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Aug 8, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
The last visitors left a few days ago. A coach of young people from Oporto, the second city of Portugal, accompanied by their bishop, was among them. They came to Sassello, a province of Savona in Italy, to visit the place Chiara Luce Badano had lived and to get to know how she lived the Gospel in everyday life.
Since her beatification in September 2010, the town where the eighteen year-old was born and grew up, has become more and more a place of convergence for young people from all over Europe and beyond. Monday 6 August saw another, quite particular, proof of a fame that is spreading far and wide and of a holiness with universal appeal, because 65 bishops and cardinals from all over the world came to the town of 1900 inhabitants on the border between the Italian regions of Liguria and Piedmont.
Of course, these bishops are friends of the Focolare Movement and live the same spirituality as Chiara Luce. But as they point out to Maria Teresa and Ruggero (Chiara Luce’s parents), Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti (Focolare President and Co-President), from the outset the beatified young woman’s influence has spread beyond the Focolare Movement.
‘Now lots of young people from all over the world are coming,’ Chiara Luce’s mother confirmed. ‘There is one coach after another. Large numbers of boys and girls who don’t believe come to our home and look and listen and when they come out of Chiara’s bedroom they make the sign of the cross, as if taking away a gift from my daughter.’ The bishops, in small groups, also went into the room where she had suffered and died. They saw her king-size bed transformed into an altar by the pain she offered and into a pulpit by her example of suffering transformed into joy.
Monday was the feast of the Transfiguration and Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, until recently in charge of the Pontifical Council for the Family, presided over the Eucharistic celebration at the conclusion of the day at Sassello. He pointed out an aspect of Chiara Luce’s holiness ‘precisely in her capacity to show that life conquers death, showing the transfiguration of the human person.’ Shortly before she died, indeed, she said to her mother, ‘Please be happy, because I am happy.’
Such a large number of bishops all in one go have never been seen before in the town, and the mayor, Paolo Badano (the surname is common there) found himself filled with admiration and pride. He expressed his gratitude to Chiara Luce and, after reading out a message of greeting from Claudio Burlando, the Regional President, he called her ‘the smiling saint.’
The bishops went to the tomb ‘to ask Chiara Luce’s intercession and protection for the path to holiness along the way of the spirituality of unity opened up by Chiara Lubich,’ as Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, Archbishop Emeritus of Prague, emphasized.
One moment of the entire day seemed to be the climax, both for its meaning and for its symbolism. A brief moment with the Badanos in their garden had been arranged for the large group of bishops. The skies were darkened by clouds and a slight wind was rising. The couple were concerned. The bishops carried on and asked their questions: what kind of young people come here? Does Chiara Luce only have an effect on young people? How do you become a saint? Chiara Luce’s parents drew from their daughter’s wisdom, telling the bishops about things she did or said. It was, as it were, 45 minutes of catechesis by this attractive eighteen year-old girl: almost a foretaste of what she would like to do on earth in the future. In the end a warm sun shone down from the heavens.
‘The Church has now a very contemporary example of what it means to live the Gospel and Christian love,’ commented Archbishop Francis Xavier Kreingsak Kovithavanij of Bangkok. ‘But we have seen the nature of a Christian family that walks in faith during trials, suffering and death.’ Archbishop Francisco Pérez González of Pamplona in Spain agreed: ‘’Jesus has shown himself to the young and uninstructed. I saw it yet again in Chiara Luce and I have reflected on the humility displayed by her parents.’
‘We may be in front of another two saints, seeing the simplicity and wisdom of the Badanos,’ said the Brazilian Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life. ‘Chiara Luce shows us a fulfilled life that teaches the joy found in accepting the unforeseeable plan of God. By choosing love she hit upon the heart of Christianity. Her greatness comes from having remained a normal girl. We need people like her. Young people who don’t go to church find in her an example of normality that takes them to God and then leads them to the Church.’
Before the bishops arrived, Maria Voce had visited Chiara Luce’s room for the first time and had stayed for thirty minutes with her parents. ‘I feel she’s like a sister because of the charism of unity linking us,’ she confided to Maria Teresa and Ruggero. ‘A younger sister because she is a child of the Focolare Movement I am President of and an older sister because, running like an Olympic athlete, she has gone before me in holiness.’
From our correspondent Paolo Lòriga.
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Aug 4, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
The educational crisis is one of the urgent challenges of our time. There is need for a renewal in formation programs to meet the demands of students who wish to achieve their goals in an era of globalization.
A group of Italian educators, which includes teachers, youth group leaders, psychologists and pedagogists have come together in a “National Board of Education” which, since 2010 has met in Grottaferrata, Rome at the headquarters of the New Humanity Movement which promotes the project in collaboration with “Action for a United World”, “Education for Unity” and “Teens for Unity“.
The latest novelty to come out from the work of the Board has been that of placing on the 2013 agenda an “International Meeting for the World of Education”, which will be held in Castelgandolfo, Italy on 6-8 September 2013. The meeting will gather people who are in any way involved in the world of education: family, school and catechesis, youth groups, researchers and teens. The declared objective is to lay the groundwork, on an international level, through an exchange of ideas, educational approaches and best practices, and to implement projects in various countries.
