Jul 29, 2021 | Non categorizzato, Tutela minori
With regard to the case of child abuse at the hands of J.M.M., a former consecrated member of the Focolare Movement, on July 26, 2021 the Movement appointed a Supervisor to play the role of an Independent Oversight Function (IOF) on the ongoing investigation carried out by the company GCPS Consulting, an independent body appointed by the Focolare Movement in December 2020. Focolare President Ms. Margaret Karram and Co-President Fr. Jesús Morán appointed Mr. Alain Christnacht as Supervisor in the role of Independent Oversight Function. This function was set up primarily to guarantee the victims and to supervise the proper conduct of the investigation by GCPS Consulting, to whom the movement renews its total confidence and who remains the only body authorised to carry out the investigation. For those who wish to contact the Independent Oversight Function regarding the ongoing investigation, this is the email address: superviseurac@gmail.com By the end of December 2021, GCPS Consulting will produce a public report detailing its findings and recommendations as the Independent Investigating Commission. In this line, the supervision of the Independent Oversight Function, external both to the Focolare Movement and to GCPS Consulting, is an additional guarantee for the victims and an additional support in the search for the truth. Who is Alain Christnacht Alain Christnacht, French citizen, is a senior State official; he has held positions at national level as Prefect and State Councillor. Today, he is president of Samusocial of Paris, a public interest organization that helps homeless people. A former president or administrator of youth organisations, since 2016 he has chaired an independent national commission of experts on paedophilia, made up of magistrates and medical doctors, consultor of the French Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
Stefania Tanesini
Jul 29, 2021 | Non categorizzato
The Earth’s resources for this year run out on July 29. How can we reverse all this waste? Luigi Muraca, a member of the international Focolare youth formation team, appeals to us to face the challenge.
Overshoot Day is a symbollic date indicating when we, the inhabitants of this planet, have consumed all the resources the Earth can regenerate within one year. To take a simple illustration: just say there were 100 new trees growing each year, and we humans cut down more than 100 a year.. Overshoot Day marks the day we cut down tree number 101. This year, Overshoot Day falls on 29 July. So from this date until the end of the year, we’ll consume more resources than we should allow ourselves. Despite this, I predict it won’t feel any different to yesterday. As you read this you’re probably not too worried about it, and I guess you’ve not noticed the people around you so far today anguished about this fact, nor the people you’re still to meet. I just want you to know one thing: it’s not your fault. It’s not that you’re insensitive, or that you couldn’t care less about the environment or the planet. You’re not too worried because, like me, you’ve got used to this kind of news on climate crises. And when you get used to something, you stop experiencing it as an emergency. News about the climate crisis has more or less become part of our daily routine. And there’s the real danger that getting used to hearing about it, makes us lose the will to change things. It happens to me too and that makes me sad. But it’s not all bad news. Not everyone remains passive in the face of these uncomfortable facts. Some actually try to change things. Here I’d like to draw attention to two projects launched by the youth of the Focolare Movement, striving to contribute to tackling the issues of ecology and our use of resources. PATHWAYS – People, planet and our ecological conversion The first project, called PATHWAYS – People, planet and our ecological conversion is an awareness and action campaign, launched as part of the 6-year Pathways for a United World program. In the year 2021-22, those behind the initiative – Teens for Unity, Youth for a United World and New Humanity NGO – are launching actions at local and global level, in a three-phase program: 1) Learn – study and get informed, as a solid foundation to any action 2) Act – moving for change 3) Share – using the hashtag #daretocare ZERO HUNGER The second project is directed at our planet’s food resources. For several years now, the youth of the Focolare Movement have collaborated with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in a shared commitment towards achieving “Zero Hunger”, supporting the goal of reducing famine in the world. While an international team works to coordinate global activity, local actions and initiatives are underway in many local territories. Luigi Muraca – Redazione Teens
Jul 27, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Every day large numbers of Venezuelan migrants try to reach Chile via Peru. The solidarity of the Focolare community in Lima with concrete gestures thanks to Providence that doesn’t wait.
