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3 Dec 2012 | Non categorizzato
Msgr Gerard De Korte and Dr Arjan Plaisier
During the last meeting, in February 2012, the idea of an event at an international event was born for Chrisitans of all the Churches and Communities. Seventy members of the Focolare Movement – already involved for some time through focolarini who belong to the Reformed Church – offered their support for the success of the event that took place on the 6th of October 2012 in Den Haag. The highpoint of the event was the moment of reciprocal forgiveness, for the offenses that were given and received: “for the arrogance with which we have looked down on one another, for the ease with which we have lived the break with the Roman Catholic Church,” for how we have considered each other’s Church as a Church from which the Holy Spirit was absent.” Everything took place beneath a large Cross that was carried by three young people. And everything was entrusted to Christ Crucified and Risen, asking also for His forgiveness. One witness that was offered by a Focolare couple – she Catholic and he Reformed – gave a glimpse of a possible way for continuing to love the other’s Church as one’s own. 
A very touching scene was the washing of the feet by three leaders of different Churches. It was a powerful way of expressing their decision to work together at the service of the new generations: a sign of a renewed ecumenism. “There is still much work to be done, but beginning from this event we Christians in Holland will now look at each other with new eyes,” one participant commented. Now the “We choose unity” project will be merged in the Holland Christian Forum that will begin in 2013. It is meant to be an open forum in which representatives of all Christian Churches and Communities in Holland can express themselves. It will be a place for sharing the faith, exchange expriences and create a platform for communion and collaboration, which is a necessary basis for progressing together along the road toward full visible communion among Christians. Hanneke Steetskamp – Holland
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30 Nov 2012 | Non categorizzato
On Thursday, 29 November, the new Sportmeet website went online
Sportmeet constitutes an international network of sports professionals which was founded in 2002. Its objective is to promote a new culture of sport.
The website’s graphic design has been totally revamped and its content renewed. It now includes the possibility for visitors to interact through the Social Networks – Facebook and YouTube. Sportmeet.org welcomes all contributions aimed at promoting the true value of sport.
One of the sections is dedicated to news, another to projects among which the various social sports projects underway around the world, and another section is dedicated to testimonies where professional sports men and women share their stories.
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29 Nov 2012 | Non categorizzato
Paolo Frizzi, a history graduate from the University of Padua, has now become the first candidate to receive a doctorate degree at Sophia University Institute of Loppiano, in “Foundations and perspectives of a culture of unity”.
The topic is a demanding one: “Christianity and religions in the 1900’s: The intuitions and the matter of Chiara Lubich. History, Theology, Society”. The doctorate delves into the interreligious experience of the Focolare founder, offering an initial reading of what was brought about thanks to her charism of communion.
The young academic institute of the Focolare Movement has not only offered a novel topic, but also a novel way of working which, faithful to the spirit of IUS, takes an interdisciplinary approach, linking theology, history and dialogue among the religions.
These are the keys to understanding what the doctoral student who, like Chiara Lubich is from Trent, has used to examine a century of history and socio-political events, along with philosophical-theological reflection, tracking their internal relationships that Chiara and the Focolare with her, have established on the various continents with people of different faiths.
Within these processes of transformation, the figure of Chiara Lubich emerges precisely as that of a prophet who is able to join spirituality, dialogue and thought. It is a proposal that is still to be discovered that the work of Frizzi has opened to further studies.
And so IUS has its first doctor in “foundations and prospectives of a culture of unity”. It is a milestone. Last 7 November is a day that will be remembered as a step forward for IUS, foward in an academic and intellectual challenge that was desired by Chiara Lubich before she left this earth.
