Africa: “We together with the others”

Feb 20, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

Twelve students (representatives of two Italian high schools) left for Africa accompanied by 3 teachers, 2 animators, two shareholders of Unicoop of Florence, a representative of the Focolare Movement and a cameraman. Their goal: to spend a week of sharing with the African youth of their age-group, from January 16 to 24. The venue chosen: Fontem, in the Northwest of  English-speaking Cameroun. Today, this Camerunese city has 40 thousand inhabitants. The Focolare Movement has helped in its growth, together with others, starting from the ‘60s. But let us allow Stefano, one of the youth, to share his experience which was published in their school bulletin: “…A trip to discover a different reality, at times difficult to digest, because of the poverty that we met, but it was a school of life, for all the things that we were able to learn… We discovered a different culture, that thinks differently… We started off with the idea of going there to give medicines, pens, papers, notebooks, to share about ourselves, about Europe, only to discover instead that … there are still people who would sell even what little they had just to make you feel at home;  people who have never seen you and yet welcome you like kings; they are not racists as many of us are; that in a few days they have grown fond of you in a way that you would never know how to do with anyone. The meeting with the teens of the College had a great impact on us: we were welcomed with songs and dances, to our great surprise they took our hands and embraced us. After a few moments of disorientation we were brought to a different dimension, we were no longer afraid to interact with them in their way, which had already become ours. They melted our hearts with their dances and songs, we danced with them, alughed and built such a strong bond among us that was almost too hard to believe. This way of interacting also brought about a beautiful chemistry even among us Italians. Aside from the joyful moments, we also had to take in strong images, especially when we visited the village of Besalì where poverty is widespread. Along the roadside we saw malnourished children with bloated stomachs, people who were living in extreme poverty… But even there the people welcomed us with warmth. The schools of Besalì, built and sustained by the Unicoop of Florence, are a very far cry from Italian school buildings … Great people made us understand better what we were experiencing, starting from Doctor Tim, a focolarino originally form Trent, who has been living in Fontem for 27 years; he is a very important person for the whole community, he takes care of many people who, without him and the many volunteers at the hospital, would have found themselves facing great difficulties. We were impressed by the greatness of heart of Pia, a focolarina volunteer worker who has been living on Fontem for 47 years, who has become an icon of the Focolare Movement; she is capable of transmitting incredible energy. As the days passed a bond was created among everyone. The last day was magical. They forewarned us: “You will cry and they will cry”. In our hearts we told ourselves that this will not happen, and instead it really happened. After exchanging gifts, the greetings on the evening before we left, were really moving: everyone embracing, silent, in the total darkness along the road that lined the forest; a deafening silence punctuated only by the sound of muffled sobs, of the efforts of trying to hold back that incredible surge of emotions. Still not fully aware of what we had experienced, we are grateful for those who had made this experience possible: a trip that someone described as “The journey of life’”.

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Chiara Lubich: the pedagogy of fraternity

Feb 18, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

It begins with a metaphor of the pelican, this talk of Ezio Aceti – psychologist of the evolutionary age – on Chiara Lubich as an educator, during the dedication of the kidergarten Spine Rossine to the foundress of the Focolare Movement, last 29th of January in Putignano, in the province of Bari (Italy).

The decision to name this school after Chiara, was born from the desire to have its pedogogy be inspired by the value of fraternity, that is expressed in the teaching methodology by the ability to transmit dsciplinary knowledge to the littlest ones. Chiara Lubich was a great example of this, breaking down and making it easy for everyone, especially to the “littlest ones”, to understand the values of the Gospel.

“The witnesses – Aceti affirms  – are great teachers because their coherence attracts and it is for this reason that they have become sources of inspiration to the young and the old who have followed them. Chiara Lubich and Mother Teresa of Calcutta represent limpid examples of this; they attracted because of the charism they radiated, over and beyond their speeches and their words, and their presence represented for many, a reason for a great emotion and deep feelings. It is important to know that charisms are for the present and that they don’t pass away even if the founders of the Movements are no longer with us. Chiara – Aceti continues – focused on the experience of God, creating a new experience based on unity. To understand the basics of education – according to the psychologist  –  we must eliminate some prejudices”.

Aceti recalled great personalities, like Chiara Lubich, who knew how to live a new educative style.  Simon Weil, a French philosopher, for example, indicated attention as a form of love for the neighbor who is speaking. Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher, exhorted to put oneself in the shoes of the other, to listen following the inspirations that come from this and finally to communicate them to the other. Maria Montessori, Italian pedagogist, elaborated a system of teaching in which she showed that if it is possible to teach something to a child bearing a handicap, then it is possible to teach it to all the children. The Polish educator, Janusz Korczak accompanied the children in his orphanage up to the moment of their death in the concentration camp of Trzeblinka. The last pedagogical element indicated by Aceti was the testament of Chiara Lubich: “Be a family… love one another until all may be one”.

During the inauguration, the greetings of Maria Voce president of the Focolare, arrived wherein she wished that the dedication to Chiara of the school would become a stimulus for whoever attends the school to follow her example.