“A few small gestures are enough to save the world,” says the writer and poet Edith Bruck. And this is what we try to do every day to help those in need, especially the Venezuelan migrants who pass through the Juan Carlos Duque Centre linked to the Focolare community in Lima, Peru. On the way to Chile C. is one of those who helps out at the Juan Carlos Duque Centre. A few evenings ago she was able to embrace her sister again after not having seen eachother for four years! She is on her way to Chile with her husband and child, hoping to cross the border through the really cold desert. We were able to give them a suitcase of warm clothes, which we received through Providence. There are many Venezuelans trying, not without risk, to get into Chile to join their relatives. The solidarity among these people is so strong despite the suffering that accompanies them. So we can clothe Jesus Another person who works at the Juan Carlos Duque Centre told us about a Venezuelan couple who were in Peru for four years and have been in Lima for almost three months. All they had was a mattress to sleep on, a bedspread that was not warm enough for this season’s cold weather (winter has started) and a small cooker they borrowed but needed to return. They needed sheets, dishes, glasses, clothes and size 12 shoes! To our amazement, amongst the Providence that had arrived we found a pair of size 12 shoes! We received so much Providence and it was just what they needed. “Now we can clothe Jesus so that he doesn’t suffer from the cold…” we said. Thanks also to donations from UNHCR (UN refugee agency) we have been able to meet this family’s needs. You can imagine their joy. Just 40 minutes after their request for help, we were back in contact with them and able to give them everything they needed. Barbara, one of our group dies But then we received a phone call from Arequipa: ‘We are really having a very hard time. Our tenant and great friend Barbara from Venezuela has died unexpectedly. She was about to turn 29. We were in shock but my mother, my brother and I immediately said our YES to God’s will in that moment that was so difficult when it is not easy to understand God’s plans. It was about loving this suffering and being able to pass on the Father’s Mercy and Love to her brother and cousins”. Barbara had visited our Arequipa office just a few days earlier to collect a heavy blanket and a kitchen kit donated by the UNHCR, and we had added something else. She was delighted with the Providence and we were sure that He would continue to help us from up there with His Providence that is never lacking. And as we were speaking of Providence, the Juan Carlos Duque Centre’s bell rang again unexpectedly. It was the UNHCR giving us much more than what was requested for our migrants: 100 washable face masks; 216 bars of soap and 5 parcels with 72 blankets… the hundredfold!
Silvano Roggero
Jul 26, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Extract from the talk given by Chiara Lubich in Lucerne, Switzerland on 16th May 1999, on the occasion of the 19th International Congress on the Family If we observe the situation of the society that surrounds us all over the world, our brief reflections on what the family is and should be may appear to be a naïve utopia. The Western world is permeated by an individualistic culture that is particularly focused on categorizing and defining men and women according to what they use and need. … In a cultural context marked by individualism and the pursuit of profit, the family has become very fragile. And those who are socially marginalized are the ones whose families most often break up.”[1] … Faced with the overwhelming mystery of suffering, we often feel bewildered and lost. There is a passage in the Bible that describes a person who reached the climax of suffering, and cried out to heaven, “Why?” The evangelist Matthew, who recounts the passion and death of Jesus, wrote: “At about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice (…), ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Mt 27:46). … In experiencing the abandonment, which was the final and greatest sign of his love, Christ reaches the point of total annihilation of self. He reopens for every person the path to unity with God and with one another. In that “why,” to which he received no answer, every man and woman finds an answer