May 5, 2021 | Non categorizzato
On 2 May, as part of United World Week 2021, a streaming event was held to mark the 25th anniversary of the Politics for Unity Movement (MPPU). A close link between generations to imprint the coefficient of universal fraternity on political relations and institutions. An “Call Towards a Politics of Quality” launched. At the Angelus, Pope Francis greeted the anniversary. Experienced politicians together with young people at their first political experience were the promoters of a streaming event on Sunday 2 May. The event, the result of months of shared work and part of the programme of the United World Week 2021, to celebrate 25 years since the founding of the Politics for Unity Movement (MPPU). Eight simultaneous languages, more than 500 listening points from all over the world and 4000 live views. In addition to the richness of the topics at the centre of the convention, there was also the unexpected and joyfully welcomed encouragement of Pope Francis, who during the Sunday Angelus addressed all the adherents of the MPU “founded by Chiara Lubich”, wishing them “good work in the service of good politics”. The live programme first of all reviewed some witnesses of the birth of the Political Movement for Unity, the moment when the founder of the Focolare Chiara Lubich founded it on 2 May 1996, meeting in Naples (Italy) with a group of politicians of different affiliations. This was followed by a number of stages in the journey of the MPPs around the world, up to the initiative that has reached its conclusion on this occasion: the Call Towards a Politics of Quality. Citizens, administrators, legislators, officials and diplomats, scholars and members of civil organisations in 25 countries of the world have cooperated in the drafting of this text: an interesting international deliberative process has resulted in a “call for action”, an appeal for action addressed to politicians in cities, parliaments, international organisations and all those involved in political action, to support the irreversible path of peoples towards unity and peace. A “politics of quality” – for the authors of the appeal – is a policy that is “better every day”, a policy that is “gentle” and “strong” at the same time, entrusted to women and men who know how to look at the deepest and most shared values of humanity, competent politicians who know how to plan for the long term and who are accountable for their mandate, who do not use people for electoral calculations, who activate processes by recognising the self-organising capacity of communities, who are on the side of the victims but do not abandon the guilty. Of course, there are thousands and thousands of emergencies to deal with,” said Adelard Kananira, from Burundi, also on behalf of the young politicians interviewed on the programme, “but we know that today the emergency that challenges us all is that of the vaccine as a common good. No time was wasted, therefore, and under the direction of the Mppu team and the young promoters of the United World Week, a strong international initiative was launched in the days immediately preceding the event: for universal access to vaccines and their widespread production, also in view of the WTO meeting and the G20 meeting on global health. “This is the response we want to propose, touching established systems with an action-sign for those in the world who do not have access to health care, because we believe that the good of others, even those we do not know, is our own good,” says Klara Costa, from Brazil, from the Focolare’s Youth for a United World Movement. “Taking care of each other: this is the concrete sign of a politics of quality. We have tried to witness this in the places where the pandemic is most serious,” said Mario Bruno, president of the International Centre of Mppu. “We met the operators of a hospital ship, the ‘barco papa Francisco’, which is bringing health care to those populations in Parà, Brazil. It is them that we want to reach as soon as possible with the vaccine’. Closing the appeal – and the streaming – was therefore the drawing of a high politics, anchored to reality and full of ideal strength at the same time, a politics that knows how to act “to love and heal the world”. We start again from here.
