![Sportmeet in the Universities of Argentine]()
21 Jun 2010 | Non categorizzato
More than 500 educators joined in the dialogue with the international director of Sportmeet, Dr Paolo Crepaz, during his visit to Argentina at the beginning of June. The conferences dealt with a vision of sport from the prospective of brotherhood. Some of the themes of their discussion included: educating through sport; a culture of defeat for a new culture of winning; creating a constructive relationship between sports and media; inclusion; human and social development. The cooperation has already begun between universities and other institutions where Sportmeet educators teach. A visit to the Casa del Niño in an impoverished district of Florencio Varela, a suburb of Buenos Aires, allowed everyone to see firsthand the setting in which the last Deporchicos was held – a sport event promoted by Sportmeet workers each year where you can see children of different social strata playing together on the field. This event, together with other social assistance projects, helps to build fraternal relations and solidarity. The last two days of the South American visit were spent in the picturesque little town of the Focolare Movement, Mariapolis Lia, which is nestled in the Argentine pampas. Every year dozens of young people from around the world go to visit this place to have an experience of true brotherhood. Reflections on some important issues, the sharing of many experiences from real life, the intense dialogue, and some relax time, allowed the participants in the weekend training not only to feel part of the family of Sportmeet, but also to renew their commitment to respond, through sport, to the many social questions that live in each one of them.
20 Jun 2010 | Non categorizzato
L’associazione culturale Net-One promuove, dal 10 al 13 Giugno prossimi, un convegno internazionale dal titolo “prove di dialogo”.
6 Jun 2010 | Non categorizzato
‘Priests today’ is the title of an afternoon of testimonies and artistic presentations, organised by the Focolare Movement and the Schoenstatt Movement in collaboration with the International Catholic Charismatic Movement and other ecclesial bodies, to contribute to a renewal of the life and ministry of priests, in the Church and in today’s society. The new charisms are at the root of this meeting, gifts of the Spirit with which God enriches the Church, in this time of particular difficulty, to lead it to a ‘new springtime’. Testimonies – Amongst the main speakers: a priest from Ireland speaking about faithfulness to a calling from God: from Burundi, the survivors from an attack on a Junior Seminary in Buta where 40 young seminarians were martyred; from Germany, a priest who overcame a drink problem with the help of his community. Others will speak about illness; emotional life and celibacy lived in a fraternal context; pastoral work in our multicultural and multi-religious world of today. From Brazil – a major evangelisation programme together with lay people in the South of the country. Television Transmissions – the programme can be seen on the Internet in many countries (http://www.sacerdotioggi.org/page.php?id=10); on satellite from Vatican Television Centre, on Telepace, EWTN, Canção Nova, Telelumière e Mariavision; and later in the day on TV2000 from 22:00 (Italian time) on 9 June (http://www.sacerdotioggi.org/page.php?id=9) The event precedes the Vigil on 10 June in St Peter’s Square with the Pope and the solemn celebration of the Eucharist on 11 June (see: www.annussacerdotalis.org).
![Sportmeet in the Universities of Argentine]()
3 Jun 2010 | Non categorizzato
290 leaders of the Family of Hope Association (‘Familia da Esperanca’) visited the International Centre of the Focolare Movement on 28 May to celebrate and to thank Chiara for the approval that they had just received from the Pontifical Council for the Laity. The members of the Association – of Brazilian origin but now spread all over the world – are involved in many social areas, the main one being their work with young drug addicts. At the Centre they met with Eli Folonari, who was Chiara’s personal secretary, and Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti, President and Co-President respectively of the Focolare Movement, for a moment of reflection and sharing on the theme of ‘God who is Love’.
‘What is it that links us together?’ Maria Voce asked. ‘The main link is the life of the Word, which is translated into concrete actions, day by day, and takes us along a path of sanctity, no matter where our starting point was, but is something to be lived in the present moment,’ she went on to explain. Giancarlo Faletti continued: ‘The Word of God is not like other words. Other words produce a plant that lives for a short while and then dies. Instead, the Word of God produces a big plant that lasts forever. I believe that you are witnesses to this vitality.’
The beginnings of the association go back to 1983, to a corner of a street in Guaratingueta, in the inland part of the State of San Paolo. Nelson Giovanelli got to know a group of young drug addicts in his neighbourhood in an attempt to live out the words of the Apostle Paul when he said: ‘ I’ve made myself weak with the weak …’ One of them called Eleuterio, was the first to become involved and to ask help in overcoming his drug dependency. Many others followed. Somebody who helped the work of Nelson Giovanelli right from the start was a German Franciscan friar called Frei Hans Stapel, who knew the spirituality of unity of Chiara Lubich and the spirituality of poverty of St Francis of Assisi.
A community was born and grew with these young people based on an evangelical lifestyle. The association has spread throughout the world today. There are 68 Fazendas (40 in Brazil alone) working with around 3,000 young people. It is present in nine ther countries in the world: Germany, Russia, the Philippines, Mozambique, Mexico, Guatemala, Paraguay, Uruguay, Columbia and Argentina.
The ‘Fazendas da Esperanca’ became better known after Pope Benedict XVI visited the community of Pedrinhas on the occasion of his apostolic visit to Brazil in 2007. The meeting of the Holy Father with the young people of the Fazenda was one of the most moving moments of that trip. The Pope launched a strong appeal against those that sow death through drugs: ‘They will have to answer God for what they have done.’ And to the young people who have returned to life because of the Fazenda da Esperanca he gave a mission for the future: ‘You must be ambassadors of hope!’
The ‘Family of Hope’ – the official name of the Association of the faithful which has just.jpg)
been approved – is not a congregation or a secular institute, and cannot be defined as a spiritual movement like the Charismatics or the Focolare – it is a new community of lay people. It is something new in the Church. Speaking of this Maria Voce said: ‘The Church doesn’t approve a Rule as such. It approves a reality, a life that already exists. This recognition is a sign of joy. With this joy in our hearts – yours, ours and the whole Church – I think we can truly thank God.’
