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23 Mar 2014 | Non categorizzato
Stages of the journey 
Brazil has the fifth most powerful economy in the world. It covers 8.5 million square kilometers, and its nearly 200 million inhabitants, descendants of European and Asian immigration and indigenous peoples, as well as other immigrants from every part of the planet, all speak a single language: Portuguese. It is a country the size of a continent, with varied climatic and geographical conditions, enormous natural resources and a powerful potential for growth. It is a country that is also marked by huge social contrasts, which are growing somewhat less, thanks in part to the efforts of the last governments. It faces the challenges of a young democracy, of a nation that has emerged from military dictatorship less than thirty years ago.
Mariapoli Ginetta
There have been various activities run by the Focolare in all the States of the Federation: from Civitas, the school for political formation in João Pessoa, to the Young People for a United World’s solidarity project and to the families’ weekend in the State of Alagoas; from the youth Olympics in the State of Rio Grande Do Sul, to the Unicidade Project in the Mariapolis Ginetta, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year – to name but a few. 
But what gives rise to this life? Let’s take a step back in time. It was the year 1958. A ship landed in Recife, carrying three focolarini from Italy: Marco Tecilla, Lia Brunet and Ada Ungaro. They communicated their experiences in schools, universities, parishes, associations, hospitals, families. After a month they were travelling again: Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo, Porto Alegre, and then Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. On returning to Italy, the aeroplane made an emergency stop in Recife because of a serious fault which held them there for four days. They used that time to follow up a whole host of contacts. In this way the community in the North East of Brazil came into being. It was the first of many. With the arrival of other focolarini who came to stay, the first centres of the Movement were opened in 1959 in Recife. A rapid spread of the Ideal of unity began in the larger cities and in the villages, among young people and adults, whites and blacks, rich and poor… and all it happened with a characteristic mark: social harmony. Many social activities came in to being as an effect of a life rooted in the gospel. In 1962 a centre was opened in São Paolo. The publishing house Cidade Nova and the magazine Cidade Nova were founded. Other centres were opened: Belém, 1965; Porto Alegre, 1978. Today there are centres in all most all the 27 capitals of the federal states and in many other cities. In 1965 near Recife the Movement’s first little town of witness in Brazil was founded. It was called Santa Maria, a reference to this people’s love for Mary. Two years later there was established São Paolo’s little town, called at the time Araceli and now renamed Ginetta, after one of the first focolarine who had an immensely important role in the spread and growth of the Movement in Brazil. Following that Belém’s little town, Gloria, was set up and in Porto Alegre there was established the Mariapolis Centre Arnold which has particular a focus on ecumenism, and then Brasília’s little town called Mary Mother of the Light was founded. 
Chiara Lubich always showed a great love for Brazil and its people, ‘a people who seem very like those who listened to Jesus: magnificent, magnanimous, good, poor, who give everything: their hearts and their goods.’ Her first visit was in 1961, to Recife. She returned a further five times. She received various forms of public recognition and honorary degrees. In 1998, on her last visit, she inaugurated the Spartaco Business Park, the first of such parks belonging to the EOC in the world. On this occasion, one of the fathers of democratic Brazil, Prof. Franco Montoro, referring to Chiara in a speech given at the State University of São Paolo, recognized in the thought and activity of the Movement – and not only in Brazil – ‘a consistent witness that has drawn behind it millions of people. It has protected human rights during periods of dictatorship and, in the scientific boom, it has demonstrated that we must be guided by ethics. It has promoted love, universal fraternity.’ These are values that today the Movement’s members are committed to living, together with others, in a historic moment that sees Brazil emerge on to the global scene and take a leading role in events such as the World Youth Day 2013 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Website:www.focolares.org.br/sitenacional Insights on Mariapolis Journal – login required
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21 Mar 2014 | Non categorizzato
Some words of Grand Buddhist Master Ajahn Thong became rather famous when Chiara Lubich accepted his invitation to share her Christian experience at a monastery in Thailand (1997): “When we are in darkness and someone brings us a light, we don’t ask whether the person is a man or a woman, young or old [and so it is with Chiara who] will speak to us of the light she has discovered.” What took place today was not merely a commemoration, but a step into the future, rooted in the experience begun by Chiara Lubich and now shared by many, despite their individual differences. Roberto Catalano from the Focolare’s centre for interreligious dialogue called it: “a choral witness that testifies to a common decision and commitment. We’ve been meeting in many parts of the world, discovering that we can become brothers and sisters. We are called to continue this path together, making it real in our daily lives.” The audience of 500 guests included 250 people who had previously attended a three-day interreligious convention at the Mariapolis Centre in Castel Gandolfo. Among these there was a group from 8 religions who had attended a private audience with Pope Francis prior to the general audience of March 19, 2014. Iranian Muslim theologian Shahrzad Houshmand remarked: “He’s a fatherly figure who increased the brotherhood among us.” She also presented a letter to the Pope in the name of all the Muslims attending the Focolare gathering, in which they expressed their “profound love and respect for him and for his outreached hand towards Muslims around the world”. Hindu Professor Kala Acharya said that she gladly welcomed the Pope’s invitation to continue this journey without ever stopping: ‘For us too, the joy of the journey is more important than reaching the destination.’” Then the Pope turned to all of them and said: “Pray for me.” 
