Focolare Movement
Prevention of Abuse
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Pheonix, AZ

Feb 22, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.   (more…)

El Paso, TX

Feb 22, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.   (more…)

Gen 3 Congress: ‘The Word Creates’

Feb 21, 2012 | Non categorizzato

Know, Live, Share, Act. These were the four topics for thought and action at the root of the Gen 3 Congress from 17th to 21st February at the Mariapolis Centre of Castelgandolfo. There were 410 boys from 17 different nations, some from outside Europe: Brazil, Panama, Chile, Costa Rica and Venezuela. There was even one representative from Iraq. The theme of the meeting was: ‘The Word Creates’ and the boys looked at it in various ways in an integrated programme that went from moments in the hall, group work, moments of dialogue and space to speak ‘one to one with God’. The gen 3 did not let the grass grow under their feet. They took responsibility for the meeting and threw themselves with enthusiasm into a series of workshops. Here they were able to experiment with the theme of the ‘Word’ in various fields of communication. They split into small groups and explored the secrets of publicity, the techniques of television journalism and of the Web. They visited the centres for the gen 3 magazine, focolare.org, the Focolare Information Service (aka SIF, servizio informazione focolare). They also tested out Teens TV, Teens Radio, Città Nuova, the St Clare Audiovisual Centre and the Information Section. Some of them had some hands-on experience and went to interview the mayor of Grottaferrata (Rome), Grabiele Mori. They asked him nine questions about Chiara Lubich, the Focolare Movement, his life as a politician, how to live the Gospel and the role of young people in the life of a town. A large group of gen 3 worked side by side with the members of the international band Gen Rosso to sort out the details of a show called ‘Street Light’. The mayor of Genzano (Rome) gave the Sports Palace for it to be performed. Entrance was free. The show dealt with bullying among gangs in Chicago in the 60s and told in a creative way how bullying can be overcome by peace, forgiveness and a sense of solidarity with one another. An opponent is not an enemy. The gen 3 also have stories lit up by the Gospel in their own daily lives. Boys from Africa, Europe, South America spoke about overcoming vendettas with forgiveness and about the best approach which to is go against the current. Andrea told his story: ‘I play in a volleyball team. Some time ago, during a match, I fouled a boy and he fell over. I went to help him get up. My coach on the bench was angry because I’d helped an someone on the other side. In his way of seeing things I should not have done that. I thought, though, that I had to be concerned for that boy but also for my coach and help him see that it is possible to win even while respecting our opponent, by not thinking of him as an enemy.’
Work and the rediscovery of a social awareness

Work and the rediscovery of a social awareness

Feb 20, 2012 | Non categorizzato

PLAY VIDEO (Italian soundtrack)

“In the name of God who created them, human beings must be aware of their sociality, of their social nature, otherwise they are not completely human. In fact, another of their characteristics, according to the Bible, besides communion with God, besides being required to support themselves and dedicate themselves to work, is sociality – the interweaving of human relationships. We know what sociality means for God. It means to love others as ourselves. As ourselves, not less. Indeed, to love them with a love which, since it comes from more than one person, becomes reciprocal; and, because it is inspired by Christ, generates unity. Herein lies the meaning of what we stressed, namely that we walk through life together being one heart and one soul. Our collective spirituality, derived from the Gospel, not only can contribute to, but can be of vital importance in finding solutions to the present problems of the working world. In this spirituality, every person in the working world (from the owner to the administrator, from the director to the technicians, from office workers to laborers) in order to build solidarity with others, must love everyone in such a way that he or she becomes “one” with the others. In this spirituality, mutual love leads to reciprocal understanding, to sharing the fatigue of the others, to making our own the problems of the others and to seeking solutions together. It leads us to find common agreements for new forms of organizations in the working world. All come to share and participate together in the means of production, and in the fruits and profits. With what consequences? If, previously, for example, for individual laborers, industrialized work was synonymous with being crushed and deprived of their personality, with being unable to see the fruits of their intelligence and efforts, now because they consider their own all that regards the others as well, work cannot help but take on meaning, indeed a stimulating meaning. What is needed, therefore, is a new … vast social awareness. Indeed, since the economy of each country is so linked to that of other nations, the situation requires a “global” social awareness as the Pope has also affirmed. Who is capable of helping individuals to fully achieve this and to regard themselves as members of one great human family… “without denying man’s origins and the membership of his family, his people and his nation, or the obligations arising there from…”?[1] Who can accomplish this after human beings have shattered their union with God through sin, thus seriously compromising over and over again, communion with other brothers and sisters and therefore human solidarity? Who can do it? Only Christ can – he who is so often relegated to our private life. Only his supernatural and universal love – so often considered as something limited to people’s prayer life and is instead the indispensable leaven for the whole of human existence in all its expressions. It is only with his love that we can build confidently a world of lasting justice and peace. As far as work is concerned, it is only with his love that selfishness and hatred – often considered the law of social life – can be eliminated. It is with his love that working communities will witness how unity rather than conflict can truly improve work. With his love the life of society itself will not be conceived as a struggle against someone but as a commitment to grow together. Therefore only a new civilization based on love will be capable of offering a solution to the complex problems of the world of work.” Chiara Lubich, Rome, 3 June 1984

