{"id":328524,"date":"2016-09-02T04:00:57","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T02:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/mariapolis-in-nigeria-a-school-of-unity\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T15:05:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T13:05:00","slug":"mariapolis-in-nigeria-a-school-of-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/mariapolis-in-nigeria-a-school-of-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariapolis in Nigeria a school of unity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20160902-04\"<\/a>On July 2 \u2013 7, 2016, four hundred people gathered,<\/strong> far from all the spotlights, for an intense experience of communion among young and old, children, priests, members of other Christian Churches and other Religions. Good deeds never make a lot of noise and the media is often more interested in news about violence, abuse of power, kidnappings and bombings. But Nigeria<\/a> also has another side: the place where the Mariapolis <\/a>was held, for example, Brigard National Seminary of Enugu, the <\/strong>largest Roman Catholic major seminary in the world. This says much about the faith that is lived so intensely in that land. The Mariapolis opened with a group of fifty young singers who presented a medley of Gospel hymns that had a lot harmony and rhythm. Suddenly the group divided as a number of couples emerged in traditional dress from the different regions of Nigeria. <\/strong>Each of them was identified as they crossed the stage amidst cheers and clapping. The scene closed with everyone in the hall on their feet and singing the National Anthem. There was an explosion of joy that seemed to echo the Bishop\u2019s invitation during his homily to live out the theme of the Mariapolis with the \u201cenergy and imagination that is so common to the young.\u201d This year\u2019s theme was Unity: Gift, Commitment and Goal. <\/strong>Unity is a value that is dear to the Bishop because it is \u201cso needed here in Nigeria.\u201d Bishop Callistus Chukwuma Valentine Onaga of Enugu<\/strong> then encouraged everyone to live unity with three objectives in mind: solidarity, subsidiarity and the common good. \u00a0<\/strong> \"20160901-02\"With such a high start, the topics regarding Focolare spirituality and its concrete application to daily life fell on fertile ground. The testimonies were particularly effective and at times quite moving. They were presented by couples and single people who were committed to living the Gospel in both their daily adventures and misadventures. The witness of a member of the Pentecostal Church and young Muslim was particularly significant and helped in understanding the concepts that were being presented. Afternoons were dedicated to a wide variety of workshops that highlighted how unity can improve the life of individuals and of society. <\/strong>One group discussed the treasures and the challenges of family life; another reflected on how to live unity in the midst of the nation\u2019s current problems. Other workshops offered people the opportunity to acquire some new skills: a mini-course on electricity, another for beauticians, hair stylists, and so on. These were greatly appreciated and seen as a gift that reminded everyone of Chiara Lubich<\/a> and her Economy of Communion<\/a> project. \u201cIt\u2019s not a matter of wealthy people being philanthropic,\u201d she had remarked in 1999, \u201cbut of sharing among equals, mutual giving and receiving.\u201d Everybody wished to seal their proposal to live unity by walking together through the Holy Door <\/strong>at the Seminary Chapel in order to embrace the grace of this special Year of Mercy and to renew their commitment to be merciful to one another and to all. Video of the Mariapolis in Enugu https:\/\/vimeo.com\/181015319<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have been a hundred Mariapolises around the world this year, some of them in very difficult surroundings such as Nigeria. Still, at a Mariapolis the local culture\u2019s true colours always shine through.<\/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-328524","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\/328524","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=328524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}