Abuse Report 2023: awareness, reparation, prevention
The Focolare Movement is publishing the report on its activities on safeguarding and on its data concerning abuse cases in 2023. An interview with Catherine Belzung, professor of Neuroscience and coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Childhood Maltreatment. On 1st March, the second annual report of the Focolare Movement concerning its activities and data relating to cases of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults as well as abuse of conscience, spiritual abuse and abuse of authority was published. We asked Catherine Belzung to give an evaluation of the document. Catherine is a university professor of Neuroscience in France, she is a senior member of the University Institute of France (2014) and president of the multidisciplinary research centre iBrain. Since 2022, she has been coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Childhood Maltreatment, made up of a partnership of universities and institutions from 16 countries. She is also co-chair of the International Centre for Dialogue with Contemporary Culture of the Focolare Movement. Q: Since 2023, the Focolare Movement has decided to publish an annual report on child sexual abuse and also on abuse of conscience, spiritual abuse and abuse of authority. From your international perspective, what do you think of this decision? How do you consider this second report? 
A: I believe this report represents a real step forward. In fact, the last report was criticised, mainly because the places and dates of sexual abuse were not mentioned. The new report covers cases disclosed in the last 10 years and adds these clarifications: it is stated that sexual abuses were carried out on all continents (about 20 countries), with a peak of cases between 1990 and 1999, as well as during the decade before 90 and after 2000. The offences sometimes are repeated over several decades, suggesting that these are multiple repeat offenders whose abuses have continued. Some offences happened and were dealt with around 2020, indicating that people abused were able to report abuse almost in real time, which is progress. All communicated sexual abuses were carried out by men. The opposite is true for abuses of authority, which in 77% of cases were committed by women, which is in proportion with the higher number of women among those belonging to this Movement. The report also contains a detailed and clear section on the measures implemented during the year, particularly regarding formation. It remains to be understood what the root causes of these abuses are. Beyond preventive measures and sanctions, further work should be done to identify the systemic causes that could explain these figures, in order to put in place a strategy that would prevent them. Q: In this second report, the people who abuse are identified according to precise criteria set out in the Communication Policy recently published by the Focolare Movement. What do you think of this decision? A: This is an ethical conflict. On the one hand, it is a matter of believing the experience of the people abused and taking the complaints they make seriously, as well as quickly putting measures in place so as to protect them. On the other hand, it is a question of respecting the presumed innocence of the alleged abusers, of not defaming them when no final criminal conviction has been pronounced. The issue is complex and finding a satisfactory solution will no doubt require a lot of listening and dialogue. Q: The UNESCO Chair on child abuse that you coordinate came about because you came into contact personally with a case of child abuse of which you knew both one of the people abused and the person who abused. It was a case that happened in the Catholic Church in France. In this case, the social or religious community is defined as a ‘secondary victim’. What does this mean? What are the wounds that people carry, how can they be healed at a social and community level? A: Yes, in fact, this chair was set up as a result of being in contact with a person who had been abused. A contact that left a deep mark on me: I was profoundly affected by this suffering, and my desire to do something came from this. First and foremost, abuse affects the person who has been abused, who often suffers lasting psychological consequences. Sometimes, the opening up about the facts can bring out a great vulnerability in this person, which requires specific accompaniment. In turn, this also affects the person’s relatives, such as their spouse, their children, but also their parents who feel responsible for having entrusted their child to an institution that did not protect them. The devastating effects also have an impact on the entire community, as members are often unaware that within it a repeat offender was concealed, a person with whom they may have had a bond of closeness, of friendship. We may ask ourselves: why didn’t I notice anything? Another aspect concerns the bond with the institution that may have protected the abuser, sometimes in good faith, producing in people a sense of betrayal and distrust. Finally, the community may also become divided, depending on their divergent analyses, between those who take refuge in denial, and those who want to fight to prevent these things from happening again. Rectifying all of this requires a wide range of measures: it is essential to take on the responsibility of accompanying the people who have been abused and their families, but it is also necessary to restore trust in the institution that has shown its weaknesses and where there is a sincere willingness to learn from its past mistakes. It’s the actions that matter in making this happen: the institution must promote transparency by communicating very precise information, put in place clear procedures, create places for listening, establish reparation procedures and, for communities, spaces for dialogue where even opposing