Jan 10, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
A warm summer atmosphere of the Southern Hemisphere was the framework of an encounter with the sociology of Latin America, which some of the participants described as “dazzling”. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas, claims the book “Love in the Time of Globalization”, written by Social-One Secretary, Silvia Cataldi, researcher at La Sapienza University of Rome, along with Vera Araujo and Gennaro Iorio who wrote Toward a new conception of sociology (Città Nuova, 2015). Sociologists pondered that same agape dimension during study sessions and in workshops.
Vera Araujo
Jan 8, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
It was a very unique “group photo” taken during a public presentation of the social budget of the Tassano Group in the presence of some of the protagonists and authorities. Over time the Group was transformed from a cooperative into a consortium, and from a consortium into a group of consortia. It is complex and made up of different parts, currently comprised of 33 cooperatives that offer diversified services to 4,700 direct users and 100 thousand indirect users in the northwest region of Italy, which arrives from a brief stretch away at the sea and Mediterranean farmland all the way to the snow-covered mountains of winter. It involves 700 employees formed in the spirit of the economy of communion. “It’s an economic approach that the world doesn’t follow,” Luigino Bruni explained, “but it exists. Businesses who follow it try to destine profits in three directions: a part for creating jobs, a part for helping the poor, and a part for spreading this culture. The Tassano story is a love story made of employees and work that generated wealth and values.” 
It’s a story that began a long time ago when, in 1989, two friends, small local businessmen, Gicaomo Linaro and Piero Cattani, together with 24 volunteer partners adherents to the Focolare Movement, started a cooperative to respond to the many cases of social poverty in the region. The cooperative grew and gradually won the trust of several interlocutors, including public ones, which led to the acquisition of new services. Two years later, the members of Tassano felt that their objectives were in perfect harmony with the Economy of Communion Project begun by Chiara Lubich in Brazil so that it spread solidarity at a global level. They joined the project at once. Little by little, the diversified growth of the different activities and the consequent growth of new specialized cooperatives gave rise to a Consortium of businesses that remain independent administratively, but are united in the experience, all operating with the same spirit in the social, educational and assistance field, with services geared towards the weakest strands of the population, elderly who are alone, the disabled, mentally ill, unemployed, but also families, children and young people, as well as a view towards the maintenance and appreciation of the region. In 1997, Tassano became a Group of Business Cooperatives, with the intent of unifying the difference business and social experiences that already existed, but also to act as an incubator of new production agencies. In the future, all the strategic areas will flow into consortia that will be able to consolidate growth and favour further development. Maurizio Cantamessa, president of the Group, explains: “We’re quite a cohesive group, sharing the same values and understanding at the level of every day work. It was the right moment to group together, to consolidate and start again. The fact of being concentrated on the region is very important, because it favours relationships. We work side by side every day with local institutions every day. Being in the business of serving people, it’s important to be here in person. Business and solidarity together. Even with all the changes, the mission of the Group has always stayed the same: to promote a concept of business dealing geared towards the integral and solidarity promotion of the human person and of society, while not neglecting a strong orientation towards the market, through the individuation of objectives and business development plans that can lead to the creation of new businesses and new jobs. In demonstration of the fact that the values and ideas of the cooperative can be translated into concrete work actions in favour of the region and its citizens.
