{"id":342516,"date":"2013-11-19T04:00:06","date_gmt":"2013-11-19T03:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/rod-gorton-loving-one-another-is-the-culmination-of-charity\/"},"modified":"2024-06-06T12:10:59","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T10:10:59","slug":"rod-gorton-loving-one-another-is-the-culmination-of-charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/rod-gorton-loving-one-another-is-the-culmination-of-charity\/","title":{"rendered":"Rod Gorton: Loving one another is the culmination of charity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Rod Gorton, married focolarino<\/a>, left this world on November 14, 2013<\/strong> following an accident while carrying out an act of love. He was born in Boston, USA <\/a>in 1933 and became acquainted with the ideal of unity<\/a> in the 1960\u2019s. His childhood was marked by the separation of his parents: \u201cAt six I found myself without a Dad and, because of the family environment, without God.\u201d During this period he was helped by his passion for music. At twenty years of age he joined the Naval Academy and became an officer of the United States Navy. Navy regulations required him to attend a church on Sundays and this is where Rod first heard about God. He began to have questions: \u201cAre these people all crazy? Or am I the crazy one?\u201d Following a long search and still plagued by doubts, he realized something had changed within him: \u201cI believed!\u201d But he soon discovered many contradictions in the new life, because he didn\u2019t find anyone who took the Gospel seriously. He became a Navy officer and began to travel around the world. He was attracted by the missionaries that he met in several countries and after four years joined a seminary to become a missionary priest. But he was still searching . . .

\"\"<\/a>

Rod with Chiara Lubich in Loppiano at 1971<\/p><\/div> In a Living City<\/em><\/a><\/strong> magazine<\/em><\/a> that he picked up by chance, he read some words written by Chiara Lubich<\/a>: \u201cIf you want to win over a city to the love of Christ . . . gather your friends who share the same sentiments . . . \u00a0unite with them in the name of Christ . . . promise one another constant mutual love . . .\u201d Here was what he had been searching for his whole life. He also found there an invitation to a Mariapolis<\/em>. At the Mariapolis he was powerfully struck by the sense of family he saw among the people: Blacks, whites, yellow, young, old, rich and poor. . . and the Gospel was the basis of it all, it was the basis for all these people.\u201d \u00a0<\/em> In November 1966 he left for the permanent Mariapolis in Loppiano <\/a>where he spent six years as a member of the Gen Rosso<\/a> Musical Band. He could play the guitar, trumpet and harmonica quite well. Referring to the Gospel promises he wrote: \u201cThere I found the hundredfold of fathers, brothers, homes and, even more, I came to know my God: Jesus in his abandonment.<\/a> Jesus forsaken who [had transformed suffering into love] had illuminated every \u201cwhy\u201d in my life and in Him I also found the key<\/em>for beginning a family of my own.\u201d With a straightforwardness and simplicity that were so typical of him, Rod was continually giving of himself and being attentive to the needs of those around him. This was something that stayed with him throughout his life.

\"\"<\/a>

The Gorton family<\/p><\/div> One day he met Mazia, from Austria<\/a>. \u201cWith just a few words, we realized we both had the same flame burning in our hearts: to form a family for God.\u201d He wrote to Chiara Lubich: \u201cBecause I first said yes to God, I can now say yes to Mazia.\u201d \u00a0<\/em> Rod and Mazia married in January of 1972 at the headquarters of the Movement in Rocca di Papa, Italy, during a meeting of married focolarini. Among the witnesses to their marriage were Igino Giordani<\/a>, Spartaco Lucarini<\/a> and Chiara who gave a Word of Life<\/a> to their new family: \u201cLove one another as I have loved you\u201d (Jn 13:34). They had six children: Cielo, Clarence, Sara, Peter, Giovanna and Pina. Mazia and Rod were always available and generously giving of themselves for the countless activities in Loppiano, where they lived and worked mainly for the hundreds of families who spent time there. So many people were touched by their love and witness. \u201cNow we believe that Rod is immersed in the joy that never ends,\u201d wrote Maria Voce<\/a>, \u201ccertain that there Above he will continue to watch over Mazia and the children whom he so much loved.\u201d We would like to think that he will also be watching over us as we continue to work as he did for universal brotherhood. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Official of the United States Navy, musician, father of six children. One of the first members of the school for families in the Focolare\u2019s permanent Mariapolis in Loppiano. Rod left this world on November 14, 2013.<\/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":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-342516","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\/342516","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=342516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}