Enriched by this experience, later in the afternoon, the interreligious convention opened its doors to the public. The venue chosen was the Pontifical Urbaniana University, which is known for its interest in world cultures and religions. The title of the gathering was: “Chiara and Religions”, but it could equally have been called Chiara and different religious paths. In her address, Focolare president Maria Voce stated: “Among her outstanding skills, perhaps the one that spoke most to today’s world was dialogue. Chiara had intuited that the path of the human family could be a different one, one directed towards peace. However, the condition for this would be a radical change of mentality, because ‘not only is the other person not a threat to me – but a gift!’” What was Chiara’s secret? Maria Voce explained it like this: “Love, the love which Chiara who was a Catholic discovered in the Gospel and in Jesus. But she also found the presence of love in other faiths and cultures.” This presence of love transforms a “potential clash of civilizations into an authentic encounter of men and women from different cultures and religions.” Cardinal Arinze (once president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue) presented the impact of Chiara’s charism on dialogue: “The focolarini and focolarine are a people on the march, in communion, on the move. They go out to the peripheries: they go out, encounter, dialogue, listen and collaborate.” 
The day concluded with a series of testimonies from Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Jews: Dr Waichiro Izumita, Japanese Buddhist from the Risho Kosei Kai; and Thailandese monk Phra Thongrattana Thavorn who prefers to be known by the name given to him by Chiara – Luce Ardente (Burning Light). He told of his first personal meeting with Chiara: “I was overwhelmed by her, by her eyes, her simplicity, concern and respect for who I was, her deep listening, that indescribable atmosphere. . . She talked to me about her Christian life, about her charism of unity. . . I also felt like one of her children, also because of the light that I received and the zeal to spread the light of unity among all.” Rabbi David Rosen from Jerusalem: “The commandment to love God invites us to follow the example of Abraham: to behave in such a way that God is also loved by others. This is what we see in the Focolare Movement.” Then spoke Imam Ronald Shaheed from the Mosque of Milwaukee and close collaborator of Imam W D Mohammed; and Ahmer Al-Hafi, professor of Comparative Religions in Jordan: “Chiara has helped me to understand the Koran in all of its deepest senses. I understood from Chiara that love is the essence of God, and that the religion of love is one.” Vinu Aram, Hindu and honorary President of the Religions for Peace Assembly, met Chiara when she was a teenager and Chiara was a friend of her parents. As an adult she discovered Chiara’s great message, which now continues to inspire her on her journey to “build a more united world, a world in which everyone can feel at home.”
(C) CSC Media
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19 Mar 2014 | Non categorizzato
In her opening statement at the interreligious convention held in Castel Gandolfo on March 17, 2014 Maria Voce remarked: “Chiara Lubich had always wanted to see a gathering such as this, but it was never possible during her lifetime.” Voce went on to say: “Today we have the joy of knowing that she is watching us from Heaven, seeing us gathered here as brothers and sisters with such a wide array of customs, ethnicities, cultures, faiths and traditions.” Voce called it a solemn occasion for several reasons, but especially because it was the first time that Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Shintoists and members of Tenriism had joined together to meet.
The meeting was the result of years of commitment to deepening mutual understanding, “becoming friends and then brothers and sisters.” Voce described the steps that have been taken along this path since her election six years ago. The initial fears and concerns were legitimate: What would ever become of this dialogue after Chiara’s death? But only two months following Voce’s election a gathering of Christians and Muslims took place, which was followed by a gathering with traditional religions in Cameroon, Africa; Jews in Jerusalem and Hindus.
Voce stressed that this journey of dialogue was the result of a charismatic experience: “We must thank each of you for your great faith in God and for the friendship that joins us. But we must be especially grateful for the gift of dialogue that Chiara led us to. Thanks to this mutual trust we have been able to continue the journey along the path traced out by her and others, who with their own religious faith gave life to this experience of dialogue: Reverend Nikkyo Niwano, Imam Barkat, Dr Aram and his wife Minota and others.”
