{"id":341244,"date":"2012-07-08T07:39:07","date_gmt":"2012-07-08T05:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/when-dialogue-wins-over-diversity\/"},"modified":"2024-06-06T12:07:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T10:07:06","slug":"when-dialogue-wins-over-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/when-dialogue-wins-over-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"When Dialogue Wins Over Diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cOur story,\u201d recounts Lucia, \u201cbegan 42 years ago when we decided to share life journey<\/strong>. But the more we got together, the more we saw that we didn\u2019t think alike, especially when it came to religion: I had faith, he didn\u2019t. At first I didn\u2019t worry about it. I didn\u2019t think it would influence our future together. Instead, we had the first clash came when I became pregnant. We had to decide whether or not to continue the pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was too young,\u201d continues Tonino, \u201cto think about becoming a father and husband.<\/strong> I was still a student, I had many plans for the future, and now I found myself having to make a decision that would change my life! I grudgingly accepted Lucia\u2019s determination to continue the pregnancy and to marry with a civil ceremony. The pregnancy went well, but as soon as the child was born, I once again felt crushed by the enormous responsibility to the point that I just ran away from everything and everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly I found myself all alone<\/strong> \u2013 even though my parents never abandoned me \u2013 with a little girl to raise. The following years were marked by suffering, especially when he asked for a separation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to live my life,\u201d Tonino confirms. \u201cI obtained the separation and then the divorce<\/strong>. I was free again. But many times I found myself thinking of them, and this is how I began to retrace my steps. I returned to courting my ex-wife again and to visit my daughter. We soon felt the need of a house for us to live in, the need for intimacy, to rebuild the family. I also accepted to celebrate the new marriage in church<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

“At that stage, those years of anguish were a thing of the past,” recalled Lucia. “We were living a new life and also our second child, Valentina, was born. It was very peaceful phase of our life due to the fact our economic situation had become more stable and also due to my gradual acceptance of living with someone who was different from me.<\/p>\n

After a few years, the Focolare Movement suddenly entered into our family and turned everything around! Invited by a teacher, Valentina came to know the Gen3, the children of the Focolare. It was the beginning of a different path, first for her and then for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking Valentina to the Gen4<\/strong><\/a> meetings was my job,\u201d says Tonino. When I went to pick her up, she was always very happy and, as soon as she got into the car, she would ask forgiveness for being late (she always made me wait at least a half hour) and then begin to tell me about the beautiful evening. Contaminate by her enthusiasm and by the festive welcome that everyone in the Movement always had for me \u2013 even though I had no religious reference \u2013 I have also become a part of this family. Initially I joined the group for the \u201cfriends of dialogue\u201d, comprised of persons with diverse convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cA while later \u2013 curious that a Catholic movement had accepted my husband the unbeliever \u2013 I also began to attend. And as my knowledge of the Focolare’s spirituality grew deeper, many of my questions found answers.<\/p>\n

We have done some road together<\/strong>: many barriers have been knocked down. I\u2019ve learned to listen, without fear of losing myself, to give space and listening, both inwardly and outwardly, so as to accept and understand others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur diversity \u2013 not only religious \u2013 \u201cstresses Tonino, \u201chas not in fact impeded the course of our life together. Valentina\u2019s decision to become a focolarina<\/em>, didn\u2019t find me unprepared, since I have come to share so much with her. The relationship between us was minimally affected; on the contrary, it was strengthened, unlike for Lucia who, at least at first, didn\u2019t accept it so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t so easy for me to accept Valentina\u2019s decision at first,\u2019\u2019 Lucia admits. \u201cI would have liked her to have had other experiences first: a boyfriend, for example, a job; in order to compare the two choices and be able to make a more serene decision. But she felt strongly that this was her path. She\u2019s already been in a focolare for eight years and more convinced than ever. I\u2019m glad I went along with her decision. Even though she\u2019s consecrated to God, she\u2019s never neglected her relationship with all the family.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thank Chiara Lubich and the entire community that I belong to,\u201d Tonino concludes, \u201cbecause you have given me and all those who share my same idea, the opportunity of strengthening this desire for unity through following a path based on the basic values of brotherhood and love for neighbour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compiled by the international Centre for Dialogue Among Persons of Non-Religious Convictions<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The testimony of an Italian family, she a believer and he a person of non-religious convictions, deeply united by a dialogue made up of listening and understanding each other\u2019s thinking.<\/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":[893,894],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-341244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2","category-senza-categoria-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341244","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=341244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}