opinions can be exchanged. Q: The Focolare Movement is a worldwide organisation, including people from different cultures and religions who are subject to different legal systems and adopt different lifestyles. How is it possible to implement anti-abuse practices in such a multicultural and diverse environment? A: The consequences of child sexual abuse exist in all cultures, they are universal. In addition to the ongoing psychological and social impact, those who have been abused may have biological ongoing effects, such as increased stress hormones, altering the expression of certain genes and brain morphology and brain functioning. These dysfunctions continue to be present throughout the survivor’s life and may be passed on to the next generation. So it cannot be said that there are cultural variations in the severity of the consequences on those who have been abused or that there are cultures where these people suffer less: always and everywhere, it’s devastating. It is therefore necessary to put in place measures for prevention, but also for reparation all over the world. One can see that awareness of the seriousness of these situations is increasing: for example, in the Catholic Church, national enquiry commissions have been set up in many countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, but also in Australia, India and South Africa. Although suffering does not vary, what may vary is that people resist in denouncing the facts and their ability to put in place protective and remedial measures. This may be related to the fact that in some cultures talking about sexuality is taboo. The first step is to make people aware of the consequences of abuse: there are already programmes promoted by various associations that take into account the way sexuality is considered in different cultures. For example, proposing that those who listen to the suffering of people who have been abused and belong to the same culture can understand them better. This can make people want to do something about it. Prevention can also be targeted directly at children, through education about their rights: again, there are programmes, for example, based on songs. Another thing that varies is the ability of countries and institutions to take measures of protection and reparation. A respectful and non-stigmatising dialogue with those who commit abuse is the way forward: this will enable everyone to understand the seriousness of the abuse, but also to find culturally specific ways to enable people to speak up, to implement processes of reparation and to educate members of the community. Q: Both within the Focolare Movement and also in other contexts there are those who express the conviction that the time has come to move forward; that is, that it is not necessary to continue talking only about abuses, but to focus on the ‘mission’ of the Movement and on what beautiful and positive things are being generated in the world by the living out of this charism today. What is your opinion on this? A: What do we mean by ‘mission’? Is it not to advance towards universal fraternity, towards a culture that puts the suffering of the weakest first, a culture of dialogue, openness, humility? It seems to me that the fight against all kinds of abuses is precisely a way of implementing this desire, putting those who suffer in the first place. Helping to heal the wounds of those who have been abused is a way of going towards universal fraternity. This also implies accompanying the people who have abused in order to prevent reoffending. Acknowledging one’s mistakes, one’s vulnerability, in order to create solutions, taking into account the opinions of experts in this field is precisely a way to build a culture of dialogue. Fighting with determination against abuse and accompanying those who have been abused are right at the heart of this ‘mission’. Therefore we don’t need to choose between the fight against abuse and ‘mission’, because this fight is a central element of ‘mission’. In today’s context, this is a priority which is painful but necessary.
By Stefania Tanesini
Anual report 2023: “Safeguarding of the person in the Focolare Movement” (Download PDF)
the 20th of February 2024 at the General Curia of the Society of Jesus in Rome. The document, translated into five languages (Italian, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese), is an overview of the activities and initiatives promoted by the Focolare in the year 2022, a narrative not only of the spontaneous sharing of goods, but of experiences and initiatives lived worldwide, which are inspired by and for the dialogues, and which are being specifically illustrated in this publication: the dialogue between Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in the Catholic Church; the one between the various Christian Churches; the dialogue between different religions, with different cultures, with Institutions, and in engagement with the many global challenges. Among the speakers at the presentation press conference, in the presence of Margaret Karram and Jesús Morán, President and Co-President of the Focolare Movement, were Monsignor Juan Fernando Usma Gómez, Head of the Western Section of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Dr. Giuseppe Notarstefano, National President of Italian Catholic Action, Dr. Rita Moussallem, head of the Focolare’s Center for Interreligious Dialogue, and Giancarlo Crisanti, Focolare’s general administrator. Participating via internet were Monsignor Athenagoras Fasiolo, Bishop of Terme and auxiliary of the Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy, and Prof. Stefano Zamagni, economist and professor of Political Economy at the University of Bologna. The session, which was moderated by journalist Alessandro de Carolis, was a true exchange of reflections and emphasized how terms such as budget and communion which seem to be poles apart, accounting not only for numbers but also for life. 
