May 19, 2023 | Non categorizzato
We have come to the Australian stage of THE journey BY Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán, President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement. IT IS a continent with extraordinary cultural riches and a diverse and multicultural Focolare family.
Suva to Sydney
Margaret and Jesús have certainly taken radical leaps throughout this trip. (Just think of their jump from Japan to Fiji.) The flight from Suva to Sydney 9 May was certainly similar, as the sudden shift from seeing the handful of fishing villages on the south coast of Fiji’s main island to the bright shiny jewel of a city in Australia is nothing short of extreme.
The shimmering lights of iconic Sydney harbour were on full display as our plane circled closely, almost as if to proudly show off this ‘beaut’ of a city.
Stepping into this multicultural metropolis, our diverse local community is there to welcome them in their many languages. They hail from South Korea, Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, Bangladesh, Brazil, and of course Anglo-Celtic Australia. They are Catholics, Melkites, Chaldeans, Anglicans; the local Focolare region of Sydney includes Brisbane, Australian capital Canberra and their surrounding areas.
Meeting the Archbishop of Canberra
Connecting with the local Church remains top priority. During a profound yet light-hearted meeting with Archbishop Christopher Prowse, currently the archbishop of Canberra, he spotlighted the life of Mary MacKillop, Australia’s first saint.
“If Mary McKillop were alive today, she would be very comfortable with Focolare,” the archbishop said, pointing to her interfaith works.
He took us to her tomb and prayed that like her, the charism of unity would bloom like a rose, spreading its scent throughout Australia.
In through the art door
A clear window into an indigenous culture is through its art, but to know what you are looking at, having a guide is essential.
Enter Alexandra Gaffikin, an English Volunteer in Sydney with extensive experience in the museum and heritage sector. Her roles have included ‘head of interpretation’ at a museum, which certainly was handy as the group visited the Art Gallery of New South Wales for an exhibition on contemporary Aboriginal art.
Iconic bark paintings, for instance, were shown to be so much more: they are at once histories, maps, title deeds, and rulebooks even. They can be three dimensional, with underpainting showing underground water sources, for example.
In Aboriginal culture, these artworks are alive as people (and could even be painted on someone’s body). These are living collections displaying knowledge passed down through millennia.
Moments to enjoy Sydney
Amid a day full of meetings, Margaret and Jesús were able to fit in some time to take in Sydney, hopping on one of the many ferries and heading towards Circular Quay and the iconic Sydney Opera House. The views are spectacular! Happy to get behind the camera for a bit, Margaret ended up snapping quite a few pictures herself.
The upside of merging across the globe
This visit was an opportunity for focolarini from across the region – including from as far as Perth, Wellington and Fiji – to come together for some meaningful sessions. It is a time where the movement’s organisation has been merging, and now as a result exceedingly different cultures (think Korea, Japan and Chinese speaking areas, for instance) now need to adjust and collaborate directly.
“I think up until now we didn’t understand all the consequences and all the positive things, even though it has been very difficult all this process.
“But we will see the consequences, I think, in a few years. Because what it is helping us is to really break down all the barriers… first of all in our hearts, and the barriers between nations…
“If we want to have peace, we have to have peace among us focolarini and among communities. We have to look at other countries… as our own countries and discover that we can be this ‘connecting family’…
“We don’t have to give other people our richness, we have to help them to discover theirs.”
Margaret Karram
A special presence despite medical challenges
There was a particularly meaningful moment when three married focolarine who are seriously ill were able to greet everyone remotely.
“I just want to assure you of my unity. Much as I would’ve wanted, I was fully booked, but I had to change because of what God had in store for me,” said one.
“It’s been good because I feel where I’m where God wanted me to be, but it’s not where I wanted to be,” another told the group.
“Physically I can’t run, but inside I really want to run, I’m so excited,” said the third. “Enthusiasm does not have any age.”
Welcome to country
Aboriginal culture in Australia is the oldest continuous culture known, dating back at least 60,000 years. The proper protocol when beginning meetings in Australia is to have a ‘welcome to country’ from an Aboriginal elder, or a formal acknowledgement of the traditional custodians of the land.
As the Focolare community gathered from throughout Australia, we were privileged to have ‘Aunty Ali’ Golding, a Biripi elder, to welcome us all.
