21 Apr 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
Every year, spring blossoms a few days earlier in order to remember Chiara Lubich. March 14th is celebrated with a variety of new and annual events in every part of the world, each with a style all its own to remember the Focolare foundress on the anniversary of her death – or better – her birth to Heaven that happened in 2008. In 2017 this special day was interwoven with another event, the 50th anniversary of the New Families, which is a branch of the Focolare Movement that embraces 800 thousand families from around the world who strive to live the spirituality of unity and spread values of universal brotherhood in their local environments. The powerful title, Chiara Lubich and the Family, was meant to express the special care and attention the foundress gave to a “daring, beautiful and demanding” calling whose “immeasurable and precious values could change the world and transform it into a family, if those same values were applied to humankind.” “Here, in front of you, I seem to see Jesus who looks at the world, looks at the crowds and pities them,” Chiara Lubich had said in her historic founding address on July 19, 2967. “Because, of all the portions of the world, the most broken part has been placed on your shoulders, the part most like Jesus Forsaken. (…) May this pity not remain at the level of the sentiments, but be transformed into works.” 
Works that can now be seen: cultural projects, support for minors, seminars for families, help for separated couples, social and educaitonal projects that highlight universal family values from within the great human family. Concrete action is the main characteristic of a family, the basic cell of society, and this was strongly underscored in the two Synods that dealt with the topic of the family. The contents of those Synods then came together in Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation, The Joy of Love. The joy of love that the pope speaks of is well represented by the thousands of voices and it is on the faces of the people and families that converged on Loppiano, Italy, from all five continents last March to attend the event, three days to learn the art of reciprocity. “Married life is like a ship,” one family from Peru commented, “if you try to row by yourself it takes a lot of effort.” It is the art of loving that gives strength to the family to regenerate, through trust, forgiveness, individual responsibility, creativity, acceptance and supportiveness. The event at Loppiano was the pivot point for many other events around the world, beginning with last year’s January 27th inaugural event in Cairo, Egypt, and then for many successive events in Panama, Croatia, Italy, Uganda, Tanzania, USA, Brazil, France, Kenya, Panama, Lithuania, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Burundi, Singapore, and more. Practical experiences were presented and seminars on the themes of education, the relationship of the married couple, acceptance, stories from daily life and hidden acts of heroism in war zones, solidarity in moments of difficulty, support for disadvantaged populations, together with workshops, shows, festivals and public prayer services. Although it is difficult to list them all and describe the main characteristic of each one, it would be impossible not to recognize in these festive family gatherings in collaboration with other movements, Church, Religious and civil institution representatives –“seeds of communion for the people of the Third Millennium,” which were prophetically foretold by Chiara Lubich in 1993.
20 Apr 2017 | Senza categoria
- Date of Death: 21/04/2017
- Branch of belonging: Volunteer
- Nation: Italy
20 Apr 2017 | Non categorizzato
“Journeying together. Christians on the way towards Unity” is the title of the 59th edition of Ecumenical Week which will be held 9-13 May 2017, at the international conference centre in Castel Gandolfo (Rome), with the participation of around 700 Christian representatives of 70 Churches and Ecclesial Communities from 40 countries.
20 Apr 2017 | Non categorizzato
Gianni Caso was born in 1930, in Roccapiemonte, Italy. With much sacrifice he completed his Law studies while working as a court clerk. Because of his strong Catholic background he was invited to take charge of the Catholic Action Youth Group in Naples. After graduation, during military training, he met a focolarino who gave him a Città Nuova magazine, and in 1959 he attended the Mariapolis in Fiera di Primiero. In a passionate speech given by Bruna Tomasi, who was a member of the first group that followed Chiara Lubich, Gianni discovered a vital connection in the ideal of unity to his own vocation as a lay person. In 1968 he was a judge in the Trentino-Alto Adige Region of northern Italy where he was working in the Focolare’s nascent New Humanity Movement. He later became a member of the civil and criminal high court of Rome and moved to the international centre of the Movement in Rocca di Papa. During the 1970s acts of extreme violence were perpetrated against Italian State institutions, which turned into an armed conflict with the terrorists. During those years Gianni was appointed judge rapporteur and drafter of the appeal sentence in the first and most important of five court cases for Aldo Moro, leader of the Christian Democracy who was murdered in 1978 by an armed terrorist group known as the Red Brigade. Gianni was escorted to court each morning by an armed guard and accompanied back to his home each evening. Once home, Gianni went to Mass with his own car. One evening, instead of following his usual route, without giving much thought to it, he went home by another way (he said it was sort of an “inner inspiration”). By doing so he avoided being kidnapped by terrorists who were lying in wait for him.
