Please note: The geolocalisation feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centres are present – is only meant to be a guide. The markers on the map do not necessarily point to a specific address and they must not be relied on for navigational purposes.
Lancio del sito da Maria Voce in un collegamento video dalla Spagna, 22 gennaio 2011.
Since her departure for heaven on the 14th of March 2008, Chiara Lubich has been very close to us. Chiara was a great communicator. As soon as she discovered that “God loves us immensely”, she wanted to tell everyone about it, using the means available to her in those times. The hundreds of letters she wrote testify to this. She wholeheartedly embraced all means of communication and new technologies and saw them as an opportunity to spread her ideals of a united world. This is obvious in her talk “Mass Media: a Vocation for a United World” published especially for the opening of this new website.
We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to Chiara. This new international website of the Focolare Movement is dedicated to her.
We have been working on the development of this new website for over a year with the help of many collaborators: the first companions of Chiara Lubich, the editorial staff which is composed of representatives of the various branches and realities of the Focolare Movement, our technical personnel and graphic designers, our translators, the zone delegates around the world and regional counsellors. It has been a great team effort and we thank each one for making it all possible.
However, the fact we are online doesn’t mean that the website is complete. On the contrary, it will be a constant “work in progress”. It will keep evolving with your suggestions and input. The aim is to present the life of the Focolare Movement in its unity and variety.
What’s new?
4 menu headings give you an overview of the whole Focolare Movement.
8 themes act as cross references to the contents, covering subjects such as economics, politics, sport, education, communications and spirituality.
Focolare Worldwide: you will be able to select a nation and find useful information about it: a map, links to Focolare sites, news and events, and contact information for significant places.
A glance at the past: A direct link on the Home Page takes you directly to “Chiara Lubich – founder”. A similar link is dedicated to Igino Giordani.
Spirituality: the Focolare “Word of Life” is one of the most popular features of the current site. The new site will continue to give access to relevant and enriching experiences with increased use of multimedia, and will now be extended to the children and youth versions.
Headlines: a top banner will highlight current news. Colour coded photo framess will indicate the theme of reference.
Multimedia content: Photos, audio and video will be grouped together in the “media gallery”, directly accessible from the Home Page. There will be Photo galleries for important news and events.
Towards Web 2.0: The first steps towards interactivity and sharing. With one click news can be shared with the main social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc.
Direct access for children and teens, with a different content style.
Interaction with other sites: A box that brings together news from other sites with Rss feeds (Città Nuova, NetOne and others)
On pilgrimage to Montserrat 
On 17 January, near to the end of her stay in Catalonia, Maria Voce went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Montserrat, who is the patroness of Catalonia. She was accompanied by the Abbot, Dom Josep M. Soler. The meeting was cordial and full of mutual esteem, in continuation of the fraternity and communion which has marked the relations between the Focolare and the Benedictines. While visiting the Monastery of Montserrat in 2002, Chiara Lubich remarked: “Oftentimes, the movements give the example of charismatic and evangelical freshness, as well as an abundant and creative evangelisation. But the movements have much they can learn from the witness of consecrated life, which guard and preserve many treasures of experience and wisdom.” The abbot said that he was gladdened to learn that Chiara Luce Badano, the young woman recently beatified in Rome, was at Montserrat shortly before her death. “Another thing that unites us!” exclaimed Dom Josep. Still on Monday, the 17th, the Cardinal of Barcellona, Lluis Martines Sistach welcomed Maria Voce with great affection, recalling Chiara’s visit in 2001. In the evening the president met the Archbishop of La Seu d’Urgell and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, Bishop Joan-Enric Vives i Sicília. The journey ended with a visit to the Basilica of the Sagrada Famiglia, which was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI last November. Then there was a visit to Ciutat Nova, the Catalan edition of Citta Nuova. Now they are leaving for the land of Andalusia, Seville, in the south of Spain.
Economy of Communion: A new paradigm for the African Development is the title of the first Pan African Summer School of the Economy of Communion, which will be held from January 23 to the 25 at Mariapolis Piero in Nairobi (Kenya). There will be 110 aspiring young entrepreneurs who want to learn how to start businesses of communion, together with experts in the Economy of Communion from the United States, Philippines and Italy. The youth expected are from all over Africa (Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Cameroun, Central Africa, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, Madagascar, South Africa and Angola); they speak 4 different languages: English, French, Portuguese and Italian.