She grew up on an Aboriginal mission and later lived in a suburb of Sydney for over 20 years. In the 1980s, Ali was one of the first Aboriginal education assistants, and in 2004, she gained her diploma in theology.
She has contributed to various local, national and international forums, including the New South Wales Reconciliation Council and Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation. This has helped deepen public understanding of indigenous culture and history for the public.
Aunty Ali’s presence at our Focolare event with Margaret and Jesús certainly deepened our appreciation for this national treasure and her rich heritage. “It has been one of the most heartfelt welcomes that I have ever experienced,” she said. “Here I felt the Creator’s spirit.”
The best meeting of the whole trip (so far)
Margaret and Jesús had a dynamic, insightful meeting with close to 30 young people. When asked about their challenges, they did not hold back, but spoke candidly of the indifference they encounter with their peers daily. Their numbers are small; the distances are huge.
Margaret shared her early Gen life in Haifa with her sister, and how they started small, receiving the Gen magazine by mail. She was proud of how they had begun, and said she was just as proud of those present for moving forward with their Gen life.
Jesús encouraged the young people as well, making the effort to reassure them that sharing their difficulties was not negative at all. “This was the best meeting of this entire trip,” he said at the end. “I liked it a lot.”
Drawing on rich experience
Rita and Antonio, who look after the Focolare Oceania region from Rome, have also been travelling with the group. When asked how they live dialogue and fraternity in conflict situations, they reached into their own vast backgrounds.
“My experience in interreligious dialogue has been discovering that we are walking together towards God,” said Antonio.
“Dialogue is an encounter,” Rita added. “What is really important is to meet the other and discover that love drives fear away.”
How to bodysurf (spiritually)
The surf was certainly ‘up’ on the beaches around Sydney, with young and old donning their wetsuits and grabbing their boards to catch a few waves. ‘Bodysurfing’ is also popular – people ride the ocean waves without a board as well. It’s truly exhilarating.
But to get out to where the best waves are to ride, first you have to deal with the powerful ones rolling in towards you — the ones you don’t want to ride, the ones you aren’t ready for.
“Someone explained to me the dynamics of this sport, and right away what came to my mind was our love for Jesus Forsaken,” Margaret said.
Bodysurfers essentially dive deep below those incoming waves they don’t want to ride, so low that they can touch the sand at the bottom. Doing so, they avoid getting swept away by the power of the ocean. Once the wave rolls over, they come back to the surface to find a wave worth riding.
“Like those who bodysurf, you don’t fight the waves, you don’t ‘fight the trials’, but you go to the bottom of your heart, recognising Jesus in every pain, and continuing to love him, you come up again, finding the light through love.”
T. M. Hartmann
May 12, 2023 | Non categorizzato
The third stage of Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán’s journey to Asia and Oceania was to Fiji. The spirituality of unity began to spread in this part of the Pacific at the end of the 1960s. The Focolare in the Pacific, one family Although Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán arrived in Fiji on 3rd May, the official start of the stage of their journey in Oceania took place two days later, with the “Sevusevu” ceremony. Over 200 people attended, including representatives of the local Church. The ceremony sealed their entry, and the delegation from the Centre accompanying them, into the Fijian community, both ecclesial and social. Sevusevu: the gift of welcome 
Those arriving in the archipelago are welcomed with the ceremony of ‘Sevusevu’ – meaning ‘gift’. And from that moment on they are no longer visitors, but part of the community and members, with all the rights and privileges of being on Fijian soil. The President and Co-President of the Focolare received precious garlands and the Kava root, derived from the pepper plant, which has ancestral significance. The two ‘candidates’ were presented to the community by ‘heralds’, who spoke on their behalf. They then drank the drink made from Kava in one go and received the ‘Tabua’, a whale tooth which has sacred meaning: it is the most precious object in Fijian culture, and it was offered to them as a sign of the highest esteem and honour. Traditions in the Pacific: where the present and future of peoples are rooted Right from the start, we realised that, in the Pacific, traditions feature in a significant and living way, which is relevant for today They are not relegated to a past that has nothing to do with people’s daily lives but form the foundation of their way of life. Among the values that traditions continue to hand on are respect, welcome, reciprocity, social solidarity, and a very deep and longstanding bond with nature. “Margaret Karram, Jesús Morán and the Focolare delegation have arrived at a particular time in the life of the Fiji Islands,” explained Peter Emberson, a Fijian, engaged in multilateral consultancy and a political analyst for the government of Fiji and the United Nations, who has known the movement since he was a child. “The present government is more open and democratic, and I see Margaret and Jesús’ visit as part of this process of social and political renewal. There are two questions that here in the Pacific we always ask an official delegation that lands on the shores of our islands: ‘Where are you from?’ and ‘Why have you come?’ At the ‘Sevusevu’ Margaret stood before the Fijian people and offered her commitment and that of the Focolare Movement to build unity here too. It is an identity-making response, which says a lot about the contribution that the Movement can make to our country. And this builds trust”. A region that is still too little known 
