Jan 31, 2019 | Non categorizzato
The desire to share the discovery that has given meaning and joy to their lives – this is what drives someone to set out to give life to a temporary focolare. This way others too can experience the most beautiful of adventures – living for universal fraternity. 
They are young people, adults and families, who set off in small groups to visit distant countries where communities and villages await them. For a while they travel along the same road together, experiencing mutual acceptance and an exchange between the different cultures. They give of themselves to the others and they “make themselves one” with the others – in their joys and in their sorrows. They are certain that it is through loving our neighbours that each one of us finds our own full realisation. They believe that fraternity is possible between people of different faiths and beliefs and that the Golden Rule – “Do to others what you would have done to you” – exists for everyone to make it their own. These small groups are the so-called “temporary focolares”, a travelling version of the traditional focolares. They function as central points of the Movement in various territories. They are like beating hearts sharing the life within them. In recent years there have been dozens of them, all following in the wake of the “pioneers” of the Focolare Movement who, ever since the 1950s, were sent out by Chiara Lubich like modern apostles to bring the charism of unity to different continents. 
Nepal is a meeting point between the Mongolian populations of Asia and the Caucasian populations of the Indian plains. There is a profound sense of spirituality there with Buddhism practised side by side with Christianity and Hinduism. In 2018, from October 20 to November 7, a group of focolarini made their way to Nepal, travelling from the capital Kathmandu to Dharan, in the south, and then further north to Pokhara. Their goal was to build relationships. Coming from India, Italy and Great Britain, the members of the focolare group immediately immersed themselves in the Nepalese culture. On their arrival the Dashain Hindu festival was in progress. It’s the largest Hindu festival and it involves the whole country. The group participated in the Tika ritual, and received the traditional blessing. In Daharan, the group was welcomed in parishes where they spoke of the history of the Focolare Movement and of its commitment to universal fraternity. They were met with great enthusiasm from the people and the priests. In the capital, the group was joined by two Nepalese young people who had participated in the 2018 Genfest in Manila. They shared their experience with the students of a school run by Jesuit fathers. In Pokhara they met with some Hindu families. Although they were poor and had very little to live on, harmony and dignity filled their homes. After the focolarini spoke about the ideal of unity, they were invited to have lunch together while listening to traditional music. The group then visited Bishop Paul Simick, the Apostolic Vicar of Nepal, who said he was happy about their presence in the country and invited them to meet the priests. This journey to Nepal was a journey of mutual enrichment, where the ideal of unity met the local cultures. A Buddhist saying describes it effectively: Those who have “high” thoughts are not happy to remain in the same place. Instead, like the swans, they leave their own home and fly towards a higher home.
Claudia Di Lorenzi
Jan 30, 2019 | Non categorizzato
On January 24 Korean President Moon Jae-in visited the Sum Sim Dang bakery, which is part of the Focolare’s Economy of Communion project. 
For a business owner, it goes without saying that having the president of the republic visit your business is an exceptional event. But if that visit happens on the president’s birthday, it’s even more so! That’s exactly what happened in Daejeon to Amata Kim and Fedes Im, two Korean entrepreneurs who are part of the Economy of Communion and run the well-known bakery Sung Sim Dang. Moon Jae-in, who has been South Korea’s president since May 2017, is known in the West for starting the peace process with North Korea after almost 70 years of cold war. He celebrated his birthday at Sung Sim Dang with a magnificent cake and was able to get to know the business’s history and reality up close. His Instagram post got more than 76,000 likes in just a few hours. “I was pleasantly surprised today to celebrate my birthday at the Sung Sim Dang bakery in Daejeon,” he said. “During the war in 1950 my father and the bakery’s founder (Fedes’ father) were on the same evacuation ship, Victoria, fleeing North Korea. Remembering this moment of history is for us is something we hold dear and precious. My birthday is a day like any other, but today I am recharged with new strength from the well wishes of so many. Thank you!” The event resonated widely in the media, partly because Sung Sim Dang is universally recognized and highly valued throughout the city of Daejeon. Click here to see video highlights from the visit.
