7 Sep 2017 | Non categorizzato
The multi-religious marathon, “Rome Half Marathon Via Pacis,” will start off on Sunday 17 September from St. Peter’s Square to promote peace, integration and inclusion. Promoted by the Rome Capital and the Pontifical Council for Culture, Ministry of the Holy See, in partnership with FIDAL (Italian Track and Field Federation) and with the sponsorship of the CONI and CIP, the event is open to all, to say “stop violence, racism, and discrimination of any type and origin.” There will be two race routes (21 and 5 km), with five legs (St. Peter’s Basilica, Synagogue, Mosque, Valdes Church and Orthodox Church) to underline the participation of various confessions and religious communities. Also Sportmeet, the world network of sportsmen and women, operators and professionals of the Focolare Movement’s sports world will be attending as a sole team: “Sportmeet for a United World.” Those who wish to participate with Sportmeet may write to: info@sportmeet.org (also for the possible stay in Rome).
6 Sep 2017 | Senza categoria
A summer school in the Primiero Valleys (Italy) is not a novelty. Some had taken place in the past years, thanks to the initiative of the Sophia University Institute. This year’s summer school held from 25 – 30 August had a precise interreligious profile, with the presence of Shiite and Christian students. Apart from the initiative’s success, this was not an occasional event, but a 20-year friendship journey undertaken by Shiite Muslims and Catholics, within the context of the Focolare Movement’s spirituality of communion. During the second half of the 1990s, Professor Mohammad Shomali with his wife, Mahnaz, also an academic from Qom (the holy city of Shi’a Islam in Iran), were both studying in England. Along with their studies they had hoped to find a way of establishing a relationship with dynamic Christian communities. Already at that time both had felt the calling to interreligious commitment. It was in this context that the two young academics met the Focolare Movement, and a deep spiritual friendship was established, based on the central point of love as a path to reach God and the brothers and sisters around us. 
Besides a profound experience with the Benedictine community of the monastery of Ampleforth, the Shomalis had deepened their knowledge of the spirituality of communion and had also met other Christians and Muslims, on the occasion of international meetings held in Rome and in the town of Loppiano. After their return to Qom the relationships with the Focolare continued, and starting 2010 were enriched by academic values. In fact, to enhance a true bond between Shiite students of Qom and the Catholic Church, the Shomalis organised various group journeys to Italy, where they held meetings with the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the St. Anselm University, PISAI (Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies), and the Focolare Movement. In 2014, a delegation of the Movement’s Interreligious Dialogue Centre spent a week in Qom to meet various academic and religious groups and establish relationships of trust and communion at both concrete and intellectual levels, going deeper into the religious Christian heritage and highlighting common values and possibilities to set up paths of dialogue. 
It was in this context that a bond with the Sophia University Institute was established, especially between the Rector, Mons. Piero Coda, and Professor Shomali. With subsequent encounters and lessons offered by the professor to the students of the Institute and the inhabitants of Loppiano, and in collaboration with Rita Moussalem and Roberto Catalano, Co-Directors of the Focolare’s Centre for Interreligious Dialogue, Coda and Shomali had developed the idea of creating a common academic research project with concrete works, which was named Wings of Unity. The core of this initiative is based on the quest for unity of God and unity in God and aims to focus on the perception of God in the two traditions, and in this light, on the possibility of building a true spirit of brotherhood. The finality is to create occasions for reflection in communion between Shiite Muslims and Christians and favouring the education of young generations in interreligious dialogue. As Prof. Shomali himself summarised, in these years they have gone beyond dialogue, and have attained the same way of thinking.
5 Sep 2017 | Non categorizzato
“I’ll be coming as a pilgrim of hope and of peace, to celebrate our faith in the Lord with you, and also to learn from your charity and perseverance in the search for peace and harmony.” This is how addressed the “dear people of Colombia” in a video message just a few hours before his departure for Bogotà. Speaking in Spanish, he cited the motto of his journey, recalling that “we always need to take a first step in any project and activity.” This “urges us also to be the first to love, to build bridges and construct brotherhood. This “urges us to be the first to love, to build bridges, to spread brotherhood. It encourages us to go out to meet the other, to offer our hand and share the sign of peace.” The Pope went on to say that Colombia is a “land rich in history, culture,, faith, men and women that have worked with determination and perseverance to make it a place where brotherhood and harmony reign, a place where the Gospel is known and loved, where saying brother or sister doesn’t sound strange, but a real and proper treasure to protect and defend.” 
The Focolare community is preparing joyfully for the Pope’s arrival. Yolima Martínez reports from Bogotà: “We members of the Focolare will welcome him with great enthusiasm, so that his message may fill our land with hope. Colombia, she explains, is in a transitional phase, a phase of deep social divisions that continue to persist. “But we know, as Chiara Lubich taught us, that all of us are candidates for unity, so we believe that the words of the Holy Father will be a call to peace for everyone, to reconciliation and tolerance, regardless of anyone’s creed or way of thinking.” There great expectation in the air, especially among Christians. “The young people, summoned by the local Church, are preparing for this visit, preparing not only the logistical aspects, but also their own souls in view of this encounter. 