Oceania is a little-known continent and although, in a territorial sense, it is the largest on the globe, in terms of land mass it is the smallest. In addition to Australia and New Zealand, it includes the Pacific region, consisting of 26 nation states and territories. The main ethnic groups are Melanesians, Micronesians, and Polynesians. In total, the Pacific region has a population of 16 million people and in the last 100 years, the Fiji Islands (almost one million inhabitants), have become the political and economic heart of the region. There is a diverse religious landscape in which Christianity is the most practised faith, followed by Hinduism and Islam. Catholicism arrived in the 19th century and today Catholics number just over 82,000. Father Soane Fotutata, secretary of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CEPAC), during a dinner in the focolare, spoke about the challenges facing society and the Church in this vast territory, where the Catholic Church has 14 dioceses. He explained that the ecological crisis threatens the very existence of people and communities. It is seen in rising sea levels, acidifying oceans, droughts, floods, and extreme weather events that have become more frequent. Then there are social wounds such as economic and climate migration from many islands; prostitution, alcoholism, and poverty, to which the local Church is trying to respond. 2022: the arrival of the focolares in Suva It was in this ecclesial context that the women’s and men’s focolares opened a year ago in Suva, the capital of Fiji. Their presence, in fact, is also linked to a project supported by Missio Scotland and Missio Australia, to collaborate in the diocesan pastoral care for young people preparing for confirmation and post confirmation with a programme that focuses on supporting the handing on of cultural riches between generations. Lourdes Rank, from Brazil, and Stephen Hall, from New Zealand explained: “On our arrival, the Archbishop asked us to be first of all at the service of the Church and to be part of its activities and projects. We got involved in catechesis, with young people and in the life of our parishes. This approach has been very positive: we are now truly part of the life of the Church and we have begun to build relationships with a number of priests, religious and lay people’. In this regard, the vicar general of the Archdiocese of Suva, Mgr Sulio Turagakacivi, expressed his gratitude for the service that the focolares give in the local Church. Thanking him, Margaret said: “We can learn from the Church here how to live the synodal process and how to maintain the freshness of the encounter between the Gospel and the local society and culture“. In Futuna the first seed of the spirituality of unity The first seed of the spirituality of unity in the Pacific was planted in the island of Futuna in the late 1960s by Sr. Anna Scarpone, a Marist missionary. The first Pacific focolare was then based in Numea (New Caledonia) from 1992 to 2008, accompanying the growth of a vibrant local community. Today, the two focolares in Fiji are ‘home’ for all the Movement’s communities in the Pacific region, which, besides New Caledonia and Fiji, are in Kiribati, Wallis and Futuna, with some people who already know about the spirituality in Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu. Together for the first time On the occasion of Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán’ visit, the communities met in Suva for a few days. It was their first meeting in one of the Pacific Islands. Many events and customs, such as welcoming and appreciating each other, showed the extent to which everyone realised how precious those days were. For these peoples, coming together as a Focolare family does not only mean having a spiritual communion, but means contributing to daily life. This involves cooking, preparing the liturgy of the Mass, the songs and the dances – each one offering their specific human and cultural “gift” that is shared with that of the others. Margaret and Jesús met with the men and women focolarini for a morning of deep sharing and were able to spend a lot of time experiencing different aspects of the life of the community, such as meals, Mass, with many opportunities just to talk together. The sharing of experiences gave them an insight into the challenges and commitment of the Movement in the Pacific. In New Caledonia, the community is engaged at the service of the Church and, on a social level, in creating opportunities to build up unity between the different ethnic groups on the island. In Futuna and