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Maria Voce in Ireland

10 – 18 June 2012

Participating in the 50th International Eucharistic Congress and visting the Focolare Community

Maria Voce has been invited to give her testimony at the 50th International Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin and organized by the Irish Catholic Church. The president of the Focolare Movement will also meet the Focolare community in this country.

“The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one another” is the theme for the 50th edition of this international congress.  The Church of Ireland has been preparing  for this event since 2008, immediately after the Pope announced its venue at the conclusion of  the International Eucharistic Congress held in Quebec. The Movements have been involved in this preparation from the very start, and the Focolare Movement has been giving its full support, collaborating  in various ways  during the gradual setting up.   A television advert about the Congress shows some of the work carried out during this preparation. The president of the Focolare Movement will address the Congress on Monday 11th June at 15.00hrs.

The Movement has been present in Ireland since 1969 and its first permanent centre on the island was set up in 1971. Among the group of young Catholics and Protestants, who partcipated in the Genfest 1973, in Italy, there was Sally McAllister, who later became the first Irish focolarina. Originally from Northern Ireland, she decided to embrace the Focolare Community Life instead of the armed struggle that raged in those years.

Today the Focolare Movement has spread itself among people of all ages and from all walks of life. Together with the five permanent centres located in different parts of the country, there is  a “mini city of testimony”  in the county of Kildare, not far from Dublin.

 

Official site of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress

Dossier: Maria Voce’s Short Biography

See also: Ireland – Unity Beyond Everything

Watch the interview with Maria Voce, president of the Focolare Movement

Testimony of Maria Voce


Ecumenical Meeting, St. Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast:

Maria Voce “The Culture of Trust”

 

Updated on 12th June 2012

BF – LH

SIF – Focolare Information Service

Assisi, Clare & Chiara

9 June 2012

“Clare of Assisi  and Chiara Lubich: two gifts in communion”

During the celebrations of  the eighth centenary of the consecration of St. Clare to God,  this theme has been taken up by  the town of Assisi  to go deeper into the relationship between these two major figures  of Christianity.

The conference was held at the Metastasio Theatre on 9th June, starting at 4.00pm

The main speakers were Prof. P.  Piero Maranese (“Francis and Chiara: two aspects of  a charism”),  Prof. Lucia Abignente (“Clare of Assisi and Chiara Lubich: communion between two gifts as a source of light”) and  Prof. Sr. Alessandra Smerilli (“ Effects of Charisms on History and Society”).  Michele Zanzucchi, editor of  Cittaˋ Nuova was  the moderator.

The programme continued with the opening ceremony of the “Largo Chiara Lubich”, a public site near the Upper Basilica of St. Francis (where Piazza Superiore  joins Via Card. Merry del Val).

The musical “Clare of God”, which started at 21.00 hrs at  the Metastasio Theatre,  concluded the evening.

Updated on 11th June 2012

BF – LH

SIF – Focolare Information Service

VII World Meeting of Families

30 May – 3 June, 2012

“The Family: work and celebration”. This is the theme of 7th World meeting of Families which will take place from the 30th May to the 3rd June 2012 in Milan, Italy. Promoted by the Holy See through the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Archdiocese of Milan, the organization of this event mobilizes quite a number of associations, groups and movements that contribute towards the well-being of the family.

For Benedict XVI, this edition of the World Meeting of Families is “an opportunity to reflect about work and rest as aspects of a united family, open to life, well inserted in society and in the Church, attentive to the quality of relationtionships besides that of the household economy”.

Since the very beginning, the families of the Focolare Movement have been contributing towards the organization of this meeting, both as members of the Pontifical Council for the Family and also because of a longstanding presence in religious and civil institutions that contribute towards the well-being of families in Lombardy. The appointment given for Saturday morning 2nd June at Carroponte di Sesto San Giovanni will be in preparation for the evening meeting with Benedict XVI. From there they will proceed together to Bresso Airport to greet the Pope. “Relating about families while waiting for the Pope” is the programme intended for this session. Maria Voce and the couple Anna Maria and Danilo Zanzucchi are expected to participate and give their interventions.

 

Maria Voce’s talk

Official Website of the VII World Meeting of Families

Official Website of New Families – Focolare Movement

 

 

Updated on 4th June 2012

BF – LH

SIF – Focolare Information Service

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