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16 May 2014 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
© Foto: AFP
«For our small variegated community – they wrote us – made up of Christians of various Churches and Muslims, it is the moment of prayer, of solidarity, of sharing the suffering of these brothers and sisters. And of entrusting to God, once more, with faith, the future of this our Country. Pope Francis too prayed “for the mines in Turkey, and for those who are trapped in the galleries” and this was relayed to the Country, with heartfelt gratitude».
So far there are 282 victims officially accounted for, but the number may still rise (and maybe much higher). The overlapping of two shifts of workers precisely at the time of the incident has unfortunately doubled the number of men who have remained in the depths of the carbon mines of Soma, 120 km from Smirne, where the explosion took place two days ago. There are around eighty wounded, while several dozen workers are still unaccounted for. The government has declared three days of national mourning for the worst industrial tragedy that has happened on Turkey.
The images that come from the place of the disaster profoundly touch us, in particular the dignity of these people, whose men and boys, some very, very young, are used to doing extremely hard labour. A miner, just out of the tunnel is helped to climb onto a stretcher of the ambulance: “Should I remove my boots?”, he asked, afraid of dirtying the white bedsheet.
The Country is in protest: these disasters at work happen too often, and also this time the data, the outlines and the implications of what happened seem to be rather confusing, while the government is unable to convey the image of a reall preoccupation and solidarity with the people. The number of deaths at the workplace in Turkey have a sad record: according to the unions there have been 5,000 victims in the workplace in 2013, 19% of which happened in the mines. Turkey is the top country in Europe for accidents at work and the third throughout the world.
The disaster then has reached a moment that is extremely delicate in the social and political life in Turkey, after the last administrative elections wherein the party of Erdogan is once again leading and they are preparing for the presidential elections this coming August. The tension of that time in Taksim Square last June is latent and so protests have exploded once again. The labour unions have declared a day of general strike, that is quite rare in this Country, where the defense of worker’s rights still has a long way to go.
«The Bishop of the Latin-rite Catholic Church of Istambul – they concuded –, has expressed through a message sent to the authorities, the participation in the Nation’s suffering and the closeness to all the families of the victims».
Source: Focolare Movement
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16 May 2014 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
The New Humanity Committee, the social expression of the Focolare Movement, has been active in the historic centre of Genoa for more than thirty years working with the most marginalized people, organized a series of events linked to the theme of migration. With the sponsorship of several institutions and associations in the Liguria Region a closely-knit network of relationships has been created, enriching the social fabric of the town. The chosen venue was the Galata Museo del Mare, which besides having numerous displays about seafaring life, has reconstructed historical scenes about Italian migration: for example passenger liners of times past going to the Boca neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires or Ellis Island in the USA.
This was the framework which hosted an exhibition, at the beginning of 2014, with the title “Going in-depth: a journey through memory and migration”, focusing on the theme of interior migration, that is the attitude of soul which coincides with the cultural nomadism of contemporary art. Artists from different origins exhibited their work like Ignacio Llamas from Spain and Claire Morard from France, but also Pieo Gilardi, one of the first Italian pop artists, well known at an international level.
The theme of migration was a point of convergence for multicultural, interfaith and ecumenical dialogue, for encounter and close collaboration between some Catholic movements which were involved in the past with events linked to “Together for Europe” (Cursillos, Sant’Egidio, Equipe Notre Dame, Incontri Coniugali and Charismatic Renewal), and included the participation as protagonists of the migrants themselves. The New Family Movement presented themes on support at a distance and integration at school, involving over 200 students from local High Schools.
Over a thousand people attended the event, including a workshop on creative writing and a concluding concert, organized by the Jazz class of the Paganini Conservatory of Genoa; thanks to which about twenty artists met together afterwards for three days of dialogue, which gave the possibility to each of the participants to find new energies to continue on the way of artistic communion.
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-105791" style="margin-left: 10px;" title="Desert Refugees" src="https://www.focolare.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/20140515-02.jpg" alt="" width="319" height="224" /
The dignity and worth of the person were characteristic aspects of the debate, which left space also for the moving experiences of Chaia, a Sahrawian young man who told his suffered experience of how, together with a young man from Magreb, after crossing the desert, landed in Lampedusa and is now integrated in the Genoese reality.
The moments of dialogue were important and hosted well-known religious and movement leaders, like the president of Migrantes, a pastor of a South American Evangelical Church, the Imam of the Muslim community and the Abbot of a Buddhist monastery. This comment, we feel, expresses the reality lived by many: “I felt that that place assumed a sacredness and became a temple, pagoda, hall, mosque, because we were composing a single prayer to the one God of all humanity, and it was not just a question of sentimental feelings, but of intelligence and hearts that become one”.
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9 May 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
“Building bridges in Europe through gestures of reconciliation and friendship that reach beyond borders. A new wave of hope has begun, inspired by the Gospel. . . .” And this is the purpose behind the European St Ulrich Prize, which was awarded this year to the Together For Europe Orientation Committee, on May 3, 2014 in the historic city of Dillingen, Germany. Through Together For Europe 300 Christian movements and communities have joined together to work for reconciliation and friendship among the peoples of Europe. Participants include Catholics, Evangelical-Lutherans, Evangelical-Reformed, Orthodox, Anglicans and Christians of free churches.
The prize-winners represented by 50 communities and movements were welcomed by both religious and civil authorities: Mayor Kunz; Catholic Bishop Zsarda di Augusta, regional Evangelical Bishop Grabow, and leaders from the financial and cultural worlds.