Kiribati, the Word of Life is central, generating experiences of forgiveness and reconciliation in families and also establishing social projects at the service of women and the needy. In Fiji the community is growing and shares a commitment serving the Church together with the focolarini. Run4Unity in Fiji: journeying together The 6th of May was Run4Unity day, and Margaret Karram started the worldwide relay from the Pacific, where we see the world’s first sunrise. With the Teens for Unity, she and Jesús planted two trees typical of the Fiji Islands: “the native sandalwood tree and the citrus tree, which need each other to grow,” she explained. “The sandalwood has the fragrance and the citrus, provides it with all the nutrients it needs. It is a wonderful example of mutual care found in nature. This is what the Pacific Islanders want to say to all of us: the only way to give our precious gift, unity, is to journey together, taking care of each other. In this way we can transform our world’. It is a message that highlights what is perhaps the main characteristic of these islands: living as a community. This emerged clearly in the afternoon and evening of 7th May at the meeting Margaret and Jesús Morán had with the community. “I have come here to be close to you and to share your life at least for a few days,” Margaret Karram told everyone. “What I have found here is very close to my heart and to the culture I come from, which encourages respect for other people and their language, and a sense of family. There are just a few of you, but do not worry: what matters is living the Gospel and bringing unity to those we meet. What you have shared with us during these days has impressed me greatly. Through your love, hospitality and welcome, you have given Jesus to us. But listening to you, I realised that the most precious pearl we possess is Jesus forsaken for whom we have left everything and who is the secret to loving everyone“. Jesús Morán added: “The experiences of forgiveness that you have told us have touched me deeply, and they show that you are living the Gospel, because forgiveness is the greatest newness that the Gospel contains. Forgiveness is not something merely human, only Jesus in us can forgive, and you have shown us this with a unique clarity“. When Margaret Karram was asked her hopes are for the future of the Movement in Oceania, she answered by saying what her hopes are for the whole Movement in the world: that it may become ever more a family, which is not closed in on itself, but is open to dialogue with all so as to fulfil the prayer of Jesus to the Father, which was Chiara Lubich’s dream. At the end she added: “I would like to say that in order to contribute to achieving unity, each country, culture or continent must not lose its own identity. We must remain ourselves. This would be a great gift for the whole Movement and also for the world: to be ourselves, with our riches and our challenges, and to live the charism of unity without leaving aside what we are‘. The applause that followed showed everyone’s gratitude at feeling they were understood. Having begun with the ‘Sevusevu’ ceremony, the visit could not but end with equal solemnity. The farewell ceremony, ‘I-Tatau’, seemed to close a circle. Heralds, speaking in Fijian on behalf of Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán, thanked the community and asked, on their behalf, permission to take their leave. The speaker representing the Fijian community granted them permission to leave and wished them a safe journey in the hope of seeing each other again. The concert that the Pacific communities had prepared for that evening was an extraordinary ‘expo’ of the artistic talents of the peoples present, where dances and songs spoke of their deep connection with the earth and with nature, their pride in their traditions and the desire to share them. But what will remain in everyone’s minds, we believe, were the greetings exchanged between the communities of New Caledonia and Fiji. Sitting opposite each other, they each sang their own farewell song, they waved goodbye to each other looking into each other’s eyes, as if they were leaving their own brothers and sisters. The said to Margaret Karram: “We assure you that we will be one family and, even with our weaknesses, we will do all we can to keep Jesus in the midst in Oceania.
Stefania Tanesini
Mar 30, 2022 | Centro internazionale, Non categorizzato, Tutela minori
Margaret Karram: “I commit myself on behalf of the Focolare Movement to respond with action, listening, openness and preventive measures, to the final recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry.”
The Focolare Movement has announced the results of the investigation carried out by an external and independent body into the cases of sexual abuse involving JMM, a former consecrated member of the Focolare Movement in France.
On 23rd December 2020, the Focolare Movement entrusted the Inquiry to the British company GCPS Consulting, an independent body whose mission has always been to help institutions improve their systems for preventing and reporting abuse. To ensure the integrity, quality and reliability of the inquiry process and its results, the Focolare Movement also appointed Alain Christnacht, a former senior French civil servant, as an independent supervisor, with no connection to the Movement.
