Mar 27, 2017 | Non categorizzato
The international network HDC – Health Dialogue Culture (formerly known as MDC – Medicine Dialogue Communion) promotes a Congress in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 7 to September 10, 2017 entitled: Promoting Global Health: strategies and actions on the individual and collective level
Rationale of Congress:
Nowadays, it is accepted that biochemistry and genetics are not enough for an insightful understanding of health and illness. Both personal and sociocultural context should be taken into account and underpinned. As health contributes remarkably to economic growth and social well-being, the determinants of health should be considered as strategic. Health systems, then, have to look at patients in their wholeness and to respect their complexities and experiences. The relationships between health professionals and health managers and between them and users of health services are key elements of the healthcare system. Spiritual dimension too cannot be ignored and can have a substantial influence on quality of life, satisfaction and outcomes of personal health. The Congress aims to focus on those aspects in the endeavour of better understanding them and to share experiences and good practices.
Mar 27, 2017 | Non categorizzato
On stage is a triumph of diversity. This is how Campus: the Musical, which played March 18 at the Mandela Forum in Florence, Italy, can be described. The show is a unique genre, in which people of various levels of disability, mostly young people, gather around professionals that make up the international performing arts group Gen Rosso. The troupe has been around since 1966, when it began from an idea inspired by Chiara Lubich’s charism. The choice of venue could not be more perfect. The sports arena at the center of Florence, where there are public events, sports, concerts and debates, in 2004 was changed to the Nelson Mandela Forum to bring high-caliber cultural events to the community, as well as a sense of openness, exchange and the happy meeting of diversity of all kinds. “The purpose of freedom is to create it for others,” Mandela used to say. For those whom freedom means moving and singing to the rhythms and textures of African ethno, samba, jazz, rock, pop or rap, it may get taken for granted. But for those who have a more difficult daily routine in a wheelchair, or who find it difficult to navigate a sidewalk, or who live with the limits of a psychological disability, it can seem like a dream. This is a dream that “Uniti senza barriere” (United without barriers), an association that works in the world of disability in that area, wanted to make reality, thanks to meeting Gen Rosso and collaborating with other associations and agencies that are active in the social sphere. Campus is inspired by true events, taking advantage of the palette of colors and decibels that the band uses to give voice and soul to the peaceful weapon of dialogue (which was so dear to Mandela). It is set on a university campus, where the stories of nine teens of different nationalities cross, young people searching for their way, with a weighty past behind them and an unknown future ahead to create. The musical has a global current running through it, supported by a narrative that points to the heart of challenges today, thanks to its universal language and a sound that is definitely live. The project has reached the stage after a long period of reflection on the key issues of our time: culture clashes, the struggle against terrorism of every kind, and migration. Rather than just respond, it proposes solutions that are tangible, such as the “Italia per” project (Italy for…), which the international group promotes with workshops and shows dedicated to specific problems. At the Nelson Mandela Forum, after many hours of rehearsals, disabled youth and children, and even four small infants with their mothers, made their debut dancing and singing a dream of unity and fraternity. Proud to take on their roles, emotions in their voices and faces ran high as the professional artists took a step back to leave them the stage and the applause (from close to 1,000 attending). Campus has certainly hit one of its marks: overturning traditional understandings of disability. It also shows what the true limits of our existence are: when we build up material and cultural barriers that divide us, or relate to someone disabled and think that we have something more to teach or show them. “It always seems impossible until it’s done,” Mandela would have said.
Mar 26, 2017 | Non categorizzato
At the Angelus on March 19, Pope Francis affirmed his “closeness to the dear people of Peru, who have been struck hard by devastating floods. I pray for the victims and the rescue workers.” The Focolare community is praying and is on site bringing relief as well.
Mar 25, 2017 | Non categorizzato
Message from Cardinal Francis X. Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok, for the funeral of Cardinal Miloslav Vlk – Prague, 25 March 2017.« I bring a message on behalf of the bishop friends of the Focolare – Catholic bishops and bishops of various Churches in many parts of the world. For us, Cardinal Miloslav was a friend, a brother and we could say even a father. “His life mirrored Jesus’ life in so many ways”, a Lutheran bishop wrote recently. At our bishops meetings he helped us experience the freshness of Gospel life and the joy of being a family of true brothers, united in Jesus. In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council, he worked tirelessly for Christian unity and for communion among bishops and with the Pope. Thank you, Miloslav. Through your heroic witness you showed what it means to have God in the first place and gave us the key to making the Church ever more beautiful, united and alive.»
