Oct 19, 2016 | Non categorizzato
The wars which for too many years have been devastating continents that are only sea distance away from Europe have come into our home, and now terrorism has become the last frontier. And it is in France, one year after the terrible massacre at the Bataclan that the challenge of peace is being relaunched. On 17 December 1996, in Paris, Chiara Lubich received the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in recognition for a life spent in the dissemination of a culture of unity and peace and the formation of thousands and thousands of people of every race and latitude. The Focolare Movement has been present at UNESCO through its New Humanity NGO. The General Management of UNESCO and the Holy See’s Permanent Observer wished to reaffirm and testify to their commitment to unity and peace by proposing a day of reflection and testimony in five areas: Education, the Common Good, Justice, Ecology and Art. Theme of the event Last April, at the United Nations in New York, Maria Voce proposed focusing on radical dialogue in the search for peace. She was speaking at a debate on the promotion of tolerance and reconciliation: “[Dialogue] is risky, demanding, challenging, aimed at severing the roots of misunderstanding, fear and resentment.” The challenge of dialogue is timelier than ever. It is the starting point for creating the mosaic of peace, one day at a time, one tile at a time. It is the way to build a planet where there is a mutual recognition of identity and diversity, the mending of the social fabric, new attention to the needy, to justice, to human dignity and to sharing the world’s goods. The very word peace draws its deepest meaning from its Sanskrit root pak, which means join, unite. Committing oneself to reinventing peace means creating connections that will require the involvement of human, intellectual and institutional resources. It means calling upon the world economy, international law and peace education at all levels. It means valuing cultural diversity, that is, the invaluable identity of every people. It means equipping the new generations for a culture of dialogue and encounter. It means facing up to the refugee crisis concretely. It means protecting the environment, opposing corruption and promoting the rule of law at every level. It means halting the increase in military spending and the arms trade. It means coming up with a new security plan, stability and cooperation for the Middle East. Program and speakers The event will be attended by members of the diplomatic world, experts on international relations and the peace process and representatives from New Humanity and the Focolare Movement. The first session, titled Chiara Lubich, Peace Education, will be introduced by representatives from UNESCO and by Msgr Francesco Follo, Permanent Observer of the Holy See. This will be followed by presentations from Maria Voce and Jesús Morán, president and co-president of the Focolare Movement. The second session – Five paths for peace education on five continents – will carry on with examples of best practices from around the world. In the afternoon there will be an open session titled Dialogue, the remedy for the world’s problems, which will be opened by former Italian Prime Minister, Enrico Letta, and current president of the Jacques Delors Institute. Then there will be two moments of discussion on religions, economy and politics.
More information: Unesco – New Humanity Rome: Tel: +39 06 94798133/+39 338 2640371; info.unesco2016@focolare.org Paris: Tél: +33 6 73 78 56 64 Email: reinventerlapaix2016@gmail.com Invitation download – Registration: https://goo.gl/R4P7pA
Oct 18, 2016 | Non categorizzato
The tenth World Peace Forum and the second Youth World Peace Forum were held at Florianópolis, Brazil on September 22-15, 2016. Some events were held in common and others distinctly. The forum was attended by 1,500 adults and young people from 60 countries, different cultures and various religious faiths. “We Believe” was the main theme which was articulated: “We believe in change,” with a day dedicated to ecology; “We believe in human rights,” with a day dedicated to humanity; and “We believe in peace,’ with a day dedicated to education. The opening ceremony was held on September 21 in the plaza outside the Cathedral, with 400 dancers. Among the five flags that were waved during the dance there was also that of the Focolare Movement. The ceremony was marked by a deep atmosphere of prayer for peace. On September 22 there was a peace march through the city streets, with adults, teenagers and children. President of the Youth Global Peace Forum, Carlos Palma, commented: “It was very moving to see Chiara Lubich’s name written on the door of one of the halls, with the title “Peacebuilder” that had been given to her by UNESCO in 1996 for Peace Education.” 