“The social budget has been a great opportunity for us,” said Dr. Notarstefano, national president of Catholic Action, among the first ecclesial realities to draw up a mission statement, “and has encouraged us in this urgent pastoral conversion to which we are called by the Pope. It was also a way to begin to reflect on how to communicate this associative life better, (…) to look at ourselves, with transparency, to give an account to the outside, but to communicate it better, to put it in common.”. 
According to Msgr. Usma Gómez, in light of the current scenario that seems increasingly fragmented, in talking about the path of unity among the Churches, taking stock as Christians “means looking at God’s plans, our plans, and the plans of the world. (…) God’s plans would be to preserve the unity of the spirit by the bond of peace,” he continued, “but we see that in the world, war is the plan that is taking hold. It is possible to develop communion in differences, (…) but this reconciled diversity calls us to make peace, the heart of Ecumenism is the heart of peace.”. 
An encouragement, then, to promote paths of fraternity in a network, in a synodal style and specifically, in light of the chosen theme, to do so through a “method” that can bring closer especially those who are mostly unbelievers. “Taking stock of the communion of a Movement that is so open, so able to bring others to understand that dialogue does not take away, but adds, enriches, is very important,” , said Monsignor Athenagoras Fasiolo bishop of Terme and auxiliary of the Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy, who, in addition to emphasizing the Focolare’s great commitment to the path of unity among the various Churches, reflected on the prophetic role that different faiths can play in the world, without falling into the trap of ideologies: “if as faiths we manage to be prophecy then we manage to awaken what is best in the human heart.”. 
And it is precisely “life and prophecy” that are the two tracks on which the Focolare Movement has proceeded in these 80 years of history also on the path of interreligious dialogue, as Dr. Rita Mussallem stated in the hall; a path that has led the reality founded by Lubich, to come into contact, in so many countries, with people of various religions, creating in the appreciation of diversity and reciprocity, a common ground where they can relate with the spirituality of unity, get to know each other and “give,” said Moussalem, “the willingness to learn from each other, the sharing of sorrows, challenges, hopes and also the shared commitment to work for peace, for good, for fraternity. In a world torn apart by polarizations where religions are too often instrumentalized, in talking about the concept of peace, “authentic dialogue,” she continued, “is a very helpful remedy (…) because it makes you discover and see the humanity of the other, it disarms you. 
The “person” is thus the beating heart of a circular path that has given rise, over time, to the many activities to which this text bears witness. “When we speak of a ‘budget,'” said Giancarlo Crisanti, “one expects a lot of numbers, but in the Communion in Action Report ‘ there is much more narrative and the the numbers don’t include the people who make these activities possible .” “The Budget,” said Crisanti, “highlights how this communion of goods is able to realize initiatives, projects, works that go in the direction of dialogue (…), that help the world to dialogue a little more.”. 
