May 11, 2021 | Non categorizzato
If the United World Week 2021 has closed its doors, however, the commitment does not stop. The young people of the Focolare Movement, together with all the other promoters and partners of the #daretocare campaign, renew for the years 2021-2022 their commitment to “dare to care”, focusing on caring for the planet and for people, encouraging a true ecological conversion, taking responsibility for changing lifestyles, making them more sustainable, and trying to involve as many people as possible in this revolution. Over 800 events, more than 400 “Run4unity” races around the world, about 2,016 hours of streaming with insights on politics, migration, justice, rights, economics, health, ecology, dialogue, art. Not just theory. Not only experts. But many ongoing best practices, actions of sensitization and solidarity that have involved groups of young people, parishes, associations, families, the religious, entire communities, and even newspapers. All generations represented, with a special protagonism of children, who participated with actions of active citizenship. It was precisely on Europe Day that the United World Week 2021 concluded in Brussels, entitled “#daretocare”, this festival of fraternity that for 9 days engaged thousands and thousands of people from all over the planet, who witnessed and promoted the urgency of “dare to care”, that is, the need to make “care” the common denominator that can guide our actions as citizens and those of politicians. If the heart of the event, the main event, was in Brussels, there were many events organized in the rest of the world, in which everyone could participate, thanks to an interactive calendar: from France to Korea, from Bolivia to Sierra Leone, from the Philippines to the Holy Land. “#daretocare, people, the planet and our ecological conversion” And now, one would wonder, is it all over? Whatever happened to so much mobilization? The effort certainly doesn’t stop with the end of United World Week! In fact, the young people of the Focolare Movement, together with all the promoters and partners of the #daretocare campaign, renew for the years 2021-2022, their commitment to “dare to care”, focusing on people and the Planet, proposing an “ecological conversion”. That is, promoting and implementing integral ecology, through initiatives that can involve associations, organizations, institutions but also through our simple daily gestures, to break the logic of violence, exploitation, selfishness, typical of the culture of waste. Planet Pledge Separating waste, not buying fast fashion, taking part in solidarity initiatives for the disadvantaged of your city, avoiding the use of plastic items, cooking only as much as you can eat, treating other living beings with care, using public transport, turning off unnecessary lights… With the new campaign #daretocare we are all invited to make a commitment for the people and the Planet and to endorse it “publicly” through the website: http://www.unitedworldproject.org/daretocare2021/. Small actions can help generate big changes! Internationalization of vaccines And then, great scope for health. Strong was the call, the urgency, throughout the United World Week, to make the Covid-19 vaccine a common good for all, shared across borders. The young people, in fact, have reiterated their commitment to stimulate the governments of their respective countries to practice the internationalism of vaccines: “We call on EU leaders here in Brussels and all leaders around the world to seriously make Covid-19 vaccines accessible to everyone, no matter where they are. We pledge to continue to push for vaccine access for all”. Alongside this, as part of the new #daretocare campaign, the desire to “get our hands dirty” was born, reaching those peripheries of the world that have difficulty accessing care and assistance, especially in this time of pandemic. The appointment, for the development of this initiative, is set for May 20, on the eve of the Global Health Summit, at 13:00 (UTC+2), always on platform: www.unitedworldproject.org.
