Chiara Lubich, Focolare’s foundress, made several breakthroughs in this field through her contacts and friendship with renowned Asian religious leaders like Japanese Nikkyo Niwano and the lay Buddhist Rissho Kosei-kai Movement he founded, various important Buddhists leaders in Thailand, Dr. Aram and his Hindu Gandhian movement, as well as through Focolare members’ contact with Muslims in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia and in the Southern Philippines. The seat of the School for Oriental Religions (SOR), located in Tagaytay City, today offers various courses of formation for Focolare members to help them dialogue with the followers of the world’s major religions.

The Focolare’s spirit of unity has reached countless people on the Asian continent, especially through the efforts of its pioneers in Asia like the SVD priest, Fr. Joseph Taschner, and the men and women Focolarini sent by Chiara Lubich in February 1966 – Giovanna Vernuccio, Guido Mirti, Silvio Daneo, Marilen Holzhauser (1967) and several others.

Another dialogue that has been vital since the beginning of the Movement in Asia is its dialogue with the poor which form the majority of the peoples in Asia.Scattered today throughout the Asian continent are the Focolare’s many social projects in Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and in the Philippines. Most notable among these projects are the Bukas Palad and Pagasa Social Centers in the Philippines which are serving and are empowering thousands of poor families.

The Focolare spirit of dialogue has also started to penetrate modern cultures: in the field of Economics through its Economy of Communion in Freedom Project; Education through its pedagogy of unity; Media with its Net-One networks which have involved renowned national and international journalists; the various fields of politics, the arts, sports, medicine, and other sciences. Last but not least is its impact on today’s youth. In fact, the Movement in the Philippines is set to host the International Genfest in June 2018, a large international youth gathering which happens every five or six years, the last of which was held in Budapest, Hungary last 2012.

Chiara’s charism of unity has reached a 360-degree dialogue which not only includes a dialogue with other Christian Churches or religions in terms of faith, but it has reached the point of dialogue with contemporary cultures, fostering fraternity among diverse people in Asia, and in the world. This dialogue which is based on life is capable of offering itself, and contributing to building up a new global culture, a culture that respects the diverse cultures of the world, and has as its paradigm the prayer of Jesus for universal fraternity, “That all may be one.”