The dialogue
Since 1960 people of
numerous Christian traditions have come into contact with the Focolare Movement.
Old prejudices collapse and with joy the common patrimony is discovered.
People of different religions, or of various ideological positions also adhere to the
movement.
Since 1994 Chiara Lubich is an Honorary President of the World Conference of Religions for
Peace (WCRP).
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ECUMENISM
Today around 47,000 people belonging to 300 Churches and Ecclesial
Communities share the spirituality of unity in various ways. This dialogue is encouraged
by those responsible for the various Churches. More than 50 European congresses
have brought together, since the '60's, members of the Orthodox Churches, of the Ancient
Eastern Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical-Lutheran Churches, the Reformed
Churches, the Free Churches, Catholic etc. In 1965 the first centre of ecumenical life
among Catholics and Lutherans in Ottmaring (Germany).
The last international ecumenical congress took place in 1997 with the title, "The
Dialogue of Life". There were 1,200 participants from 20 Churches, from 56 countries,
from 5 continents. This dialogue of life which has taken shape among Christians commits
everyone to intensely live the common patrimony and the spirituality of unity, as a
contribution towards the full communion of the Churches, which is a goal towards which all
Christians can aspire. This "dialogue of life" was central to
Chiara Lubich's speech during the "European Ecumenical Assembly"
in Graz (Austria) in June 1997, promoted by the European Conference of Christian Churches
and by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences.
INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE
1977. Chiara Lubich was in London to receive the "Templeton
Prize" for the "progress in religion". She told her experience in front of
an audience of personalities from all religions. Her words brought about a very strong
echo in the participants. This event has come to be seen as the beginning of the
inter-religious dialogue. Among the principal events of the last few years, we can point
to:
Dialogue with Buddhists - After 20 years of contacts in Buddhist
countries, particularly in Japan (where in 1980, she had spoken to 10,000 lay Buddhists
from the Rissho Kosei-Kai Movement), Chiara spoke of her spiritual experience, in January
1997, in Thailand, to more than 800 monks, nuns and lay people from the Buddhist
University and monastery of Chiang Mai. It is the first time that a woman, a lay person
and a Christian has spoken to Buddhist monks.
Dialogue with Muslims - The Mosque in Harlem (New York), May 1997 - On
the invitation of the Imam W. D. Mohammed, the leader of two million black Muslims, Chiara
Lubich speaks of the spirituality of unity in the Mosque which is dedicated to the memory
of Malcolm X, in Harlem. 3,000 Muslims were present. It was an event which in the words of
Imam Mohammed, "opens a new page of history" in the dialogue between races and
religions.
Dialogue with the Jews - United States, May 1997 - on the initiative of
Rabbi Jack Bemporad, the President of the Centre for Jewish-Christian Comprehension, an
honorary doctorate in "Humane Letters" is conferred by a Connecticut University.
Argentina, April 1998 - Chiara Lubich meets 150 Jews of the B'nai B'rith in Buenos Aires.
A "pact of unity" is sealed between the Jewish and Christian participants.
Around 30,000 are in contact.
DIALOGUE WITH PEOPLE OF OTHER CONVICTIONS
People of other convictions have always had their place in the heart of the Focolare
Movement. Since 1995, European congresses have proposed a deepening of the spirit of unity
and the fundamental values of humanity, in a spirit of reciprocal enrichment. The last
meeting was in 1998, at the Movement's centre in Rome, with 400 participants, on the theme
of solidarity. There are more than 70,000 people in contact, who share the commitment to
safeguard universal values such as unity, love, peace, legality, human rights, etc., and
they collaborate in the social projects. |
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