Fr Cosimino Fronzuto was an Italian priest who was born in Gaeta in 1939. He died at the age of 49 in 1989 after an intense life spent serving his neighbor, the needy and the society of his town. He lived near the sea, but disliked swimming and was afraid to go deep. One day, as a child, wanting to overcome this difficulty, he dived in and, to show that he had touched the bottom, he placed his hand in the sand, picking up, to his amazement, a small iron crucifix, which he then carried with him all his life. In 1963 he was ordained a priest and began service as vice-rector of the local diocesan seminary. He came in contact with the spirituality of unity and joined the Focolare Movement. In 1967 he was appointed parish priest of St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Gaeta, a position he held until the last days of his life. In those years the Parish Movement, an expression of the Focolare Movement in the local Church, flourished and generated a lot of fruits especially among the young people, who today are engaged in the city as priests, in the family, in political life and in various civil and professional spheres, in the different realities of the Focolare Movement and who continue to be very active in parish life as well. During the pastoral ministry he exercised in the parish, with his style full of love and attention to all, especially to the least ones (single mothers, ex-convicts, drug addicts, evictees, runaways), he set up the community by simply, but strongly and decisively, aiming only to live the Gospel in all situations and in the most diverse realities. Thus he did not lack opportunities to take a stand even against so many social realities that were far from a truly human and Christian dimension. 
He wrote in his diary, “We observed that during catechesis there were children who were quite unkept, undernourished, I also remembered that in that same family the older children had received neither Confirmation nor Communion, nothing at all. We were around the middle of March, and I thought, if we don’t get them now, we won’t get them again. So I went to that house and realized (it was about 12:30 p.m.) that pasta was simply being cooked and that there would be nothing else for everyone to eat. I noticed that although the head of the family was a small businessman, even the glass was missing from the door that hung over the balcony, and in this room, where the glass was missing, about ten children were sleeping. Immediately I began to talk about catechism, but I also tried to pay attention and look around. Then in the evening, after adoration, I spoke to the community about this situation. As I too became aware of it, I collected all the data: economic instability, seizure notices, children’s health problems. Then the morning was spent thinking only of this family, to see according to different aspects how things were, sharing the work, securing the food and, at the same time, keeping hold of the grown-ups so that they would receive real catechesis. One evening I realized that I had to make a proposal to everyone. Within myself I had decided, but what is the worth of my decision as a parish priest? It could possibly be valuable, but I wanted the decision to come from God, thus, a decision made in unity with the community which gave me the assurance that it was God Himself working. So I proposed to make available to this family approximately two million (liras) we had in the parish to solve the situation until they were able to go back to work again. I can say that from the very first moment everyone was supportive. That was the beginning, then this situation had several developments. Yesterday, I attended a condominium meeting in which they had decided to take away from the father the work that he had started and had not finished. I did everything so that he would complete it and could also have some money. The journey is still going to be very long, it’s more than a month that we have been beside him, close to him, and he says, “My desire to live is coming back, my desire to live is coming back.” But the intervention has not been operated by me alone, the intervention has been a bit of a collective one, many people are continuously bringing things that are needed, however, we are not so much concerned about the lack of things, but we are concerned about not making people lack love, because they have been people who have obviously been unloved, they have in fact been trampled in certain rights(…)”. 
Millions of tons of waste are produced around the world every day. What becomes of this waste? Some is recycled and has new life. Some ends up in landfills or in waste-to-energy plants to produce energy. Yet before throwing away our food waste, have we ever wondered about other options? This is what some members of the Focolare community in Uruguay asked themselves and so they got involved in composting. Maria Florencia is a focolarina from Montevideo in Uruguay where she teaches integral ecology. She said, “I try to live ecology in my daily life. However, I realized that something can always be improved and that something important was missing in how we handled food waste at home: we weren’t making compost. I realized that to undertake composting would require a collective effort and so I tried to involve all the inhabitants of the house”. Soil organisms use plant and animal waste or organic matter derivatives as food. As they break down these wastes, excess nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulphur) are released into the soil in forms that can be used by plants. Furthermore, the waste products generated by microorganisms contribute to the formation of 
soil organic matter. Composting is therefore a process of decomposition of organic materials that has a high content of useful substances to improve soil characteristics without causing damage to the environment. 30 kgs of compost can be obtained from every 100 kgs of waste and organic materials. Alternatively, vermicompost, an organic product created through the bio-oxidation of organic matter with the assistance of earthworms, is also a sustainable option.