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30 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
For an entire week they learnt to dance hip-hop, ventured into acting and song, and learnt the secrets of stage lighting and sound – all without the aid of verbal communication. All they had was sign language, sound vibrations and a profound and personal relationship with those who were giving this unique workshop on the musical “Streetlight”. This workshop which is very unique both as a musical and human experience took place on 5-12 November 2012. It involved Gen Rosso and 155 teenagers from the LVR-Gerricus-Schule and the Hauptschule Montessori. Many of the students were hearing impaired and some had learning and behavioral problems. 
What they managed to create among them was new and unexpected: they said they had created a “space for mutual exchange”. On the one side there was the opportunity to learn the art of listening, learning to ‘spend a small stretch of our life’ alongside hearing impaired youth from several social and faith backgrounds. On the other side it provided an opportunity to dress up the musical in new forms of artistic expression: short light shows, acting and song using sign language. 
At the end of the week there were many expressions of gratitude both for the work that had been done and for the indispensable supplement of love that everyone had put into it. As a motto for the week they chose the title of one of the songs from Streetlight: “Count me in!” This song is sung by one of the characters during the show, who sings it to tell of his desire to join the others in living for the ideal of peace and fraternity. “I’m so proud of my students,” said the director of LVR-Gerricus-Schule at the end of the show, “because performing a musical in spite of their hearing problems is quite a challenge, but it was possible thanks to Caritas Verband Colonia, the Starkmacher Association and Gen Rosso” .
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27 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
Nadia and Kadija are women from two cities in Northern Italy. You can see their ethnic, religious and cultural differences just by looking at them. Nadia is Italian and Christian and Kadija is Tunisian and Muslim. Their experience of social cohesion began in school and has had unexpected results. Among these was Nadia’s degree dissertation in Political Science about Muslim women, which looked in particular at the question of wearing the veil. Theirs was only one of the experiences recounted on 25 November in Brescia, where about 1300 Christians and Muslims met for a day with the title Common Pathways for Christian and Muslim Families, organized by the Focolare Movement and various Islamic associations and communities. 
It was a development of what had taken place in the little town of Loppiano in October 2010, when 600 Muslims and Christians from all over Italy met for a moment’s reflection upon the common pathways followed by people of different faiths and traditions. The ‘Workshop Brescia 2012’ affirmed that the journey to universal fraternity among people of different religions, promoted by Chiara Lubich a decade ago, has taken a decisive step ahead. Indeed, it seems that there are already many experiences of fostering social cohesion and preparing the next generation for dialogue. During a round table discussion, which included two Imams, Kamel Layachi from Treviso and Youssef Sbai from Massa, there was talk about the daily problems that families of both traditions have to face. Maria Voce, in France for a Social Studies Event, was present through a message where she promised her prayers to ‘God the almighty and merciful’ that he would bless ‘these “common pathways” so that they may reveal the huge contributions that communities of believers … can give to the fabric of society wherever they may be.’ She went on to say that ‘that they are like first shoots generating a sense of family and creating harmonious relations among people, which respect their rights and duties, beyond any cultural and religious differences.’ 
It was an event that also saw moments of meditation upon the value of the family according to Muslim and Christian tradition. Real experiences of everyday life from where people lived were told and there were also moments of artistic beauty. One of the most moving of these was led by Harif Abdelghani from Morocco. He sang a folk song and all joined in with him. And then the hall was filled with a party atmosphere as 130 children and young people presented dances and songs they had learned in the morning. There were also moments of intense community prayer, held separately by Christians and Muslims. They spoke, furthermore, about some problems relating to immigration, bearing in mind both, on the one hand, those who face the trauma of travel, the worry about finding somewhere to live, a resident’s permit, work, of having to learn a new language, and often suffering discrimination, fear, doubt, suspicion and, on the other hand, those who see people arriving who have new ways of talking, dressing, eating, behaving, and who must face up to the arrival of an unknown culture. They also considered issues ‘in the light of God’. God’s presence in the lives of individuals and families can truly change things. This goes for personal relations within the family group as well as for those with the world outside, one’s neighbours, work colleagues and companions at school or college. Above all, God’s presence can lead to important shared choices: ‘We are leaving here,’ Imam Layachi said at the conclusion, ‘with the promise that Christians and Muslims can act together in front of God: to be servants of the common good in our neighbourhoods, our cites and our countries.’ Sources: Città Nuova online Servizio Informazioni Focolari Italia
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24 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
Maria Voce’s talk was at the heart of the three weeks study event in Paris of the 2012 Semaines Sociales (23-25 November). She spoke in the plenary session on the afternoon of the 24th, on the topic of ‘Men and Women in the Church’. It is not a question of power but of love was the message that emerged from what she said. She was speaking in conjunction with the theologian Alphonse Borras and Anne Ponce, editor in chief of the Roman Catholic journal Pèlerin.
In an institution where the hierarchy is all male, what recognition can be given to the increasing contribution given by women? This question arose in the afternoon. Maria Voce was happy to speak to it and giving a witness from the perspective of women at the head of a Movement with wide-ranging membership, spread throughout the world and founded by a woman, Chiara Lubich. This Movement, according to its Statutes, will always have a woman at its head. Nonetheless, unity in distinction is part of the Movement’s DNA and so the exercise of leadership is conducted jointly by men and women.