At the request of the victims, the Focolare Movement entrusted the inquiry to an independent Commission in the same spirit with which the French Bishops’ Conference commissioned CIASE (Commission indépendante sur les abus sexuels dans l’Église), in February 2019, to carry out an investigation into the whole of the Catholic Church in France with the sole aim of giving absolute priority to the victims in its investigation.
The independent body received testimonies covering the period 1958-2020 which clearly show that JMM was responsible for different levels of abuse of at least 26 victims.
GCPS Consulting summarises the work done for the Inquiry as follows:
“Listening to the victims was one of the main tasks and a challenging part of the process, for the victims and for the Inquiry team, but it is the most important element.
The report describes events over five decades in which JMM abused or attempted to sexually abuse his victims, mainly teenage boys, describing his modus operandi and also the context in which the abuse took place. The investigation listened to other victims of abuse, some sexual and also other types of abuse, from a significant number of victims and witnesses.
The fact that the abuse was widespread and not addressed, even when reported to those in positions of leadership and responsibility, is also a subject of the report. The Inquiry was asked to examine the extent to which the people responsible were aware of these events at the time and subsequently, and to assess how they were addressed. The report describes in detail how complaints were not responded to adequately, victims were not heard, were not treated appropriately, and how opportunities were missed to respond to JMM’s abuse and to prevent subsequent incidents.
Finally, the report details how the Focolare Movement has developed safeguarding measures more recently and makes a number of recommendations to strengthen the safeguarding environment, including those related to fundamental changes in culture and leadership”.
After reviewing the report Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, said,
“There are no words that can adequately express the shock and pain I feel at the harm that has been done to children and young people by JMM and – I say this with immense suffering – not only by him, as is clear from the results of the inquiry.”
Addressing the victims, she added, ‘In this moment, all my thoughts and feelings are for you who have suffered a very serious crime that in many cases has ruined your lives’.
TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU PERSONALLY, AND TOGETHER WITH CO-PRESIDENT JESÚS MORÁN, AND ON BEHALF OF THE FOCOLARE MOVEMENT, I HUMBLY ASK FORGIVENESS
We must recognise that despite the good that the Movement has done throughout its history, here we failed in being vigilant, in listening and in being receptive to the cries for help from so many people. This must not happen again and is in total contradiction with the values that the Focolare Movement with its Christian spirituality is called to live.
I commit myself on behalf of the Focolare Movement, to respond with action, listening, openness and preventive measures, to the final recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry”.
The Focolare Movement is more determined than ever to ensure that its communities around the world are safe places where there can be mutual enrichment. As the GCPS inquiry points out, in 2011 the Movement began an in-depth evaluation of measures to prevent abuse and safeguard people. Those measures were reviewed in 2014 and 2020 and will be further updated after an in-depth study of the results of this inquiry.
The Focolare Movement has informed the French Bishops’ Conference and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life of the publication of the report.
The Movement’s main concern is to contribute as much as possible to the healing process of the victims, including financial compensation, if necessary and requested. For this reason, on the recommendation of the Church in France, the Focolare Movement has asked the “Commission indépendante de reconnaissance et de réparation” (CRR), a multidisciplinary body composed of experts from civic society and set up by CORREF (Conférence des Religieux et Religieuses de France) to accompany victims who so wish on their path to reparation. As of now, victims can contact this body. Mail: victimes@crr.contact Tel: 09 73 88 25 71 Internet site: https://www.reconnaissancereparation.org In order to fulfil its commitment to the victims of JMM, the Movement has for some months now been running a psychological support procedure coordinated by Dr Alexis Vancappel. This procedure will be maintained for the victims who have already used this service.
The Focolare Movement states that in the coming weeks it will make known the procedures and measures it intends to put in place to respond to the recommendations contained in the report.
The results of the survey are published in full and accessible to all on the GCPS Consulting website and on the French as well as the international website of the Focolare Movement. At present, the survey is available in English, French and Italian. Translations in German, Spanish and Portuguese will be added later.
