19 Dec 2006 | Focolare Worldwide
The celebration, on December 7th, which took place in the House of Deputies at the Parliament in Brasilia, was attended by more than 200 federal deputies. This was only a few weeks after the recent inauguration of the new government and legislative body. The President of the Parliamentary Assembly, Hon. Aldo Rebelo sent a message. The news of the solemn session in honour of the Movement for Unity in Politics (MppU) appeared on the official website of the House, within the official working timetable. “At this special historical moment for Brazil, faced with crucial political choices for its people both at a national and an international level, as for many emerging countries, we lived a truly important day”. That is how Hon. Lucia Crepaz, President of the International Mppu described it, on her return. “During the session I listened to deputies from different parties questioning and taking positions on the subject of universal fraternity, the principal idea behind the MppU. I must say that while in the political arena fraternity is seen as a fragile concept, unsuited to the painstaking process of bringing interests together, there on the contrary it emerged with the ability to plan, to be the content and the method of politics, and a guide for personal daily actions, as well as large scale political transformation.” The story of the Mppu was traced by Hon Luiza Erundina, who first of all called to mind the message of Chiara Lubich to parliamentarians delivered in 1998 by Ginetta Calliari – one of Chiara Lubich’s first companions and cofounder of the Focolare Movement in Brazil. After that the Movement for Unity in Politics was founded in 2001, followed by an expansion in the different states of Brazil, with a series of political initiatives throughout the country and in the institutional political centres, finally involving also the Parliament in Brasilia. 
In the following two days, the MppU Convention welcomed dozens more politicians and administrators, functionaries, interested citizens and students, coming from 25 states of Brazil, who reviewed everything that followed, from 2001 until today. 
For the occasion, messages of support came from the national centres of the MppU in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, where this experience has been developing in a similar manner for some years. The Movement for Unity in Politics – Started by Chiara Lubich in 1996, could be described as an international laboratory for political dialogue which brings together politicians from different tendencies working throughout the whole range of social and political situations, who find in the Charism of unity a source of inspiration, and a universal motivation for working together for the common good.
12 Nov 2006 | Focolare Worldwide
I had been regional Attorney in Colombia, specialized in antinarcotics, for about 11 years. In my position, I have had to deal with numerous criminal charges against organized crime, winning 98% of the cases. I have always known that every crime touched the life of a person or a family, that every criminal had the right to respect, love, consideration, despite the serious nature, legally speaking, of the wrong committed. I felt happy in doing a task that gave me the chance to live constantly with God. I also felt personally rewarded and professionally fulfilled, besides having a secure financial base. I had an excellent team that I could count on; all expert investigators with real values and professional conduct. Corruption, however, was trying to filter into all aspects of public life, especially among those who work in the legal arena. My integrity and attitude of “no-half measures” influenced the whole team, and this made it so that the investigations always took place with respect and within the limits of justice. One day we “touched” someone who thought he was beyond the law. The offer was made immediately: various millions that could have guaranteed us real financial security. I could not accept, I could not give in or pretend that nothing had transpired. From that moment on, things changed for me, in my family and in my daily life. After I refused the offer, I began to be threatened. I was pressured by my higher-ups and then was finally let go, together with one of my best investigators who, like me, had not given in to corruption. Inside I felt very bitter, full of mistrust and disappointment. I lived alone with my two children because my husband had abandoned me years ago. Looking at my sons, so defenseless, I thought that God permits everything to happen for our sanctification and that I was paying the price to remain on the narrow road. Together with my children, we decided to cut back on everything. We felt peaceful because we felt sure that God loved us immensely. I asked God to give me the strength I needed to forgive those who were forcing me to change the usual tenor of our life. In making the effort to have “complete amnesty in my heart,” I found true freedom and the strength to begin again. With the money I had left from the sale of our home and a few savings, I bought a school bus. As a bus driver, my day began at 4:45 in order to bring all the children to school on time. It was difficult for me to drive through areas where I knew I could meet my old colleagues or my supervisors. The news spread quickly that “the Attorney General, called the steel woman, is now a bus driver.” Some of the laughter and comments even reached my ears. After about one year, a professional I knew from the UN office asked me to collaborate with him on a project against drugs. This allowed me to get back into my specialization even though in a minor role, thus collaborating with all professionals in Latin America and the Caribbean. The International organization appreciated my professional conduct and matter-of-fact manner and they hired me with a decent monthly salary. I am now giving work also to some of my colleagues from the regional Attorney’s Office. At the beginning, knowing the dishonest methods of some of them and how they thought about me, I was rather afraid to face them. I asked Mary to give me the necessary humility to forget about the past and not judge. It was not easy but I can now tangibly feel the love of God for me and my family. (D. L. – Colombia)
2 Nov 2006 | Focolare Worldwide
![The Industrial Estate Lionello Bonfanti]()
30 Oct 2006 | Focolare Worldwide