The laudatory speech was given by Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for the Consecrated Life: “I look upon the ecumenical witness of Together For Europe with much gratitude. Through it more and more new spaces are created in which it is possble to come together as brothers and sisters, generating reciprocal love among the Churches and opening newer and newer ways of approaching the things that still divide us.”
Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz and Landrat Leo Schrell
The European St Ulrich Foundation began in the city of Dillingen, in 1993 on the 1000th anniversary of the canonisation of the Bishop Ulrich. Its purpose was to promote the unity of Europe according to the Western tradition. The president of the administration council, Bishop of Augsburg, Bishop Konrad Zdarsa presided at the religious ceremony together with his Evangelical-Lutheran colleague, Bishop Michael Grabow. Previous prize winners include: ex-chancellor of the German Federal Republic, Helmut Kohl; ex-president of the German Republic Roman Herzog; Polish ex-presdient and Peace Prize Winner, Lech Walesa; ex-archbishop of Prague Cardinal Miroslav Vlk; and Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio community.
President of the St Ulrich Foundation, Landrat Leo Schrell: “The striking variety of movements involved makes it obvious that the intution of Together For Europe is supported by people of different Churches and backgrounds, who have the same goal: to contribute to European unity.” According to Schrell this journey: “is capable of pointing a path for the future.”
The donation sum of 10,000 € will be used for young people from Eastern European countries to take part in Together For Europe, especially in its next convention in 2016.
Gerhard Proß from the Esslingen YMCA, and representing the Orientation Committee of Together For Europe, gave thanks for being awarded the prize. The prize is considered an encouragement to continue the good work: to uncover the rich diversity of Europe, in this historic period of rising nationalism: “The future of Europe lies in the Together.”
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7 May 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
What are 10 good reasons for being an architect today? What living space should we take on to meet the new needs, expectations and dreams of the people of today? Planning living spaces that contribute to human wellness. These are some of the topics that were taken into consideration by the Dialogues in Architecture (DA), in one of the many workshops at the 7th World Urban Forum promoted by UN-Habitat United Nations Agency. The workshop was called Urban Equity in Development. Cities for Life.
The worldwide Forum was held in Medellin on April 3-11, 2014, and attended by 20,000 people from around the world. Six hundred parallel programmes were held in conjunction: seminars, workshops, conferences and exhibits. One interesting display offered reflections on the growing inequality in many of the world’s urban centres.
Dialogue in Architecture (DA) presents itself as a place for cultural deepening as well as a stimulus for civil and professional imagining, planning and constructing living spaces of communion and reciprocity in contemporary cities. The workshop, which was promoted by DA, was held on April 10, 2014 in one of the 16 Urban Libraries of Medellin, and it drew attention to some local experiences, such as the one in Barrio de la Merced, Bogota. Laura Sanabria from the Urban Observer of La Salle University, together with architect Mario Tancredi, showed how it works – with the help of other colleagues – trying to make connections between public institutions and local people; and the creation of a Mobile Health Clinic to serve the needy in the community. They stressed the importance of the value of universal brotherhood as the motor behind an architecture at the service of the human person.
La Merced
How does dialogue work in the context of Latin American metropolis like Bogota and Medellin? Tours of Bogota and Medellin were given by some young Columbian architects as part of the Forum. Fernando Bedoya recounts: “At Barrio de La Merced, entering into the lives and the history of the people was like being in an open classroom. The concrete interaction with the children and those who run the Social Unidad Centre, which was begun by the Focolare Movement together with people from the barrio, was the first powerful immersion in the wounds and challenges of that people who, with the power of love and faith manage, day by day, to gain their rights and live a dignified life.” Juliana continued to say: “At the Barrio de La Candelaria we were introduced into the historical and cultural heart of the city, which has drawn artists, writers and intellectuals; also foreigners who fill the theatre district, libraries and cultural centres. We saw some of Rogelio Salmona’s architecture in which the construction of the collective space is central. The last stop at the Gold Museum transported us to the origins of the rich Pre-Columbian culture.
Juliana Valencia concludes: “Today’s world is asking for a different architectural vision, the fragility of the environment is our point of action so as to stay on our feet amidst the crisis. Beauty is now relative, looking at the world from a particular perspective or academic field no longer works. For this reason our point of departure can only be the human person along with his or her needs and relationship to the environment.”
The next event will take place in June, in Spain: Barcelona ArquitecturaLimite
6 May 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
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5 May 2014 | Focolare Worldwide
The Focolare Movement expresses its hearfelt closeness to the Order of Capuchin Friars Minor on the passing away of Fr Casimiro Bonetti.
Divine Providence wanted Fr Bonetti to be very specially related to the beginnings of the Focolare Movement.In fact, he was the one to receive Chiara Lubich’s consecration to God on December 7, 1943.And it was he who in various circumstances proved to be God’s instrument.
Think of the words he said to Chiara when he was touched by her act of generosity: “Yes: God loves you immensely!” Or of his idea about the moment when Jesus suffered most during his passion, expressed on January 24, 1944, when he said he believed that this was when Jesus cried: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27,46).
Such statements, that even amazed Fr. Bonetti when he realised that they were the work of the Holy Spirit, had a particular resonance in Chiara Lubich’s soul. Thanks to the charism God gave her, these statements, together with other intuitions she had, became in time the foundations of the spirituality of unity that animates the life of the Focolare Movement.
Fr Casimiro Bonetti will always be remembered. Together with all those who in various ways form part of the Movement, I promise our prayers for him with gratitude and appreciation.
Maria Voce
President of the Focolare Movement
