{"id":328052,"date":"2016-03-10T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T06:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/fontem-a-jubilee-of-thanksgiving\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:03:18","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:03:18","slug":"fontem-a-jubilee-of-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/fontem-a-jubilee-of-thanksgiving\/","title":{"rendered":"Fontem, a Jubilee of Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VISITA<\/a>\u201cWe cannot talk about evangelization in Fontem without the Focolare Movement,\u201d <\/strong>said Bishop Nkea standing in front of the television cameras during his visit to the International Centre in Rocca di Papa, Italy, on March 8. \u201cChiara Lubich went to Fontem 50 years ago, and she brought the Ideal [spirituality of unity]. That is why we have come here: to thank Chiara and the Movement for everything it has done for us in these 50 years. This is a pilgrimage of thanksgiving.\u201d \u201cThe Diocese of Mamfe did not exist 50 years ago <\/strong>and Fontem was a lost village in the Cameroonian forest that was difficult to reach.\u201d We cannot understand the Bishop\u2019s words without returning to the history of an event that has been called the \u201cmiracle in the forest\u201d. Fontem was the first permanent Mariapolis on the African continent. In 1966, <\/strong>several focolarini, doctors, went to help the Bangwa people who were being decimated with an infant mortality rate of 98%. A few months later, Chiara herself visited them: \u201cThat huge crowd of people gathered on the vast plane in front of the home of their Fon,\u201d she would say in 1995, \u201cappeared so united and so anxious to be elevated [. . .] that it seemed to me long prepared by Mary to embrace the Christian faith in its most integral and genuine form.\u201d \u201cThe focolarini were believed because they did to Jesus what they did to the Bangwa, offering, above all, a witness of the love amongst themselves and towards everyone.\u201d \"20160310-01\"<\/a><\/strong>Today there is a hospital in Fontem, <\/strong>Mary Health of Africa, <\/em>which serves a large part of the region; and a college, Mary Seat of Wisdom, <\/em>which prepares students for university. With the help of focolarini priests, parishes have been opened in Menji, Fotabong, Fonjumetaw. Bishop Nkea declared: \u201cMainly, we learned mutual love and unity. I\u2019m also Bangwa, so I\u2019m speaking in the name of my people.\u201d \u201cWe learned interreligious dialogue: What is important for us now is that we love one another, whether we are Christian or not, to live in this unity with each other.\u201d \"20160310-02\"<\/a>The delegation that had come to render homage to Chiara Lubich included bishops \u2013 <\/strong>Bishop Nkea and Emeritus Bishop Lysinge who was celebrating the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood \u2013 priests, women religious and many lay people. They are a living testimony to the communion in the diocese. They were welcomed at the International Centre of the Focolare by the Movement\u2019s president, Maria Voce \u2013 who first visited Fontem in January 2009 \u2013 and the Movement\u2019s co-president, Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n, who will visit Fontem this coming December. The visit of the delegation marked the opening of the 50th<\/sup> anniversary celebrations of the arrival of the spirituality of unity in Fontem (1966-2016) and will continue through the year. The visit to Chiara\u2019s house was particularly moving. The day concluded with a solemn Mass in the chapel where Chiara rests. \u201cYour pilgrimage here today bears witness to the fruits produced by that first visit of Chiara, which launched a Divine adventure that no one ever imagined,\u201d Maria Voce said as she welcomed them. \u201cYou are the fruit of the life of these 50 years. It is a great joy for us and shows us the vitality of Africa. Fifty years have gone by and our wish to each other now is that we begin a new period, hopefully a long period for offering to God trees covered with fruits and with blossoms.\u201d Jes\u00fas Mor\u00e1n commented: \u201cThere is an exchange of gifts between Africa and us. The charism of unity is a gift for Africa, and Africa is a gift for the whole Movement.\u201d <\/p>\n

Leer more:\u00a0 50th anniversary of the Focolare in Africa<\/a><\/p>\n

The personal witness of the Fon of Fontem Lucas Njifua<\/a> https:\/\/vimeo.com\/91709757<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Accompanied by Bishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya and Emeritus Bishop Francis Teke Lysinge, a delegation from the Diocese of Mamfe, Cameroon, visits the International Centre of the Focolare, to say thank you to Chiara Lubich.<\/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-328052","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\/328052","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=328052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}