Antonella Ferrucci
Source: www.edc-online.org 
Jan 28, 2019 | Non categorizzato
Trieste, Italy – stories related by those who actually live them “Together with members of Caritas and the Italian Consortium of Solidarity (ICS), we support mainly migrant and refugee families and their children, hosted at a reception facility in our city, Trieste, and in the province. For the last three years, we have been organizing regular activities; some of us help mothers with their study of the Italian language to facilitate their everyday life; others play with children and follow them in their homework. Many families have been hosted in our centre, and with almost all them we have managed to build a relationship that lasts even after they leave the centre. Through collaboration with Azione per Famiglie Nuove Onlus (New Families), we set up a project to support a Kurdish family who was in difficulty. This project was financed by some members of the community. After having been supported for two years, the father has now managed to find a job, so the family is self-supporting and lives in a hired apartment. Through other small projects we help other families in their various needs; mothers are assisted to follow specialization courses and thus be prepared for a job, and children are helped to integrate and participate in various activities, as for example sport. We see that these families get the medical care necessary and we also accompany them in their search for a home. We have found small jobs for mothers; and a father, whom we helped with driving lessons, is now employed with a company as a truck driver. With the help of some families, we have managed to offer a “family holiday” to an African widow and her two children, who really needed it. We also try to share with them particular moments in everyday life such as birthdays, Sunday outings to the park, boat-trips, New Year’s Eve festivities, Carnival celebrations and also moments of prayer, as for example during the Ramadam for our Muslim friends. After the appeal by Pope Francis on the World Day of the Poor: “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him”, we wanted to answer his invitation to all Christians to hear this cry and not let it be in vain. So we thought of organizing a “Friendship Festival”, a lunch for those in need: refugees, migrants, unemployed and poor people of our city. We also managed to involve our Focolare community, and asked members to help with food and with other things needed for preparing the hall. We involved even the friends we invited, asking them to contribute towards our feast – if it were possible – with some typical food of their country of origin. About eighty people participated; they came from Cameroon, Nigeria, Eygpt, Tunisia, Russia, Pakistan, Kurdistan, Kosovo. To our great surprise, we are realizing that Caritas is starting to consider us as a point of reference, a “project” that goes well beyond welfare work. We are being called to share in their programmes and projects and sometimes even to seek solutions. It seems that they are pleased with the way we welcome and support those in need, while we aim at building relationships of reciprocity. In the midst of this chaos, where, maybe, not everyone looks at the welcome given to the least from the same valuable point of view, we feel that we cannot stop, but we must continue to give hope.
Paola Torelli Mosca On behalf of the Trieste welcome and support group to migrants
Fonte: www.focolaritalia.it
Jan 26, 2019 | Non categorizzato
An occasion to recall the story of Alberta Levin Temin, speak about the Shoah with secondary school students and propose that the Golden Rule is a way of creating a more united and peaceful world. 
Splendid sunshine provided a background to a special day in Ischia, an island in the Bay of Naples in Italy, when on January 23, a group of students from Giovanni Scotti High School attended the presentation of a book entitled “I Will Speak for as Long as I Live”. At this event, they learnt about Alberta Levi Temin who was a direct witness to the tragedy of the Holocaust and an admirer of Chiara Lubich. The young people listened to an emotional account of her life story in the presence of a group of friends of the Focolare Movement including teachers, students, parents and even the author of the book Pasquale Lubrano Lavadera and Diana Pezza Borrelli. The latter had met Alberta through the “Association of Jewish–Christian Friends” in Naples and had enjoyed a warm relationship with her. Pasquale said, “One day, Alberta came to speak in my school. She was Jewish but she came with her dear friend, Diana, who was Catholic. She had been invited to speak to staff and students about the horrors of the Shoah but also to witness to the fact that dialogue is possible among people of different races, faiths and beliefs. I was very struck by one thing she said, ‘There is only one human family and we are all brothers and sisters.’” 