Stefania Tanesini
Independent investigation (full text)
Summary report
Supervisors report Alain Christnacht
Letter from the Focolare President and Co-President to the members of the Focolare Movement in France
Mar 18, 2022 | Senza categoria
The “prayer for universal peace” pronounced today by the president of the Focolare Movement in Assisi, at the tomb of St Francis, echoes the words of Pope Francis. The full version is attached. “We ask you, with the faith that moves mountains, that there be a ceasefire in the war, and that dialogue will be victorious ‘in seeking the paths to peace’ between Russia and Ukraine. We ask for the grace that every ongoing conflict, especially the most forgotten ones, can end. This deeply felt invocation is at the heart of the “prayer for universal peace”, pronounced this morning in Assisi by Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement. In the crypt of St Francis, in the Lower Basilica, she was joined by the General Council of the Movement, gathered in the “city of peace” for a few days of retreat. “We are here on behalf of all the members of the Movement: Christians of various Churches, believers of various religions, people who consider themselves as brothers and sisters in one human family.” Margaret Karram continued: “We make our own the cry of pain and the despair of peoples who are currently suffering because of violence, conflicts, and wars.” “Grant us the grace to welcome one another, to forgive one another and live as one human family. Grant that we may love other people’s countries as our own! God of mercy and harmony, make us ‘instruments of Your peace’.” One week before Pope Francis consecrates Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (on 25th March) this plea is part of a collective prayer for peace throughout the world and supports the extensive network of solidarity to which members of the Movement also belong. Focolare communities are present in over 180 countries, including many places where there are still conflicts and wars.
Stefania Tanesini
The full text of the “prayer for universal peace”.
Mar 12, 2022 | Non categorizzato
Concluding on day two in the splendid setting of Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio with day one at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy was the conference entitled “Vatican Council II and Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity”. With topics ranging from synodality to the commitment to peace and dialogue between individuals and peoples, the event forms part of an extraordinarily topical debate. The great wave of new ecclesial movements which reached a peak under the pontificate of John Paul II certainly originated in the pre-conciliar period. It subsequently found its raison d’être in the Vatican Council, in particular by the value it gave to the Catholic laity, redefining the Church’s presence in the world (Lumen Gentium) and highlighting the centrality of the Word shared in communion (Dei Verbum). The post-conciliar period then saw a qualitative and quantitative explosion of those movements, valued in their inception and developed by Paul VI then applauded and supported by the Polish pope with his magisterium. A story of unity and distinction, particularly in the Church of the second half of the 20th century, which found its maturest expression in the charism of Chiara Lubich, a charism at the service of unity within the Church and of humanity. Testifying to the relevance of the charism at the service of unity, in the complex and at times convulsive moments we are living, the conference was part of the great movement of solidarity with victims of the war in Ukraine and with all people of peace who are working in Ukraine and Russia, Europe and Asia, everywhere. Councillor Alessandro Martini reminded us of this on a day when Florence was hosting an international demonstration for peace. For these reasons, since the Focolare Movement appears to be the first and most widespread ecclesial movement of the conciliar period, an international conference was organised by the Sophia University Institute and the Chiara Lubich Centre to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of its founder which then had to be postponed twice due to the pandemic. The title was: “The Second Vatican Council and Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity: Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium“. The venue was the Theological Faculty of Central Italy in Florence on 11 March and the Salone dei Cinquecento at the Palazzo Vecchio on 12 March. The conference was sponsored by the Comune di Firenze, with participation from the Italian Theological Association, the Theological Faculty of Central Italy (FTIC), the Paul VI Institute, the Giorgio La Pira International Student Centre, Città Nuova, the Abbà School and of course the Focolare Movement. The scientific committee was composed of Alessandro Clemenzia (FTIC), Piero Coda (Sophia University Institute), Florence Gillet, João Manoel Motta and Alba Sgariglia from the Chiara Lubich Centre. At the Vatican Council’s closing ceremony, in November 1965, Chiara Lubich summarised in a meaningful prayer what is perhaps the Council’s most striking note, the Church born from the presence of Jesus among his own: “Oh Holy Spirit, make us become, through what you have already suggested in the Council, a living Church: this is our only desire from which everything else will follow”. It is in this spirit that the conference set itself the goal of launching