Maria Voce emphasized in first place how the role of men and women must be understood ‘in the light of God’s plan for humanity. Created by God “in his image and likeness” (Gn 2:26), they are called to participate in the intimacy of his inner life and to live in a mutual communion of love, following the model of God who is Love, Trinity. Hence the dignity of men and women is rooted in God the creator. If women cannot have ecclesiastical roles, they have the greatest of charisms: love. Women can mirror Mary, the greatest creature that exists, the One who lived love in a perfect way.’
Having outlined the history and make-up of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce put the question: ‘How is it possible to keep all these persons united, in a single family? In the Focolare Movement more importance is given to life than to structures, even though these latter are useful.’ In the past the Church frequently tested this structure ‘in particular with regard to its having a woman, Chiara Lubich, as its founder and President. The attempts at putting it under another body or its being absorbed by the ecclesiastical hierarchy were numerous. To begin with it seemed that the head of the Movement should be a man and if possible a priest. Chiara, and with her the whole Movement, always maintained unconditional obedience to the will of the Church. The words of the gospel ‘Whoever listens to you listens to me’ (Lk 10:16) were to be respected, even if it seemed to her that a man at the head of this Work of God would have altered its very nature which, no one knew better than she, was born of God and not as a human project.’
Her comments emphasized that the ‘recognition of women in the Church demands a kind of “struggle”, that is of faithfulness to oneself, to one’s conscience and, in the final analysis, to God’s plan. But in this case it is a “struggle” that for Chiara had “Easter” characteristics, that is, of death and resurrection, which allow the full manifestation of God’s plan, of his will, for the role of women.’
‘The fact of having female presidency,’ Maria Voce continued, ‘is very significant. It indicates a distinction between the power to govern and the importance of the charismatic dimension.’ This was the message launched to the Church ‘to underline the priority of love, a priority that is not simply a feminine monopoly. Certainly women, given their predisposition to maternity, have a tremendous capacity for love which gives them the ability to perceive within themselves what the other person is living, as only a mother can.’ Maria Voce emphasized that ‘true’ power rests in gospel love that generates the presence of Jesus in the midst of the community, affirming that when something is built on this basis ‘an amazing and radical transformation takes place.’
Afterwards Maria Voce also said, ‘Unity between men and women is always a delicate balance. Each must rediscover the value of the other, and both must not forget that diversity is a richness – and neither they must tire of constantly beginning again on the royal road of dialogue.’ And a Movement that ‘wishes to witness to the unity of the human family must, before all else, make certain of its own unity within itself.’ In conclusion she recalled that we must be aware ‘that no ecclesiastical structure exists for itself alone but for the good of humanity that surrounds it.’
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24 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
The contribution of women at the recent Synod on the New Evangelisation was also expressed by the voice of Professor Ernestine Sikujua Kinyabuuma from Congo. A member of the Focolare Movement, the African lecturer highlighted the importance of the New Evangelisation in Africa where the faith is still young and in need of strengthening. “In the African world,” she explained, “the human person is divided within. There is a struggle between two irreconcilable forces: traditional culture and religion. Then there is the phenomenon of the so-called “revival churches” that present a Gospel of prosperity and success, and it is difficult to distinguish between what are authentic Christian values and what is the influence of the Western world. The African is in search of a relationship with God, but an insufficient catechetical foundation allows him to be drawn into a search for another superior force that can bring protection and prosperity.”
As a lecturer, Ernestine is in constant contact with students. During her intervention at the Synod she said that she came to realize that young people, in spite of the fact that they live immersed in a culture of “ease”, they are in search of a great ideal and of a more radical life based on the Gospel. She presented a few experiences of young people belonging to the Focolare Movement who gave testimony to an everyday life that is based on living the Word of God. Many others do not remain indifferent to this, but come into contact with Christian values.
“In the midst of the changes brought by globalisation, Africa is undergoing a crisis at every level: political, economic and cultural. For this reason, the people react in various ways as they try to find a way out,” she explained in her intervention by recounting a few experiences of the local Focolare community that were illuminated by the desire to live Jesus words: “Insofar as you did these things to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 2:40). Together they reconstructed three blocks of dormitory buildings in the central prison of Lubumbashi with the help of an international NGO. They built a tailor shop so that prisoners could learn a trade, and a shop where basic food products could be sold, along with other basic needs at a cost that was favourable to the prisoners.
In an interview with the Italian Radio Station “Inblu”, she added: “This has been a new and enriching and beautiful experience, because it has brought me into the heart of the Church.” And when she was asked: “Why a New Evangelisation for Africa and, in particular, for you own country of Democratic Republic of the Congo?” Ernestine responded: “There have been 2000 years of evangelization in Europe; for us only two centuries. In the scientific world where I work, the African goes to church, but then when he steps out of the church he goes looking for ‘supernatural forces’ that will bring him more success at work, more intelligence. . . And so the message of the New Evangelisation is quite important for us, in order to help us realize that all the answers we are looking for are to be found in Jesus. There’s no need to search elsewhere.”