Alberta died in 2016 but throughout her life, she was sustained by one idea. It was the Golden Rule “Do to others what you would like done to you and do not do to others what you would not want done to you.” This idea always filled her with joy. She was committed to creating dialogue at all levels of society. She said, “I understand that today, more than ever, we need to love: as Chiara Lubich says, ‘We need to love another person’s country as much as we love our own.’ We should love the whole of humanity: it is only in this context that dialogue can develop.” “Every school should dedicate an hour or two each week to teaching all classes about the value of relationship. This helps young people to live together in a peaceful way and to collaborate in their studies for the good of all. Their school years are their first experience of being part of society and they should aim at making this a time of mutual support.” Alberta was convinced of this. 
At the conclusion of the presentation, the young people were invited to live the Golden Rule – “do to other whatever you would like done to you” – an instrument of peace and dialogue shared by all religions. To mark the occasion, the director of education, Lucia Monti, put a plaque by the olive tree dedicated to Alberta to express gratitude towards her and to encourage people to remember her example. Chiara, a student from the school, also said, “Thank you for the message of fraternity that you have given us. I am so impressed by the fact that Catholics are meeting with Jews and people of other religions to contribute to building a united world.” Pasquale Lubrano said, “I feel that I should thank Alberta for her life and wisdom. Now that she is no longer among us, I hope that by reading her story, each person here can experience her unique interior “beauty” and share this with others.” He concluded by saying, “Today I have been deeply moved by the attentive way in which the young people have listened, by their enthusiasm and by their searching gaze. In each one of them I have seen the need to live Love for all human beings and the awareness that the human family is one.”
Lorenzo Russo
Jan 25, 2019 | Non categorizzato
The 34th World Youth Day organized by the Catholic Church is underway in Panama. We turn to Panamanian journalist and Focolare member, Flor Ortega, for her firsthand comments. The bridges logo of the 2019 WYD – with the main theme “I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38) – represents both the Isthmus of Panama and the spirit of welcome. A small strip of land, measuring just 75 square meters, between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, Panama links not only the two Americas, but also all continents, through its famous canal frequented by world shipping. It is a welcoming, open-door country, particularly for the many migrants who are, and have ever been, moving South or North. How have you been preparing for this event? “Back in 2016, on 31 July at the ‘Campus Misericordiae’ in Kraków, Poland, Pope Francis announced that the 34th World Youth Day in 2019 would be in Panama. The Focolare Movement in the central American region greeted the news with great enthusiasm,” recalls Panamanian journalist Flor Ortega. “It took a while for updates to get through. We set up commissions to be able to transmit information on the preparation in all its aspects quickly and effectively. Now the WYD has a strong media and social media presence”. On 17 May, in Panama City, during a Eucharistic celebration with thousands of people, Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa launched the idea of a series of Prayer Days on the 22nd of every month leading up to the WYD. The Archbishop then personally asked the youth of the Focolare Movement to prepare the first such day, on 22 June. How did the young people react to this proposal? “With real enthusiasm and commitment. Carmen Cecilia from Panama, told us how this commitment actually helped her to a new understanding of prayer, of the Eucharist and of the Rosary ‘as opportunities to meet Jesus face to face’.” Many young people, members of the Focolare Movement in Panama and other countries, have been working for months on a two-day event at the end of the WYD, 29-31 January, for around 400 youth. “Adults have been offering their support by organizing the meals and accommodation, as well as fund-raising. The young people have been concentrating on creating the online registration system, setting up a consultation service and ‘call center’ connecting people wishing to contribute from outside Panama. The women’s Focolare centre in Panama has become something of a logistics coordination point. Keilyn from Costa Rica described it as ‘as opportunity to get to know the community of Panama which is very united and hard-working, a real example to us all’.” Among those arriving from around the world, Jesús Morán, Focolare Vice President, from the Movement’s international centre in Rome, Italy. And the international Focolare band, Gen Verde travelled from Italy to perform in two pre-WYD events. The first was in Chitré, provincial capital of Herrera, on the Gulf of Panama, the second in Colón on the Atlantic coast. Gen Verde will be performing again on 26 January at the vigil leading up to the concluding Mass to be celebrated by Pope Francis. “Pro mundi beneficio”, “For the Benefit of the World” proclaims Panama’s national motto. What does it mean? «The motto, historically, is linked to the service provided by the canal. But now, ideally, we’d like to extend it to the message that will come out of this World Youth Day!»
