Ukraine: agreement with Caritas-Spes to aid the population

Mar 2, 2022 | Non categorizzato

Contributions collected by Focolare Movement Emergency Coordination through the non-governmental organisations Azione per un Mondo Unito (AMU) and Azione per Famiglie Nuove (AFN) will go to support assistance activities for the Ukrainian population carried out by Caritas-Spes Ukraine. The actions of war in Ukraine show no sign of stopping, and among the population there are thousands of displaced people fleeing. Many are trying to survive between homes and emergency shelters, where they can receive initial support. With contributions collected through the appeal launched by Focolare Movement Emergency Coordination, AMU and AFN are firstly supporting the actions of Caritas-Spes Ukraine. The organisation is providing aid to thousands of people forced to abandon their homes and flee to the border, or to take refuge in underground shelters set up in the immediate area where possible. Caritas-Spes Ukraine is committed to offer safe shelter, food, medicine, hygiene products and psychological support for close to 500 displaced mothers with children housed in their centres. More than 2,500 people are also receiving aid through Caritas in the parishes and 14 soup kitchens that remain active in the areas of Kiev, Lutsk, Berdiansk, Kamenets-Podolsky, Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa, Vinnitsa and several cities of the Transcarpathia Region. The images of the war in Ukraine every day in international media, and the testimonies of our contacts on the ground, such as Mira Milavec, a Slovenian focolarina who lives in Ukraine and collaborates with Caritas-Spes, describe the state of emergency of a population under siege. The people are defenceless in the face of the bombing, and they crowd routes to reach the borders, or take refuge in basements or shelters, where makeshift beds have been set up as they wait for a hot meal, drinking water and electricity. At the border with Poland, the line of desperate people who hope to cross the border is tens of kilometres long. Caritas-Spes in Lviv has organized special aid for mothers who try to escape with children, even very small ones, in their arms. They need everything, especially hot water to prepare meals or change diapers. In Odessa, which is under attack, shelters are being set up, even under the cathedral. The activity is punctuated by the sound of sirens announcing danger arriving or its temporary cease. In Vinnitsa a psychologist is organizing online training sessions for volunteers and operators about providing psychological help in stressful situations such as this. The first has already been attended by more than 120 people. Currently, the fundraising has already reached 100,000 euros, and the first shipment of funds has already been sent. It is being used to support the actions of Caritas-Spes for early aid to Ukrainian families. We are also evaluating the possibility of supporting the costs to take in the many Ukrainian refugees who are arriving in the surrounding countries, such as Slovakia and Poland. They are being welcomed by the generosity of local families who are opening their homes to them. Unfortunately, military activities show no signs of ceasing, and as confirmed by local contacts, needs will only increase. Frequent updates about the aid activity being carried out on the ground are available via the online and social channels of AMU and AFN. To support Ukraine and aid families devastated by the war, donate online on these sites: AMU: amu-it.eu/dona-online-3/ AFN: afnonlus.org/dona/ or through bank transfer to the following accounts: Action for a United World ONLUS (AMU) IBAN: IT 58 S 05018 03200 000011204344 at Banca Popolare Etica SWIFT/BIC: ETICIT22XXX Action for New Families ONLUS (AFN) IBAN: IT 92 J 05018 03200 000016978561 at Banca Popolare Etica SWIFT/BIC: ETICIT22XXX Reference: Ukraine Emergency

Statement by the Focolare Movement on the publication of the book “La setta divina”

Nov 9, 2021 | Non categorizzato

Statement by the Focolare Movement on the publication of the book “La Setta Divina” (The Divine Sect) by Ferruccio Pinotti (PIEMME Editions) The Focolare Movement has learned of the publication of the book “La setta divina” (The Divine Sect) by the journalist Ferruccio Pinotti (PIEMME Ed.), released today in Italian bookshops. The book comes at a difficult and crucial time in the history of the Focolare Movement: the transition from the founding period to the post-foundational phase. Throughout the history of the Church, this is a time that has often put to the test religious orders, movements and communities born of charismatic inspiration. Ferruccio Pinotti’s book wants to show that, even in the Focolare Movement, the initial zeal has sometimes led to misinterpretations of Chiara Lubich’s charism and/or to misleading actions. From the documents that Pinotti has obtained and published in the book regarding some of the internal debates within the Focolare Movement, there emerges, nevertheless, a growing awareness among the members of these and other inconsistencies in its history and the need to remedy them. However, the book does not seem to offer an objective and well-considered presentation of this charism, which is recognised by the Catholic Church. It does not take into account the commitment of many thousands of people who, inspired by the life and teachings of the foundress, devote themselves daily and generously throughout the world to creating relationships, healing wounds and overcoming rifts in every sphere of ecclesial and social life, in order to build a more fraternal and united world. We accept without reserve the fact that so much pain has been caused to the people who, in these pages, tell their stories of great suffering, disappointment, deception and abuse endured, and of those who did not wish to make their testimonies public. The Focolare Movement, in the persons of President Margaret Karram and Co-President Jesús Morán, expresses once again its shame and sorrow towards the victims and all those who have been wronged, its closeness and its desire to continue or begin a path of dialogue with them. It reaffirms its commitment to combat all forms of abuse and continue to improve its protection of children and vulnerable adults through ongoing formation of its members and leaders. It repeats its invitation to all those who have facts or stories of abuse to report them to the Commission for the Welfare and Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Adults (CO.BE.TU.) or to their respective Church bodies. Despite the partial, one-sided, sometimes inaccurate or reductive reading of the history, spirituality and activity of the Movement, we see this book as a further incentive in continuing the ongoing processes of conversion and renewal, remaining faithful to the founding charism and to the development of an open, free and critical dialogue within the Movement and with anyone who wishes to fully understand the Movement as it is today and collaborate with it.