to his or her own cry. Is not the person in anguish similar to him? And the one who is alone or a failure or condemned? Is not every division within the family and among groups and peoples, a reflection of him? Can’t we see his countenance in those who have lost all sense of who God is and of his plan for humanity, or in those who no longer believe in love and instead accept whatever surrogate comes their way? There is no human tragedy or failure within a family that is not contained in that dark night of the God-Man. … Through that emptiness, that nothingness, grace and the life of God flowed back to humanity. Christ re-established the unity between God and creation, he restored the design, he made new men and new women and, therefore, new families. The great event of the suffering and abandonment of the God-Man can therefore become the reference point and the secret wellspring capable of transforming death into resurrection, shortcomings into opportunities to love, and family crisis into stages of growth. How can this be done? … If we believe that behind the events of our lives there is God with his love, and if, strengthened by this faith, we recognize in our small or larger daily sufferings, and those of others, a shadow of the pain of the crucified and forsaken Christ, a sharing in his suffering that redeemed the world, then it is possible to understand the meaning of the most absurd situations and put them into perspective. I would like to mention two real-life examples that illustrate this. Claudette was a young French woman abandoned by her husband. She had a one-year-old son. The narrow-minded environment of the province she lived in and of her family convinced her to ask for a divorce. In the meantime, she came to know a couple that spoke to her about God, who is especially close to those who suffer. “Jesus loves you,” they told her. “He, like you, was also betrayed and abandoned. In him you can find the strength to love and to forgive.” Little by little, her feelings of resentment dissipated and she began to behave differently. Her attitude also had an effect on her husband. In fact, when Claudette and Laurent presented themselves before the judge for their first hearing, they looked at one another in a new way and agreed to put off their decision for six months. Having reopened the lines of communication between them, when they were called back to court to finalize the divorce, they said, “No!” and walked down the steps of the courthouse hand in hand. The birth of two more daughters gave new joy to their love, which had become deeply rooted through their experience of suffering. And another. A beautiful Swiss family one evening learned from their son that he was addicted to drugs. They tried in vain to cure him. One day he did not come home. They were overwhelmed by feelings of guilt, fear, shame and the sense of being unable to do anything about it. It was the encounter with Jesus Forsaken in a “wound” that is so common in our society. Embracing Jesus Forsaken in this suffering they seemed to comprehend: “True love makes itself one with others, it enters into the reality that they are living…. ” In a spirit of solidarity, they opened themselves to others who were suffering because of drug abuse. They organized a group of families who would bring sandwiches and tea to all the youth of the Platzpitz, which at the time was known as the drugs hell of Zurich. One day they found their son there, dressed in rags and exhausted. With the aid of other families, they were able to help him embark on, and complete, his long journey to freedom. … Sometimes the traumas are resolved and families are reunited, but at times they are not. Externally the situations may remain as they were, but the pain takes on meaning, the anguish is eased and the fracture is overcome. At times, the physical or spiritual suffering lingers on, but it acquires meaning because the family unites its “passion” to the passion of Christ, who continues to redeem and save the family and all of humanity. And thus their burden becomes lighter. Therefore, the family can attempt to reacquire its original beauty in its creator’s design by drawing from the source of love that Christ brought on earth.
Chiara Lubich
[1] Chiesa Locale e Famiglia, (CLEF) Agenzia di informazione e documentazione di pastorale familiare, 49, anno XIII, marzo 1995, p. 15.