Jan 3, 2018 | Focolare Worldwide
“Without giving it much thought, we had chosen the title together, “Building Bridges,” which could not have been more suitable: we couldn’t distinguish the youths of the wealthier districts from those of the poorer communities. The teams were composed of boys and girls from 10 to 18 altogether. The bigger kids took care of the smaller ones and the smaller ones enlivened the older ones. The participation of the poor communities did not imbue minimally an aspect of social assistance: all benefited from this interaction.” Renzo Megli, who had taken part right from the beginning in the organization of the Olympic games for kids, immediately laid down the foundations and success of the project, and described the preparatory activities with a passionate tone. “It seemed the winds were blowing against it. The idea of perfection and the memory of the “professional” or “semi-professional” sports fields of the previous editions deterred out spirits, blocked our minds, and saddened our thoughts. On the contrary, I was happy because of all the doors that closed on us and the slow and tiring change of direction: the only possibility that remained was to bring the Olympic games to the CEU, the Condominio Espiritual Uirapuru. We started to work on the project, determined to make the event a reality. But the conflicts remained evident; the compasses were still disoriented by old magnetic fields. Stop! We had to choose: shall we go ahead as one or stop? Would it be better to achieve something less perfect, but together, or something perfect in disunity? These will be different types of Olympic games, less professional, and perhaps less “trendy.” But perhaps it is precisely the breeze of the Spirit that is leading us to do something new, and different. We decided to go towards a common north. Even those who first were contrary have started to row in the same direction. Only then did I remember a conversation I had much earlier on with a focolarino who is older than me. He had given me this advice: “To lose an idea you must first possess it, and possibly, it must be really yours, as if it were your child, flesh of your flesh. Imagine a bottle of champagne: it must be full before you can remove its cap and let its bubbles flow.” That was how I felt, “father” to my idea, but ready to lose it. Each of us, upon “losing” our own idea, have become together, “parents” of a better idea, which has been polished along the way. Renzo continued his story: “The CEU Director has promised space and the equipment. All the work we had performed up to then was based on this available place. But then the cancellation arrived: we could no longer use that facility. The “dynamics of losing” and of placing in God all our worries has become almost like a daily event that after a few moments of dismay we took this adversity as a clear sign of the spirit. Inviting the children of the CEU community was the most important thing, but time was flying and the enrollments proceeded slowly, leaving us with a lump in the throat: will we reach a minimum number of participants? We decided to open the enrollments also to those who cannot participate due to economic difficulties. We wanted to entrust ourselves to Providence. Many supporters popped up, and all the expenses, even the unforeseen, were covered. The smile of the numerous CEU children became the icon of our Olympics. An extraordinary joy was evident in all, animators, parents, and players. A child of one of the CEU communities said: “I found my father here.” This was a bigger boy who really had shown him love. Among the participants were also the girls of the Lar Santa Mônica community that hosts adolescent victims of domestic sexual abuse. They had become a bit surly and wanted to go home immediately. Instead they participated up to the end. We saw them leave happy. This transformation was one of the most beautiful victories of our Olympics.”
Dec 29, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
“If it hadn’t been for a group of friends – teachers at a school for street children – I would never have known about this side of my city: the poor. And yet, Saigon – or as they now call it – Ho Chi Minh City, also has it: poverty, disadvantage and suffering. On Christmas and all the big holidays some people like to go out for walks, perhaps around some of the famous breweries, to look for some poor, or better, very poor families who live in stinking rat-infested slums. I thought I had seen all the poverty in Thailand among the Karen refugees and migrants from the mountains in the North, as well as along the dirty canals of Bangkok. But what I saw today in Saigon, in the ‘Milan of Vietnam,’ I had never even imagined. Small rooms with twelve people living inside them, along with three dogs perhaps. I become so nauseous in such places that I could hardly force myself to stay there. But then, the faces of the children lit up, the intense gazes of the mothers looked at us and seemed to say ‘thank you’ when we placed in front of them a sack with 5kg of rice in it. That gaze was all the thanks we needed, along with a will to live and the joy to dry ourselves off after such a drenching rain. And then there are Nativity Scenes in Saigon and Christmas stars over the homes of many families. Some alleyways are lit up, which gives a bit of warmth to the city which is by no means cold, impersonal