At the beginning of the year in the Loreto School nothing is the same as the last year.
Since it was founded in 1982, the families have come from different backgrounds and the expectations that push them to come to Loppiano are also different.
The rhythm of the lessons are adapted to their language and culture; the work which is an integral part of the School is reformulated; the festive moments are enriched by new sounds and colours. The courses, focusing on family issues in the perspective of the spirituality of unity, coincide with the school year of the children who go to the district public school.

Japan, Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Italy-Argentine, Vietnam, these are countries of the 8 families of the course which has just opened. They have in common one desire: to grow as a family in the mutual love of the Gospel. In fact, this is the only law in force in this little city where these families want to have a full immersion experience.

“Why did we come here?” Indian Henke and Emilio of Pelotas (Brazil) try to answer “ To look for the essential in life. We didn’t want to remain in the vicious circle of profit so we inserted our company in the EdC project, we sold our car, gave away half of our clothes and our domestic appliances to the poor . It was a revolution, and as a result, we had an irresistible urge to have an educational experience with our children.

“To come here- tells Bao Chau, from Vietnam, father of two children- we had to wait four years due to family motives.
We were on the point of withdrawing our registration, when the difficulties were smoothed out and we felt strongly that God was waiting for us at Loppiano.

We have been here since 2016, but because of the language we couldn’t participate at the preceding course as we couldn’t understand everything, so we decided to stay on for another year.
I asked permission from my boss, I asked my brother to help me pay the loan on the house and I made the request to the School Board. After two months, all the answers were affirmative”.
“We are happy to remain- adds his wife Bao Vy- to learn in depth the  life of the Gospel and on our return, share this with the families in Vietnam, growing every day in love.”

“We come from Korea and this is our daughter Maria Grazia of 13 years”. This is how Irema and Michele introduce themselves,  owners of an institute which opened 15 years ago in answer to a wide need for a better preparation for university.
From the initial 10 students- they said- in three years the enrolment arrived at a thousand students.

We were always more involved in work and our project to build an united and harmonious family began to suffer”. After a moment of intense communion between us we decided on the first of June to sell up and look for a new job. Then an idea flashed in Michele ‘s mind “If we sell the Institute let’s go to Loppiano for a year!”

Irema had suggested this soon after they were married but at that time it wasn’t possible “We had to sell before the holidays and in answer to our prayers the Institute was sold on the last Saturday of June. God really wanted us here!”
Completing this multiform international mosaic are Francesca (34)Italian, and Robert (37) Argentinian, from Cordoba.

“After various experiences made in other countries-they told us-we are now resident in Italy, at Loreto. The path taken by our family, short but intense, hasn’t been without difficulties: the different family backgrounds, some events outside of our control and different reactions put obstacles in our way, but love and the desire to construct a healthy and open family are strong.
We decided to come to the Loreto School with Isabella(3 years old) to learn to have the right priorities  and to grow as persons and as parents.
By living the experience of sharing  and comparing ourselves  with others, who knows if one day we can also testify the Gospel in the world.

(Source: www.focolare.org – Anna Friso)

Watch the video: Loreto School: going to school… as family