Chiara Favotti
Jan 24, 2019 | Non categorizzato
The trip was promoted by the Patriarch Athenagoras-Chiara Lubich International Ecumenical Chair, which was established after Patriarch Bartholomew received an honorary doctorate in 2015. “Continue on the path you’ve taken on the way of dialogue, because it is reconciliation, true encounter, the ability to understand, divine philanthropy, welcoming others who are different, transfiguring the world, and welcoming God into human history. Bring this message to all those at all levels who participate in the work of your institute, with a fraternal embrace to Focolare Movement President Maria Voce, and all our brothers and sisters in the movement. The ecumenical patriarchate is your home as well, this city of Constantine is your city as well, because you are not foreigners, but friends.” This was the final greeting that Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I gave to 30 professors and students of the Sophia University Institute (Loppiano), who are from a number of countries. Together with the institute’s director, Mons. Piero Coda, they had traveled to the patriarch’s residence at Phanar (Istanbul, Turkey). The visit of the Sophia delegation to the ecumenical patriarchate was from January 8–12. It was promoted by the Patriarch Athenagoras-Chiara Lubich International Ecumenical Chair, which had been established after Patriarch Bartholomew received an honorary doctorate on October 26, 2015. It was established “to remember and restart the prophetic spirit that animated the extraordinary harmony of heart and mind between Patriarch Athenagoras I and Chiara Lubich, just before the Second Vatican Council and the historical meeting between the patriarch and Pope Paul VI.” The academic trip included, among other things, together with the audience with the patriarch, a meeting with Metropolitan Gennadios Zervos, who was in Istabul during that time for the Holy Synod. The group also met with Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa on January 10, at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Halki, Turkey. This meeting opened up productive possibilities of cooperation between the seminary and Sophia University Institute, including a summer school that will probably be held in late spring 2020. The visit was particularly significant in this fragile, tense moment that the Orthodox world is going through today. It is aiming once again to call for a commitment to tenaciously pursue a path of mutual understanding, and a reciprocal exchange of gifts to promote fraternity and communion.
Jan 22, 2019 | Non categorizzato
The meeting entitled “Co –governance – mutual responsibility in cities today” has ended with a written proposal to citizens and public administrators to both engage in and to create networks drawing together citizens, social partners and cities. “Politics is the love of loves that brings together the richness of people and groups in the unity of a shared project, allowing everyone to fulfil their vocation freely”(1). These challenging words of Chiara Lubich, founder of the Focolare, resounded at the end of the “Co-Governance, co-responsibility in the cities today”, conference dedicated to participatory governance of cities promoted by the New Humanity Movement, the Movement for Politics and Policy for Unity and the Association of Cities for Fraternity, all outworkings of the social and political engagement of the Focolare. It was the first event of its kind that in two years time will be replicated in Brazil. Over 400 public administrators, politicians, business people, academics and citizens from 33 countries participated in the event. The focus of the event was participation, presented in the many forms it can take and illustrated through stories and good practice shared by over 60 experts in the fields of town planning, communications, services, economics, politics and the environment. “We are convinced that participation is a strategic choice, the best way to live well within cities – explained Lucia Fronza Crepaz, a former member of the Italian parliament and educator at the “School for Social Engagement” in Trent and member of the central committee of the event. “Participation is not seen as replacing procedures enabling representation, but is chosen as an effective way of addressing complex problems and thus strengthening the concept of democratic delegation”. The outcome of the event was the approval and signing of the “Pact for a new Governance” with which the participants committed themselves to engaging the interest of their own communities and public administrations. The 400 signatories to the pact committed themselves to form three networks to bring diversity together and respond to the complexity of reality. They are networks of citizens: “People who live in the city while having different roles and tasks, but inspired by the same sense of responsibility”; networks of people working in particular sectors, forming groups in professional and economic spheres, the voluntary sector, faith communities, academia and universities, communications, etc.”; networks among cities themselves: “… that aim to engage citizens actively and collaboratively first by creating platforms that are accessible to all and easy to use. They will cooperate by overcoming particular interests and prejudices that undermine trust, which is an indispensable foundation for building a network.
