It begins with a metaphor of the pelican, this talk of Ezio Aceti – psychologist of the evolutionary age – on Chiara Lubich as an educator, during the dedication of the kidergarten Spine Rossine to the foundress of the Focolare Movement, last 29th of January in Putignano, in the province of Bari (Italy).

The decision to name this school after Chiara, was born from the desire to have its pedogogy be inspired by the value of fraternity, that is expressed in the teaching methodology by the ability to transmit dsciplinary knowledge to the littlest ones. Chiara Lubich was a great example of this, breaking down and making it easy for everyone, especially to the “littlest ones”, to understand the values of the Gospel.

“The witnesses – Aceti affirms  – are great teachers because their coherence attracts and it is for this reason that they have become sources of inspiration to the young and the old who have followed them. Chiara Lubich and Mother Teresa of Calcutta represent limpid examples of this; they attracted because of the charism they radiated, over and beyond their speeches and their words, and their presence represented for many, a reason for a great emotion and deep feelings. It is important to know that charisms are for the present and that they don’t pass away even if the founders of the Movements are no longer with us. Chiara – Aceti continues – focused on the experience of God, creating a new experience based on unity. To understand the basics of education – according to the psychologist  –  we must eliminate some prejudices”.

Aceti recalled great personalities, like Chiara Lubich, who knew how to live a new educative style.  Simon Weil, a French philosopher, for example, indicated attention as a form of love for the neighbor who is speaking. Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher, exhorted to put oneself in the shoes of the other, to listen following the inspirations that come from this and finally to communicate them to the other. Maria Montessori, Italian pedagogist, elaborated a system of teaching in which she showed that if it is possible to teach something to a child bearing a handicap, then it is possible to teach it to all the children. The Polish educator, Janusz Korczak accompanied the children in his orphanage up to the moment of their death in the concentration camp of Trzeblinka. The last pedagogical element indicated by Aceti was the testament of Chiara Lubich: “Be a family… love one another until all may be one”.

During the inauguration, the greetings of Maria Voce president of the Focolare, arrived wherein she wished that the dedication to Chiara of the school would become a stimulus for whoever attends the school to follow her example.

Source: Città Nuova online. 

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