and indifferent – nor even atheist. You notice the stars and Nativity Scenes, because they’re everywhere and appear on many street corners: they take you by surprise. The ones I found most striking were the ones in the public markets, at night, almost covered under the day’s trash; or else, the ones that were lost along the outskirts of the market, but illuminated by two huge Manger Scenes set up right on the road. Then, on the tops of the houses, at night, there are the fluorescent stars that blink off and on. Returning home tonight, after the visit to the poor, I looked at this scene that had filled me with such a feeling of gratitude: even though far from home, I wasn’t at all missing the real sense of Christmas. Last year Pope Francis said that ‘Christmas is the feast day of weakness, because it celebrates a child, the symbol of fragility, smallness, humility and love.’ Today I understood those words a little more. This night that I now leave behind because it’s already morning, was illumined by the love that I saw among the people that went to help, to lift up, to show their closeness with those who suffer. Once again, the cultural darkness in which we live is illuminated by these living Nativity Scenes, by people who have made that Boy the reason for their lives. And I realized that the real message of Christmas hasn’t died. It’s message of love, tenderness and understanding is alive and I saw it. It was all there in that gesture of taking a small disabled three-year-old and hugging him as close as possible. And that little boy let himself be raised up by that face that unknown face. All the technology of present and future robots, the commercial frontier that everyone is talking about in Asia, will never be able do this miracle: love. Because love is free. Love is never a duty, and nobody can program it or order it. It’s a gift that comes from inside. I saw faces brighten and believe that life, tomorrow morning, will go forward and be more beautiful than yesterday. I don’t miss my Europe this Christmas. Because wherever there is love, there is also my home. Saigon is also my home.”
Dec 20, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
Towards Christmas “I knew that the company I was working for would soon close shop and I would soon be jobless. Despite this, as Christmas neared, my colleagues and I thought of setting aside a part of our salary for the poorer people. So we went to visit a family that lived in a shanty, deprived of all necessities. Besides the envelope with the money we also brought toys for the children. We departed happily: it seemed to us that it was best preparation for the birth of the Lord. But before the day ended, some good news arrived: we were ensured that we would work for another five months.” (J.L.V. – Mexico) Hunger «One day at school, I saw a little girl who was all alone in a corner. I immediately went and asked her, “Why are you crying?” She told me that she had stomach ache because she had not had breakfast and had nothing for lunch. I thought: “It is Jesus who is hungry” and gave her my sandwich. After a while that girl said to me: “Now my stomach is no longer aching.” I was so happy. (S.S – Philippines) I forgive! «I was playing with a friend of mine when a boy arrived and with no reason hit me on the head, and I had to go to the hospital to be treated. On returning home I had only one thought: revenge. The day after, that boy’s father came to ask forgiveness. And he added: “I give you my permission to do to my son what he did to you. Perhaps he will understand how badly he behaved!” At that point I remembered Jesus’s invitation to love one’s enemies and I answered him that I forgave him. Surprised, the father called his son, and so we made up and now live in peace.” (Dionisio – Angola) Stolen drillers While I was working in the office together with my colleague, Benda, who is Muslim, we heard a crash from outside. We went to look: someone had broken the glass of our van and had stolen three drillers. It was the first time a thing like that happened and we were inconsolable. Then the thought of forgiving the author of that act came to my mind, and who probably was pushed by necessity. Recalling a phrase of the Koran Benda added: “When a person forgives, what he was robbed of will be returned by someone else.” That evening, at home, while I was recounting the episode, one of my relatives offered me three drills which he wasn’t using anymore. The next day, he brought them, and one of them was similar to the more expensive drill that had been stolen. (A.G. – Italy)
Dec 15, 2017 | Focolare Worldwide