The young people’s forum was an explosion of life, with touching testimonies and presentations of their many projects and personal experiences in being committed to peace. On September 23, an additional 500 young people from around the world were linked up via web for the World Conference of Young People for Peace, which is part of Living Peace International in collaboration with Peace Pals International (New York, USA). The Global Peace Forum concluded on September 25 with a profound inter-religous prayer with 30 representatives from different religious and spiritual traditions. An important part of the programme was devoted to Peace Education, during which Living Peace was presented. The presentation and history of this project, how it has spread throughout the world and its teaching method, was accompanied by a series of testimonies by Brazilian, Spanish, Paraguayan and North American young people, and others. The conferral of the Luxembourg Peace Prize to the young Omar Aobou Baker from Cairo, Egypt and member of Living Peace International, was particularly moving. The next Global Peace Forum will be held in Amman, Jordan, September 2017 with adults; and another in Manila, Philippines, organized by the young people in conjunction with the 2018 Genfest. The solemn signing of the Florianópolis Letter of Intent, titled 1% for Peace, brought the conference to an honorable conclusion. This document proposes that private and public entities destine 1% of their internal and external security spending to financing peace education projects. Eliana Quadro, a young woman Volunteer from the Focolare in Florianópolis, received the Commandant of the Global Peace Forum Silver Medal in recognition of her efforts in producing the event. “The Forum was characterized by the deep relationships that were created,” Carlos Palma concluded, “by the great joy in everyone’s hearts and, above all, by the immense gratitude to God and to the charism of Chiara Lubich that projects us towards humanity and makes us builders of peace and unity.”
Oct 17, 2016 | Non categorizzato
Paolo Crepaz and Paolo Cipolli
Oct 16, 2016 | Non categorizzato
“Teaching is like lighting a flame, not filling an empty vessel. If it is a flame that needs to be fed, then a learner should be taught to guard and increase the warmth and light. A person needs an education that outlasts childhood and continues from birth to death – and that is the period for giving.” Giordani was a writer and journalist, a man of politics but also a formidable educator. His writings were intended to teach, to teach citizens the path of justice. Many were raised on Giordani’s writings during the difficult period of cultural resistance to Fascism and during the Cold War. Giordani taught by living and then writing. In his opinion education should be a universal endeavour that engages the whole citizenry. The function of education is to instill two fundamental skills: freedom and responsibility. Referring to an image used by Plutarch, for Giordani, teaching meant lighting a flame and creating the conditions for the learner to know how to keep it constantly alive. The focus of the learning process would thus be shifted from teacher to learner and from childhood to the entire lifespan. “In the natural order the teachers are the family and the State; in the supernatural order, the Church. When these collaborate toward the same goal – cooperating rather than bumping into each other – education achieves its full effect. Individuals and crowds are not stupefied and neutral in front of their personal destiny, but they face it with courage and you have those epochal periods of great undertakings for peace and for war, for thought and for action. The family is not a mere roost, orphanage or corporate housing: it is a church and a school. Parents have a natural right – therefore from God – to teach that goes beyond generating and nourishing children; an inalienable right that comes before every other civil right. The family will educate if parents are not only educated, but aware of their mission to be teachers; if they are able to nurture in the souls of their children greater ideals than food, board and profession; if they act like a teaching domestic church. Religion is also there to remember, to lift up and protect the teaching obligation of the family. And politics should do likewise. The State is the other great educator and accomplishes its role through the school. Nowadays, States run their own schools, and it is there natural right to do so. But it would no longer be their right if they coerced religious conscience and perverted moral conscience; even worse if they prevented the Church from having her own schools.” “For what regards morality, education should be the same from family to State, from parish to workplace. It should draw on God’s law and construct human laws based on God’s law. The soul of such education is a transcendent faith that snatches individuals from the grip of individualism and joins them to one another with an impulse of justice and charity. As one great educator once said, ‘The real social culture was begun on Golgatha’.” (Igino Giordani, “Educazione e istruzione” in La società cristiana, Città Nuova, (1942) 2010, pp. 108 – 111).
Oct 15, 2016 | Non categorizzato
Kevin Kelly
Experience shared by Kevin Kelly at the Health Symposium “Darkness to Light – Spirituality of Unity in Chronic Disease and Disability” Focolare Movement, Australia, July 2016
Oct 14, 2016 | Non categorizzato
LoppianoLab 2016 opened its doors again this year with the theme: the poverty of riches and the wealth of poverty. Persons, institutions, ideas and experiences all played an active part in building a future based on a culture of unity across all fields. Mileni, Gen Verde’s guitarist, described LoppianoLab 2016 as “unique since during it we launched ‘Young people in action’: performing arts workshops dedicated especially to young people looking for a way to build a better future.” So 160 young people mostly from Italy but also including a group of 50 from all over the world took part in this enriching experience of intercultural exchange. Mutual listening and trust reigned in an atmosphere free from prejudice. Mileni explains – “The young people told us that they learned to recognize the needs of those around them and not just their own.” They said: “We can choose: either to ignore those who have difficulties or to help them.” They discovered the miracle of ‘being together’ and the