Tamara Pastorelli
Source: www.unitedworldproject.org
May 8, 2021 | Non categorizzato
David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, spoke on 7 May 2021 at the opening of the International Forum “DareToCare”, the central event of United World Week 2021. The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, spoke to a group of young people at the opening of the International Forum “DareToCare-Osare prendersi cura” in Brussels, Belgium. “Caring is a beautiful concept – a beautiful image – it is the goal of politics. Politics can have no other goal than to care for people, to care for communities and to care for cities. I believe that this project is a real sign of hope for the future.” The young people who spoke to the President are following courses in international relations, politics, peace studies and communication in Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belgium, Colombia, Hungary and Rwanda. Their questions to the President focused on issues such as democracy, Europe’s accession to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, reception, integration and humanitarian corridors and the climate crisis. “We know that politics can do many things,” Sassoli said, “but it certainly cannot achieve much without active citizens and, especially, young people. Therefore, at this very difficult time, if we want to think about and prepare for the challenges of the future, the participation of young people is decisive and important.” The International Forum that opened in Brussels is part of the United World Week 2021, the event promoted in the first week of May by the Youth for a United World of the Focolare Movement. Each year, a continent is chosen to host and prepare the central event. This time it was Europe’s turn. And Brussels, capital of the European Union, is at the heart of the events broadcast via the web. The Forum began at the Atomium, the monument which is the symbol of Brussels and was erected for the Universal Exhibition held in the Belgian capital in 1958. Prophetically, the theme of that Expo was ‘For a more humane world’. It was here, at the heart of Europe, the young promoters of the “DareToCare” campaign spoke of their commitment to ensure that in the world there is more care, more inclusion and more fraternity. They also launched their appeal for a world that respects the dignity of all human beings and respects the identity of each people and community. Rita, Febe and Johnny, young people of different ethnicities from Belgium and Luxemburg presented a brief history of the development of the “DaretoCare” campaign since its launch in June 2020: this included testimonies and details of various actions and initiatives that have taken place in all five continents. Burundi, El Salvador, Myanmar, Italy and Colombia featured in this virtual tour of the world: in these places, people have found the most diverse ways to care for their communities and countries, to live out political commitment and active citizenship. Then, the young people of Porto, Portugal, involved in the “Daretocare” campaign were able to inform European leaders, gathered in their city for a Social Summit, about the “Appeal to Care”. The text includes the following: “On behalf of all those involved in the #daretocare campaign, we ask EU leaders gathered in our country this weekend – and leaders from around the world – to answer our call and ‘dare to care’. […] To strengthen social rights across Europe, […] that the Conference on the Future of Europe should have the goal of uniting the peoples of Europe, putting care at the heart of this European project and ensuring that the Covid-19 vaccine becomes a vaccine for all, a global common good shared by all across all borders.”
Tamara Pastorelli
For further information: www.unitedworldproject.org/uww2021
Apr 21, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Earth Day 2021: all set for the 51st United Nations World Earth Day. Live for the whole world to view on 22 April on www.raiplay.it 13 hours of direct livestreaming for the protection of creation. The 22 April 2021 marks the second episode of #OnePeopleOnePlanet – the multimedia marathon to celebrate the 51st Anniversary of World Earth Day, with 13 hours of live streaming – from 7.30 a.m. Italian time – on www.raiplay.it which can be viewed all over the world. #OnePeopleOnePlanet is the result of the efforts of two organisations – Earth Day Italy and the Focolare Movement – that gave life to the Village for the Earth at the Villa Borghese (Rome) which was unexpectedly inaugurated by Pope Francis in 2016 following the historic Paris climate agreement. Here are the words of Pierluigi Sassi, president of Earth Day Italy, interviewed by Lorena Locascio. Pierluigi, what can we expect this year for the second episode of #OnePeopleOnePlanet? “For the 2021 version we are putting young people first, because for the first time ever the United Nations are inviting young people to be present at the Climate Conference. So we are involving young people who have finally raised their heads and finally begun to make their voices heard, not only as the generation that will inherit this planet but also as the people who can bring about change because it is something they feel strongly about. (…) Our other commitment is to vigorously pursue the 17 goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We think that by building bridges towards 2030 and then trying to create international links we can accelerate the process. What we would like to do is create lots of points of contact with the five continents, telling wonderful stories of people who are committed to the cause in every corner of the earth. (…) The third point is innovation for sustainable development. It’s the moment when the entrepreneur is faced with a blank sheet of paper and prepares to describe not only his business model but also the rules of the game, and is much more sensitive to the issue of sustainability. So innovation is the great challenge of the future”. What are the new or special features this year as compared to last year? “This year we wanted to include a module called VIP – Very Important Planet, where the VIPs are not the people we chase for autographs, but the planet that needs help from those people. So we’re asking a lot of people from the worlds of entertainment, sport, culture and art to help us with awareness-raising messages. This will help make our marathon much more fun because when we talk about important things there’s a risk that some may find it boring so there will be lots of music, lots of fun with the aim of mobilising and touching the heartstrings of our listeners to try to produce a little more change through this game”. This year part of the programme will also be dedicated to talking about #Daretocare; what can you tell us about this… without giving too much away? “First of all, we have to say that the meeting with the United World Project (UWP) of the Focolare Movement, and therefore the meeting with such an important mobilisation, which is so widespread at an international level, gives us great reason for hope. Seeing so many young people in hundreds of countries committed to unity, which is also one of our themes: #One PeopleOnePlanet says a lot about the fact that we are talking about one single human family, the unity of people with one sole planet, hence the importance of safeguarding our earth: it has certainly been a wonderful moment to find the UWP soul. This network of people already supported us last year with communications. It is a network that has been extraordinarily committed to this #Daretocare campaign on the theme of COVID and on the theme of the solidarity emerging from it. We want to talk about these bridges for the common good on an international level, about the importance of coming together to achieve common goals and protect the common good. Putting man back at the centre and telling stories of courage and pride in doing good has been a very beautiful experience. I can’t wait to see the final product but I can already sense something very beautiful.” So the appointment is for 22 April 2021 from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. (Italian time) on the www.raiplay.it website which is visible to the world and on the OnePeopleOnePlanet website to celebrate this important day together with the One People One Planet marathon.
