Meeting of Religious in Great Britain at Focolare Centre for Unity

This year, Religious men and women from Western Europe who are in touch with the Focolare Movement chose to come to Welwyn Garden City for their annual meeting to attend a retreat, also called a School on Communion to deepen their understanding of the charism of unity. Alongside many other such charisms the Focolare Movement has something to offer to the Church and the World.

We also invited friends or others who were in Religious life to come to this "School of Communion" if they wanted to; or to come to an open day. In the event eight of the 19 Religious present either had known nothing or very little about the Focolare Movement. They came from Ireland, Spain, France, Belgium, Holland and England. There were 13 different Religious Orders represented.

The theme was "Listening to the Holy Spirit……at the service of Humanity". At the same time the focus was on growing in understanding the Church and the Holy Spirit.

There were two keynote talks on the Church and the Holy Spirit, complemented by a third one on the reflections about the visit of Pope Francis in May 2019 and John Paul 11 in August 1984 to two different Focolare centres.

This third talk emphasised the importance of both those visits: it was the charismatic time for the Focolare Movement at the first visit of Pope John Paul 11 on the 19th August 1984 to the centre at Rocca di Papa outside Rome. The founder of the Movement, Chiara Lubich was still very much alive; we religious can identify very well with the charismatic times in our respective stories. At the birth and first beginnings of every new Religious Family in the Church there is usually enthusiasm, joy and growth; although there are also almost always difficulties.

The second visit of Pope Francis on May 10 2018 was in the more "Incarnational" time, after the death of the founder (Chiara Lubich died in March 2008) and most of her first companions have also died. Pope Francis in this post charismatic stage emphasises in his talk at Loppiano (a little town near Florence where everyone tries to live according to the gospel) the significance of the "Whole People of God". This is a Vatican II image of the Church and he saw the image in tiny miniature as found in the very recently born Focolare Movement. In the whole world-wide Focolare Movement and In Loppiano there are almost all the vocations that exist in the Church, young and old, families, laity living out their vocations in different ways, groups of unmarried men and women training to be consecrated focolarini, university students and much in the minority as in the whole Church, priests and men and women religious. There are also small industries, workshops, a small University and agricultural activities at Loppiano. He pointed out that for the Focolare Movement everything is still very much at the beginning stages of further growth; he also pointed out that the Movement was going ahead on the right road, as precisely it reflects the whole Church which is largely made of laity.

We did hear another fundamental talk that was very relevant for today that Chiara Lubich gave to the very young school of Loppiano (only in existence for two or three years at that stage) in 1966. It had as its title "The Passion for the Church". This topic in the light of the events of recent days and months both concerning the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults (or lack of it) by Priests and Religious men and women in the Church, and the general loss of credibility in the Church in our times, made what Chiara Lubich said over 50 years ago actual and real for us at our meeting. On the first occasion of that talk Chiara pointed out that it would mean a new change of heart for all who followed this charism of Unity; it created something new in many of us as well.

The Ecumenical life of the Focolare members of Britain touched many of the Religious from the mainland of Europe. In the Focolare Movement especially in the UK, this side of the life of the Church is very developed indeed, and the day by day simple experience was a revelation to our non-British friends and to some from Britain and Ireland as well.

There was quite a time given to us during the days sharing and commenting with each other on what we heard from our own experiences of Church in Religious Life.

Personally it was a moment for me to touch the presence of God which is the prophetic aim of all consecrated to God for the world and the Church. The men and women focolarini belong to the lay side of the Church; they and others who are influenced closely by this charism in various vocations if the Church make this charism from the Holy Spirit their own and it has the same prophetic element as for the charisms of Religious Orders and other charisms. Members of Religious Orders in our times often do not feel Prophetic, and in the front line of the Church and world these days for well-known reasons. Our meeting helped us to intuit possibly another way ahead.

For Church renewal it is important to listen carefully to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Churches in every way, including this essential charismatic aspect of the Church in which all Religious Orders find their identity.