During the six years since her election Maria Voce has visited Focolare communities in lands where Christians are a minority. In Asia: “I was impressed by how Hindus and Buddhists felt like full-fledged members of our family. We weren’t so much in dialogue with each other, but together in dialogue with the world”.
In these communities she met Christians, Jews and Muslims who are praying and working for peace; and she was touched by their daily experiences, reaching out to people who were different from themselves.
In Buenos Aires she met with Jewish communities and in Algeria she found a Focolare community that was totally comprised of Muslims. In Tlemcen she said she saw a “Muslim expression of the Movement inspired by the Ideal of Chiara. We were truly the same family.” Now this experience is spreading to other countries.”
“This is certainly a deep experience, not easy to convey and not without some questions. . . . But it witnesses to the fact that unity in distinction is truly possible, but you need courage to experience it.”
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17 Mar 2014 | Non categorizzato
Buddhist-Christian Symposium at Castel Gandolfo (2012)
The opening session will take place at Castelgandolfo. Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Shintoists and members of Tenrikyo, hailing from various parts of the world will be participating. There will be 23 Jews from Israel, USA, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico and Europe; 69 Muslims, Shiites and Sunnis from the Maghreb and Middle East, Iran, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Europe and USA; 34 Buddhists of the Therevada and Mahayana traditions from Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Italy: 19, Hindu from India.
This is an unprecedented event in the history of dialogue of the Focolare Movement. In fact, in past years various symposia have been organized, but the mutual understanding and reflection took place between Christianity and one other religion (Muslim – Christian, Christian – Buddhist, Jewish – Christian, etc). This will be the first time that a plurality of religious traditions will find themselves together and highlight the richness of this dialogue, one of the most relevant aspects of Chiara Lubich’s charism of unity, thus taking up her call to “aim at keeping our sight on the one Father of many children” and then to “look at all men as children of One Father”. Brothers and sisters of different faiths – a varied piece of mosaic composed over the years in the Focolare Communities around the world will be together on the path of dialogue.
The programme at Castelgandolfo will consist of moments of dialogue and of witness in homogeneous groups according to religion or in plenary sessions, allowing participants to open up to a 3600 dialogue, thus going beyond what is specific, without ignoring the inevitable difficulties and the reflections that matured in the course of time.
When confronted with new challenges that arise from history, current politics and economy and from the collective imagination, the path of interreligious dialogue does not appear only as a challenge, but as a “pilgrimage towards the truth”.
This is the perspective of the conference, “Chiara and Religions. Together towards the unity of the human family”, to be held in honour of Chiara Lubich in Rome, at the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Urban University, at the conclusion of a meeting held at Castelgandolfo. It will take place on Thursday, March 20.
The conference will offer a public and plural witness of Chiara Lubich. The speakers will be the Buddhist monks Phramaha Thongratana Tavorn and the Rev. Waichiro Izumita, Dr. Vinu Aram, Hindu; Imam Ronald Shaheed and Prof. Amer Al Hafi, Muslims; Rabbi David Rosen, Jew. Cardinal Francis Arinze and Maria Voce, the current president of the Focolare Movement will open the conference.
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14 Mar 2014 | Non categorizzato
On December 7, 1943, the young teacher, Silvia Lubich, would never have imagined that a few decades later so many personalities from the civil and religious worlds – including four popes – would have spoken quite striking words about her and her spiritual family.
She didn’t have any idea what she would live and see during the 88 years of her life. She didn’t have any idea that millions of people would follow her. She didn’t know that she would reach 182 nations with her ideal.
Could she ever have thought that she would inaugurate a new season of communion in the Church and that she would open channels of ecumenical dialogue that had never before been used?
Much less could she have imagined that her spiritual family would welcome in the faithful of other religions and people without any religious affiliation. Quite the contrary: She never thought of starting a movement.
On that 7th December 1943 Sylvia only had the sentiments of a beautiful young woman in love with her God with whom she was entering into a marriage pact, sealing it with three red carnations. That was all she wanted. Could she have imagined the crowds of people of all ages, race, and background who would follow her on her trips around the world and address her simply as “Chiara” (a name she chose in honour of the beloved saint from Assisi)?