Lorenzo Russo
https://www.youtube.com/embed/VQE-ezBeAT8
Feb 1, 2021 | Non categorizzato
How to watch English subtitles, click here https://youtu.be/QW3HIijcpqY
Feb 1, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Elected on 31 January, she is the third President to lead the Movement after the founder, Chiara Lubich, and after Maria Voce who has just completed two terms. PRESS RELEASE – 1st February 2021 Yesterday, Margaret Karram, was elected President of the Focolare Movement with more than two thirds of the votes cast among the participants in the General Assembly of the Movement, composed of 359 representatives from all over the world. She succeeds the founder Chiara Lubich and Maria Voce who was in office for 12 years (two terms). Margaret Karram was born in Haifa, Israel in 1962 into a Palestinian Catholic family. She holds a B.A. in Jewish Studies from the American Jewish University in the United States. She has held various positions for the Focolare in Los Angeles and in Jerusalem. Her past experience includes membership of various commissions and organizations for the promotion of dialogue between the three monotheistic religions, such as the Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, the Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land and the ICCI (Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel). She worked for 14 years at the Consulate General of Italy in Jerusalem. Since 2014, she has been at the International Centre of the Focolare as councillor for Italy and Albania and co-responsible for Dialogue between Ecclesial Movements and New Catholic Communities. She speaks Arabic, Hebrew, Italian and English. In 2013 she received the Mount Zion Award for Reconciliation, together with the scholar and researcher Yisca Harani, for their commitment to developing dialogue between different cultures and religions. In 2016 she received the St Rita International Award for having promoted dialogue between Christians, Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, starting from people’s everyday life. The election took place yesterday, 31 January 2021, but her appointment only became effective today, following confirmation by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, as envisaged by the General Statutes of the Focolare Movement. The document expresses the hope that the new president will be able to carry out her task “with faithfulness, in a spirit of service and ecclesial sensitivity, for the good of the members of the Movement and of the universal Church.” Duties of the Focolare President According to the Movement’s General Statutes, the President is chosen from among the focolarine (consecrated women with perpetual vows) and will always be a woman. In the Statutes we read, she “is the sign of the unity of the Movement”. This means that she represents the great religious, cultural, social and geographical variety of those who adhere to the spirituality of the Focolare in the 182 countries where the Movement is present and who identify with the message of fraternity that the founder, Chiara Lubich, drew from the Gospel: “Father, that they may all be one” (Jn 17:20-26). There are many commitments and challenges awaiting Margaret Karram in the coming years: the tasks of governing and directing a worldwide Movement like the Focolare, which is deeply immersed in local and global realities and the challenges of humanity, starting from this time of pandemic. The Statutes also indicate the “style” that should distinguish the work of the President: “Hers is to be, above all, a presidency of love – they state – because she must be the first in loving and, therefore, in serving her own brothers and sisters, remembering the words of Jesus: “Whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all” (Mk 10:44). The primary commitment of the President, therefore, is to be a builder of bridges and a spokesperson for the central message of the spirituality of the Focolare, ready to practise and spread it, as we read further on, even at the cost of her own life. The next steps of the General Assembly of the Focolare are the election of the Co-President this afternoon and of the councillors on 4th February. Stefania Tanesini -Cell. +39 338 5658244 Text in PDF