[1] John Paul II, Address to the International Labor Organization in Geneva. June 15, 1982, n. 10.

(more…)

Vero Beach, FL

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.

Orlando, FL

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.

Miami, FL

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.  

Boston, MA

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.

New Haven, CT

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.

Philadelphia, PA

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.

San Antonio, TX

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.

Albuquerque, NM

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.

Seattle, WA

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.   (more…)

Anchorage, AK

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.   (more…)

Baltimore, MD

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.   (more…)

Long Island, NY

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento. (more…)

Corpus Christi, TX

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.   (more…)

Austin, TX

Feb 20, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento. (more…)

Puerto Rico

Feb 19, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Please note: The geolocalization feature on this website – which displays cities and towns where Focolare centers 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.   Avvertenza: tutte le informazioni geocodificate presenti in questo sito sono puramente  indicative. Gli oggetti rappresentati (ad es. luoghi d’incontro e quant’altro) e i servizi di localizzazione o navigazione, possono essere imprecisi o errati nello stabilire indirizzi, posizioni, prossimità, distanze, indicazioni e orientamento.     (more…)

Work and the rediscovery of a social awareness

Brazil, ‘naturally gigantic’

Feb 19, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

Brazil has the fifth most powerful economy in the world. It covers 8.5 million square kilometres, and its almost 200 million inhabitants, descendants of white colonists, black slaves and indigenous peoples, as well as other immigrants from every part of the planet, all speak a single language: Portuguese. It is a country the size of a continent, with varied climatic and geographical conditions, enormous natural resources and a powerful potential for growth. It is a country that is also marked by huge social contrasts, which are growing somewhat less, thanks in part to the efforts of the last governments. It faces the challenges of a young democracy, of a nation that has emerged from military dictatorship less than thirty years ago. It was here that in 1991, Chiara Lubich, struck by the tremendous social problems, launched the basis for a real revolution in the economic field with the Economy of Communion (EOC), a project now known throughout the world. But the Focolare’s experience in Brazil has not only developed in the area of economics. It has had effects on the whole fabric of society: on education, health, politics, art, human welfare – as witnessed by the experiences of Santa Teresinha and Magnificat in the North East, of Bairro do Carmo e Jardim Margarida in São Paolo – and likewise in a whole range of areas of research. An example of such academic study is the group looking at ‘Law and Faternity’, which began in 2009 in the ‘Center of Juridic Sciences’ in the Federal University of Santa Catarina. There have been various activities run by the Focolare in all the States of the Federation: from Civitas, the school for political formation in João Pessoa, to the Young People for a United World’s solidarity project and to the families’ weekend in the State of Alagoas; from the youth Olympics in the State of Rio Grande Do Sul, to the Unicidade Project in the Mariapolis Ginetta, which celebrated its fortieth anniversary this year – to name but a few. But what gives rise to this life? Let’s take a step back in time. It was the year 1958. A ship landed in Recife, carrying three focolarini from Italy: Marco Tecilla, Lia Brunet and Ada Ungaro. They communicated their experiences in schools, universities, parishes, associations, hospitals, families. After a month they were travelling again: Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo, Porto Alegre, and then Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. On returning to Italy, the aeroplane made an emergency stop in Recife because of a serious fault which held them there for four days. They used that time to follow up a whole host of contacts. In this way the community in the North East of Brazil came into being. It was the first of many. With the arrival of other focolarini who came to stay, the first centres of the Movement were opened in 1959 in Recife. A rapid spread of the Ideal of unity began in the larger cities and in the villages, among young people and adults, whites and blacks, rich and poor… and all it happened with a characteristic mark: social harmony. Many social activities came in to being as an effect of a life rooted in the gospel. In 1962 a centre was opened in São Paolo. The publishing house Cidade Nova and the magazine Cidade Nova were founded. Other centres were opened: Belém, 1965; Porto Alegre, 1978. Today there are centres in all most all the 27 capitals of the federal states and in many other cities. In 1965 near Recife the Movement’s first little town of witness in Brazil was founded. It was called Santa Maria, a reference to this people’s love for Mary. Two years later there was established São Paolo’s little town, called at the time Araceli and now renamed Ginetta, after one of the first focolarine who had an immensely important role in the spread and growth of the Movement in Brazil. Following that Belém’s little town, Gloria, was set up and in Porto Alegre there was established the Mariapolis Centre Arnold which has particular a focus on ecumenism, and then Brasília’s little town called Mary Mother of the Light was founded. Chiara Lubich always showed a great love for Brazil and its people, ‘a people who seem very like those who listened to Jesus: magnificent, magnanimous, good, poor, who give everything: their hearts and their goods.’ Her first visit was in 1961, to Recife. She returned a further five times. She received various forms of public recognition and honorary degrees. In 1998, on her last visit, she inaugurated the Spartaco Business Park, the first of such parks belonging to the EOC in the world. On this occasion, one of the fathers of democratic Brazil, Prof. Franco Montoro, referring to Chiara in a speech given at the State University of São Paolo, recognized in the thought and activity of the Movement – and not only in Brazil – ‘a consistent witness that has drawn behind it millions of people. It has protected human rights during periods of dictatorship and, in the scientific boom, it has demonstrated that we must be guided by ethics. It has promoted love, universal fraternity.’ These are values that today the Movement’s members are committed to living, together with others, in a historic moment that sees Brazil emerge on to the global scene and take a leading role in events such as the World Youth Day 2013 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Work and the rediscovery of a social awareness

