CHIARA
LUBICH
Founder and president of the Focolare Movement
While Europe was living the darkest years of its history,
immersed in the violence and hatred of World War II,
Chiara Lubich, then in her early twenties, was working as a primary school teacher in
Trent, a small city in northern Italy.
Beneath the bombs, which were destroying everything,
she and her companions discovered in the Gospel those spiritual values
which can build true human dignity and which can recompose
the human family in brotherhood and unity.
Their experience of living the Gospel on a daily basis gave life to a new
current of spirituality of communion, anticipating the spirit of the Second Vatican
Council: the spirituality of unity. In little more than fifty years, it has led to the
spiritual and social renewal of 5 million people of every age, race and culture: among
young people, in families, in the worlds of economics, politics and art, in the ecclesial
world among priests, religious and bishops. Present in 182 countries, the Focolare
Movement gathers together not only members of the Roman Catholic Church, but also
Christians of 350 different Churches and Christian Communities, faithful of other
religions as well as people of no particular religious conviction.
Within the Movement, 18 branches have gradually developed as well as a number
of initiatives such as: the economy of communion, which involves 760 business
enterprises; 20 little towns of the Focolare; 26 publishing houses which produce 37
editions of the Focolare’s magazine in 25 languages; 860 social projects, and more
than 10.000 adoptions at distance.
Today the Movement is like a small people committed
to bringing about a civilisation of love. It works towards the goal of a united world.
The following is a summary of the must significant events.
For the unity of peoples
Chiara Lubich’s work in defence of individual and social rights was
recognised by the Council of Europe, which together with two other humanitarian
organisations awarded her the 1998 Human Rights Prize (Strasbourg, September 1998).
The Brazilian Government, in the person of the President of the Republic of
Brazil, awarded her the "Southern Cross" in October 1998, for what she has done
for their country, especially for having promoted the "Economy of Communion". In
June 2000, the president of the German Federal Republic awarded her the "Cross for
Merit" for the Movement’s work in East Germany, during the time of the Berlin
Wall, and for her contribution to Ecumenism and to fostering of peaceful relations between
the German people and immigrants.
"In an age when ethnic and religious
differences too often lead to violent conflict, the spread of the Focolare Movement has
also contributed to a constructive dialogue between persons, generations, social classes
and peoples". This was the motivation of the 1996 UNESCO Prize for Peace
Education, conferred on Chiara Lubich in Paris.
At the United Nations Headquarters (New York), Chiara addressed a Symposium
in May 1997 on the Unity of Peoples. In March 1998 she was invited to speak in Berne
(Switzerland) on the occasion of the 150th anniversary celebration of the Swiss
Constitution.
Several cities in Italy and in other countries, including Buenos Aires, Rome,
Florence, Palermo, Bologna and Trent awarded Chiara with honorary citizenship and various
other acknowledgements.
Culture
Due to the impact of the spirituality of unity in various cultural spheres,
from June 1996 onwards, a number of universities have awarded honorary degrees to Chiara
Lubich: in Social Sciences (Poland), in Theology (Philippines and Taiwan), in Social
Communications (Thailand), in Humanitarian Sciences (USA), in Philosophy (Mexico), a joint
award by 13 faculties of the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina), in Humanities and
Science of Religion (Brazil), in Economics (Brazil & Italy), in Literature and
Psychology (Malta) and in Pedagogy (USA). In a time marked by the collapse of human
values, these awards have given rise to new cultural developments.
Interreligious dialogue
Chiara Lubich was the first Christian woman and lay person invited to recount
her spiritual experience to more than 800 Buddhist monks, nuns and students in Thailand
(January 1997).
In May 1997 Chiara addressed 3,000 Black Muslims in the historical Malcolm X
Mosque in Harlem (New York). In Buenos Aires, in April 1998, upon invitation by B’nai
B’rith and other Jewish organisations, Chiara met and addressed members of the Jewish
communities of Argentina and Uruguay. The Movement's dialogue with Hinduism began in
January 2001, when Chiara met with hundreds of Hindus in Bombay and Coimbatore (Tamil
Nadu), India. On this occasion, Chiara was also awarded the Defender of Peace Prize
by two prestigious Hindu-Gandhian institutions: the Shanti Ashram and the Sarvodaya
Movement, during an official ceremony in Coimbatore.
Each of these events has opened up promising new prospects for interreligious
dialogue.
For two consecutive years (1998-1999), more than 200 Muslim friends of the
Focolare Movement, from all continents, have gathered at the International Centre of the
Movement, Rome, Italy, in order to deepen the Focolare spirituality of unity. In
Washington D.C. (November 2000) Chiara Lubich shared her spiritual experience during a
remarkable Convention, with more than 5,000 people, promoted by Imam W.D. Mohammed, leader
of the moderate Afro-American Muslims. It was an example of the fraternity existing
between Christians and Muslims.
The Focolare Movement is actively involved in interreligious events at an
international level. At the end of 1999, 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 and which culminated on 25 October in St Peter’s Square in a meeting with
the Pope; 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. On the
latter occasion, 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".
Ecumenism
In October 1999, Chiara Lubich was present at the ceremony for the historic
Catholic-Lutheran signing of the Doctrine of Justification in Augsburg, Germany. She gave
her experience at a meeting with more than 1,700 young people gathered in the Lutheran
Church of St Ulrich. In her address to the Executive Committee of the World Lutheran
Federation she spoke of the spirituality of unity as an ecumenical spirituality.
In the nearby Focolare Centre in Ottmaring, Chiara, together with Andrea
Riccardi, founder of St Egidio Community, met with the leaders of 15 movements which have
grown in the Lutheran Evangelical Church over the past 100 years. This meeting opened up
new opportunities for communion and mutual collaboration.
In November 1998, in Germany, Chiara gave new impulse to ecumenism. In
Berlin, she spoke at the Evangelical Church of Remembrance, where she had been invited by
the Ecumenical Council, and in Augsburg in the historic church of St Anne, where the
events that led to Martin Luther’s separation from the Church of Rome took place.
In June 1997, at the opening of the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in
Graz (Austria), Chiara presented the guidelines of an ecumenical spirituality for
reconciliation among Christians.
In 1996, in Lambeth Palace (London), the Primate of the Church of England,
the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey received Chiara in audience, and awarded her
the Golden Cross of St Augustine of Canterbury in recognition of her work "for the
Anglican Communion throughout the world".
In 1995, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, awarded
her the Byzantine Cross.
Within the Roman Catholic Church
On the eve of Pentecost 1998, in St Peter’s Square, Pope John Paul
II convened the first meeting of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities. On this
occasion, Chiara Lubich was one of the four founders who presented their experience in the
presence of the Pope who recognised in them a hope for the Church and for humanity.
Chiara Lubich participated as an auditor at the International Synods of
Bishops in 1985 and 1987 where she spoke on the subject of lay spirituality. In 1999 she
participated in the Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Europe.
(07-02-2001) |
