Historical background

1977. Chiara Lubich received in London the "Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion".
She told her experience in front of important persons of different religions and she mentioned the beginnings of the dialogue of the Focolare Movement with members of the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu religions. 

The response from all the people present at the Guildhall and the powerful experience of the divine were unexpected.
The event was considered a milestone in the history of the interreligious dialogue of the Movement.

This occasion is considered as the founding event of the Movement’s interreligious dialogue. Such dialogue has been particularly fruitful on the level of spirituality, helped by the practice of the so called "golden rule" present in almost every religion: "Do unto others what you would like others do unto you".

As a consequence of this relationship with people of other faiths several common humanitarian initiatives have been undertaken. Old barriers and prejudices fell apart and a new reciprocal understanding of each other’s religion emerged.
The interreligious dialogue also developed with Shintoists, Taoists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Bahais and followers of Traditional Religions.

It has a technique at its basis:
"To make ourselves one with the others" This does not only require us to have an attitude of kindness, tolerance, and appreciation; it is a practice which demands the complete emptying of oneself in order to become one with the others, "placing oneself in the other’s shoes", penetrating the very meaning it has for the other to be Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, etc.

In the little town of Tagaytay (Manila), Philippines, there is a permanent school for interreligious dialogue where people of various religions meet together and the spirituality of the Focolare Movement is spreading all over Asia.

The Focolare Movement is a member of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP). Since 1994 Chiara Lubich is one of the honorary Presidents.

More than 30.000 followers (young and adults) of other religions are committed in he Focolare Movement: they collaborate in various activities and, in as much as they can, practise its spirit.

Dialogue with Jews

Chiara Lubich meets the Jewish Community of Argentina and Uruguay upon the invitation of the Argentina’s B’nai B’rith and other Jewish organisations. On that occasion a new seed of dialogue was sown.

Rabbi Jack Bemporad, President of the Centre for Christian-Jewish Understanding, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield (Connecticut), USA, was the promoter of the consignment to Chiara Lubich of a doctorate "honoris causa" in "Humane Letters" by that university (May, 1997).
Several meetings with groups of Jewish friends of the Focolare Movement have been held in USA, in Europe, in South America. "Common roots" are discovered.

Dialogue with Buddhists

A collaboration in various humanitarian and peace projects starts, with a mutual appreciation of the respective values.

She has been invited by the Great Teacher Ajahn Thong who introduces her with these words: "The wise person is neither man or woman, neither child or adult. When someone lights a light in the darkness, one does not ask who he or she is. Chiara is here to give us the light she has experienced".

Dialogue with Muslims

Contacts with Muslims start in the early seventies. In different countries an intense exchange of spiritual experience has taken place with Muslim friends on several occasions.

The 3rd International Meeting of Muslim friends of the Focolare Movement took place at Castelgandolfo, in June 1998, with the participation of 200 people from four continents. In 1999, their 4th International Meeting was held again at Castelgandolfo, to go deeper in the spirit of the Focolare.

In 1999 the Focolare Movement was actively involved in interreligious events at an international level, in which the role of religions in the new millennium was widely discussed and actions for joint collaboration were planned at such events as: the Interreligious Assembly with representatives from 25 different religions which was held in the Vatican City, and culminated on 28 October in St Peter's Square in a meeting with the Pope; the 7th World Assembly of the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WRCP) which was held in Amman with the participation of 600 delegates representing 60 countries and many religions.
Chiara Lubich, who has been one of the honorary presidents of WCRP since 1994, gave the concluding talk to the Plenary Assembly on "A Spirituality for Common Living".

In November 2000, a remarkable Convention was held in Washington D.C., with 5,000 people, Christian and Afro-American Muslim belonging to The Muslim American Society. They gathered in the name of fraternity and Chiara Lubich and Imam W.D. Mohammed shared their witness.
After that event, a way opened in many cities of the United States to deepen what is common.

Dialogue with Hindus

In January 2001 the dialogue of the Focolare Movement with Hinduism began, when Chiara Lubich met with hundreds of Hindus in Bombay and Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), India.

On this occasion, Chiara was awarded the Defender of Peace Prize by two prestigious Hindu-Gandhian institutions: the Shanti Ashram and the Sarvodaya Movement (January 5).
During the ceremony, in which more than 500 hinduists and persons belonging to other religions were present, Chiara spoke about her spiritual experience, showing the common elements in the Gospel and the hinduist scriptures.

In January 14, she partecipated in another meeting with academics and students of Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham Cultural Centre. The dialogue will continue.

(03-02-2001)