In Italy the Board publishes online educational, didactic and methodological projects from several parts of Italy, like education for peace, citizenship and comprehension which demonstrate that only an authentic interpersonal relationship of reciprocal giving, can be the principle of every great educational event, capable of favouring the full realization of the personality of each and every one.
Some students from a science high school in the province of Catania are a witness to this. Educational programmes in education for the common good, for appreciating not only the cultural patrimony of the individual disciplines, but the unity of human knowledge and universal values, with the goal of helping students to interiorise the messages and bring about a transformation in their way of life. With the involvement of experts from various fields, meetings are planned with associations involved in the field of development and cooperation and volunteering.
The teenagers themselves become the protagonists of projects of solidarity and sharing, as with the “distant support” project for children who live in difficult situations, but also within the classrooms, sharing their materials, talents, abilities.
Cecilia Landucci teaches literacy in a first class school in the province of Rome. She is the coordinator of field projects with the commission for “Education and Culture” of New Humanity: “The Board is a concrete network of educators. Knowing each other’s experiences promotes collaboration, brings us out of our isolation, favours the spreading of what is already happening and becoming a cultural way of thinking in the field of education within the light of the charism of unity; the elaboration of a project for Italian schools, which can help redefine them.”
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Aug 2, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
Her mother writes: “A. was performing her piece at the end-of-the-year gymnastic trials and many people had come to watch. At one point one of her companions dropped her hoop. A. immediately gave her own to her companion and went to fetch the one that was dropped. Then she re-joined the choreography.
The trainers were open-mouthed with surprise. One of them said to me: “In all my years of training, I’ve never seen anything like this: an athlete who leaves her place in order to cover the mistake of another.” I responded: “It’s love that urges you to go beyond looking good; thinking of others makes you capable of things like this.”
The trainers all congratulated her. Then when were alone my daughter said to me; “Mamma, I didn’t care about looking good. My friend was in trouble and I had to help her.” It made me see how the Gospel that is slowly entering into her is making her a witness of her yes to Jesus. This episode occurred shortly after her return from the Gen4 congress that was entitled: “Love that embraces the whole world”.
(A. F. –Italy)
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Aug 1, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
It was the first seminar to be curated by the Social-One research group outside of Europe in cooperation with a group of Latin Americans from the Anti-utilitarian Movement in Social Sciences (M.A.U.S.S.). On 6-7 July 2012 about fifty people, including professors, researchers and students from various regions of Brazil gathered inOlinda, north easternBrazilwith an Italian delegation. Agapic Action (i.e. action motivated by fraternal and disinterested love) was the central topic of the two-day seminar, and it is also at the heart of the thinking of the group of researchers connected with Social-One. But it is certainly not a common topic for the field of Sociology.
“Free Gift and Agapic Action: Diaologue Towards A New Prospective for the Social Sciences” was the title of the seminar, which was opened by Brazilian Dr. Vera Araujo who underscored the need for new ideas – like agape and free gift – to inspire behaviours and the collective dynamic.
Twelve hours of intense work. Four conferences and four parallel sessions, enriched by an open dialogue that involved all the participants.
There were three Italian presenters: Prof. Michele Colasanto from the Catholic University of Milan who discussed the role of the concepts of agape and free gift in the construction of the common good; Prof. Gennaro Iorio, member of the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the University of Salerno who, after his presentation of a reflection on the theme of agapic action as developed by Social-One, then spoke on the relationship between agape and conflict; Dr. Licia Paglione, member of the Department of Social Sciences and Communication at the Sophia University Institute of Loppiano, Florence who proposed a study of the relationship between the concepts of gift and love, beginning with the work of Russian sociologist P. A. Sorokin (1889-1968).
In the parallel sessions five projects were developed by Brazilian students and professors from several universities, who are familiar with topics under discussion in a Brazilian academic and social setting.
Twenty year old Maria Julia Izidoro speaks of wide horizons, “talking about love in the lecture halls of a university.” For Maria Eduardo Couto: “A wall has come down between the youth and the old “dinosaurs” of the Social Sciences. Here we found ripened scientists who listened to us with such great interest and attention.” Young Lucas Francisco da Silva Jr said that he was “impressed by the idea, given that society is in need of change and of the concept of agapic action in its social interactions, to make the world better.” Saulo Miranda was struck by “the presence of so many young people who are interested and prepared to examine such topics in their academic studies.” Simone Alves made an interesting comment; “I’ve acquired some important theoretic academic baggage here, but the basic thing has really been the experience of love, of that agapic action that I found in the relationships among the people here.”
“This seminar will leave as a legacy,” says seminar coordinator Lucas Galindo, “an openness of mind, heart and spirit in favour of dialogue that is fruitful and allows one to hope that agapic action (love) will have a strong effect on social life.”