Stefania Tanesini
1) Info and texts of the conference: www.co-governance.org
Jan 21, 2019 | Non categorizzato
Today, the 22nd January, the Focolare Movement recalls Chiara Lubich’s birth on this day in 1920. As usual, the date falls within the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the Focolare founder’s passion for unity. Below is the text of an “ecumenical prayer” for unity read by Chiara Lubich in Augsburg, Germany in 1998. If we Christians take a fresh look at our 2,000 year history, and in particular at the history of the second millennium, we cannot help but be saddened to see that there has often been a series of conflicts, of quarrels and of mutual incomprehension. Certainly it was because of circumstances: historical, cultural, political, geographical, social circumstances. But it was also because among Christians there was a lack of what should be one of their specific unifying features: love. (…) But, if God loves us, we cannot remain inactive before such divine goodness. As true children we must return his love also as Churches. With the passing of time each Church has, to a degree, become set in its ways, because of waves of indifference, lack of understanding and even of mutual hatred. What is needed in each Church is a supplement of love. So we need love for the other Churches, and mutual love between Churches. The love that leads each Church to be a gift for the others, so that we can foresee in the Church of the future that there will be just one truth, but that it will be expressed in different ways, seen from different angles, made more beautiful by the variety of interpretations. Mutual love, however, is truly evangelical, and therefore valid, only if it is practiced in the measure wanted by Jesus: He said: “Love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13) (…) I know, also from experience, that if we all live in this way, there will be exceptional fruits. There will be one effect above all. By living together these different aspects of our Christianity, we will realize that we form, so to speak, one Christian people that can be a leaven to help bring full communion among the Churches. It will be the living out of another dialogue, in addition to the dialogues of charity, of prayer and the theological one. It will be the dialogue of life, the dialogue of the people of God. It is a dialogue that is more than ever urgent and necessary given that, as history shows, little can be achieved in the ecumenical field without the involvement of the people. It is a dialogue which will enable us to discover more clearly, and more effectively, the rich heritage already shared by Christians, including Baptism, Sacred Scripture, the first Councils, the Fathers of the Church. We are eager to see this people and already, here and there, we can see glimpses of it, and we are confident that it will be seen here too. (Chiara Lubich, Augsburg-Germnay, 29 November 1998) Fonte: Centro Chiara Lubich
Jan 18, 2019 | Non categorizzato
Alejo from the Focolare community in La Colmena, Paraguay, uses music to communicate his passion for the ideal of fraternity. Alejo Rolon explains that in the Guarani language, “japay” means “wake up!” Alejo lives in La Colmena, a city in the state of Paraguari, about 130 kms from Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, in the heart of Latin America. He teaches music in a very prestigious college in the city. Several years ago, he began an interesting initiative and has worked with over a hundred young people in staging a series of pop concerts. Using music and words, these concerts have conveyed an invitation to build a more united and stable society. Guarani is an ancient language and is spoken mainly in Paraguay. In 2011, after a complex legal process that lasted over ten years, Guarani and Spanish were recognised as the official languages of the country. Alejo says that “japay, wake up” are words that symbolise the attitude we should have towards life. His aim is to make everyone and especially young people more aware that we must all wake up and take initiative because the change we hope to see in our towns and cities begins with us. He says, “If we keep this in mind, everything we do, even small actions, can be the basis of a new way of life. This is Japay’s challenge.” During a very difficult period for this South American country that is grappling with the changes needed to overcome widespread corruption, crime, poverty, social inequality and economic crisis, what impact can Alejo’s songs truly make? He says, “This is our philosophy: we have to change the way we think. For