Edited by the Mppu International Centre
To review the event in the various languages click here
May 3, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Thank God you exist!” These are the heartfelt words Chiara Lubich addressed to young people on the occasion of World Youth Day 2,000. The following excerpt from her talk highlights the courage, freedom and hope that characterise young people and the specific contribution this generation can make to bring about “a new world, a better, happier world, one that is more worthy of the human person and more united”. … I know from experience that young people have something special, which represents a great hope for the world. Although you may be immersed, like everyone else, in the evils of our times, you, young people often have hearts and minds with antennas that can detect special wavelengths which others are not able to perceive. Your very age makes you free to entertain noble aspirations such as peace, justice, freedom, and unity, to dream of achievements which would appear utopian to others, to foresee in the third millennium the dawning of a new world, a better, happier world, one that is more worthy of the human person and more united. We thank God that you exist! But what do I want to say to you now? My words are an echo of the words of Jesus which the Pope repeated to young people in 1995: “As the Father sent me, so I send you” (Jn. 20:21). It’s an invitation to bring the light of truth into today’s society; to take up the challenge of what the Pope called a “new evangelization”. A “new evangelization”!! Why is it “new”? And what does “new” mean? It has a number of meanings and I will tell you about one of them. You know that nowadays words are no longer enough. Young people, in particular’ don’t want to listen so much to teachers as to witnesses; they want to see facts. Well then, evangelization will be “new” if those who proclaim the Gospel are first of all genuine, authentic Christians, if they are the first to live what the Gospel teaches, so that people can say of them what was said of the first Christians: “See how they love one another and how they are ready to die for one another.” Furthermore, evangelization will also be “new” if they love all other people, without distinction. And it will be “new” furthermore if these Christians love in practical ways by engaging in works that help give food, clothes, and shelter to those in need. And finally, it will be new – and this is important – if they speak and announce the Gospel only after doing all this. Christians of this kind, I assure you, make the life of Jesus attractive to people today, who grow in love for him, and so the kingdom of God spreads beyond all expectations and the Church is strengthened and grows. It grows so much that these Christians can look far into the future, as Jesus did when he called everyone to universal fraternity, praying to the Father: “That they may all be one”. It might seem a wild dream, but it’s possible because it is the dream of a God. And they believe in it. There are thousands, indeed millions of young people from all nations who are moving towards this very goal. It is to them that John Paul II said: “People who look to the future are the ones who make history: the others are just in tow…[1] Dear young people, today the Pope’s words are addressed to all of you. Don’t disappoint him, don’t disappoint us. I wish you this with all my heart.
Chiara Lubich
[1]. John Paul II, Homily during Mass at the conclusion of the Genfest 1980, in L’Osservatore Romano” May 19-20, p. 1.
Apr 30, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Orthodox Christians are celebrating Easter this year on Sunday 2 May. Delia Surdu, a focolarina belonging to the Romanian-Orthodox Church describes her preparation for this feast. The Orthodox Church celebrated Palm Sunday on 25 April, leading into Holy Week culminating on 2 May with the feast of the resurrection of the Lord. Delia Surdu is an Orthodox focolarina, living in the focolare community house at Velletri, near Rome, Italy. We asked her how she is living Holy Week in these pandemic times: “I must say this is a rather unusual Holy Week because of the world situation. But it’s far better than last year, when we were in total lockdown here in Italy, so we could only follow our services via internet. Today, we thank God we’re able to take part, even if they will be much shorter than usual! In these times, when we meet so much suffering caused by the pandemic and many other factors, so much lonelines … I feel we’re closer to Jesus Christ Crucified and Abbandoned. And by looking at Him, without turning our gaze away, looking at the patience with which he accepted suffering, the love with which He gave His life for us, we’ll receive strength and rise up together with Him!” In your focolare community, you’re the only one belonging to the Orthodox Church. The others are Catholic. How are you all living the preparations for this Easter “Together! We’re ready to declare to one another once more: Christ is risen! We celebrated Catholic Easter together on 4 April, and now we’re living another Pascal Triduum together, according to the Romanian Orthodox Church tradition. They’ll even be helping me make our traditional Easter food, because they’ve all learnt really well how to do it! Since I came to this focolare community, one of the greatest joys has been preparing our ‘sarmale’ (cabbage and mince rolls) together with a Korean focolarina, and exchange all the Easter greetings we have in my Church’s tradition! We’re one family, so one person’s celebration is everyone’s celebration!” What originally drew you to the spirituality of unity of Chiara Lubich? And today what inspires you to build universal fraternity? “I got to know the Focolare Movement when I was 14 years old. What struck me first was the discovery that the words of Sacred Scripture could be lived by anyone, even a girl like me, simply in every day life. In particular I was strongly drawn by the words: “That all may be one” (John 17:21) and I decided to live to contribute towards its realisation! Chiara’s ideal of unity inspires everything I do every day: in my job working with disabled children, in my free time, at home in my focolare community, in my Church etc. I try to see in everyone a brother or sister to love, with whom I can walk together towards universal fraternity”. Can you tell us something of your own experience of dialogue, in your daily life with people from other Churches? “Living with people who belong to a different Church to my own is a personal enrichment. Rather than dialogue, I’d say it’s a life lived together, with everyone striving to love the others and so drawing out the best of ourselves and the beauty of our own traditions, discovering the best and the beauty of each other’s Church. For example, I’m so impressed by the commitment of the Catholic focolarine to many social actions they support in society. And they in turn are touched by the sense of Mystery they find in our way of living our faith as Orthodox Christians”.