Mar 24, 2017 | Non categorizzato
Pope Francis writes to the Bishop of Westminster: “I commend the victims to the loving mercy of God and invoke divine strength and peace upon the grieving families.” Solidarity from all over the world with all those affected by this tragedy.
Mar 24, 2017 | Non categorizzato
At the harshest and most dangerous frontiers, the Consecrated Women are there. Danger doesn’t stop them from even risking their lives, trusting only in the Spouse of their soul. The annual retreat of Women Religious from several congregations who find strength in the spirituality of communion that reinforces their consecration to God and gives meaning to their service to the least. Each of them has her own fascinating story to tell which flows from the charism of the religious family she belongs to, says sister Viera from the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor: “At 9 years old, I helped my Dad to build a house, and at 14 I was already working in a winery where ambiguity and vulgarity was the order of the day, which I soon picked up and it became part of my life. Thirsty for justice, I joined an extremist party, but at the age of 22 and tired with it all, I found myself on the third-floor balcony ready to end it all. The only thing that kept me from jumping was the thought of my mother who would have gone into despair. In the days that followed, at the bus stop I met a sister I had never seen before who, sensing my general discomfort, invited me to a meeting of young people from the Focolare. I went because I wanted to get over the idea of suicide that continued to torment me. Listening to their experiences of living the Gospel, I thought they were all crazy, that they were just wasting their time. But that evening I felt a happiness I had never experienced before. God was taking me by the hand and showing me who He really is: Love. At work – not without a bit of difficulty – I began to put the commandment of mutual love into practice, to use softer tones and to show attention to the older workers, to smile more. Through the meetings with the Focolare youth and with Cristina – the sister who had first spoken to me – I felt drawn to a more serious walk with God. After a course of formation, I left home and work to enter the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, a congregation that serves the poorest of the poor, including girls living on the streets who are heading for prostitution, jails, and so on. I’ve been working for 23 years in jail ministry, in contact with detainees, regardless of their beliefs and cultures, at the Rebibbia Jail in Rome, [Italy]. Recently I’ve also begun work in Pistoia, [Italy]. I only go to listen to them, without expecting anything. I put myself at their service to make telephone calls to their relatives, to lawyers … I bring them everything they need to write letters. I work with the teachers, checking with them especially when there are problems. Every time I step into one of those environments I think of Jesus’s words to the Pharisees who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery: ‘Let the one who is without sin cast the first stone.’ Living the mercy of God firsthand, I try to possess a deep sense of acceptance towards each one of them, just as they are, with total trust. The only one to judge is God, a God who loves everyone. Often the trust becomes mutual and then they feel urged to talk about their lives, their dramas, their difficulties living together, the suffering of being deprived of even the most basic needs. This attitude of making ourselves one, which Chiara Lubich taught to us, is the golden key that allows me to build a peaceful and respectful dialogue with everyone. In Pistoia there are around 200 detainees between young people and adults, with more so-called Minors who have committed serious crimes. At first it was hard for me to face them because, in Rebibbia I only met with women. But then I saw that ‘there is neither woman nor man’ as Saint Paul says – and that everyone is a candidate for unity. I go to visit them three or four times a week. We chat in the chapel right in front of Eucharistic Jesus, and generally all of them tell me that they want our little chats to continue and that they look forward to my return. They tell me about their anguish, their fears – feelings that I try to alleviate by reminding them that each one of us is the very focal point of God’s love. Some of them tell me about their return to God, as a detainee from Rebibbia recently wrote to me: ‘I’d like to make up for all the time I threw away. I hope that life gives me a second chance to save myself and my family, to show that I matter too, that I can also do something good. Dearest Sr Viera, I hope that you will allow me to continue to have your friendship. I thank God that he made me meet you.’