“For as much as Africa is rich, the others seem to benefit more from its riches. In granting contracts to multinationals for the extraction of minerals, for example, there is a play of interests, in which ’compensations’ and ‘compromises,’ ‘agreements’ and ‘thanks’ have as a consequence the exploitation of the producing country, without a real improvement in raising the population’s living conditions.” Raphael Takougang, a Cameroon lawyer of Communion and Law, harshly portrays a picture of the reality of life in Africa today: “Corruption in Africa is not only the work of single citizens, but is above all a consolidated method with which the economic powers “create” and support tyrants as long as these protect their interests, with the silent complicity of the international community.” And it is always the poor who pay for this. Takougang does not limit himself to mere denunciations, but rather, despite everything, shows his optimism ‘because there is a new generation of political leaders in Africa rising up, and has realised that mainly the citizens will have to control the actions of those governing them… to ensure the defense of the African people’s fundamental rights to life, education, health, and spiritual and material wellbeing.” Patience Lobé, an engineer – world head who together with the volunteers are the driving force of New Humanity – during her entire mandates as an officer of the Ministry of Public Works in Cameroon had been seriously threatened: «For the African concept of solidarity anyone who is in need has to be satisfied. For this reason people continually came to my office, to ask for work, or to request a subsidy. During my permanence as head of the office, not one day passed in which I was not subject to temptations or threats. Corruption is a widespread, contaminative virus, difficult to eliminate. Like all viruses, a vaccine is needed in order to eradicate it. The vaccine may be represented by a real change in mentality: education in a culture other than consumerism which considers the owning of goods and possession as the only road to happiness.” In the same way, it isn’t easy to launch good procedures and practices in the field of the battle against illegal management of public funds. Françoise, French officer in the Ministry of Finance, recounts: “Due to the variety of situations, public services and issues which I have to deal with, it is not always easy to maintain one’s discernment, define the law, sustain good management practices or simply coherence with the principles of honesty (also intellectual), rectitude, cooperation and solidarity with colleagues. But the work experience over the years has confirmed that every time I was faithful to these values, I discovered new horizons, new ways of acting, the situations got solved and unity between institutions and people was possible.” Paolo, director at the Municipality of a big Italian city added: “We mustn’t forget that as public administration employees our primary task is to dedicate ourselves to the good of the community under all aspects, taking on the weight of the related responsibility. Every action must conform to the principles and values without which we couldn’t live together, enhancing human wellbeing and progress of all the citizens.” It is the battle against corruption, therefore, but not only that. The diffusion of good practices, respect for the rights of citizens and their needs, and also reception, and the capacity to create a link with other institutions: these are the great challenges for those working in the Public Administration. The participants of the congress are all convinced of this, and have made it their commitment to continue cultivating these principles daily. The seeds of a culture of lawfulness will silently bring about results in their countries.
A warm summer atmosphere of the Southern Hemisphere was the framework of an encounter with the sociology of Latin America, which some of the participants described as “dazzling”. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas, claims the book “Love in the Time of Globalization”, written by Social-One Secretary, Silvia Cataldi, researcher at La Sapienza University of Rome, along with Vera Araujo and Gennaro Iorio who wrote Toward a new conception of sociology (Città Nuova, 2015). Sociologists pondered that same agape dimension during study sessions and in workshops. 
One Brazilian student and social worker commented: “The summer school was a confirmation for me of the importance of interdisciplinary approaches. I’m a social worker in contact with suffering people who have had their human dignity taken away. A new understanding of what it means to be a human person generates new practices that can activate dormant aspects of human nature.” A professor from Recife: “Agape is not only a sociological concept, but crosses over into the fields of philosophy and metaphysics. I saw that love is at work in your group too. From this standpoint, a loving and generous dialogue has been started.” Giuseppe Pellegrini, from the University of Padua: “The encounter with the Latin American culture is always enriching. For me, it’s a way to know my own country better. The need of testing our categories and concepts, the ability to read the social reality and its changes were some of the most stimulating elements I found here. At a distance of thirty years from my first experience in Brazil, I felt the same vibrations, the same energy that animates this very diverse people in the ways of manifesting communitarian life. The effort put forth by so many people that live according to the ideal of Chiara Lubich has produced genuine and respectable fruits in Latin American life. Agapic behavior is one manifestation of mutual love, a generative and contagious element, both theoretical and practical, at a level that is capable of influencing social, cultural and political change.” The next step for Social-One will be a conference on the 7th and 8th of June at the Italian University of Salerno, Italy. The continuing dialogue with contemporary sociology, but also to host a “social” Expo of best practices of associations and institutes that work in the field of society.