Lorenzo Russo
Apr 28, 2021 | Non categorizzato
The 25th edition of the United World Week (1-9 May 2021) promoted by the young people of the Focolare Movement gets underway. Central event in Brussels (Belgium). David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, will speak. Covid -19 Vaccine as a global common good, the UN treaty for the prohibition of nuclear weapons, global strategies to welcome migrants, legality, civil economy and integral ecology will be focal points during the 25th edition of United World Week (1-9 May 2021), an international event promoted by the Youth of the Focolare Movement and streamed on the multilingual platform www.unitedworldproject.org. The main item on the programme of this international event will take place in Brussels from 7th to 9th May. David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, will participate in the International Forum. Care as political action and response to ecological challenges The “culture of care”, expressed by the slogan #DARETOCARE, is at the heart of this project. It consists of a campaign of awareness and action, in which young people have realized that the road to build a better future lies in the ability and courage to care, also as a political paradigm, understood as a service to every person and in very social sphere. The first phase of the campaign promoted “care” in our behaviour as citizens and in our political actions; the second phase, which will start with United World Week 2021, will focus on the “care” of the planet and the challenges of integral ecology. This year’s programme: May 2: The Politics for Unity Movement, which celebrates its 25th anniversay, proposes an online event during which it will launch “An appeal for a new quality of politics”. May 7-9: An international Convention streamed from Brussels (Belgium); citizens and politicians will be able to share ideas, discuss and work together in an online agora. May 7: In a face-to-face meeting with youth, David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, will be the main speaker. Peace, politics, welcoming migrants and ecology will be discussed. Others scheduled to take part in the United World Week events are: the economists Jeffrey Sachs, Sir Partha Dasgupta and Luigino Bruni; Simone Borg, Professor of Environmental and Resources Law at the University of Malta; Lorna Gold, Professor of Environment, Sustainability and Social Justice, at the National Maynooth University, Ireland; Catherine Belzung, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Tours, France; Pasquale Ferrara, diplomat and ambassador; Giuseppe Gatti, magistrate of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate; Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán, President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement; Fr. Luigi Ciotti, founder of Libera. United World Week is an international event promoted by the Focolare youth. Since 1996, it has involved young people and adults, institutions and associations to raise world-wide awareness on the issues of peace and brotherhood and to promote concrete actions and commitments. Info and contacts: Tamara Pastorelli (+39) 347 0064403 Focolari Communications Office – Stefania Tanesini – (+39) 338 5658244 ————————————————————————————
PROGRAMME
May 1 15.00: “May Day at Loppiano“, live from this small town of the Focolare Movement. This is a regular event in which thousands of young people from all over Italy and also from other parts of the world participate. 21.00: Concert by the Gen Verde international performing arts group. May 2 From 11.00 to 12.00, in every time zone there will be a virtual “Run4unity”, a non-stop sports relay race with games, challenges, testimonies and commitments, to symbolise a rainbow of unity and peace on earth. 14.00: The Politics for Unity Movement, which celebrates its 25th anniversay, proposes an online event during which it will launch “An appeal for a new quality of politics”. May 4 17.00: “Female sport experiences”, with Lucia Castelli, Maddalena Musumeci, Dona Neide, Patricia Furtado, organised by Sportmeet Association. May 5 16.00: “The Economy of Francesco”, young people in dialogue with Indian economist Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta. May 6 19.00: Città Nuova (New City) presents “La legalità del Noi al tempo del COVID 19” (The ‘Us’ lawfulness at the time of COVID 19). Giuseppe Gatti, magistrate of the National Anti-Mafia and Anti-Terrorism Directorate, the economist Luigino Bruni, the journalist Gianni Bianco and Fr. Luigi Ciotti, founder of the Libera Association will take part. May 7 13.00: Youth in dialogue with David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament.