Source: Città Nuova online. 

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Chiara Lubich and World Religions: Islam

Feb 16, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

The Focolare began to establish contact with Muslims in the 1960’s.

In Algeria a deep friendship was begun among Christians and Muslims in the 1970’s, which then spread in the city of Tlemcen. This gave rise to a Focolare community that was almost entirely made up of Muslims. This not only overcame barriers between Islam and Christianity, but also the cruelty of the civil war.

This friendship was the basis of eight international gatherings for “Muslim Friends of the Focolare” from 1992 to 2008. Now there are several thousand Muslims who are in contact with the Movement around the world.

At the end of the 1990’s in the United States a new page was turned in relations between Christians in Muslims. Chiara Lubich, a white Catholic woman was invited by charismatic American Muslim leader,  Imam W. D. Mohammed, to share her message to the faithful gathered at the Malcolm X Mosque in Harlem, N. Y. At the conclusion of that day in May 1997, the Imam stated: “Today, here in Harlem, New York, a new page in history has been written.” The two leaders made a pact of brotherhood between them and their respective movements. Since then there have been regular encounters between Muslim and Christian communities who look toward universal brotherhood and have an impact on their local environments. More than forty mosques and local Focolare communities are involved in this experience in several U.S. cities.

The path of discovery between the spirituality of unity and Islam has had some notable moments: the meeting for Muslim friends held in 2008 in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, which was entitled “Love and Mercy in the Bible and in the Holy Koran”. The presentation by Muslim Professor Adnane Morkrani, entitled “Reading the Koran with the Eye of Mercy” was very much appreciated by the Imams and faitfhful who were present.

In 2010, 600 Christians and Muslims met in Loppiano, Italy. Many of them were presidents and Imams of Islamic communities in Italy. As Imam Layachi said, the meeting was both an arrival point and point of departure for many experiences begun and carried forward in several parts of Italy.

In Tlemcen, Algeria, which was one of the capital cities of Muslim culture for 2011, a meeting was held for Muslim members of the Focolare Movement with the title “Living Unity”. The eighty participants came from ten countries. The presence of Muslim professors also proved valuable because they were able to examine topics of spirituality from a Muslim perspective that were based on a real life experiences.

The presence of Muslims has grown in recent decades in Italy, because of immigrations. In many cities in the north and south of the peninsula a real and true friendship has begun between the faithful of Christian and Muslim communities. On November 25, 2012 in Brescia, Italy, some 1,300 Christians and Muslims joined together for a day entitled Common Paths for the Family, which was promoted by the Focolare Movement and several Islamic communities. In Catania, Italy, on April 23, 2013 there was the meeting celebration The Muslim Family, the Christian Family: challenges and hopes, in which 500 people gathered in the name of dialogue.

On March 20, 2014, there will be an event at the Urbania University of Rome, dedicated to Chiara Lubich and Religions: Together for the Unity of the Human Family. The gathering will highlight her efforts for interreligious dialogue, six years after her death. The event also coincides with the 50^th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate. Leaders from the Muslim world are also expected to attend.

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Gen Verde in concert in Verona

Feb 12, 2014 | Focolare Worldwide

“Arriving at the Isola of La Scala (Italy), on the 29th of January, 2014 – the Gen Verde wrote – we discovered that START NOW was no longer just our project, but it also belonged to the 100 youth with whom we held artistic workshops and also to the many adults who accompanied us during those days, working behind the scenes. Everyone shouted out with one voice: START NOW, Wow! “When we started the workshops on dance, singing, percussion and theatre, it was as if we had known each other always: we were all ready to share our talents. A young girl expressed herself in this way: “On stage I feel like I’m another person, free to express myself, different”. One of her companions answered: “Look you can be like this everyday…” “Saturday February 1, the youth and the Gen Verde together  now ready to go onstage, began the traditional “Winter Meeting – Celebration of life”, organized by the Pastoral Care of the Youth of Verona, which this year saw us all working together on the frontlines with the Diocese to bear witness that there is reason to hope. The Bishop, in his homily during the Mass and before the show, encouraged all the young people present saying: “With you the future is assured!”. “Art, once again, has become an instrument of dialogue, to take on a challenge. As we sang “… peace depends on you”, we made a commitment together, taking in also the 3,500 participants who, during the concert, sang along with us. A wave of fraternity has started from Verona and who knows where it will reach!” The Gen Verde international music group, is at present made up of 21 young women from 13 Countries. It has presented more than 1,400 shows during various tours in Europe, Asia, South and North America. The original style of this music group evolves together with the arrival of each new member. The various influences bring a specific  and rich cultural and ethnic mix  and a wide array of traditional  and contemporary genres. Up to the present, the band has released a total of 70 albums. While the composition of the group has changed throughout the years, the values underlying its artistic objectives have remained the same: to contribute towards creating a global culture of peace, dialogue and unity. The Gen Verde international performing arts group, has its homebase in the International Little City of Loppiano (Florence, Italy) where people from all origins and races share the creative and enriching experience of building unity in the midst of diversity.