her appointment only became effective today, following confirmation by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, as envisaged by the General Statutes of the Focolare Movement. The document expresses the hope that the new president will be able to carry out her task “with faithfulness, in a spirit of service and ecclesial sensitivity, for the good of the members of the Movement and of the universal Church.” Duties of the Focolare President According to the Movement’s General Statutes, the President is chosen from among the focolarine (consecrated women with perpetual vows) and will always be a woman. In the Statutes we read, she “is the sign of the unity of the Movement”. This means that she represents the great religious, cultural, social and geographical variety of those who adhere to the spirituality of the Focolare in the 182 countries where the Movement is present and who identify with the message of fraternity that the founder, Chiara Lubich, drew from the Gospel: “Father, that they may all be one” (Jn 17:20-26). There are many commitments and challenges awaiting Margaret Karram in the coming years: the tasks of governing and directing a worldwide Movement like the Focolare, which is deeply immersed in local and global realities and the challenges of humanity, starting from this time of pandemic. The Statutes also indicate the “style” that should distinguish the work of the President: “Hers is to be, above all, a presidency of love – they state – because she must be the first in loving and, therefore, in serving her own brothers and sisters, remembering the words of Jesus: “Whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all” (Mk 10:44). The primary commitment of the President, therefore, is to be a builder of bridges and a spokesperson for the central message of the spirituality of the Focolare, ready to practise and spread it, as we read further on, even at the cost of her own life. The next steps of the General Assembly of the Focolare are the election of the Co-President this afternoon and of the councillors on 4th February. Stefania Tanesini -Cell. +39 338 5658244 Text in PDF
Margaret Karram: new President of the Focolare Movement
The new president of the Focolare Movement for the next six years is Margaret Karram, born 1962 in Haifa (Israel). The election, which required a two-thirds majority of those present, took place on Sunday 31 January, and has been approved by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, in accordance with the Movement’s Statutes. The new President – who by Statute will always be a woman – is to guide the Movement through the next six years. The current General Assembly of the Focolare Movement, which elected the new President, is being conducted entirely online due to the pandemic. It began on January 24 and will conclude on February 7, 2021. It’s the third General Assembly since the death of founder Chiara Lubich. 359 people are taking part around the world. They represent some of the different cultures, generations, vocations, members of different churches and religous faiths who are part of the Focolare Movement. With the election of the President, on February 1 the Co-President will be elected, who according to the Statutes must be a Focolarino priest, then the counsellors who will collaborate in the central governance of the Movement. Press statement to follow.
Lorenzo Russo – Focolare Communications Office
Living the present moment well
We always have only one moment in which to love God and our brothers or sisters: the present moment. Chiara Lubich taught this concept with wisdom and simplicity. Committing ourselves to living the present moment well is a method whereby each of us can be fulfilled and achieve happiness. There are, even among us, those who finish their Holy Journey after a long wait and those who finish it in a flash, when they least expect it. And so the question arises: what will it be like for us? And the conclusion comes naturally: it is good to always be prepared. In what way? By remaining in the grace of God and living the present moment to the full. It was for this reason […] that in these last few days I focused my attention once again on that very characteristic aspect of our spirituality that consists in concentrating on living the present moment. And my thoughts turned to so many phrases taken from the saints, for example, that encourage us to put this into practice perfectly. Do you remember? St. Catherine of Siena said: “We do not possess the toil of the past, because that time has escaped us; nor the toil that is to come, because we cannot be certain of having that time.”[1] By saying this, she extended an invitation to live the present. And St. Therese of Lisieux: “You know, my God, that to love You… I only have today.”[2] Then I remembered a motto that was useful to us in the past and which we remembered very easily because each word [in Italian] began with an “s”: Sarò Santa se Sono Santa subito, (I will become a saint if I am a saint straightaway). During these few days I have often noticed that this way of living our life was precious also to other saints who recommended it warmly. St. Paul of the Cross wrote “Fortunate is the soul which rests ‘in sinu Dei,’ without thinking of the future, but manages to live moment by moment in God, with no other concern than to do his will well in all that happens.”[3] “Fortunate is that soul…” We can make this fortune our own, because it is part of our spirituality to live like this. It is by living in the present that we can fulfil all our duties well. It is by living in the present that crosses become bearable: with good reason this practice is recommended for those who are nearing death. It is by living in the present that we can grasp God’s inspirations, the impulses of his grace that come to us in the present. […] So let’s live the present moment! […] Let us live it to perfection! In the evening of each day and in the evening of life we will find ourselves full of good works that have been accomplished and acts of love offered. …
Chiara Lubich
(Taken from a telephone Conference Call, Rocca di Papa, 23 October 1986) [1] St Catherine of Siena, Her Letters, II, Paoline, Alba 1966, p. 97. [2] St. Therese of the Child Jesus, Complete Works, LEV, Vatican City 1997, p. 626. [3] Paul of the Cross, Letters, I, Pontifical Institute of Pius IX