Jul 25, 2021 | Senza categoria
- Date of Death: 26/07/2021
- Branch of belonging: married focolarino
- Nation: Italy
Jul 23, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Pope Francis instituted this day on July 25 to highlight the vocation of the elderly, which is ‘keeping the roots, transmitting faith to the young and taking care of the little ones’. For the occasion, we collected some experiences of grandparents and grandchildren that bear witness to the love between generations. ‘When everything seems dark, like during these months of the pandemic, the Lord continues to send angels to console our loneliness and to repeat to us, “I am with you every day.”’ In his message for the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, to be celebrated on July 25, Pope Francis aimed to give a message of hope and closeness to grandparents and the elderly around the world. I would like ‘every grandparent, every elderly person, every grandmother – especially those among us who are most alone – to receive a visit from an angel’ through a grandchild, a family member, a friend. During these times of pandemic, we have realised how important hugs, visits, gestures of love are. These signs are experienced daily between grandparents and grandchildren or with elderly neighbours. Martin, for example, is 8 years old and is a Gen 4 – the youngest children of the Focolare – who lives in Uruguay. He lives near an elderly grandmother who grows flowers in her garden. Some children sometimes throw a ball in her garden, making her angry, then laugh at her. Martin thought that this was not good, so he decided to help the lady. He got a wheelbarrow and took the weeds and trash out of the garden. The lady thanked him, and every time he helps her, she gives him some money, which he donates to the poor in the community. Nicola, on the other hand, is a grandfather of eight grandchildren. One day he was invited by a Gen 4 to speak at catechism class about the family. On his way to the meeting, he asked himself how he could interest the children in this topic. While walking, his gaze was drawn to a nest that had fallen from a branch and was now abandoned. He picked it up and brought it to the class. What a nice idea; he was able to explain how a nest is made, as well as how a family is. Everyone had something to add, and the hour of catechism passed quickly. Rosaria is 70 years old and a grandmother, who is so dedicated to both her grandchildren and the Gen 4 of her local community. ‘I always feel like I’m doing very little,’ she says, ‘but I notice that something is happening – they’re having experiences I didn’t expect. ‘For example, Tommaso received a scratch on the cheek from a little girl at school. When the teacher noticed it, she asked why he hadn’t told her. He answered by apologising for his classmate because she hadn’t done it on purpose. When the teacher told his parents, they were positively amazed because such behaviour had never happened before.’ Grandma Rosaria has a secret: she prays every day for all Gen 4 and all the children of the world. ‘I think this is the most important thing.’ Grandma Mary from New York tells Living City, ‘A few years ago before Christmas our granddaughter Cecilia, then 11, came home from school with a bag full of gifts she bought with money her mom had given her. She was so happy as she showed us what she had gotten for a couple of friends and some family members. I marvelled at how lovingly she had chosen those gifts! ‘I started to tell her what my Christmas was like when I was a little girl living in the Philippines. We were quite poor. After midnight mass, we went to our neighbours’ house to have dinner together. We each received a delicious red apple as a Christmas present. It was something really special! ‘Hearing this, Cecilia said: “Really? A delicious red apple?” ‘“Yes,” I said, “a delicious red apple!” ‘And as soon as her dad came home, she told him: “You know what Grandma got for Christmas? A delicious red apple!” ‘On Christmas Day, we were celebrating in our New York home with some of our children and their families. My daughter-in-law brought a basket marked “Happy Holidays” with a dozen apples in it, saying, “Cecilia called me and asked, ‘Would you buy 12 apples for Grandma so she doesn’t just have one but 12 for Christmas?” ‘What a Christmas gift! We have found over and over again that we don’t need many gifts to love God and others at Christmas. Sometimes all it takes is one red, delicious apple.’
Lorenzo Russo
You can see the pope’s video message for the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly at youtu.be/1qhzDGFl-6w.