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May 7-9 World Forum #daretocare at Brussels (Belgium)
May 7 12.00 (UTC+1): “Dare To Care International Convention” from Brussels. In this opening show, set up with collaboration of the Sylvester TV Productions Company, there will be stories, best practices, ideas, inspirations “to dare to care” from all over the world. 13.00: Youth in dialogue with David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament; 14.00: The Economy of Francesco, Policies & Happiness and Care’s proposals May 8 14.00: “A vaccine for all, a Common Good the whole world needs”, with Jeffrey Sachs, economist and essayist (USA), and Catherine Belzung, psychologist and professor of neuroscience at the University of Tours (France). 21.00: Concert by the Gen Rosso international performing arts group. May 9 12.00 (UTC+1): “#daretocare for People and the Planet”, presented from Brussels in collaboration with the Sylvester TV Productions Company, will launch the second phase of the #daretocare campaign. It will focus on the challenges of integral ecology, with inspiring experiences and actions from different parts of the world. 15.00: “Care and COP26” with Simone Borg, Professor of Environmental and Resources Law at the University of Malta; Lorna Gold, Professor of Environment, Sustainability and Social Justice at the National University of Maynooth (Ireland); Pasquale Ferrara, Diplomat and Ambassador.
Apr 28, 2021 | Non categorizzato
The first academic contribution from the Latin American affiliate of Sophia University Institute is a diploma course dedicated to leadership which is participative, inclusive, team-oriented and environmental: community leadership. What topics and needs does it want to address? Interview with Lucas Cerviño, professor of theology, and Candela Fraccaro, Argentinean student In today’s world, marked by major economic and social challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, the Sophia University Institute in Latin America and the Caribbean is responding to these needs with a new Diploma course in Community Leadership. We spoke about this with Lucas Cerviño, professor of theology and co-responsible for the youth school in the Focolare’s little town El Diamante (Mexico) and a member of the team coordinating the course. Cerviño explains: “We are living through a change of epoch, in which Pope Francis (as we read in Evangelii Gaudium) sees a crisis of community commitment. We thought that in order to overcome this condition in a positive way it is necessary to promote a new style of leadership, no longer personalistic, centred on management and decision-making. At the same time, we have seen that in many places in Latin America, research is being carried out, there are experiences and proposals for community commitment. The course was created to bring together the need for renewed leadership with these seeds of new life”. Today’s world is grappling with the pandemic challenge. In this context, what needs do you want to respond to? Lucas Cerviño: “We believe that in order to overcome the pandemic we need to work together going beyond diversity, to promote an awareness that we have a common origin, an interdependence in the present and we are moving towards a common horizon. Our course wants to offer its contribution to this process”. What are the topics and training objectives of the course? Lucas Cerviño: “The course is aimed at all those who have, or are candidates for, a leadership role in the economic, political, religious or third sector, and it offers them the opportunity to practically rethink or structure their leadership. To this end, we offer knowledge, resources, strategies and skills to build a leadership that knows how to generate, preserve and enhance relational assets; facilitate synergetic, relational and cooperative practices and tools to generate more sustainable processes in different social spheres. In terms of content, the relationship between the person and the community is investigated, and we talk about sustainable development, fraternity and citizenship, social cohesion in diversity, community learning, economic management and communion, synodality and religious experience”. The teaching method is also innovative… Lucas Cerviño: “It would be a contradiction to offer a course on community leadership and then run it in a unilateral way. We need to go beyond the traditional concept of teaching to open up to community and creative learning that focuses on interpersonal relationships. The course is therefore both theoretical and practical. It is structured according to learning communities: in addition to following the lessons, participants join in groups