A Dangerous Road in Venice
I live in a side road in Martellago, a district in Venice. Crossing this road is very dangerous because it’s very difficult to see on-coming traffic and the cars travel at high speed. The speed limit signs and the pedestrian crossing are often ignored. This results in the frequent need for brakes to be slammed on and in people overtaking in a dangerous way when others stop to let pedestrians, often children and old people, cross. I had brought this problem to the attention of the Local Council in the past but to no avail; others had filed petitions with the police but without getting any response. On more than one occasion our children were nearly knocked down. So after the umpteenth brush with near tragedy, I felt responsible for doing what I could to find a solution to this problem which wasn’t mine alone but which affected everyone in the area. So I spoke to some of the other parents from my street and neighbouring streets. One of the other parents who was also very worried about the daily risk, and I thought we would write a letter to the mayor. In order to have more impact, we thought we would ask some of the other locals to sign it too. In writing this letter we tried to emphasise the seriousness of the situation but without blaming anyone, suggesting possible solutions and mentioning positive intiatives which had been undertaken by the town council to limit the use of cars and reduce pollution, such as the introduction of a ‘pedibus’ and the use of cycling in the city. Whilst we were collecting signatures, there were those who disagreed with what we were doing, saying that there had been endless petitions and that this one too would have no effect. But, in general, both the drafting of the letter and the collection of the signatures were opportunities to build beautiful relationships with our neighbours and the other parents. We all felt more of a sense of responsibilty as we actively searched together for the solution to a problem by working ‘for’ and not ‘against something’. 
I shared what I was living with friends who, like me, try to live for fraternity in their cities and communities, receiving from them the strength and the courage to keep going. We went together to the town hall to speak to the Mayor and to give him the letter with all the signatures. One of his colleagues warned us that the Mayor would not be very pleased to receive another collection of signatures and so it turned out to be. At the start of our meeting the ‘first citizen’ expressed his aversion to these petitions. At that point I summoned up all my courage and said to him, ‘Mayor, please read the text of our request carefully.’ He did read it, understood what we were trying to do and calmed down. And so we were able to engage in a dialogue, from which several possible solutions emerged but which turned out to be too expensive and not possible to implement. And then I had an idea: in another road in our distict, a speed indicator had been installed which flashed on when approaching cars were goining at more than 30 miles an hour and the pedestrian crossing was picked out in red. So I suggested these things. The Mayor immediately seized on these ideas, saying that they had one of the indicators available and that picking out the crossing in red would not be a problem. The following Saturday, we found ourselves again with the Mayor, who was very proud to show us the plans for the project. A month later, work began in the street. From this experience, I understood the beauty and the power of living together for fraternity, being at the service of our city, our community, out of love. Luisa Busato – Venice, Italy
LoppianoLab 2011: Summing up the events
A laboratory never closes but continues. Especially if its purpose is to implement practical solutions that will generate some hope for Italy’s revival. The organizers of LoppianoLab did not place the word “end” at the conclusion of this second LoppianoLab, a national laboratory lasting four days which brought together in close dialogue researchers from the fields of economy, culture, education, art and Italian communication networks not to search for a new future for Italy, but to come up with a shared idea for Italy’s present. The final assessment was positive. The Lab was confirmed in its calling to create a national meeting space for the different worlds of work, cultural agencies, citizens and institutions. The meeting gathered together 3, 000 people and 70 Italian companies. There were 56 events including panel discussions, conferences, artistic performances and Literary cafés. 
One event that was particularly highlighted was the Second National Convention of the Economy of Communion twenty years following its birth. It involves economists and entrepreneurs together finding new avenues for work’s future. Alberto Ferrucci from the International EoC Commission announced that a document of proposals is to be presented at the United Nations, which the Economy of Communion project has formulated for confronting the crisis and finding a new model of development. Many stories were shared during these days by entrepreneurs who decided to not only consider the final product and profits, but the individual persons who are the true assets of the company. The Trinity a Way of life?” This was the title of an evening dialogue session between theology, philosophy and art, based on Coda’s theological volume, “Dalla Trinità” (From the Trinity). Two parts of the LoppianoLab took place at Sophia University Institute. One was the presentation of Sophia magazine, which reports on the research being carried out at the Institute; and the other was the presentation of Nuova Umanita which, for thirty years, expresses the Focolare Movement’s culture. Participants were also given the opportunity to become acquainted with the academic project of Sophia Institute, which is a path of life, study and research for the acquisition and deeper understanding of a Christianly inspired culture that is capable of illuminating many human dimensions as well various academic disciplines. The meeting of the Città Nuova Press Group gathered together regional work groups of journalists and officers, editors and collaborators who are involved with “Città Nuova” magazine. They stand on the front lines in strengthening a national network which promotes the culture of unity. The town of Loppiano, which hosted the events, offered an “Open City”, a presentation of its people and places: a fifty years of Centro Ave Arte art exhibit, dramatic readings from the writings of Igino Giordani and Fraçois Neveux, music, dance, and a taste of cultures from around the world. 
