– Marco Carvalho
Dialogue, evangelization and a communal experience of the spirituality that permeates the message of the Gospels are central concepts for the Focolare Movement. The organization, founded in Italy by Chiara Lubich during the Second World War, celebrates this year its 75th anniversary with a renewed commitment to continue to serve the Church. Present in over 180 countries and territories, the Movement settled in Macau at the beginning of the 1970s, where it develops a low key but steady approach to evangelization. The members of “The Works of Mary” congregation elect lay people and evangelization among peers as the best method to spread the word of God. Fr Eddie Hsueh Kwan Ho, head of the Movement both in Macau and in Hong Kong, says there are no better evangelizers.
What is, in a very concrete way, the Focolare Movement? It is a movement that was born in Italy, but with a universal ambition …
Well, we have this dimension of universality as our mission in the Church, but we are very concrete. We take part in the dioceses’ affairs. We try to be useful to the dioceses wherever we go. If we are in Africa – and in fact we are very much in Africa – there we will offer our services in the form of charity, in concrete charitable works: in education or social welfare, aspects like that. We are even present in hospitals. In developed countries – in this part of the world, in Macau and Hong Kong – we don’t feel we are useful in that area, so we concentrate on what we are specialized in: our vocation and our mission is dialogue. We are specialized in all kinds of dialogue. According to Pope Paul the VI, there should be four kinds of dialogue within the Church. Ever since the Vatican II, we are dedicated to dialogue with other religions, with other denominations – Christian denominations – but also with those that are not believers, those who are of other cultures. On the other hand, we dedicate ourselves to dialogue within the Catholic Church. Even within the Catholic Church there is much to do in terms of dialogue.
Does that mean that you also have non-Catholic members?
Yes, yes. Non-Catholic members were always part of what we are, at least since the early sixties. When we reached out to Germany, to Switzerland and to England, more and more we reached out to non-Christian denominations and they joined us as internal members. Some have pronounced their vows, but most of our members are not consecrated members. They are lay people, just like everybody else. But, in that sense, we have members of other Christian denominations, both consecrated members and non-consecrated members …
In Asia, in places like India and the Myanmar we still have religious conflicts and religious persecution. Is the Focolare Movement an instrument to solve this kind of issues? Is it possible to solve this kind of problems through dialogue?
We believe very much that we have a role to play in these countries. Wherever we are we promote our typical way of living. Since the Gospel is a universal message to all people, we have come to understand that it is not difficult at all that Muslims and Buddhists, for instance, can live together and in peace. They all tend to become our friends. Little by little they understand our mission. We have lots of members in the Middle East, even in countries were the Christian presence is minimal. In a way, you can also say that we have Muslim members in the Focolare Movement (laughs) …. We feel that most of the Muslims are really peaceful and that they believe in world peace. The message of the Koran is a peaceful message. Muslims embrace our Focolare ideals very easily.
The Focolare Movement puts a lot of emphasis in a communal way of life. You have several “Mariapolis” spread all over the world. We have one nearby, in Tagaytay, in the Philippines. What is the importance of this message? The idea of building small cities in which all kind of people are welcome could be the basis of a better world?
We can come back to your first comment. We have been trying to promote the building of unity among our members ever since the beginning of the movement. We have Focolare centers so we put a lot of emphasis on that kind of spiritual and communitarian spirituality since the beginning. I am talking about the years right after the Second World War, although the movement started in 1943, still during World War II. The Movement spread very quickly throughout Italy and Europe right after the end of the conflict. What attracts people, in this sense, is that it differs from a traditional way of living spirituality by one’s own effort. We put emphasis on a communitarian level, so the concept of Church as a community and the idea that the spirit of the Church is communitarian had already started in a concrete way within the movement before the Church defined herself and started to see herself as a community during the Vatican II. This communion – the concept of communion – was a major concept during the Vatican II and during the Council. In 1963, Pope John XXIII approved the movement. The Movement was, in a certain sense prophetic, as it anticipated the vision of the Church as it was defined during the Vatican II. This spirituality has developed until now and we never put enough effort to emphasize that the Church is communitarian in nature.
How did the movement change during these 75 years? The Movement started as an answer to the chaos that was unraveling over Europe during the Second World War, with Chiara Lubich focusing in love as an answer to hate and destruction ….