of six or seven people and, accompanied by a tutor, create a space for reflection and community knowledge. Each participant is then supported by a tutor to develop a concrete intervention project that applies the course content. The characteristics of the course mean that the participants, who come from nine countries, including young people in their twenties and others almost at the point of retirement; students and professionals. All motivated to learn together”. Candela Fraccaro is one of the youngest students. We asked her: what made you decide to undertake a course in community leadership? Candela Fraccaro: “I am urged on by the commitment that I have been carrying out for some years with other young people in the Piedras Blancas suburb, in the city of Godoy Cruz, near Mendoza (Argentina). Here we run a toy library to educate children through play, we run workshops for teenagers, we help provide meals for children in need and together with the Youth for a United World of the Focolare Movement, we support a school. I lead some of these activities and so I feel that the course can give me tools to set up a project to help us channel our efforts”. The dialogical method is an integral part of the course. What positive elements do you see? Candela Fraccaro: “This method invites us to value diversity, to turn it into an enrichment, and proposes dialogue as a tool for building together. It is based on respect, listening and openness, and offers the opportunity to express oneself freely without imposing one’s own idea. In this way, the teaching-learning process is more enriching and everyone feels an active part of the process”.
Claudia Di Lorenzi
Apr 26, 2021 | Non categorizzato
How did the idea of a united world come about? How did this adventure of unity begin? On the occasion of the United World Week 1999, Chiara Lubich answered these questions for the young people of the Focolare. United World Week is a worldwide workshop which showcases stories, actions and initiatives that contribute to creating fraternity, unity and peace. How did this adventure of unity begin? Dear young people, I was not the one who started it. It was God who wanted it to happen. I don’t know if you have heard about the special gifts God sends on earth from time to time: they are called charisms. God, who sustains the course of history, sends these gifts for a very specific purpose: to bring about something good. To reach this goal, he even uses what we, men and women, have done that is not good. God, God who is Love, is the one who sends them. And many of us here firmly believe in him. One day, many years ago, he sent one of his charisms to us, too. Through it, we understood that he had a wonderful plan for us, young people of that time. He had a task for us, almost a mission. He wanted us to work throughout our lives so that all would be one. To achieve this, he stimulated love in our hearts and in the hearts of many other people. Is this an impossible dream? A utopia? Certainly not, because Jesus asked his Father in Heaven precisely for this. He prayed to him: “that they may all be one” (Jn 17:21). And how could God the Father not listen to God the Son? They are Father and Son, one God. And so, we set out confidently towards that goal and now all over the world, there are millions of people, including adults, young people and children, in almost every country in the world. It’s impossible to count how many of us there are! Among all these people, there are of course those who have a different religion from ours, or who don’t believe in God. They too have that innate kindness in their hearts, which is present in every human being. Therefore, we journey with them, too, towards the goal of a universal family, towards achieving a united world. And, if God is with us, who can be against us? […] if I were one of you, I would above all, take as my own the heritage which already exists. I would live in solidarity with all those millions of people who are already on the journey. Then I would try to contribute to the cause in two ways. While remaining faithful to the vision of those who began this Movement, and in solidarity with all those who have gone ahead of us, I would propose to love with even greater passion, if that is possible, and to work to reinforce the network of our Movement, which now covers the whole world. In other words, I would try to increase our strength and number. Then I would also try to be attentive to the urgent needs of humanity and see what can be done to respond to them.
Chiara Lubich
Rocca di Papa, 26th April 1999, Message to the Youth for a United World and for the 1st May event in Loppiano (Italy) Source: Chiara Lubich Centre