Formation, reciprocity, and enculturation are the fundamental pillars of the school. “The Pan African Summer School is based on three assumptions,” said Luigino Bruni, responsible for the worldwide EoC project. “The first: today, cooperation in development is done with people, not with capital. Without quality universities, no serious development can take place. Second: the method of the school is reciprocity. There will not be any professors from the West who are coming to teach the African youth. Starting from the high esteem that we hold for the culture, everyone will learn from everyone. Thirdly: development cannot happen without business culture, and this is what Africa is missing today. Africa needs to open itself up to the market while saving the “community” roots that are so strong in its culture’s DNA. So, one can understand how “Economy” and “Communion” can truly be an important opportunity here.”
In the days that follow the school, from January 26 to 28, 2011, the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi will host the International Conference on the Economy of Communion, in which 300 people are expected to participate. It’s the first time that the Economy of Communion will be presented in an African University. Dr. Aloys Blasie’ Ayako, Dean of this prestigious university’s Faculty of Commerce, has strongly encouraged this event – which will pay special attention to “business culture” – as he sees great hope for his people in the Economy of Communion culture.
To give continuity to this important moment, there is a professional development course in the works at CUEA. It is aimed at spreading an economic business culture for Africa and will be entrusted to a group of economists and scholars that work throughout the world developing the Economy of Communion.
The difficulties that Europe’s democracy is going through was the topic suggested for a training seminar on politics held on the 13th of January for the youth of Cagliari in Sardegna, Italy. The context was indeed a difficult one. In Sardegna social tensions have been increasing. Despite the fact that disillusionment, disorientation and uncertainty about the future appears to be widespread among the youth, this event once again attracted many participants.
What does universal brotherhood have to say to Political Science and to modern democracy and all its paradoxes?
This was the main point of keynote speaker Daniela Ropelato, Professor of Political Sciences at the University Institute Sophia located in Loppiano (near Florency, Italy). She shared with the audience the main ideas of a reflection that involves politicians and scholars, citizens and government officers, who have found in the charism of unity the cornerstone for their public commitment.
The school on politics in Cagliari is not an isolated experience: it is one out of ten such schools born recently in Italy. They are part of the international network of the Schools of the Movement for Unity. “Learning communities”, as they are called in Argentina, are for those young people who do not wish to yield to current trends in politics but who have decided to practice a “politics of communion”.
The young people from Sardegna attending were the main protagonists of the event: their example is a concrete answer to the need for unity.
“An extra drive to become more active, also in our small way,” said one of the participants, “to become citizens who are aware of the contribution we all can give”. “We can do politics at home, in a waiting rooms, in a shop, in a square, by giving our opinion and witnessing with our life”.
Their School has being named after “Domenico Mangano”. He had moved to Viterbo from Sardegna. He was convinced that the light and logic of the Gospel had to lead our actions in politics. He was a justice builder and developer who was at every bodies service. He had many high administrative responsibilities in the city of Viterbo. He witnessed that a positive relationship among generations may be the key to the so needed innovation the public sphere needs.
The aim of www.chiaraluce.org is to make Chiara Luce’s experience known as widely as possible and it will have a special emphasis on the collective spirituality. The website seeks to reach everyone. Apart from Italian, it is translated into English and Spanish and it seeks to focus on the life experience of Chiara Luce which many of us can relate to. This is why the site has simply been called Chiara Luce. It’s not meant to be a commemorative site but rather a site which speaks about a friend who is close to us. It is divided into three parts: LIFE, LOVE, LIGHT. The choice of words is not random. In fact, the site wishes to be a continuation of that evening celebration for Chiara Luce held at Pope Paul VI Audience Hall, at the Vatican, on 25 September 2010. LIFE: this first section, which focuses on the life of Chiara Luce, is what is currently active. It is subdivided into 7 sub-sections: her parents’ wish for a child, Chiara’s childhood and teenage years, her sickness and death, her beatification and the ensuing phenomenon – each section is enriched with images and videos. The second section, entitled LOVE, aims to deepen the collective spirituality and will gather the most relevant experiences from the whole world. Finally, the section on LIGHT, is expected to go online in February and will be geared towards the most social and dynamic aspect of the Internet. It will be connected to the most such social networks as Facebook, Orbit, Twitter, YouTube and grant visitors access to everything that the online network has to offer on the topic: past, present and future events surrounding Chiara Luce. Ample space will be given for comments and feedback. Welcome to www.chiaraluce.org !
The Focolare Movement in Spain