Yes. I will say that the charisma of Chiara is a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is not an invention of Chiara. Chiara was only an instrument, a very obedient instrument of the Holy Spirit. She had not been trained in theology or Church discipline, but the way of conducting the kind of life that attracted so many young people right after the World War Two is a sign that God had something to do with this group of people. Already the diocesan Archbishop at that time saw in Chiara that way of life and that attitude of following the instructions of the Church with total obedience. He said: “Here I see there is the finger of God.” The Church did not approve the movement until 1962 or 1963. It was a long period and a lengthy study of the Church, but during all those years, Chiara has always encouraged our members to see the Church as mother and seek the protection of the Church. Until now we always feel that we are very much of the Church, within the Church, we work for the Church and we won’t be interested in building our own community.
You were saying that the Movement spread rapidly in Europe, but it came to Asia only after the Council Vatican II. When did it reach Macau?
We were here already since the early seventies. The Movement went to Hong Kong starting in 1968 and established its first center in 1970 and after that we came to Macau. Bishop Paulo José Tavares, Bishop D. Arquíminio Rodrigues da Costa were very much encouraging to us. We have many consecrated members from among …
The Emeritus Bishop of Macau, D. José Lai, is a member of the Focolare Movement …
Yes, yes. D. José Lai is also one of our members. He got to know the movement in Portugal. In Macau we are very much dedicated to what the local Church needs. For example, here in Macau and in Hong Kong, the local Church defines evangelization as a very important aspect. We dedicate ourselves very much to ecumenical dialogue, to interreligious dialogue. We brought people to come to join catechism, to learn Catechism and so on. It is part of our work alongside the Church, but our approach is more or less mostly concentrated in forming the person individually than as a group: we dedicate our efforts to just a few of them, those students that are interested in living Gospel, for example.
Most of the members are laymen. Could laymen be as efficient spreading the Word of God as someone who prepared himself during their own life to do just that?
Very much, very much. Most of the time, we priests, we don’t touch people in such a deep way as this lay people. When what we say is really based on our daily life, then it is a very concrete way to show that it the right way, that is pleasing to God and that the result of such a way of living carries forward the Kingdom of God. I mean, people change because of this way of life. The lay people are very much apostles of today. They teach other people, they show other people how to live and that is very much convincing for non-believers.
The Movement is still growing, still spreading all over the world. What about here in Macau? What is the expression of the Movement in Macau?
Yes. Well, about the growth of the Movement, numerically we are not growing too much. The number of members is, somehow, a little bit less in these last few years. The Center of the Ladies Focolarini left Macau a few years ago because of the needs of Mainland China. Notwithstanding, we are experiencing another way of growth because without the support and the presence of a Focolare Center, the members in Macau consolidated their action. Without the center they have to carry on by themselves. At the end, it is a positive experience for the community in Macau. There’s a call group in Macau organizing all the activities and without out help they were able to organize some very big activities: the concert of “Gen Verde” that was held in July this year in Macau is such an example. They obtained all the financial assistance from the Church, from the Government and they were able to break even without losing money. That is a sign that God gave his blessing to this event. That concert had a great impact on young people who joined in. Until now, we are still in contact with these new, young people. We can say that the group of Macau has deepened their commitment and their roots in the life of the Movement and it did without a lot of fuss here in Macau. They are working silently, but very actively and strongly.
What would you say are the main challenges for the Focolare Movement for the next 75 years?
We can pick on something Pope Francis said to us in Loppiano. In May he visited Loppiano and he said: “You are just at the beginning.” After 75 years, the Pope told us: “You are just at the beginning.” What does it mean? I would say that the charismatic era of the presence of Chiara has passed, but that does not mean the end. Rather, it is the beginning, as Pope Francis said. Every leader with charisma, like let’s say, Francis of Assisi, like Ignatius of Loyola, after their deaths, the Movements or their congregations started to stand up on their own feet. Now, we are at the beginning of the era after Chiara. We are not forgetting Chiara, because Chiara is always continuing. We will say the era after Chiara, we will start focusing on the incarnation of that charisma. For the last 75 years, we started to understand the charisma that Chiara brought about, but after her death we have to put everything in concrete projects. We are starting at many levels concrete projects, both socially, spiritually, ecclesially and civilly. We are just at the beginning, like Pope Francis said in Loppiano. Our aim is for all men to be one. We are building up world peace, we are building up consensus, We are pushing towards a spirituality of community, just like Pope John Paul said. The third Millennium should be a Millennium of communitarian spirituality. We are picking up and we started now to put into practice what Chiara, what Pope John Paul said and what Pope Francis emphasized. We are following the teachings of our mentors.
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