USA: A Land Made for the Spirituality of Unity
The Union of fifty states known as the United States of America extends across a vast area from the extreme northwest of Alaska to southeast Florida. 
The first focolarini arrived from Italy in 1961. During those years the first centers of the Movement were opened in Manhattan, Chicago and Boston. Toward the end of the 1970’s focolares were also opened in San Antonio and Los Angeles, followed by Washington D. C., Columbus and Atlanta. Mariapolis Luminosa, located in Hyde Park (New York), was inaugurated in 1986 and is the heart of the Movement in North America. During her first visit to New York city, in 1964, Chiara Lubich wrote the following: “(. . .) It seems particularly adapted for the spirit of the Focolare. There is not an atmosphere of ethnic superiority, but a clear feeling of internationality. There is simplicity. At Mass I prayed for the Movement on this continent and I hope that God listens to my prayer, because I’m praying for the spreading of His reign.” 
Her prayer was heard. In fact, over the years, communities began to appear throughout the country. As the Focolare Movement grew, so did its interreligious dialogue. With Jews who come into contact with the spirituality of unity, this dialogue is expressed in daily living, professional collaboration and theological study. In many parts of the country a fraternal “dialogue of life” has began and grew with Muslim followers of Imam W. D. Mohammed. Chiara visited the United States seven times. In 1990 she stressed that she had “captured various signs of a united world” in this land. In May 1977, as the guest of Imam W. D. Mohammed she spoke about the Spirituality of Unity to nearly 3000 Muslims gathered at the Malcom Shabazz Mosque in Harlem, New York. Then, at the United Nations “Glass Palace,” at a symposium organized in her honor by the WCRP (World Conference of Religions for Peace), she spoke about the unity of all peoples. Lastly, she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. 
In 2000, Imam Mohammed invited her to return again to the United States: “America needs your message” he said on 2 November 2000 to a crowd of 5000 Muslims and Christians gathered in Washington D.C. for a meeting entitled: “Faith Communities Together”which had been organized by the two communities. Gatherings of this type multiplied in several other cities with annual events that seemed more like family reunions than meetings for dialogue. In her last visit to the US, in 2000, Chiara received the honoris causa degree in Education from the Catholic University of America, in Washington D.C. 3.000 people gathered there: Jews, Buddhists and lots of Afroamerican Muslims, to underline the specific contribution of Focolare Movement to the interreligious dialogue. Meanwhile, the Economy of Communion project began to spread its roots within nineteen businesses which operate in different fields, such as environmental engineering, the arts, education, agriculture, free time and business consulting. 
The recent visit, in 2011, of the president of the Focolare Movement, Maria Voce and of the Co-President, Giancarlo Faletti, for the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Movement in North America, gathered together 1,300 people from many communities in Canada, the United States and the Caribbean, including Jews and Muslims. On this occasion, the book “Focolare – Living a Spirituality of Unity in the United States” was released. It responds to the questions people have about the Movement today, through compelling stories of many Americans (children, youths, married couples, elderly, singles, nuns, priests and bishops who belong to the Focolare) whose lives have been transformed by the encounter with Jesus. Readers discover the spiritual values and practices of the Focolare, the various vocational paths of its members and how it helps in supporting the values of American culture, such as freedom, happiness, community and the commitment to the common good in public life.
One of the first experiences shared by a captain was about a new resident of the block whose dogs were left outside barking from early morning until late evening. Instead of complaining to the police, the captain and the neighbors tried to “love their enemies” by reaching out to dog owner, baking cookies for her and even helping her catch her dogs when they escaped the yard. Only then did they approach her with their concerns about how the constant barking was affecting the newborn baby on the block. Not only did the mayor encourage these individual acts of caring, but he also tried to make the village itself, through the block captains, an active force for caring. For example, the block captains give welcome bags to new residents. They take interest in people, especially those experiencing personal suffering. They send cards, bring food, listen to people’s troubles. We use our emails to communicate these needs like in a family so we are all aware of who needs help. On a regular basis, some captains even do extra by volunteering to drive people in town to doctors, or shopping for groceries for the homebound. 
Just recently, we published our twenty years of experiences, also ideas for helping anyone live the Golden Rule. It was circulated among doctors, social workers, teachers and politicians as well as individuals who want to make a difference in their corner of the world. The art of caring has even been extended by North Riverside to other towns. At one of the town meetings, the publisher of the newsletter stood up and announced, “When I tell people in my town about North Riverside, they say such a town cannot exist. And I say come and see.” (For more experiences, please go to 
Christians from a Catholic parish in Basel went to visit the community in an Islamic neighbourhood. After the Muslims had prayed they had lunch together. ‘In the afternoon, there was a football competition: teams of children, young people, grown ups and also “imams versus priests”!’ said imam Mohammed Tas from Kleinbasel. ‘We parish priests lost, but our friendship grew,’ observed the Fr Ruedi Beck with a smile. The imam carried on, ‘We had the joy of meeting together. Many things unite us. We live in the same city, we are human beings, we all have a lot of work and many worries. We pray for one another and help one another where we can.’ This was one of the examples during the day of Muslims and Christians in Dialogue, last 12 February in Baar, that showed how it is possible to build up family-like relations between different religious communities. There were 80 participants, from the three largest linguistic regions of Switzerland, 40 Christians and 40 Muslims, originally from 17 nations, among which were Kosovo, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Macedonia, the Ivory Coast and North Africa. Well-known personalities from Switzerland also participated, such as Dr Taner Hatipoglu, president of the league of Muslim organizations in Zurich and four imams. At the basis of the dialogue was the theme: Hearing and Living the Word of God. Ali Cetin, an imam from Baar, introduced people to the Muslim understanding of who God is and of his word for Muslims: ‘The one who is truly loved and recognizes it reads emails, text messages or letters from his friend word by word and more than once. He values what is written, every word, every sentence. It is like that that the Muslim honours the Koran, as a letter God has sent to humanity. Its verses are cited with love, learnt by heart and put into practice.’ 
In Christian thought the love of God who is one and three is central. The importance of this came into strong relief in a passage from a talk given by Chiara Lubich, at an international congress with Muslim friends in Rome, 1998. She said, ‘We believe that God loves us immensely… and in the Koran it is written: “Believers do not love in a different way from how they love God.” This is the strongest thing that can unite us. Like this we are no longer only Muslims and Christians but brothers and sisters, persons who put God in the first place.’ 
Imam Mustapha Baztami from Teramo in Italy, one of the speakers, who knew Chiara Lubich personally, affirmed, ‘Chiara Lubich is the first Christian, the first woman who spoke in a Mosque in Halem (1997). She managed to build a bridge between religions. She was not afraid to meet the differences between the various religions, because she made her faith in God’s Love a way of living and not an empty slogan.’ A committed Muslim woman echoed his words, saying, ‘Today we have met on the same level, as in a family, and everyone was accepted. We are a building bridge, a ‘neutral zone’ that binds everyone together.’ 
To conclude the meeting, Marianne Rentsch and Franco Galli, co-ordinators of the Movement in Switzerland, recalled the Golden Rule: ‘No one of you is a believer if he does desire for his brother what he desires for himself’ (The Forty Hadith of Al-Nawawi, 13); ‘Do to others as you would have them do to you’ (Luke 6:31). It was printed, in both its Christian and in its Islamic form, in the three main traditional languages of Switzerland, on a card the shape of a credit card, and given to everyone to take away as a reminder. Beatrix Ledergerber-Baumer