Source: Roberto Catalano on Città Nuova online
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28 Nov 2012 | Non categorizzato
Ewa is young and tall, her hair and eyes are black. These are the colours that distinguish the inhabitants of her native land with its long-standing Catholic presence, and which gave birth to the Solidarity Movement that greatly contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall. We speak of Poland. This is where Eva grew up and one day encountered the Focolare Movement and in its Spirituality found her path in life. She certainly had never dreamt that her life could one day tell a different story for her. Where Ewa now lives in Germany, there are a variety of Christian Churches. In her own focolare she lives with focolarine from three different Churches; the majority are Roman Catholic, then there is Doina from the Romanian Orthodox Church, and Anke from the Evangelical Lutheran Church. An interesting experience, when you consider that unity – according to the prayer of Jesus ‘that all be one’ (Jn. 17) is the specific aim of the Focolare. We ask Ewa to tell us how it is possible to live unity, indeed, to build unity even though they have such different doctrinal backgrounds. “For me, this experience of an ecumenical focolare is quite powerful. It widens my heart, my thinking because we really try to live one for the other even though we see that there are so many things that could divide us. But the greatest challenge is that of not allowing Anke and Doina feel as if they are a minority. Oftentimes this was not the case, but we always begin again! We are always trying to learn about one another’s Church. We try to understand what is important to their Church, and so when it is possible we attend some of the services of each other’s Church. For example, Good Friday is an important solemnity that is part of the Easter Triduum. For the Evangelical Church is the major feast of the year. And in our focolare we tried to give it true honour, going to the Morning Service with Anke and then to the Catholic Service in the afternoon. The feastdays of the Orthodox Church are often on different days than ours. So we try to remember them even when they occur on weekends when we are often very busy. Just the same, we try to find a way to share them together. Then we observe the weekly fast of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is very important to Doina. On Wednesdays we take our meals without meat, eggs, or milk. . . Regarding fasting, at first I used to think that loving my neighbour when it is difficult was a form of “fasting.” But now I’ve come to realize that what matters is to “be” the other, in the other, even if you don’t understand everything, but slowly, slowly coming to appreciate all the richness that there is in the other’s Church. Thus I see that even taking these small daily steps you begin to build a relationship in God from which a dialogue in daily life is born, one that is based on the spirituality of unity that helps to advance the journey towards full communion among the Churches.”
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17 Nov 2012 | Non categorizzato
Is good news enough? This was the central theme of NetOne’s online meeting on Friday 9 November 2012. It linked via the internet 301 places in various nations, through the site www.net-one.org.
NetOne brings together the widest range of professionals across the media world: journalists, directors, students, lecturers, photographers, advertising consultants… Its international character and its approach to the issues and problems to do with the media, its practical emphasis, its members’ personal commitment alongside their ‘thinking’ and ‘speaking’, are the concrete expression of Chiara Lubich’s idea of universal brotherhood, the basis of NetOne’s mission: media for a united world.
The transmission was based on the challenge: ‘is good news enough’ to respond to society’s urgent questions? How can we understand or regain the notion of communicators’ work as service to others? Why does journalism (with journalists) not have a ‘purely commercial purpose’? These were the questions asked by Valter Hugo Muniz, a Brazilian journalist who highlighted how journalism ought to be aware that, before all else, the news should be at the service of human beings and of the human community.
Others also spoke during internet meeting: from Belgium there was Paolo Aversano, a researcher into Business Modelling and Smart Cities at the Free University of Brussels, and from Bari in Italy there were Emanuela Megli Armeni, a consultant in communication, and Domenica Calabrese, president of the local Igino Giordani Association. The topics dealt with included the various forms of knowledge, the new frontiers opened by the internet, the opportunities for mutual enrichment between cultures and dialogue.
Among the guests was José Andrés Sardina, a Spanish architect, who has lived and worked for several years in Cuba. He demonstrated the partial nature of what was said about the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and showed pictures of the disaster taken by the Red Cross in the City of Santiago de Cuba: 9 deaths, 5,000 houses destroyed, 27,000 homeless and more than 100,000 houses damaged, costing an estimated 88 million dollars.
This was followed by two accounts of Focolare events from eye-witness: Jessica Valle of the Social Communication Team at Genfest 2012 (a worldwide youth event in Budapest) and Michele Zanzucchi, editor-in-chief of Città Nuova, one of the organizers of LoppianoLab (at Loppiano, near Florence). This latter was a workshop looking at Italy and the challenges it faces, with a view to coming up with practical solutions.
Nedo Pozzi, Coordinator of the International Commission of NetOne, closed the online meeting by recalling what Chiara Lubich said at the United Nations (May 1997), when she underlined the importance of putting the Gospel into practice: ‘We must live! Not teaching, doing…. Let’s try to start loving, also here in the UN, one with another, one ambassador with another, one administrator with another. Let’s see what happens. It ought to bring about the presence of Christ in your midst. And what does this mean? Peace, guaranteed among you and among many others too.’ This is an invitation that, in substance, can certainly be of use to everyone involved with communication.
by Maria Rosa Logozzo
(Source: ZENIT.org, 14 November 2012)
