18 Apr 2016 | Focolare Worldwide
“Our country’s coastal region was hit by a severe earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. It was felt throughout Ecuador, and also in several regions of Colombia and northern Peru,” write Fabian and Ardita from the Focolare community in Quito. “The situation is critical especially in several devastated cities.” “The solidarity of the people was prompt and concrete: people risking their own lives to help others; testimonies of the many people who lost loved ones; but in the midst of all the suffering there is also the strong-felt faith of the people. It’s quite moving and inspires us to believe in His love.” In response to the emergency in Ecuador the Focolare Movement has launched a fundraiser while a study is underway to see what can be done locally on the ground. News has also arrived from Focolare communities in Nagasaki and Tokyo (Japan): “For two days the country has been immersed in an atmosphere of ‘suspense’ because of the earthquake on Kyushu Island, in the regions of Kumamoto and Oita. The situation has activated an immediate solidarity effort and prayer in both religious and civil sectors.” Local authorities have already made arrangements to welcome the nearly 184,000 displaced persons. How you can help: Donations sent to the accounts below will be managed jointly by the Associations Action for a United World (AMU) and Action for New Families (AFN). In many countries of the European Union and in other countries of the world tax benefits are available for making such donations according to local regulations. How you can help: CAUSE: Ecuador Earthquake Emergency
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Azione per Famiglie Nuove ONLUS (AFN) |
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17 Apr 2016 | Focolare Worldwide
Pope Francis visits the Refugee Camp of Moria, in Mytilene, Lesbos, on April 16, 2016
There was nothing but gratitude for the Greek people, expressed in different ways by the three religious leaders: In a moment of great difficulty caused by the serious economic crisis, the people still find the way and the heart to embrace those who flee to a better future. They expressed equal gratitude towards the many volunteers who showed up from all parts of Europe and around the world. Originally from South Africa, Pauline, from the Focolare Movement, has been living for many years between Athens and Lesbo. She repeatedly witnessed the landings of the refugees and helped to rescue them: “The Pope has also sent a political message at the border openings. I wonder why he didn’t go to Idomeni. Perhaps it would have been too political.” Chiara, from Pope John XXIII Association: “He said what I’ve felt for some time: Just stop classifying these people as ‘refugees’, as numbers. It’s time for personal contact, for knowing their stories, their backgrounds;” Eugenio, from the Italian Ambulance Corps at the Order of Malta, said: “I was very moved when he spoke of the children that die on the sea, because I have seen such scenes myself. I managed to shake hands with him and was strengthened for my work.” Cristina is Catholic and her grandparents are refugees that fled from Turkey to Lesvos: “It was an historic event, unimagineable on this island. It seems like a dream”. Father Maurice is coordinator of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Greece. He remarked: “All of it was important: the words, the gestures, the silences. All of it spoke. The most powerful moment in the ‘jail’ was the personal contact the Pope had with each person” “A common message was sent to the refugees,” the Jesuit went on to say. They are mainly Muslims discovering a land of Christian origins. Therefore it matters that they see the unity of the Christian leaders and the closeness that these leaders wish to give a witness of.” “Moving. And very important from the ecumenical and political point of view, because of the meeting with Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras,” said Vasileios Meichanetsidis from Apostles (an NGO from the Greek Orthodox Church). “The Pope recognised how much the Greeks had done, and the Greeks gladly welcomed him.” “We’re all migrants,” the Pope went on to say during the prayer at the port of Lesbo where, as at Lampedusa in 2013, he left a wreath of flowers on the surface of the sea. What is being expected of the political world? “It would be a matter of further stronger appeals especially toward Europe to consider the matter of the migrants and of the refugees not only in terms of internal politics or emergency, but as a new front on which the future of the continent comes into play along with its credibility in terms of its claims of principles and concrete politics,” said pasquale Ferrara, author of the recent book, Il mondo di Francesco. Bergoglio e la politica internazionale. Ferrara is a member of the Abba School for the field of political science and was the Italian Consul to Athens. “The Pope didn’t go there on a humanitarian mission, but wished to underscore this profound dimension,” Ferrara continued. “And the fact that he did it in an ecumenical manner was an even more powerful sign; almost like saying the politics isn’t managing to solve this issue, so we join the game, not as substitutes, but to underscore that this must be a point of priority on the world’s political agenda. The fact that the refugees brought to the Vatican were all Muslims underscores that ISIS is not only exterminating Christians. It is not a problem of religion, but of ending a war, all wars.” Joint Statement Maria Chiara De Lorenzo
15 Apr 2016 | Focolare Worldwide
Photo: CAFOD Photo Library
13 Apr 2016 | Focolare Worldwide, Senza categoria
“Scholars estimate that from 3000 BC, populations from the Southeast Asian continent arrived here. Among them were also the Guaranì people, composed of many ethnic groups that through the centuries spread to the Caribbean up to the southernmost tip of the continent,” explained Diana Durán, a Paraguayan sociologist and scholar of the aborigines of America. The meeting with a small community of the Avà Guaranì and Mbya ethnic groups came about two years ago, when a big flood of the Paraguay river forced the indigenous group of 33 families (115 members) to abandon the unsteady settlement on the banks of the river where they used to live by gathering wastes from the dumpsite nearby. “At the start we tried to help them with clothing, food, medicine, and healthcare, like the hospitalisation of a diabetic patient, intervening with one of them who had gunshot wounds, renting mobile toilettes when they were sent away to a desert area, or when, after a storm we collected tents and drinking water… and yet we saw that these actions were still insufficient. They needed a piece of land, that could give them shelter and security.