Jul 21, 2021 | Non categorizzato
Like an anchor takes hold of the seabed, guaranteeing sailors’ safety, hope holds us firm to God and strengthens our faith. French class High school French class – and the teacher wasn’t coming. We were two classes together that didn’t know each other, and the waiting grew uneasy. At this point, overcoming any fear of being judged or laughed at, I took the initiative to share a few sheets of poems in French with my classmates, a language I am quite fluent in. Then I began to write the ‘Our Father’ on the blackboard, once again in French. Meanwhile, the others began to copy the text. I had just finished writing when the teacher came in and, seeing the students silently at work, was surprised and almost moved. As a result, she gave an A (the highest grade) to the entire class. Ralf, Romania A son’s suicide Luca was 19 years old and far too sensitive. He found it hard to accept the evil that seems to prevail in the world at times. When he committed suicide, the only thing that brought comfort and hope to our family was anchoring ourselves in God and the support of the community. As a couple, we found ourselves on a higher level in our relationship. Our other son, Enrico, reacted by making himself useful to others and now works in a community for young misfits. Of course, as time went by, we continued to feel Luca’s absence, but one fact gave us strength. A friend of ours told us about a young man suffering from cancer. Fed up with everything, he refused chemotherapy and preferred to let himself die. Our friend told him about Luca, who had attended the same institute as he had, and how his tragic death had ‘woken up’ many people to be more sensitive to others. That young man, in the end, agreed to resume treatment. This episode made us realize that life goes on. It inspired us to be strong and to sow hope in all those we meet. Maurizio, Italy My real ambition After working for years in a successful music group, as my family grew, I took a job in a cultural agency that organized concerts. But with the raging pandemic, many things changed for me: few contracts, few shows. With an increasingly uncertain future, I wondered how I could get by. Then I got a phone call from someone I had met because he had helped me load and unload instruments. He asked how things were going for me and if I needed work, since the supermarket where he worked was short staff. I accepted. So I went from dealing with philharmonic orchestras to pointing out to disoriented elderly ladies which shelf to find eggs or vinegar… The great lesson of the pandemic was precisely this: love comes through small, silent gestures, not deafening proclamations. In my youth my real ambition was to become rich… now I am rich on another level. I have discovered a truer and more beautiful dimension of humanity. M., Czech Republic
Edited by Lorenzo Russo.
Excerpted from Il Vangelo del Giorno, Città Nuova, year VII, no. 4, July–August 2021.
Jul 20, 2021 | Non categorizzato
On the outskirts of the capital of the Central African Republic there is a school that was founded by members of the Focolare Movement. Today it welcomes more than 500 children, many of whom have missed out on many years of education because of long periods of war.
We are in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, a landlocked state in the interior and central part of the African continent. The capital is located in the south-west, in an area that borders on the Democratic Republic of Congo. Four years ago, a kindergarten and primary school called Sainte Claire was founded in a suburb of Bangui. It currently has 514 pupils. It was opened in response to an appeal that both Pope Francis and Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement at the time, had made: to go out to meet people’s needs, particularly those living on the margins of society. “For us the most urgent need was education,” explains Bernadine, a member of the Focolare and headmistress at the Sainte Claire school. “After long periods of war, many children had missed several years of school. We could then help them catch up and reach the level of their peers.”
The school is located in a suburban neighbourhood and so has welcomed many children from families who had fled the city when the war had destroyed their homes. “They come here to start a new life – it’s like a rebirth,” Bernadine continues. The Sainte Claire Institute is Catholic and, founded by members of the Focolare Movement, seeks to transmit teachings based on the culture of unity. The director explains: “Each day begins with morning prayers; then we throw the dice of love: on the different sides of the cube we read short phrases which help us live the day well. The next day, before rolling the dice again, we share the experiences of the day before. Some children helped their mother to wash the dishes, others made peace with a friend after a fight, …” At the moment, the war in the country has been suspended and the political situation is more stable. However, there are still many consequences that have an impact on the population, including the curfew from 8pm to 5am. Then there are numerous complications related to economic and social factors. Bernadine explains: “A few days ago, for example, there was a big rainstorm that damaged the electricity cables. Since then we only have electricity for 2-3 hours a day. This changes people’s lives a lot – starting with food, which cannot be stored. Not to mention all those who work relies upon electricity: they haven’t been able to work at all!” The pandemic has obviously effected our lives too. In 2020, the Sainte Claire institute had to end the year in March instead of June and this has had an impact on the education of the pupils who were once again left without a school. But the economic consequences for the whole country were also harsh: borders were closed and the Central African Republic, with no access to the sea, had difficulties with the delivery of goods from abroad. Prices have risen sharply. Despite these current difficulties, the school’s activities have resumed During this year’s United World Week (1 – 9 May), the children helped prepare an area that will be used for activities by planting grass seeds for the lawn. In a few months time, this area will be used for a variety of sports. Education, therefore, does not stop, not even in the midst of difficulties: it still allows new seeds of hope for a better future to be planted.