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23 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
(from left) Rev. Mario Dorsonville , Marco Desalvo, and Clare Zanzucchi at the awarding ceremony
One day, on his way into the Spanish Catholic Center of Washington, Rev. Mario Dorsonville, who directs Immigration and Refugee Services at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Washington, was stopped by a young man who grabbed him by the arm. He told him that he had a lot of pain in his heart. “Let’s go find a doctor,” Dorsonville told him. “No,” answered the young man, because his pain stemmed from being an undocumented immigrant, from not being able to find a job. He didn’t know how he could face his children at the end of the day.
“I was thinking that there is no worse poverty than when we say to people that they’re invisible,” says Dorsonville.
This is what journalist Marylin Boesch wrote in the opening paragraph of her Living City magazine article, published recently, in which she gave a description of the Spanish Catholic Centre in Washington. It’s a so-called “lab of faith” where “these people are visible”. The centre’s mission is to provide the best quality of integrated services to immigrants and refugees in order to bring back hope and dignity to their lives and to make them more confident, respected, and effective members of American society. It does this by providing medical and dental clinics, counselling centres, English classes and job training programs.
Fr Mario Dorsonville received the Luminosa Award 2012, on behalf of the Spanish Catholic Centre, on 7 November in the presence of more than 250 diplomats, politicians, representatives of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faith and others of no particular faith tradition gathered at The Catholic University of America in Washington.
“This prize encourages us even more to illuminate the darkness around us through service to our neighbour,” said Fr Mario Dorsonville in his acceptance speech.
As the award was sponsored by the Focolare Movement, during the conferral ceremony, Marco Desalvo and Clare Zanzucchi, Focolare Co-Directors of the eastern region of the United States, shared a reflection by the Movement’s founder, Chiara Lubich (1920-2008), on love of neighbour, one of the pearls of the Focolare’s spirituality of unity: “The Holy Spirit, enlightening us with his charism, said to us:’ your brother, your sister… can become your way to God, an opening, a door, a path, a passageway that leads to union with him. And if we have gained this by loving our neighbours, then they are not only our beneficiaries, but our benefactors as well; they have given us the best of what we had hoped for.” Very much in tune with the experience of the Spanish Catholic Center, this reading strongly resonated in those present, affirming and giving light to their day-to-day work in favour of those in need.
“It is an active, constant and courageous service that gives dignity to many people of diverse ethnic and social origins who are in difficulty due to various circumstances, thus helping them to become an integral part of society” – wrote Focolare president Maria Voce in her message to Fr Dorsonville.
The Luminosa Award for Unity of the Focolare, established in 1987, honours persons or associations whose lives and works have given a significant contribution to building bridges of mutual understanding and concern among diverse Christian denominations, major faith traditions and people of good will in all aspects of social life.
22 Nov 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
It will be a moment of gathering the fruits from a network of relationships and common experiences that have matured over the years in many Italian cities. New possibilities have been opened amid the diversity of religious and cultural perspectives. The family will be presented as the common setting for an exchange of testimonies and reflections on dialogue and in listening to one another. The administrative capital of the Province of Brescia will host this unique workshop on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at Pala Brescia Theatre. The workshop will be attended by 2000 people of Christian and Muslim families from more than 50 cities of North Italy. This is the region that has seen the highest presence of new citizens who have emigrated to Italy and made it their home. The workshop is the result of a process of welcoming and friendship that has been going on for years between Christians and Muslims, and is rooted in their common faith in God. It is a dialogue that is lived out in daily life and draws on the ideal of universal brotherhood that inspires both the Focolare Movement and some members of the Islamic faith who belong to several Muslim communities in Italy. The process has been one of mutual recognition which has woven a fabric of wholesome friendship that now spreads from the North to the South of the Italian peninsula as it also does in many other countries of the world. Back in 2010 a national meeting was held in the Focolare town of Loppiano with 600 Muslim and Christian participants. It included several religious and civil authorities and was entitled “Common Pathways for Brotherhood.” Brescia 2012 is one step forward in the project that will merge into a national event in Rome, Italy in May 2013 that hopes to further the construction of this common pathway. The November 25th event will be attended by religious and civil authorities, including the Bishop of Brescia, Luciano Monari, the Imam of the Islamic Community of Brescia, Dr. Amyn Hasmy and many other Imams and leaders of the Muslim community in North Italy. The panel discussion that will be the centrepiece of the event will focus on the family as a promoter of the common good in the city. Therefore the family be presented as a resource and not as a problem, and the relationship between families will be highlighted as a space in which to influence the surrounding society with its virtues through the construction of a network of solidarity and shared projects. The year 2013 is the European Year of Citizenship. In this sense the promotors are convinced that families will also be able to bring their own important contribution to the formation and training of responsible citizens who are actively involved in pursuing the common good. Promotors:
- Ucoii (Union of Islamic Communities in Italy)
- Crii (Council of Islamic Italian Relations)
- Gmi (Muslim Youths of Italy)
- Admi (Muslim Womens Association of Italy)
- Islamic Community of Triveneto
- Islamic Cultural Centre of Brescia