Since the way to explain Church ever since the encyclical Mistici Corporis of June 1943 of Pius XII is in the term "communion" "the Mystical Body" "Christ is the head and we are the members", a Communion among Religious with each other contributes precisely to a renewal of the Church. We felt the benefit at this meeting to go more deeply into the charism of Unity which is so close to the inner life of the Church itself. In Novo Millenio Ineunte (At the beginning of the New Millennium) Pope John Paul's encyclical letter, chapters 42 and 43 explicitly express the importance of the "Spirituality of Communion" for the new times we live in. The second Vatican Council also emphasises this way of explaining the identity of the Church and so have many other Church documents like the land marking apostolic exhortation "Evangellii Gaudium" of Pope Francis.

Those who came for the first time and those who knew this gift already, developed or entered into this new way of seeing things. There is not only our individual and personal way to God, but there is also a life of communion that is essential to Spiritual Growth. "We cannot go to God alone"; we need support and help. The new Movements in the Catholic Church and in all the Churches are part of these gifts from God and are available if people have eyes to see. Is it not time for us as Religious Institutions and us personally to find help and support to be ourselves from gifts available to us outside our particular Religious Families? Unity does not mean uniformity or a dilution of identity. In fact if the identity of individuals of any particular Religious Institute is lost, or it all becomes like the lowest common denominator then the opposite of unity has occurred. Unity without diversity cannot exist, and the Lord before he died prayed "May they all be One".

Some comments from those who participated:

(Someone who came for the first time) I was greatly impressed by the values Focolare stands for and tries to promote - unity, love, risking taking, all inclusive, reaching out to the forsaken Jesus in others, my pain is all of our pain. I was encouraged for my community life but also I would like to continue contact with the Focolare.

(Someone who knows the Focolare Movement for a long time) Some time ago, I tended to rejoice in "large numbers"... Now, I rejoice in the "small numbers" that we often encounter. The Father of tenderness does not need many people; it is enough to be "two or three" united in the Name of Jesus, ready to give our lives in mutual love.

(A sister who came for the Open Day) It was quite inspiring and meeting other people who are also doing good is such a great encouragement. We need to acknowledge the good we do so as to promote goodness around us.

(A person who came for the first time) I want to sow the seeds of the Focolare. We are all part of the same thing [after listening to 'the Passion for the Church']. Education is needed: education to the fact that we are one. We are all faces of the same Spirit, like a mosaic. Maybe it's only now that I'm waking up to this. The weakness of one is the weakness of all: for me this is a revelation

(A Religious who has known the Movement a long time and is the Episcopal vicar in his diocese) A beautiful encounter. It was as if we were all in Castel Gandolfo (where there is a big international conference centre of the Focolare), and we were a real family along with the men and women focolarini. We are at the beginning, and we must have this same Spirit together. Hearing Chiara talk like that back in 1966 was very special. God is to be thanked that he has put the whole dimension of the Church into Chiara. The sense of family among us (religious) was straightforward and a deep; it amazed me: it is a great grace that the branch of the Religious is able to be a part of the Focolare Movement.

(A person who came for the first time) After hearing about the ecumenism of the Focolare, I said to myself, "What an extraordinary woman Chiara is. I had no idea that she was like that!

(A Spanish religious who knows the Focolare well) Meeting here, in this country, at this moment, was very important. It was nice to discover here a living ecumenism, not something we talk about.

(A European Religious who knows the Focolare well) 'There was a strong sense of Jesus among us: He was the organizer of everything in this family atmosphere. I understood that I must be more open to others - open my horizons. Often I am limited by what I think, what I can do, what I can contribute. From now on I will try to 'see' more with my heart. Things come from the heart, from unity. It was a conversion for me.

The meeting took place from 18-22 February 2019.

Fr Jonathan Cotton osb is a Monk of Ampleforth Abbey and Parish Priest in St Mary's Leyland in the Archdiocese of Liverpool