annalisainnocenti - Movimento dei Focolari

The essence of the family

28 May 2011 | Non categorizzato

At the opening, in the foreground: Blessed John Paul II whose pontificate gave “priority attention to the family.” Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, pointed out in his speech that “for the Pope of the new evangelization, the family, that small domestic church, was not just a saying. It signified an actual implementation of the real and specific Church. In fact, the spouses – as is written in Familiaris Consortio “not only relive the love of Christ and become a community of the saved, but they are also called to pass on to others the same love of Christ and become a saving community “(FC 49). In the afternoon, the long-awaited meeting with the president of the Focolare, Maria Voce, who forged with the more than one thousand participants from all over the world, a profound dialogue, expressing her joy at being with families who offer themselves as instruments of unity in the environments in which they live. The testimonies highlighted how faith in Love can transform and illuminate daily life, and be a support and guiding force in difficulties: illness, separation, and widowhood. In collaboration with the youth section of the Focolare Movement, two moments were devoted to bringing up children. Topics related to educating were discussed in work groups: educating for a sober lifestyle, emotional education, and the use of media in relation to different age groups. A significant amount of space was dedicated to young families. Many followed the program via internet from various listening stations around the world, during which time there were discussions about affectivity, communication, and spirituality. Messages of support arrived from: Canada, Venezuela, Israel, El Salvador, Brazil, etc. “Infinite thanks for this concrete love which allowed us to take part in the congress via internet,” they write from Panama, “re-affirming the value of the family and the faith that Jesus helps us to construct it. Society gives the idea that the family is out of style – but today, listening to you, we feel that the family is so modern and relevant.” “You’ve illuminated every aspect of our married life,” they write from Slovenia. “Living the spirituality of the Gospel brings us to the fulfillment of our happiness and freshens the love that we want to bring to as many families as we can.”

Fifty Years for the Unity of Christians

24 May 2011 | Non categorizzato

Rome 1962. (from left) Pasquale Foresi, Igino Giordani, Canon Bernard Pawley and Mrs Margaret Pawley, Chiara Lubich, Eli Folonari

On 14th January 1961 Chiara Lubich met with a group of Lutherans in Germany and this encounter led her to realize that the spirituality of unity, which is based on living the Gospel, was not for Catholics only but for all Christians. In May, Chiara met Anglican Canon Bernard Pawley, in Rome who afterwards was an observer at the Second Vatican Council. On 24th May Chiara made a note in her diary: “God’s will is mutual love. Therefore, to mend this break, it is necessary to love each other.” These were the antecedents that led Chiara to found the Centre “Uno” for the unity of Christians in Rome. She appointed Igino Giordani as its director, since he had been working as one of the pioneers of ecumenism ever since 1920. The year 1961 had been a year charged with intuitions. It marked the beginning of a promising ecumenical dialogue based on living the Gospel together.

Chiara Lubich, Gabri Fallacara, Frère Roger Schutz (1978).

As the years went by, the spirituality of unity drew the interest of Anglicans in Great Britain, and members of the Reformed Church in Switzerland, Holland and Hungary. It was received by members of various Christian churches in Europe and by Eastern Churches in the Middle East, and then by Christians in other continents. Patriarch Athenagoras I became interested in the spirituality of unity and invited Chiara to Istanbul in 1967 and encouraged its spreading in the Orthodox Churches. After 30 years of Focolare’s ecumenical involvement in 1996 another historic step was made in London. While meeting with about a thousand of Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists and Baptists who lived this spirituality of unity, Chiara sensed that a particular style of ecumenical commitment was emerging that was specific to the Movement and born from its’ spirituality: a “dialogue of life” or a “dialogue of the people”, which was not in opposition to other forms of dialogue but in support of them. There are now Christians from over 350 Churches in five continents who promote this type of dialogue and witness that it is possible to live in unity with Christ among us.

Istanbul, 2010. Participants of the 18th School of Ecumenism promoted by Centro “Uno” were received at the Fanar by Patriarch Bartholomew I.

The 50th anniversary of Centre “Uno” was celebrated in Trent, Italy at the Social Theatre on 12th March with an international ecumenical day entitled: “Chiara Lubich: a charism, a life for the unity of Christians”, which was part of an “Ecumenical Week” (11th – 16th March) in Cadine (Trent). It included eyewitness accounts of the early involvement of Chiara and the Movement and of successive developments in Focolare’s ecumenical commitment. Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said in his message: “The service and the witness given by Chiara Lubich to the promotion of Christian unity are priceless and precious gifts” because “she has traced trails of light and deeply touched the life paths of many Christians of different generations and of many ecclesial traditions.” The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I invited the Focolare spread throughout the world “to foster the ‘dialogue of life’ among the Christian people, the leaven in the ecumenical Movement,” in the knowledge that “only intense spirituality can accelerate the march toward full visible communion through the acceptance of the progress being made in the official dialogues, on the part of an ecumenically prepared populace. A message also arrived from Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, Secretary General of the World Council of Churches: “We remember her as a gift of God’s gracious love, inspiring, so many of us with her charisma and her spirituality of unity.” Then he recalled her first visit in 1967 in which she laid “the ground for decades of close collaboration which has benefited the fellowship of WCC member Churches in many ways.” The Centre “Uno” follows Focolare’s ecumenical commitment worldwide through a network of collaborators, promotes “ecumenical weeks” and ecumenical formation courses. Central Secretariat: Centro “Uno” Via della Pedica 44 A 00046 Grottaferrata (Rome), Italy Email: centrouno@focolare.org