By Laura Salerno
Jul 19, 2021 | Non categorizzato
It is a partnership of perfect fellowship, which requires from us great faith in God’s love for his children. This mutual trust works miracles. We will see that, where we cannot do anything, Someone else has been at work, who has done immensely better than we could. The greatest wisdom is to spend our time living the will of God perfectly in the present moment. Sometimes, however, such nagging thoughts assail us, either about the past or the future, or about the present, but concerning places or circumstances or people, to which we cannot directly devote ourselves, that it takes a huge effort to steer the rudder of life’s ship and stay on course by doing what God wills of us in the present moment. A perfect response on our part requires of us a will, a decision, but above all a trust in God that can border on heroism. “I can do nothing in that particular case, for that person dear to me who is sick or in danger, for that complicated situation… “So I will do what God wants of me in this moment. I will study hard, I’ll sweep the house well, pray well, take good care of my children.… “And God will attend to unravelling that tangled knot, comforting the sufferer, resolving that unforeseen problem.” This is a partnership of perfect fellowship. It requires of us great faith in God’s love for his children and this enables God, then, through our response, to have faith in us. This mutual trust works miracles. We will see that, where we could do nothing, Someone else was truly at work and did immensely better than we could. Our heroic act of trust will be rewarded. Our life, limited to a single field, will acquire a new dimension. We will feel we are in touch with the Infinite, that which we yearn for, and our faith, gaining new vigour, will strengthen our charity, our love. We will no longer know the meaning of loneliness. We will see, more clearly than ever, because it is our experience, that we are truly children of a Father who can do all things.
Chiara Lubich
Cf. Chiara Lubich Essential Writings New City Press, Hyde Park New York, 2007, pp 70-71
Jul 17, 2021 | Non categorizzato
The experience of the Manaus focolare in helping the homeless. A way of being a Church that reaches out and going to the existential peripheries to seek out the most needy A few months ago, a focolarino from the focolare in Manaus, Brazil, felt the desire to do something to help people in difficulty. So, he got in touch with various priests and nuns to make himself available. After about a month, the possibility arose to help with the “pastoral care of the street people”, that is to help the homeless. The whole focolare was involved: Renzo, Daniel, Francisco, Valdir and Junior.
Every Sunday evening in the square in front of the church “Nossa Senhora dos Remedios”, in the historic centre of the city, one of those places that is very crowded during the day and very dangerous at night, we help with a short Celebration of the Word, then we give the homeless a meal and stay with them to listen to them. They pray with us and share what they experience during the week. Other volunteers give them a meal and quickly leave. The homeless recognise us and thank us because for them, being together, praying, talking, sharing their lives, being listened to, fills their souls as much as meals fill their bellies. They have told us this on several occasions. Our presence is shaped by love, by always being available to exchange a few words and build relationships with everyone, including the pastoral team. But all this is not enough. So, every Friday afternoon, we offer to help the homeless with a shower or a change of clothes, donated by generous people. We have also involved the Focolare Community to collect clothes, shoes, slippers… and it is great to see the understanding towards this action and to receive very positive echoes every time we communicate this experience: many encourage us to continue or come to help. Unfortunately, with the lockdown for covid, various activities to help the poorest people have stopped. So, we met online to work out what to do, and Archbishop Leonardo Steiner was also present. He was impressed by the situation and donated a sum of money to continue to offer one meal a day, for 20 days, for two hundred people, divided between two large squares in the city centre. Of course, working for two or three hours with all the necessary safety equipment and the heat of Manaus is tiring, but it is also a concrete way of going to the existential peripheries, to seek out the neediest, the Father’s favourites, offering the pain of being able to do so little in the face of these Abandoned Jesuses with so many needs, and we cannot do more for them than to give them a smile, a listening ear and our love. Providence is not lacking: the authorities of the Public Ministry (of Labour) have sought us out to give us money and resources to guarantee three hundred meals for 15 more days. This means more work for us volunteers, but you can’t say no to such providence and then we believe that God will manifest Himself to give us the energy and health or other volunteers to help us.
The focolarini of the focolare of Manaus