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Jul 24, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
This was the message that was launched by representatives from Movements and Communities of Europe, as well as leading figures from the institutional and political landscape who met in Brussels on 12 May 2012. One hundred and fifty European cities were linked up via satellite or internet with the Square Meeting in Brussels for the Together For Europe event, which gathered together 300 Movements and Communities from different Churches. There were many stories of reciprocity shared by those present. There were experiences of incarnating the Gospel with social consequences. Zoom on Portugal for knowing the country better, will welcome the visit of Focolare president Maria Voce and co-president Giancarlo Faletti on 15-22 August 2012. Five Lusitanian cities are involved in the events that are being presented as an occasion for knowing one another better and building relationships of mutual respect and friendship. 
The story from the communities. Lisbon. A hundred and ten youths spread out through the city, to all the tourist spots, distributing flyers with the 7Yeas and descriptions of projects for building a more inclusive Europe, which were being done by seven Movements: Schonstatt, Emmanuel, Cursilhos, Equipas de Nossa Senhora, Verbum Dei, Metanoia and Focolare. In the afternoon there was an event in the Auditorium with 350 people for an open dialogue with several personalities who gave presentations and testimonies on the progress made so far. Porto. There were year-long preparations, in which working together became a true experience of fraternity. The testimony offered by the Bishop of Port, Bishop Clemente, was quite touching: “The best guarantee for the future is this Christian inspiration, in which we, together with other men and women, can be active protagonists.” 
Coimbra. Families as active builders of European unity. Two hundred and fifty people of all ages, from small children to grandparents take part in a walk from Parque Verde to the University, in conclusion to the transmission from Brussels. The characteristic highlight of this year’s edition was the award ceremony for the “At the Roots of Christian Europe” Competition that was geared toward schools and included music, photography, poetry, filming and drawing. Funchal, Madeira Island. This was the first time that the city of Funchal took part in the “Together For Europe” event. Nine Catholic Movements were involved: ACI, ACR, Cursilhos, Equipas de Nossa Senhora, Equipas Jovens de Nossa Senhora, Focolare, RnS, Schonstatt, and Verbum Dei. There was a link-up with Brussels from the University of Madeira and, in a side event, a collection of food staples for the Diocesan’s Caritas campaign “Funchal, a city that supports”. 
Faro, nell’Algarve. Faro (Algarve). Located in the southernmost zone of Portugal, Faro has a large multi-ethnic presence and known for its lack of religious practice. The course taken by the six Movements – Cursilhos, RnS, Fraternal Gatherings Movement, Boy Scouts, Liga de Acao Missionaria and Focolare – had a particular highlight. A hundred and fifty people attended the moment of prayer between Catholics and Orthodox. On 12 May there was a boy’s relay race and a food bank and, at the opening events, some words from Bishop Quintas. An invitation to “Together For Europe” at one of the most popular national TV programmes “Pros e Contras” to take part in a debate entitled, “What are civic organizations doing for the crisis in Portugal?”
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Jul 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide
The great financial crisis that exploded in 2008 had very serious consequences for businesses, families, and associations. Though there does not seem to be a way out of the situation, this crisis also rattles consciences and along with the desperation and waiting, it also moves thinking and creates new ways.
One group of workers from the world of finance and banking in Rome have discovered this for themelves. Daria, Domenico, Paola, Rosapina, Sandro, Gabriele and Assunta have been friends for a long time. They have also been working together professionally for some time but, most especially, they have been belieiving in the values of the Gospel and they think that they can be lived out in banks, post offices, credit and insurance agencies, in their fields of work. With the outbreak of the crisis they have each received requests for help to renegotiate a loan, to read a bank document, to make a more sensible investment.
In time, the group gave itself a name, “Finance Commission” and linked itself to the New Humanity Movementof the Focolare in Rome. Their meetings became an occasion for sharing their experiences and for discussing the problems and the crises of conscience that each day every member of the group was asked to face. It gave them a new sense of professional commitment in a work environment that is difficult at times.
One significant fruit of this dialogue has been the “Risparmio & Finanza” (Saving & Finance) Newsletter whose scope is precisely that of providing “professional” assistance to people in the area of economy and finance.
Each newsletter gives an overview of the current financial situation without a lot of technical language and offers a discussion of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church; it announces what is new on the markets, as well as news relating to financial products. “But first of all, the newsletter is an occasion for dialogue through an email address. This work has made us realize that sharing problems and decisions is critical because in our work we often lose the sense of the “common good” because it is subsituted by what we are expected to do.”
The wide diffusion of the magazine through the internet and social networks has allowed us to extend this experience and share it with other business operators and professionals in several regions of Italy: “We’re creating a network community from which there emerges ever more strongly the need to establish a relationship of truth, where communion becomes a concrete work method, which accepts the other with all of his problems and situations. And this enables us to find the most appropriate solutions.”
One example is what Giovanna and Carlo share,whoare from Rome: “Thanks to this online community we were able to help several people in need, with several small no-interest loans that were always repaid with punctuality. The nice thing is that when we were in need, we were offered the sum of money that we needed. It was a matter of 20,000 Euros that we were able to repay with tranquility and it saved us all the time and bureaucracyof doing it through a bank. We can assure you, in our own small way, that the “Give and there will be gifts for you” that the Gospel speaks of is really true and that Providence never makes you wait.”