A brief history of the beginnings of the Focolare in Russia

19 May 2011 | Non categorizzato

In 1986 a Hungarian family from the Focolare Movement, the Fialowskys, moved from Budapest to Dugna, some 130 Km from Moscow. Some families and youths immediately began to gather around them. In 1989 and in 1991, two centres of the Movement were opened in the capital. At that time, the community was comprised of around 40 people. In August of 1991 there was the first and long-awaited meeting between Chiara and the members of the Movement from Eastern Europe, in Katowice, Poland. It was an important milestone for the members of the Movement in Russia, because for the first time, they would go beyond their borders to meet Chiara and the other members of the Movement in Eastern Europe. In April 1992 the first puclic gathering was held, the Mariapolis, with 220 participants. In September of the same year a first journey was taken to Celiabinsk, a city beyond the Ural Mountains, some 1900 km from Moscow, which up until shortly before had been closed to foreigners. Little by little a community of the Movement developed and, already in 1995, a first Mariapolis was held. This was followed by the birth of new communities in Novosibirsk and Omsk. In 2001 a focolare was opened in Krasnoyarsk, dedicated to the Siberian region of the country. It was the first encounter with the people who had already been receiving the Word of Life for some time. The spirituality was welcomed by in several cities of Siberia. The first Siberian Mariapolis was held in 2004 at Divnogorsk, a city near Krasnojarsk. The participants came from different cities, after having travelled distances of up to 2000 km. Ninety were of different nationalities and churches. After the fall of the Soviet Regime, Russian society was in search of an identity. In this journey, the Movement’s way of acting was always appreciated, especially in the relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. At times, official representatives of the Patriarchate of Moscow took part in Focolare gatherings. Focolare co-president Giancarlo Faletti’s presence at the enthronement of Patriarch Kirill, in February 2009 was of significant importance for the community of the Movement.Some members of Orthodox associations watched with great interest the “Together for Europe” project, and have been attending the event since 2004. Among the early Focolare pioneers in the then Soviet Union, we cannot forget to mention Guedes, a Portoguese focolarino wh died in January of this year, and lived for 20 years in Russia. His humble generosity is a characteristic that is very appreciated by this people, who abundantly reciprocated his love in many ways, especially the many Orthodox friends. Then there was Regina Betz, a German focolarina, who lived in Moscow from 1990 until 2008, establishing true and lasting relationships with many people. One episode that she tells of, seems to express what building unity in Russia has meant in these many years: « I taught German at the Lomosonov University of Moscow. One of my colleagues, Alla, wasn’t well with her health. She saw it as a punishment from God because she had given up living as a Christian. She told me that during an udating course in Lipsia she had returned to the Church, but coming back to Moscow, she drifted away. One day she asked me if she could go with me to Mass. I explained to her that I wasn’t Orthodox, but Catholic, so as not to create any problems for her. The following Sunday we went together to Mass at Saint Lousi Church, at that time, the only church in Moscow. Then I didn’t hear anything from her for quite a while. When we finally met again, she told me that she had been baptized ‘Russian Orthodox,’ she said almost apologetically. I told her that she had done well, since she was Russian!” Presently, the majority of the Movement’s members in Moscow are Orthodox. One of them, Nina Vyazovetskaya, spoke in Rome, at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major’s, on the occasion of the third anniversary of Chiara Lubich’s death. She said: “I come from Moscow, and I belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. I am a doctor and I did my internship at the Moscow Hospital. I grew up in a family of unbelievers, as many people are in Russia. In 1990 they baptized me a bit ‘by accident’ because, with the fall of Communism came a time of change and everyone was searching for something new. But after that day, I never went to church. The encounter with the Focolare Movement marked a change in my life. I met God and my life changed. In order to get to know Him, I turned to the focolarine, who are Catholics, and they brought me to my Orthodox church. This was how I began to disover the beauty and richness of the church, of the Christian life, of living for God. And now I have decided to follow God along the way of Chiara in the focolare.”

Lampedusa: An experience of sharing

29 Apr 2011 | Non categorizzato

“The guests arrived soaking wet and most of them were barefoot. A relationship of empathy and gratitude was immediately created between us. They excused themselves for everything: the traffic they caused, the queues in the supermarkets and bakeries…”

“This situation has led to a true community experience over the last number of months. Everyone is doing their part to generously help these brothers and sisters with clothes, food, etc.”

The experience is characterised by concrete acts of solidarity: “In the days previous to the disembarkments my bag with all its contents, including my cell phone, was stolen. I bought another phone and, before taking it out of its box, I met a young Tunisian man whose cell phone didn’t work. He told me, ‘My mum is desperate because she hasn’t received any news from me’. My new cell phone came to mind. ‘He needs it’, I thought and decided to give it to him. He was truly happy and soon after managed to contact his mum.

A few days after the emergency situation began, the Young People for a United World along with other members of Focolare’s local community in Sicily and in collaboration with the Agrigento Caritas Centre sent a container full of clothes and primary needs to Lampedusa

After this first stage of great dedication, a certain discouragement began to spread through the island’s native inhabitants; an understandable reaction when 90% of the population live off tourism. “Certain that God will not abandon us nor let himself be out-matched in generosity, we tried to sustain all those around us encouraging each other not to be overwhelmed by worries for the future”.

The local bishop of Agrigento, Mons. Montenegro, invited everyone to see the face of Jesus in these brothers, recalling the Gospel excerpt: “when I was hungry… when I was a stranger...” He wrote to the President of the Republic and local authorities immediately started to step in. Everyone felt a great joy and a true sense of having received more than they gave. It was an amazing experience and it still continues: some families fostered a child for a period, others opened their doors at meals times or offered the possibility to use their showers, not to mention donations of food and money. The local fishermen gave crates of fish that the guests roasted on makeshift barbeques.

This communion of experiences and of material goods is continuing and is spreading throughout Italy.