Stefania Tanesini

May 13th : from Trento to the world via web

May 13, 2020 | Non categorizzato

The exhibition dedicated to Chiara Lubich in her hometown in Italy is enriched with  a multilingual virtual tour  that will allow visitors from all over the world to visit the exhibition composed of images and documents.  May 13^th  marks the  launching on the web , a significant date for Trento and Lubich. “Chiara Lubich Città Mondo“, the exhibition set up at the Gallerie in Trento, the birthplace of the Focolare Foundress, is now transformed and enriched with a virtual tour.  The exhibition, closed for a period due to the pandemic and now extended until the beginning of 2021, can also be visited online. (http://mostre.legallerietrento.it/chiaralubich) The exhibition in Trent, which is part of the events linked to the Centenary of Chiara Lubich’s birth, continues in this way to implement the motto of the centenary: “Celebrate to meet with this extension on the web, “. Winding its way through history, life, images and color, it  offers an opportunity to ‘meet’ with Lubich,   and now the tour extends beyond the Galleries’ exhibition venue , to offer access to visitors from all over the world. Moreover, the date chosen for this launch  on the web is no coincidence: on May 13^th , 1944 Chiara Lubich’s story intertwined significantly with that of her city. That day when Trent suffered the second heavy  bombardment also marked a turning point for the emerging  Focolare Movement. Chiara Lubich was  among the people displaced from the city towards the Gocciadoro  woodland, after  the family home  was damaged. “I remember that night,” she would write years later, “on the outskirts of the city, lying with the others on the ground, just two words: stars and tears. Stars, because, throughout the night, I saw them all passing over my head; tears, because I was crying, realizing that I could not leave Trento with my loved ones. By then I saw with my companions the movement coming to life: I could not abandon them. And it seemed to me that the Holy Spirit, in order to make me understand His will, suggested words to me that I had studied at school: “Omnia vincit amor[1], Love conquers all”[2] .The next morning, Chiara Lubich informed her parents of her decision to stay in Trento, and soon afterwards, with her first companions, she set up the first focolare. The little house that housed the first focolare is one of the stages on the virtual tour that the visitor takes  “Chiara Lubich city world”  from the birth of the founder of the Focolare Movement in 1920 to the current worldwide expansion of the Movement. Even in the virtual setting, it is Chiara herself, through images and documents, who “tells her story “: her life as a young teacher, her consecration to God on December 7^th, 1943, the growth of the first Focolare community. And then the summer of 1949, the beginning of a period of light for Chiara Lubich from which will flow  the charismatic novelty that would give life to a new Work in the Church. Light and colours are the protagonists of the last part of the tour which, through words and images, allows us to know experiences of unity, spaces of fraternity born of the Charism of Lubich which continue to grow and develop in the present day  in order to contribute to the fulfillment  of what she considered the “testament” of Jesus: “That all may be one” (Jn 17:21). “For that page of the Gospel we were born,” Lubich wrote, “to bring unity in the world, unity with God and unity among all our brothers and sisters”.
”Even though we were aware” – she explained –“ of the divine audaciousness  of the program that only God could carry out, kneeling around an altar, we asked Jesus to make his dream come true using us too if it was part of  his plans”[3]. A dream also formed  on that night of  May 13^th 1944 when, faced with the collapse of everything, bewilderment, the anguish of the unexpected drama of the moment,  among stars and tears, she chose to believe that “Omnia vincit amor, love conquers everything”.

Anna Lisa Innocenti

  [1] Virgil, Ecloghe, X, 69 [2] Chiara Lubich, Nascita di una spiritualità, in Michele Zanzucchi, Enzo Maria Fondi, Un popolo nato dal Vangelo, San Paolo, 2003, pp. 9-10. [3] Ibid., p.17

Coronavirus: The International Focolare Centre issues preventive measures

Mar 10, 2020 | Non categorizzato

Owing to the Coronavirus outbreak in many countries of the world, the International Focolare Centre at Rocca di Papa, Italy, issued a number of safety measures to prevent the spread of this contagious virus. The International Focolare Centre, located at Rocca di Papa (Rome – Italy), announced a number of preventive measures to help control the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic and have it stopped as soon as possible. These measures issued on March 9, are in accordance with the Italian Government decisions and as indicated by the Italian Bishops. They are in line with the nationwide coronavirus lockdown  announced by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, when Italy has been declared a “protected zone” from March 10 until April 3. The measures issued are the following:

1. All activities organized by the International Centre at Rocca di Papa or elsewhere in Italy, scheduled to take place during March, April and May 2020 have been These include activities planned for Chiara Lubich’s Centenary (1920-2020) and other various  initiatives.
2. There will be no group visits to the International Centre until the end of May 2020.
3. Collaborators at the International Centre cancelled visits to places in Italy and abroad scheduled to take place till the end of May 2020.
4. Weekday and Sunday Mass will not be celebrated at the Centre until April 3.
5. The Centre guarantees its function for essential services, while collaborators will carry out ordinary work in a remote way.

 Focolare Communication Office