The Amazon Project

Feb 19, 2012 | Focolare Worldwide

 The encounter with Jesus changed our life.” “An encounter with God. I had never had an experience like this before.” “I want to live the art of loving with you. . .” These are some of the impressions that were gathered by youths and families before returning home after ten intense days in the Amazon. Amid local situations of suffering, living among the indigenous people who are scattered throughout this forest, many rediscovered hope for the future. We share some of the fruits of these six years of evangelization:  

 Amazon Project is the name that was given to this experience that is taking place in a region that  covers more than fifty percent of Brazil and includes nine states: Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Pará, Rondônia, Roraima, and Tocantins. In 2011 it was taking place for the sixth time.   

 Beginnings. There had been a progressive diminishing of faithful and a growth among the sects. This was also due to the scarcity of priests and the difficulty of reaching various centres of the region. The Amazon Project was meant to be an answer to the appeal that the bishops of Brazil made to various groups in the Catholic Church that they would each contribute according to their own charism to a vast and permanent action of evangelization.

Each year ten vacation days are dedicated to this project. Since 2005 people from various sectors of the Focolare Movement (focolarini, families, youths) have joined in. They come from several regions in Brazil and travel for as long as sixty hours in buses or five hours by plane, more than twenty-four hours by boat, all at their own expense.

“We went to give, but what we have received is much more.” This is the common expression. Through their efforts, some 26,000 people have been personally contacted during these years. This year there were 4,700 and half of them were youths, in three cities: Abaetetuba and Bragança (state of Pará) and Barreirinha (state of Amazonas ).

The Cube of Love is a most useful tool. The Cube of Love is a game invented by Chiara Lubich that is meant to help children in living the art of loving, the heart of the Gospel message. A cube was donated to some 1500 children. Fifty-four teachers and principals of five schools in Barreirinha took a course on using this pedagogical tool.  One hundred and fifty families from two poor quarters and sixty couples also took part in the course. Very touching was the visit to a prison, where – during the dialogue with the prisoners – they were presented with the Art of Loving. Personal relationships are the first priority, which bring conversions to the Gospel. The appointment for 2012 is 14-22 July.

Link: http://projetoamazoniafocolare.blogspot.com