richness that comes from sharing in the small things of everyday life. When asked, “Did you learn anything new here?”, they replied: “we understood the value of solidarity, and helping one another. We learned to value team work. We learned the importance of a having a sense of responsibility and the part each can play in the life of a group. We learned that on our own we can achieve small things but together we can do something great.” They also spoke about the important experience of working with others from a different culture: “we learned to go beyond barriers which could have been there because we speak different languages or come from different places. Instead we found a way of communicating which was very deep and sincere. Together we were able to go beyond moments when we experienced discouragement or failure and discover the joy of singing, dancing or creating music together.” When asked, what will you take from this to your everyday life? The young people replied: “To listen to others. To trust them. Not to stop at my own limits.” And: “We have learned to trust in ourselves more and that people are not always what they seem – first impressions can be wrong! In the very positive atmosphere we experienced here, we learned to eliminate prejudice and get along happily with others.” The event concluded with a bang in an exciting final performance at the Loppiano Auditorium packed with 900 people. They listened intensely and in the end everyone was on their feet as great joy filled the air. Those in the audience said: “I loved the concert – it felt like something really new, modern and extremely relevant in that it touched on issues all of us face.” And, “It was so beautiful, I experienced the strength that comes from diversity. At the end of the concert I would have wanted to say so much, but in the end I remained in silence. In silence to meditate on the values you transmitted to us.” Video
Oct 13, 2016 | Non categorizzato
16, 17 &18 November: Youth workshops 19 November: Concert “On the Other Side” at the municipal hall in La Spezia (Italy) at 8.30 21 November: Follow up meeting with the young people
Oct 13, 2016 | Non categorizzato
Celebrations will take place on 6th November in Fatima. All welcome. Program: 11.30 – Mass in the Paul VI Auditorium 13,15 – Lunch 15,30 – Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Focolare Movement in Portugal in the Auditorium 17,30 – Conclusion For more information: 50anos@focolares.pt / tel: +351 263 790 676
Oct 13, 2016 | Focolare Worldwide
Political instability, economic uncertainty, corruption, religious extremism, and reduction of educational offers are just some of the causes that push the Iraqi population to an unprecedented migration. The choice to remain in Iraq today is a really difficult decision, especially if you are a Christian. And yet Iraq disposes of remarkable natural resources and its people are endowed with humanity and great inclusion capacities. Just think of the plurality of the cultures, languages, and religions, and the various ethnic groups which for centuries had managed to coexist in peace. The habitat of Christian legacy right at its origins, for 2,000 years Iraq has been the natural home to very lively Christian communities. With the outbreak of wars, however, today it has become the object of discrimination and persecution. The most atrocious even was two years ago, when the ISIS extremists took over Mossul and the surrounding plains: in a few hours thousands of Christians had to abandon their homes. With only the clothes they were wearing, they had to disperse amid numberless dangers and discomforts, towards Jordan or Lebanon where they found refuge in makeshift refugee camps. Some statistics say that the Christians in Iraq counted 1.5 million (2003), and today number 300,000. Also the Focolare community has suffered the devastating effects of this barbarity. But both those who left the country and those who remained – concentrated in the cities of Erbil, Baghdad, Bassura, and Dohuk – try to transmit peace everywhere, building bridges of solidarity. However, while in the typical summer meetings of the Focolare in the past, the Mariapolis saw the participation of 400 people, and in those held from 9 to 11 September this year, only 40 attended. But the numerical drop has not influenced the qualitative profile which has definitely grown in intensity and depth, also because the central theme focused on interpersonal relationships undertaken in the spirit of mercy. Hosted in Sulaymaniya, close to the border with Iran, the participants lived three days of an authentic training in mutual love. Racconta Rula, focolarina from Jordan and now in the focolare house of Erbil: «We prayed, played, took walks in a family atmosphere, experiencing real communion. During the session dedicated to the family, the spirit of sharing created allowed us to talk about relationships as couples, the challenge of migration, conciliation of work and family, education of the children… while the youths, through choreographies, showed how one we can become bridges towards the others.» The Mariapolis was also visited by the Bishop of Baghdad, Bishop Salomone, who inflamed all with his words: «Jesus wants us to become yeast for this world. I am pleased that you chose this city for your meeting, and even if you are only a few, you will surely leave in this place that typical imprint of those who are seriously committed to living the Gospel.» The focolare tries to support those who have remained, as also those who have decided to leave, precisely because they are aware of the difficulties of living without being able to plan one’s future, especially for the youth. «We see that albeit the fact of living abroad – continues Rula – they still want to remain in contact. A young boy wrote us from the refugee camp, saying that the spirituality of unity is the only light that is his support and that trying to love others gives a meaning to the unnerving wait they are undergoing.» Among the many experiences shared in the Mariapolis, is the emblematic one of a surgeon in a public hospital. Since the doctors do not receive their salaries regularly, they try to plan the operations for the afternoon, when these are private and paid operations. But he decided to help as many people as possible by scheduling the appointments in the morning. At first, his colleagues criticized him, but slowly they began to do the same.
Oct 13, 2016 | Non categorizzato
https://vimeo.com/182970045