Gianni Caso with Chiara Lubich
19 Apr 2017 | Non categorizzato
LIVE STREAMING from Loppiano
PULSE – THE EVENT – 1 st May 10:00-12:30 (CET, UTC 1)
PULSE – THE MEETING, 29 Aprile 2017, Replay the streaming event: part 1 – part 2
Flickr Gallery
Everybody knows that young people’s hearts beat at a faster pace. Their energy overflows on the world around them. From April 29th to May 1st their hearts will be beating even faster. This experience isn’t be advisable for anyone suffering from the fear of being contaminated by another culture, or the fear of finding similarities among cultures, or suffering from an inclination towards drama and violence. It will be an excellent experience, however, for anyone who would like to travel full speed ahead in the discovery a new world where peace is the law of the land. The Focolare town of Loppiano which, since 1973, has welcomed throngs of young people in the first days of May, will provide a space for encounter and reflection for youth from different groups and movements that include Youth for a United Word, New Horizons, Rondine, La Pira International Centre, Non Dalla Guerra, Living Peace, Sophia University Institute, Dancelab, EcoOne, Economia disarmata, Bargiana and Sportmeet. Many testimonies will be presented from Syria, Ecuador, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. Six workshops dealing with welcome and integration, social involvement, art, peace, sport and communications. Four forums on: peace and religious traditions, economy and politics, peace education and nature. Two of these will be conducted by the Living Peace International Project and by the Economia Disarmata group. The first workshop emerges from the experience of Carlos Palma, an Uruguayan who was teaching in Egypt, in 201. Through his experience with his students – and against the dramatic backdrop of conflict and war – a complete Peace Education course was born that has spread to more than a hundred countries with the participation of nearly a thousand schools, groups and associations. Up until now it has engaged more than 200 thousand children, adolescents and young people in different parts of the world. The second, the Economia Disarmata (Disarmed Economy), has for some years already been presenting peace education courses. This time it will present: “Objection to war: in the footsteps of Fr Milani” with a visit to Barbiana, guided by the writings of the Italian priest on war, peace and conscientious objection. 
It will be a high-speed journey of discovery (and decision-making) regarding what can be done to change the course of history, becoming links in that global network known as “United World Project” that has engaged the Young For Unity since 2012, together with other associations and groups. The idea is to link the different “fragments of fraternity” and make them part of a network. May 1st will bring the meeting to a close, but not the rhythm. Once again, the annual gathering in Loppiano will open its doors to many young people from more than 40 countries who intend to show the real heartbeat of humanity: the endless number of activities in favour of peace and brotherhood that far more silently than wars fill the lives of individuals, groups and entire populations. They will share their ideas through music, dance, word, testimony and discussions on politics, economy, art, religion, culture and social engagement in favour of peace. Afterwards, until May 7th, the 21cnd edition of the Week of Unity will begin with “Pulse – Change Your Heart; Change the World”. Ever since 1996 this project has been involving many people in large and small series of projects on all the continents, genuine showcases of authentic brotherhood. The May 7th Run for Unity will bring the United World Week to a close with a worldwide relay marathon. You can sign up at the run4unity website. #UnitedWorldWeek2017 – #4peace – #PULSE – #ChangeYourHeartChangeTheWorld – #MeetingY4UW – #PrimoMaggioLoppiano2017 – #run4unity2017
https://youtu.be/5Bc3pj_p0FY