Could she ever have imagined in her small little city of Trent that her mystical intuitions would create a culture of unity for a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, and multi-religious society? Chiara Lubich was a pioneer of her time. As a lay woman in the Church she had proposed themes and openings that were only later taken up by Vatican II. In a global society she pointed the way to universal brotherhood when no one was speaking of civilizations drawing closer to each other. She respected life and searched for the meaning of suffering. She traced out a way of religious and civil holiness that can be practiced by anyone and not reserved for only a chosen few.
In 1977, at the Eucharistic Congress in Pescara, she stated: “The pen doesn’t know what it must write, the brush doesn’t know what it must paint, and the chisel doesn’t know what it must sculpt. When God takes someone into his hands in order to raise a new work in his Church, the person chosen doesn’t know what she should do. She’s just the instrument. And I think that this might be the case with me.”
And then she adds: “There were so many fruits and such wide spreading that seemed disproportionate to any human planning or effort. There were also many crosses, but also much fruitfulness. The human instruments that God uses generally have a thing or two in common; they’re small and weak. . . As these move in God’s hands, the Lord shapes them through countless joyful and sorrowful means. In this way He renders them more and more suited to the task they are to perform. Until they come to a deep awareness of themselves and an intuition about God that is certainty. With confidence they are able to say: I’m nothing; God is everything. When this adventure began in Trent, Italy, I didn’t have a plan, I knew nothing. The idea of the Movement was in God, and the plan was in Heaven.”
The Focolare Movement began with Chiara Lubich. She was born on 22 January 1920 in Trent, Italy. She died on 14 March 2008 in Rocca di Papa, Italy, surrounded by her people.
The news quickly spread to the members of her spiritual family around the world, who were united in prayer.
In the days that followed thousands of people, from plain working men to political and religious leaders began to arrive in Rocca di Papa to honour her. The funeral was held in the Roman Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, but was unable to hold the huge crowd that had arrived (over 40,000 people). Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone presided at the Eucharistic Celebration which was con-celebrated by 9 cardinals, 40 bishops and hundreds of priests. Cardinal Bertone read the message sent by Benedict XVI in which the Pope described Chiara as a “Woman of intrepid faith, a meek messenger of hope and peace”.
Some words spoken by Chiara resounded among the crowd: “At the end of time, when the Work of Mary is prepared in its compact unity to appear before the forsaken and risen Jesus, I would like it to be able to say: On your day, my God, I shall come to you. . . . I shall come to you, my God. . . . with my wildest dream come true: to bring you the world in my arms. That all may be one!”
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14 Mar 2014 | Non categorizzato
In the current extensive public discussion concerning the contribution of women to the life of the Church the name Chiara Lubich often comes up because of her spiritual, intellectual, and practical legacy. On March 14, the sixth anniversary of her passing, that challenging legacy still inspires those who remember her. 
In Pretoria, South Africa, Dr Kobus Gerber, General Secretary of the Dutch Reformed Church, will reflect on her contributions to ecumenical dialogue. Similar events will take place in Perth and Melbourne, Australia. In view of the upcoming Synod on the Family, Chiara’s passion for the family will be the central focus of events in Luxembourg and Spain. In Perugia, Italy, Mayor Waldimiro Boccali will name a street after a teenager inspired by Lubich, Blessed Chiara Luce Badano. A similar ceremony will take place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where an exhibit, “Chiara Lubich, Protagonist of New Times” will be mounted in the Hall of the Municipal Council.. There will be book presentations, concerts, and other cultural events throughout Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and Africa. In small communities and in large metropolises many will pause to thank God for the gift of Chiara Lubich to the human family. In Sydney, Australia Cardinal George Pell will lead the community celebration, as will Archbishop John Dew in Wellington, New Zealand, and Archbishop Jan Graubner in Olomuc, the Czech Republic. The Muslim Noor Center in Toronto, Canada, will host a discussion of her contribution to interreligious dialogue. 
On March 20, at Rome’s Pontifical Urbaniana University, several prominent representatives from a range of world religions who knew Chiara will share their impressions at a conference entitled “Chiara and Religions, Moving Together Towards the Unity of the Human Family.” The event will conclude in Castel Gandolfo with an interreligious symposium among Christians and faithful of other religious traditions, including Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, and Sikhs. On this, her sixth anniversary, the preliminary phase of the Cause of Beatification of Chiara Lubich will begin. On December 7, 2013 Focolare President Maria Voce made the formal request to open the process to Raffaello Martinelli, Bishop of Frascati. Voce commented, “This invites all of us to greater holiness, to build it up each day in our daily lives, in order to allow a ‘holiness of the people’ to emerge, which is what Chiara always sought to promote.”