example, our songs speak of living honestly rather than stealing or practising corruption which is so widespread and damaging; of being responsible citizens rather than just trying to look out for ourselves; of not being resigned to the fact that ‘it has always been like this’ but to go to the very root of our culture and draw out all that is good – creativity, initiative, generosity towards people living around us, courage in addressing our limits and the capacity to live peacefully with people who are different from us. As the Constitution of Paraguay says, ours is truly a ‘multicultural, bilingual country’ rich in traditions and values. However, it has deep wounds and many of them are recent. We focus on the potential there is in each person and appeal to their deepest feelings.” Alejo uses music to communicate what he has received from the charism of unity. He explains, “Japay also has another meaning for me: JA are the initials in Guarani which refer to Jesus forsaken and suffering and PAY stands for Paraguay. I recognise the face of Jesus suffering on the cross in the social problems experienced by the people around me. I began this project for him and who knows where he will lead us.”
Chiara Favotti
Vedi anche www.japayparaguay.org e https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqByefcq1Yc
Jan 16, 2019 | Non categorizzato
Insights from Congolese journalist Liliane Mugombozi, currently based in the Focolare centre in Nairobi. She works at the Jesuit Refugee Service in the Kenyan capital: “African migrants? The majority are not going to Europe but are moving within the African continent”. “According to the international media, Africa is a continent of mass exodus. But this is not true in reality. Most of these migrants are moving within the continent itself. From 2015 to 2017 nearly 19 million people have moved to destinations within Africa”. Liliane Mugombozi knows what she’s talking about when she describes this under-reported phenomenon. She has been observing it closely through her journalistic lens but also with direct experience over the past two and a half years working at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. 
“Since September 2017 more than half a million refugees are living in Kenya. They come mainly from the Great Lakes region, the Horn of Africa and Central Africa, but also from Myanmar, Afganistan etc. Most of them are living in refugee camps at Dadaab and Kakuma; around 64,000 refugees are living within the city of Nairobi itself”. Last December Liliana helped to organize a workshop for 48 young refugees, from many different African countries, including South Sudan and Somalia, to investigate their living conditions as refugees and offer tools to deal with the daily challenges they face, from human rights violations to cultural difficulties. ‘When I look at you – Liliana told them – I don’t see refugees, I see the future of this continent, I see the future of the world. Each one of you has experienced suffering, so who better than you would know how to build strong and fair institutions?’ “From the moment I arrived at JRS in Nairobi, where I work for the secondary school and university students who are able to continue their education because of scholarships and sponsorship, I immediately realised that my service would demand huge flexibility on my part, going way beyond a simply administrative approach. I felt called to share in the suffering behind each one of their stories, to actually meet the person. I understood that the key was to build truly reciprocal relationships with each one.” In the face of so much hope and so much suffering, Liliane was careful not to fall into the trap of confusing the person with their need. “This is a dangerous temptation which would have closed off my heart from a true encounter with these young people, their families, teachers, and with all those around”. The Focolare community in Kenya, especially around Nairobi, has worked in collaboration with the Jesuit Fathers, organizing collections of clothes, food and other essential items, household necessities, books and toys from friends, relations and parishes. Liliana reflects, “We understood firstly we had to overcome our prejudices and get to know the refugees’ own stories in order to create a culture of encounter and of welcome. We are all too aware that we cannot resolve all their problems, but we can become a brother or sister for them. Of course we are only just beginning, but we believe that with Jesus among us, we will find a response to this cry of Jesus on the cross today, in this our own land”.
Stefania Tanesini