The concluding laboratory took place on the morning of September 18. It was entitled: “Hoping with Italy. A network for the common good on the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification.” This laboratory highlighted the results that have been achieved in various settings, pointing out practical avenues for continuing reflection and experimentation, which were summarized in four proposals to make Italy hope again: support for young entrepreneurs with special attention to the South in the Expo of EoC businesses at the Bonfanti Industiral Park; the necessary openness to other networks, organizations and institutions, in the laboratories that are promoted by the Città Nuova Press Group; summer schools in Argentina and Cile with three new Masters from Sophia University Institute, which is an instrument for re-launching the new humanism: Loppiano as a permanent laboratory. What is its contribution to Italy? To demonstrate that unity in our cities is possible even in daily life.
Spirituality of Unity: God-Love
Amidst the fury of war Chiara Lubich and her first companions were in the habit of meeting each other in bomb shelters when the sirens would sound announcing new bombings. It was the desire of these young women from Trent to be together and discover new ways of being Christian and of putting the Gospel into practice, following that startling intuition that had led them to put God-Love at the center of their interests – he alone and nothing else – at the center of their young lives. “Each event touched us deeply – Chiara later said. The lesson that God was giving us through external circumstances was very clear: All is vanity of vanities, everything passes away. But at the same time, God placed a question in my heart for all of us and, with it, the answer: “But could there be an ideal that doesn’t die, that no bombs could bring down, one that we could give ourselves to?” Yes, God. We decided to make him the ideal of our lives.” God. God, who in the middle of the fury of war, which was the fruit of hatred, through the action of a special grace, manifested himself for what he truly is: Love. The leading concept upon which the Holy Spirit then constructed this entire spirituality was, therefore, God-Love (Cf. 1 Jn 4:8). What a change this truth, now understood in a totally new way, brings about in people when they come into contact with the movement! The Christian lives they were so faithfully living before, now appear overshadowed like the lives of orphans. For now a discovery has been made: God is Love, God is a Father! Our heart, which had been living an exile in the night of this life, opens and rises and unites to the one who loves it, the one who takes care of everything, the one who even counts the hairs on our head. The joyful and painful events acquire totally new meaning: Everything is foreseen and willed by the love of God. Nothing can make us fearful. This is an exciting faith which strengthens us, which makes us glory in it. It’s a faith that brings tears to the eyes of those who experience it for the first time. It’s a gift of God that makes us shout: We have believed in love (1 Gv 4,16). The choice of God who is Love, as the ideal of our life, was the first foundation that was laid, the first requirement of this new spirituality that had blossomed in our hearts. Thus we had found the one to live for: God-Love.»
[:it]I laboratori di LoppianoLab: per imparare ad essere “rete”
Spirituality of Unity
The spirituality of unity unfolds into 12 cardinal points, leading from one to another:
- God is Love
- The Will of God
- The Word
- Our Neighbour
- Mutual Love
- Jesus in the Eucharist
- Unity
- Jesus Forsaken
- Mary
- The Church
- The Holy Spirit
- Jesus in the Midst
In Chiara Lubich the points of the spirituality of unity were not developed through thought out plans, reflections or some theological points. Rather, this is a spirituality demanding an immediate adhesion, decisive and practical, something that brings life. In the splendid history of the Church, from its individual members, its saints and communities there has always been a clear line and result: it’s the individual that goes to God. This remains the case within the spirituality of unity, in the sense that the individual’s experience of God is unique and will never be repeated. However, the spirituality is drawn from the charism of unity, entrusted by the Holy Spirit to Chiara, and as well as this indispensible personal spiritual experience there is also a deep emphasis on the communitarian dimension of Christian life. It is not a complete novelty, the Gospel is eminently communitarian. There have been experiences in the past which have underlined the collective aspect of the journey towards God, above all in the spiritualities rising from those who had love at the base of their spiritual life. This can be seen in the example of St Basil and his community. Chiara Lubich brings her own spirituality, which is an original communitarian way of going to God: being one in Christ, according to the Gospel of John: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, so may they be in us.” (Jn 17,21). In Chiara this became a style of life. A “communitarian spirituality” was foretold for our epoch by contemporary theologians and is also mentioned by the Second Vatican Council. Karl Rahner, for example, speaking of the spirituality of the Church of the future, saw it as a “fraternal communion in which it is possible to make the same basic experience of the Spirit”. Vatican II, directed attention to the Church as the body of Christ and people assembled in the bond of love of the Trinity. If St Teresa of Avila, doctor of the Church, spoke of “an interior castle”, the spirituality of unity helps to build an “exterior castle”, where Christ will be present and illuminate every part of it.