“ After a long search, a suitable lot was found: 5.5 hectares at 4.5 km from the city of Ita, with a school and medical dispensary close by. All was surrounded by greens and above all, with the possibility to cultivate a community orchard for their self-support and the space to build a facility for educational courses. The challenge now is to find the finances to buy the land. “We knocked on many doors – Diana recounts. A qualified person helped us to obtain the juridical status as an Indigenous Community, so they would be entitled ownership of the property. Furthermore, a friend of the Mennonite Community offered to advance the payment of the land, which seemed impossible for us to do. We undertook, with our Avà friends, to pay back the money by instalment.” “God has looked on us with special love», the head of the community, Bernardo Benítez, said. It was a God who they regard as the “First and Foremost God,” whose main command is mutual love. He is present in the daily acts and gave this land, a sacred place to protect and where we can build fraternal relationships. “Standing by the Yary Mirì community also means suffering – Dian affirmed – due to the discrimination they suffer because of ancestral prejudices, and the misery they live in. But it is a joy to acknowledge and share the community and solidarity values they have conserved through the centuries, besides the love and trust that has been established between us and them. Today we are not alone but have the support of many friends, two associations linked to the Focolare (Unipar and Yvy Porà) that support the development of the community orchard), two bishops, some officers from financial institutions, two Mennonite Christians and the Indigeneous Pastoral. We obtained four scholarships in Educational Sciences for their leader and three youths. They themselves chose that faculty ‘because our people need education,’ they said.” “I am now writing a book on the history of their community – Diana Durán concluded – not only as a denunciation and to give a voice to those who have no say, but as an obligation to them for what they have suffered and what we owe to them. I consider it a step towards universal brotherhood, our Ideal.”
12 Apr 2016 | Focolare Worldwide
“I come from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Erzegovina, where for centuries, Bosnian Muslims, Croatian Catholics, Orthodox Serbs, Jews, Romani ethnic groups and others have lived alongside one another. The war of the 1990s that wanted to convince us that it is impossible to live together, only wrought thousands of victims, a million refugees, and devastation of cities, religious buildings and historical monuments. In our condominium there were Croatians, Serbs, and Bosnian Muslims, but we shared everything we had with one another, up to the last cigarette, the little oil, flour, coffee and also the pain of death. My husband who was working as an amateur radio technician in the State institutions, had installed a radio station to connect the people who, for months, due to the interruption of telephone lines, knew nothing about their loved ones. When the conflict ended, I started to get involved in politics, in the Social Democratic Party and became a candidate for the post of municipal councilor. The consequences of the war were terrible. In that period, a mayor from Sarayevo received an invitation to participate in the meeting “Together for Europe” in Stuttgart, and delegated me since he couldn’t go. It was then that I was introduced to the Focolare Movement, the people who live to bring unity to humanity. You may well imagine what this meant for me, coming from a war experience. On returning home I felt a great urge to live and fight to diffuse the ideals I had just met. Now, after 20 years, in our city we are still mourning our dead, and rebuilding what was destroyed, but we are also building bridges between people. We do this together, without hatred. And precisely in these days Sarajevo is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the end of the siege of the city, which lasted 1,425 days during which 12,000 civilians were killed, out of which 1,500 were children. The city’s wounds have now healed and it has regained its long lost spirit. The bells ring and prayer arising from the minarets of the mosques echo in the squares. Since I am an agnostic, I found myself involved in the dialogue started by Chiara Lubich with people who have no religious beliefs. I try to weave this network of communion and mutual comprehension in my city, with the Muslim cities nearby, and with the Catholics – for example, during the visit of Pope Francis, and with the people of various beliefs. Today in Sarajevo there is a group of young people, also of different faiths and cultures, who are also trying to diffuse the culture of dialogue.
Zdravka Gutic sharing her testimony at the convention in April 2016.
12 Apr 2016 | Focolare Worldwide
The line is long and quite boring. People of all ages from many parts of the world are patiently waiting for lunch as they share their thoughts and opinions about the morning. The first session of the OnCity – Networks of lights to inhabit the planet Conference has just concluded. The conference took place on April 1-3, 2016 and really showed the many lights that have been lit up in our cities. “Rather than dwelling on an analysis of the darkness,” says Lucia Fronza Crepaz who is the moderator, “we’ve decided to turn our attention to the dawn, to the rising sun.” OnCity is organised by the New Humanity Movement, Youth For a United World, and the United World Project which are Focolare agencies actively engaged in building a more united and fraternal world at the social level, amongst young and old and through support and development projects. Certainly the current news stories constantly cry out to us : bombings, terrorism, new forms of marginalisation and poverty, piecemeal wars. Our cities are experiencing problems and contradictions in front of our very eyes. But there are also very positive and well-established experiences which confirm that it is possible to work, to hope, to believe in a more supportive and fraternal city that would be more liveable for everyone. With this awareness the organisers set out to create a three-day event in which the nearly 900 participants would be given the opportunity to experience a new kind of city life with one another, that could be taken back to their home environments. It was an opportunity to examine the topics of solidarity and fraternity in order to be be able to interpret the changes we see taking place in the cities where we live, and to learn a lifestyle based on dialogue. OnCity played out in three plenary sessions, thematic seminars and a good 32 work groups which were useful for coming to an understanding of their ability to be active, creative and responsible citizens. Forty six presentations were squeezed into those days with the purpose of valuing and appreciating the networks that already exist and encouraging new ones where needed: starting up “cells of brotherhood” wherever we are. Source: Città Nuova online