an detailed investigation aimed at understanding, on the one hand, whether and how the Council’s message found a fruitful place of interpretation and development in the experience brought about by the charism at the service of unity; and, on the other hand, whether and how the flowering of ecclesial life promoted by the charism of unity were made possible and propitiated by horizons opened up by Vatican II. Attention was centred in the first stage on Dei Verbum and Lumen Gentium, in order to bring into focus the convergent profiles and the contributions of conciliar doctrine and the inspiration of the charism of unity around the crucial link whereby the Church is born and grows as the historical incarnation, in the breath of the Spirit, of the Word that “became flesh” (Jn 1:14). The conference programme was particularly dense, as often happens when it is the result of serious work of conception and preparation. A river of words that, little by little, took on their full meaning, thanks to the wide-ranging contributions of the scholars. On the first day, Piero Coda, former Dean of the Sophia University Institute spoke on the theme “A chronological and kairological coincidence: a council and a charism. Towards a theological discernment of the correlation between Vatican II and the charism of unity”), Paolo Siniscalco of the University La Sapienza of Rome (“Chiara Lubich at the time of Vatican II”) and the Istrian-Pisan theologian Severino Dianich (“The event of Vatican Council II event: sacrament…of the unity of the whole human race”). Coda highlighted how the charism at the service of unity has made a very decisive contribution to Church history by way of communion based on the crucified, abandoned and risen Christ. Siniscalco, for his part, wisely and with historical accuracy retraced the various stages of Chiara Lubich’s existential adventure before, during, and after the Second Vatican Council. Dianich, on the other hand, with his characteristic clarity and frankness, gave an interpretation of Vatican II as the cradle for a more secular and communitarian reinterpretation of the Gospel. On Saturday 12th, the conference moved to a civic setting after the first session took place in an ecclesial setting, as if to reaffirm the charism’s double operational worthiness at the service of unity. In the prestigious venue of Palazzo Vecchio, in the Sala dei Cinquecento, where a number of Focolare meetings have been held since 1964, and where Chiara Lubich herself received honorary citizenship of Florence in 2000, the current President of the Focolare, Margaret Karram, opened the meeting, stressing the importance of Florence as the venue, in memory of Giorgio La Pira, the saintly mayor, a man of peace and the “living Church”. Back in 1974 Chiara Lubich with Cardinal Benelli founded the Giorgio La Pira International Student Centre named after him, thus creating and inseparable link between his name and the city on the river Arno. Florence as a city of peace, therefore, with special ties with the Middle East from which Margaret Karram originates as a Palestinian with an Israeli passport. “We work to weave relationships of peace everywhere, the most precious good that humanity can have”, said the president of the Focolare Movement. She was echoed by Card. Cardinal Giuseppe Betori who was absent for health reasons but who said in his message: “The experience of dialogue, at all levels, that characterised Chiara Lubich’s life, was based on an evangelical intuition about the relationship between interiority and exteriority, where relationship with the other was the causal and consequential extension of intimate union with God”. As the conference continued in Palazzo Vecchio, Vincenzo Di Pilato (FTP), commenting on Dei Verbum, addressed the theme: “The alphabet to know Christ. The Word of God, a permanent event of salvation in Dei Verbum“. Florence Gillet, from the Chiara Lubich Centre, dealt with a theme on the borderline between history and ecclesiology: ‘The Word of God in Chiara Lubich: the living presence of Christ that generates Church’. This was followed by a round table with Giovanna Porrino (IUS) on “The Word in the life of the Church”, Declan O’Byrne (IUS), “The Word and the Spirit”, Angelo Maffeis (FTIS) on “The Word of God as a principle of unity” and with the evangelical theologian Stefan Tobler (USBL) on “A mysticism of the Word as the way to ecumenism”. This was followed by the third and final session of the conference, dedicated to Lumen Gentium, with an eagerly awaited talk by Bishop Brendan Leahy (Bishop of Limerick, Ireland) on “The Church and the Marian Principle”. The following round table saw interventions from Alessandro Clemenzia (FTIC / IUS), “The Church from the Trinity”, Assunta Steccanella (FTT/TV), “The Messianic People”, Erio Castellucci, Bishop of Modena-Nonantola and Vice-President CEI, “Episcopal Collegiality and Synodality of the Church” and Cristiana Dobner (Discalced Carmelite), “The Charisms in the Mission of the Church”. Finally, the theologian Yvonne Dohna Schlobitten of the Gregorian University spoke on the theme of “An icon of Vatican II ecclesiology”. On 11 and 12 March, the Sala dei Cinquecento, full of warlike symbols in the large paintings on the walls, heard words of peace from La Pira, Bargellini and Lubich, and thus hosted an event that showed how the Church and civil society can bear witness to communion and dialogue, stimulating politics to make peace and peace-building its own goal.
Michele Zanzucchi
