{"id":327756,"date":"2015-11-20T05:00:26","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T04:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/multiplying-spaces-of-encounter-and-communion\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:02:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:02:03","slug":"multiplying-spaces-of-encounter-and-communion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/multiplying-spaces-of-encounter-and-communion\/","title":{"rendered":"Multiplying Spaces of Encounter and Communion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20151120-01\"In the face of the dramatic events that took place in Paris and in many other parts of the world, <\/strong>\u201cthe Focolare Movement, while it weeps with those who weep, continues to believe in the path of dialogue, of acceptance and of respect for the other, whoever that may be and from whatever provenance, religious belief, and ethnicity,\u201d Focolare president Maria Voce stated <\/a>on the day after the attacks in the French capital. <\/strong> The Focolare, together with those with different responsibilities who work for peace even at personal risk, renews its commitment to intensify and multiply acts and gestures of reconciliation, <\/strong>spaces for dialogue and communion, opportunities for encounter and sharing at all levels and in all parts of the world to embrace the cry of humanity and transform it into new hope.\u201d \"20151120-05\"<\/a><\/strong>A variety of personal and collective initiatives are currently underway. In France, <\/strong>there was the woman from Paris who paid a visit to a Moroccan store owner and to an Algerian pharmacist to renew their friendship; the couple from Vend\u00e9e who support local associations that welcome immigrants, involved in the Islamic-Christian Friends Group (GAIC) in Mulhouse; in Alsace, which has intensified its involvement in the Interreligious Week that is taking place in November; a parish priest from the Paris suburb, who wrote a common declaration of peace with Muslims from his quarter; the active participation in the interreligious festival Vivre ensemble \u00e0 Cannes<\/a> that was awarded the Chiara Lubich Fraternity Prize; the shared organizing of the 2cnd edition of \u201cMuslims and Christians together with Mary\u201d planned for April 2, 2016 at the Basilica of Longpont, Essone. In Italy, <\/strong>everyone is being invited to get out and meet the Muslim world that lives on Italian soil, striving to build bridges, to create relationships, to work together in concrete projects for peace. In some cities these relationships have been in place for quite a while and have already borne the fruits of brotherhood.<\/a> \"por-la-paz-bah\u00eda-blanca-2\"<\/a>In Great Britain <\/strong>a prayer chain was begun for the victims of the tragedy, asking God to make them \u201cinstruments for bringing unity into their local environments.\u201d In Ireland <\/strong>an evening event was held to acquaint people with the Syrian culture in view of welcoming the refugees. In Switzerland <\/strong>Muslim and Christian women meet every two months to share their faith. In Lugano there was an intense sharing with Imam Samir Jelassi. In Meiningen, Austria, <\/strong>a few days before the attack, 150 people gathered with Cenap Aydin, Director of the Tevere Institute in Rome, Italy, and Dr. Siebenrock from the University of Innsbruck, from a study group of Muslim theologians from Iran, Tunisia, Algeria and Turkey, and with Catholic theologians. In Augsburg, Germany, <\/strong>there was the \u201c7 On the Dot \u2013 Augsburg Prays For Peace<\/a>,\u201d every evening at seven o\u2019clock in one of the largest churches in the city \u2013 once in the Catholic church, once in the Lutheran church. One refugee, one expert or representative from an NGO would describe the situation of a country under siege. There was also a peace march in Loppiano, Italy<\/strong> and a public rally in Bahia Blanca Square in Argentina <\/strong>without national flags or party banners. In California <\/strong>a benefit dinner was held to gather funds in support of refugees, preceded by a moment of prayer for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut, and a presentation of the United World Project<\/a>. On November 14th<\/sup> in Honduras <\/strong>there was a peace march organized by the Focolare Movement in solidarity with Syria which gathered people from several youth movements with a message of unity and dialogue. Luigi Butori writes from Asia: <\/strong>\u201cI think of the dead from the daily attacks in southern Thailand, of the Rohingya refugees. I think of the Muslim friends at the mosque in Chiang Mai. I think of Mae Sot where refugees continue to arrive from Myanmar in search of a better life.\u201d

\"DioPiangeConNoi\"<\/a>

\u201cDieu pleure avec nous\u201d \u00a9 Michel Pochet<\/p><\/div> He recalled Chiara Lubich<\/a>\u2019s invitation in 1980: \u201cIf there is a mosque, a synagogue or some other non-Christian place of worship in your city, know that that is your place. Find a way to be in contact with those faithful, to establish a dialogue.\u201d Her words \u201curge us to create a relationship with those who do not share our faith: an authentic relationship, a deep relationship \u2013 because the other is the face of God for me.\u201d In Egypt <\/strong>the Living Peace Project <\/strong>moves forward, a peace education project that began in Cairo and has now spread around the world involving hundreds of schools and thousands of students, and was awarded the New Humanity<\/a> NGO\u2019s 2015 Luxembourg Peace Prize<\/em>. The world of art also offered its contribution: <\/strong>God weeps with us<\/em> is the title of a painting by Michel Pochet, a French artist who painted it in response to the Paris terrorist attacks. On November 21st<\/sup> in Belgium a concert was given by a mixed choir of Muslims and Christians titled: \u201cFraternit\u00e9 en ch\u0153urs<\/em>\u201d, a play on the word \u201cchoirs\u201d and \u201chearts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This has been the commitment of the Focolare Movement in France and around the world for many years, and now it has now been renewed as extremisms of hatred and violence threaten peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-327756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}