The Focolare Movement’s Youth Assembly was held last September 10-15, 2019 while the Focolare International Delegates Meeting was held from September 13-29, 2019.
Youth Assembly
As the 190 delegates were being introduced to Focolare President Maria Voce and Co-President Jesús Morán, the overwhelming impression was of a parliament for the under-30s, serving not a single nation but the whole world. These young members of the Focolare Movement from 67 different countries have convened in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, for the Focolare’s first Youth Assembly of Gen, young men and women religious, seminarians, together with youths who are active in the Parish and Diocesan Movements of the Focolare.
“We’re not only here to organize and plan, but mainly to get to know each other and communicate what is actually motivating us, what’s at the heart of our choice to work towards a more united world,” explained one of the Assembly team members.
The delegates are drawn from different geographical, cultural and religious backgrounds. They are active in areas such as justice and peace, disarmament, humane economy, environmental campaigning, and dialogue between religions and ethnic groups. Many have been involved in challenging summer projects such as the Gen Congress in Amman, Jordan for young Focolare members in different nations of the Middle East and beyond; another in Oceania; workshops tackling legal and economic inequalities, as well as summer camps organized by the Parish and Diocesan Movements.
The Assembly is designed to promote sharing, learning and planning, drawing on the support of experts. It is distinctly “hands-on.” For example, tackling issues of identity and life choices (with Fr. Vincenzo Di Pilato); how to be protagonists and effective leaders (with Jonathan Michelon); witnessing and participation (with Sr. Alessandra Smerilli, FMA). The Catholic Church’s recent synod dedicated to the youth led to the popularly received “Christus Vivit” document, which was discussed during the workshops (with Francisco Canzani).
Guidelines from the Focolare President
To guide this whole activity, the Focolare President proposed three key words: unity, courage, communication.
Unity – Maria Voce encouraged the young people to “forget” their preoccupations, in order to be able to live complete mutual love and so experience the unity that comes from this.
Courage – “I expect you to have such courage. I also expect your courage to test and challenge the rest of us.” Inviting them to speak out and share, she encouraged them not to shy away from making criticisms, but always to express them in “a constructive spirit.”
Communication – She urged them to communicate the charism of unity. “You must be prepared to give what you have received to the new generations. This communication can only happen through people who live the spirituality, who want this charism and who then communicate it.”
Conclusion and Beginning
At the conclusion of their assembly, Focolare youths presented a summary document of a process which was not always smooth. The timing could not have been better. The last two days of the Focolare Youth Assembly, Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15, coincided with the first two days of the annual meeting of delegates of the Focolare Movement from around the world.
This gave the 190 youth from 66 countries from the various sections of the Movement the possibility to present to a truly representative international Focolare forum the summary of their work on the identity, formation and role in the Movement of young people and their commitment in the world. The 44 delegates representing the geographical regions of the Focolare welcomed this opportunity to more fully appreciate the sensitivities, hopes and expectations of the new generations.
The impact of that Saturday morning, September 14, was strongly felt. The final document produced by the young people, and the questions they directed at the “more mature generations,” as they lightheartedly called them, indicated how challenging their task had proved to be. In just a few days, they experienced and faced up to their many differences of background, culture, sensitivity, religion and beliefs.
With authenticity and courage, they considered difficulties and open questions which provoked concern and suffering in many of the participants. What was even more striking in this process was the human and spiritual depth evident throughout their work: a profoundly felt and tireless desire to dedicate all areas of their life to the goal of unity on a bigger scale, a more “united world,” and their readiness to approach painful situations with a preferential love for Jesus in his abandonment on the cross.
On this solid basis, the young participants enthusiastically encouraged the whole Focolare Movement to appreciate diversity as an integral and essential part of any experience of unity, and to create spaces and tools to better facilitate dialogue on controversial subjects. They requested more participation in the direction of the Movement both at local and central levels in order to be able to share in the responsibility for the future generations. But with the same frankness, they expressed their own need to be better formed in the spirituality of the Focolare and to deepen their relationship with the older generations in the Movement.
In response, Maria Voce and Jesús Morán highlighted the importance and maturity of the experience these young people have shared in just a few days. They recognized in this Assembly and its final document “a fundamental step ahead and a great legacy for the Movement.”
The afternoon of this memorable day was dedicated to the inauguration of the restructured auditorium of the international headquarters of the Focolare Movement in Rocca di Papa (near Rome). It was also the occasion for Maria Voce to present to both assemblies the thematic spiritual talk for the forthcoming year, centered on the reality of Jesus present in the midst of “two or three united in his name” (cf. Mt 18:20). “This is the Alpha and Omega of the Movement’s spirituality,” declared the Focolare President, as she spoke movingly and very personally, at this the start of the final year of her term of office.
Living mutual love even in the most painful moments, creating space for Jesus to be present among people today, transmitting his joy to them: this is the pathway Maria Voce
invited the Focolare to journey along in the forthcoming months. For the Youth Assembly participants, it could also be a key to understanding the experience of these intense days together. For the international Focolare delegates, it gave more impetus to their consultations on how to bring ahead the Movement in the world today.