Card. Antonelli: “The Economy of Communion is definitely not utopian” The Archbishop of Florence, Card Antonelli gave a speech during the opening ceremony of the first European Industrial Estate, that houses the businesses of the Economy of Communion and is situated near Loppiano, the small international town of the Focolari, that stands on the Tuscan hills near Florence. He quoted the pope and said, “Benedict XVI has said several times that history is guided by creative minorities”. He highlighted the roots of this: the love of the Gospel, a love that “does not only involve individuals, charity and voluntary work, but one that involves the culture, the structures and the dynamics of society. This is what is needed to change the world” as Vatican Council II affirms. He continued saying, “ I think that tonight we are understanding better what all this means”. And he defined the idea of the Economy of Communion as certianly “not being utopian” but “it needs great spiritual energy and a lot of motivation. Yet it is so fascinating that it may be contagious and attract many other businesses”. President Prodi: “The estate that is being inaugurated is a model for society”. “In every society we need models that help us to keep on developping”. This is what the President of the Italian Parliament said in his surprise visit to the opening ceremony.. He said he was grateful for such a realisation , for the commitment taken to achieve “transparency in balance sheets, respect for laws and for freely sharing profits to create a net of solidarity”. And he confirmed that, “Every society needs to have models to imitate, for otherwise it will become stale; everything becomes standard repitition. Here we have an example. Here we have something which is even more and not everyone is called for it, but it is a sign of progress.” The Estate is a visible sign of a road that can be followed in the business world to bridge the gap between rich and poor. As soon as one arrives at the Industrial Estate, one is struck by the original way it is built. It stands on 9600 square metres of land but it does not look like an industrial shed. There are 5621 shareholders; and pensioners, housewives and students are also involved. Being shareholders in the Economy of Communion Company, they feel protagonists of a project that embraces the world. From the experiences shared by the businessmen here, one could see that it has not been easy to transfer their businesses or to set up new subsidiary branches. But as they themselves said, they were fascinated by the idea of coming over here to be a community of businessmen that renders visible its share towards business ethics and towards the dream of bridging the gap between rich and poor. Prof. Zamagni: “To make the business flourish, man has to be placed at the centre of everything”. Cecilia Manzo, president of the E of C Company, that runs and promotes the Estate said that “the aim of these businesses is make the employees participate in the running of the business”. And this aspect was highlighted by Prof. Zamagni, lecturer of Political Economy at the Bologna University. He said, “Today, in this post-industrial era, the strategic factor is no more the machine or the capital, but it is the human person. If we want our businesses to flourish, we have to place man at the centre of everything. It is more important to act on the motivations of those who work than on giving them incentives.” And this is what happens in the businesses of the Economy of Communion: the employees know why the business has been set up and give their share towards its aim. “A brilliant idea, that has played its part in advance”. Chiara Lubich – The motto given: “God always works” In the message sent by the foundress of the Focolare Movement, who launched the Economy of Communion 15 years ago, she expressed her hope that the Industrial Estate will be “an answer to today’s economical problems.” And she gave a motto to the Industrial Estate: “God always works”. The ceramic plate on which this motto is written and made by the sculptor Benedetto Pietrogrande, was uncovered during the opening ceremony. “And this is to remind us of the value that God gives to work, of the creative ability of man”. She also spoke of another aspect of this project: it is actually part of the small towns of the Moviment that are called to be “a model of a new society founded on the Gospel”.
16 Oct 2006 | Focolare Worldwide
13 Oct 2006 | Focolare Worldwide
Paraguay has a rich history gifted with great potentials. It is a mosaic made up of a wide variety of people, a nation divided in two: countryside and city, poverty and development. In my own life, I have gone through different stages: in the beginning, the passion for mankind: I got my first job when I was 14, then the University halls and the encounter with youth of the Focolare Movement; then the marches against the dictatorship and the first steps in a political party. Then came the second stage, “disappointment”: betrayals, inconsistencies, and my own political inability. The feeling that it wasn’t really possible to change anything. The third stage was fundamental, “choice”, the choice to love always, which led me to viewing political activity as a means for transforming society. In the year 2000, after a long troubled period, I set up an organization together with a group of friends who were already involved in the field of sustainable development. It was the beginning of the “Fundación Yvy Porã” (Beautiful Land) which in the past six years has promoted the development of dozens of projects throughout Paraguay, sustaining communities of small entrepreneurs, farmers, craftsmen, indigenous people, in urban and rural centers. However, I was still not satisfied. I wished to do something more. And so together with other politicians, I started preparing for the Latin-American meeting of mayors, which was held in Rosario, Argentina, 2-3 June 2005, and promoted by the Movement for Unity in Politics. (link) We felt it was the opportune moment to present brotherhood as a political doctrine to the Paraguayan society. We looked over the list of mayors to invite to this event. From the replies and consensus obtained we said: “It’s a new Paraguay, a risen nation working in silence, and we want to bring it to light!” This very reality was highlighted by a widely-read national newspaper that devoted a page to this meeting with the headline: “The other Paraguay.” More than a thousand politicians participated in the meeting, including 119 mayors, 168 councilmen and women, members of parliament, local and national government officials. They came from many countries of South America. The 16 mayors of Paraguay who had participated, impressed by the spirit of the meeting, proposed to other mayors a project of collaboration among the various municipalities. And on the “Paraguay Friendship Day” – July 30, 2005 – they established a protocol of understanding and fraternal twinning in order to support and promote an exchange of local development policies. This agreement was signed by 22 municipalities, an unprecedented fact in Paraguay. After these meetings we began periodic appointments to examine the doctrine of brotherhood among politicians, and we are now building a Paraguayan School of civic and political formation for young people. (C. R. – Paraguay)