Escuela Sol Naciente in Tocancipà, north of Bogotà where the Mariapolis Centre is located, is geared toward children and teenagers between the ages of 13 and 15, to give them a global formation as individuals that are sensitive to the values of solidarity, peace and ecology. Fifteen of their students and two of their teachers will take part in the Eucharist presided by the Pope. One of them is Milena: “I’m happy to be meeting Pope Francis, because he’s one of the closest persons to the young people. He understands us and invites us to follow God and build a better society.” Laura: “The Pope’s visit inspires us to be better and to help everyone, not only the Christians, but also the people that think differently.” Andrés: “The Pope is an important figure in today’s culture, so it will be an opportunity for us to profit from his wisdom.” Yolima continues: “All the Focolare members will be at the different Eucharistic celebrations, especially in Bogotá e Medellín. Among them, Lucia and her husband, Pedro, who will approach the Pope. They will extend the greetings from the whole Focolare community in Colombia. Lucia: “We’ll have a chance to approach him for a few minutes. Our wish is to go as children of Chiara, to thank him in the name of the Movement and to assure him of our prayers.” It will be a pause in the frenzy of daily life, an invitation to stop. “In the days that Pope Francis will be visiting our country,” Yolima concludes, “we’ll be presented with the possibility of a personal encounter: the encounter with Jesus.”
5 Sep 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
As Harvey’s fury fades and tears are shed for victims whose numbers are growing by the hour, the devastation left behind by the hurricane and the growing concern over contaminated water, especially in Houston, is becoming clearer and clearer within the city which is home to hundreds of large and important chemical and oil plants There is already a mixture of pesticides, waste and solvents that can do further damage to humans and the environment even after Harvey. Last September 1st there was a choral outcry for more attention and care for Creation just as Texas was emerging from the receding flood waters. It is not only the uncontrollable forces of nature that give us pause, but also our responsibility in using the goods of the earth. With regard to the risk of contamination: it has been estimated that the millions of people from Texas’s 38 counties that have been affected by Hurricane Harvey use private water sources that are not subjected to the same controls as public water systems and are at risk of contamination. “
It is time to think about the tremendous power of nature and of human responsibility to be good and wise administrators of the environment,” writes Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, known for his involvement in promoting care for the environment. “We are all called to to take part in the redemption and care of our world, working to stem the destructive force of such hurricanes through better environmental planning, or by being more seriously involved in combatting the serious problem of climate change and the way in which it interferes with our planet; or even to beomc personally involved on the field, with charitable projects that can help and support those whose lives are so drastically changed in the bat of an eye because of changes in the climate. In their joint statement on the Day of Prayer for Creation, Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew stated: We urgently appeal to those in positions of social and economic, as well as political and cultural, responsibility to hear the cry of the earth and to attend to the needs of the marginalized, but above all to respond to the plea of millions and support the consensus of the world for the healing of our wounded creation. We are convinced that there can be no sincere and enduring resolution to the challenge of the ecological crisis and climate change unless the response is concerted and collective, unless the responsibility is shared and accountable, unless we give priority to solidarity and service. Meanwhile, news has arrived from the Focolare community in Houston. Joelma, Carmina and Chiara and Kate write: “Thanks for your prayers, your closeness and your many meassages that have been arriving. Everyone in our community is safe. Some had to evacuate their homes, and others had their homes flooded, but weren’t forced to leave them. The neighbourhood where the focolare house is located was on high enough land to stay dry, but it’s like an island because all the land around it is flooded. It was hard to watch all the flooding from a house that was dry and secure, knowing that the lives of many of the people around us were in danger. Unfortunately, we just learned that the relatives of several people from our community in Corpus Christi, the first Texan city to be hit by the hurricane’s fury, were killed as the six of them tried to escape the flood waters. We’re trying to understand the best way to help right now, also because it’s still very dangerous to be out driving. Two nurses from the local community, Marga and Augie, are working around the clock at their hospital due to the shortage of staff. One young person was able to travel around and reach other volunteers, and a couple with a canoe was able to give a hand rowing through neighbourhoods.
![LoppianoLab 2017]()
4 Sep 2017 | Non categorizzato
Entitled “Neither victims nor brigands. Changing the rules of the game”, the much awaited LoppianoLab event will be held in Loppiano from 30 September to 1 October 2017. The expo, which focuses on the economy, culture, communication, training and innovation, is promoted annually by Città Nuova, Lionello Bonfanti Industrial Park, Sophia University Institute and the international town of Loppiano. Immigration, work, poverty, social integration, fighting corruption, commitment to the common good, family, youth, education and other topics will be discussed during the 8th edition of LoppianoLab.
