I meet regularly with the synod team in my Parish. At a local assembly, seven people are elected for one year to work on the implementation of the synodal process. We meet in the evenings, sometimes carrying with us the weight of our fatigue and personal worries, even if we try to set them aside in order to put ourselves at the service of the community.
At one meeting, using the excuse that it was the “Week of Sweetness”, I brought a bar of nougat for each one. We were all happy as children, we relaxed and the atmosphere changed. I realized that communion is built with small gestures.
(C.P. – Argentina)
They chose peace
Marc and Maria Antonia, both in their fifties, were surprised to inherit a small industrial machinery company from Marc’s godfather—an uncle who had loved him dearly. They thought long and hard about what to do but eventually decided to keep the company rather than sell it, partly to preserve the jobs of the six employees and partly with the hope of running their own business, involving their son, who had studied materials engineering.
Despite their enthusiasm, dedication, and effort, they faced tough times. The business was struggling. A year after taking over, they had to lay off two workers and return machinery they couldn’t fully pay for. They also had debts with banks and family members.
In the evenings, exhausted, they started wondering if they had made the wrong decision. But they didn’t give up; they pushed forward, looking for new clients. Slowly, the company stabilized, stopped losing money, and they began repaying their debts. However, they were left with very little to live on.
They endured another difficult period until a new client approached them with a large, ongoing order that could finally give them financial stability. They were thrilled—until they realized that their production would be for the arms industry, specifically cannon parts. They were shaken. Could they just turn a blind eye? After all, if they didn’t take the job, someone else would.
They had many conversations, including one with Pedro, and spent several sleepless nights. But they knew they did not want to contribute, even indirectly, to violent death. They refused the order.
After this difficult decision, incredibly the company got other jobs and managed to keep going, despite the difficulties.
We are raising funds to travel from our country, the Philippines, to Rome to participate in the Youth Jubilee. Recently two elderly ladies came to us bringing us some coins from their piggy bank. One of them handed us the coins and said, “These were collected over the course of a year on the small altar I have in my house.” this humble but profound gift, a result of faith and sacrifice, left us stunned.
In November 2018, during a gathering of Bishops from various Churches who are friends of the Focolare Movement, which took place near Stockholm, Sweden, Bishop Krause was interviewed by Irish journalist Susan Gately. She asked him what “ecumenism” truly meant to him. As we conclude the celebration of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the northern hemisphere, we are publishing an excerpt of Bishop Krause’s response that highlights his character, openness and passion for the ecumenical journey.
“Called to Hope – Protagonists of Dialogue” is the title of the Ecumenical Conference that will take place from March 26–29, 2025, in Castel Gandolfo (Rome, Italy). To register or learn more, download the flyer.
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For several days, dramatic images of wildfires devastating an immense area and destroying everything from animals to vegetation have circulated around the world,. Thousands of buildings have been reduced to ashes and so far, 25 people have lost their lives. Many families have lost everything and 26 people remain missing. It is heart breaking to see these images of suffering still today. And the emergency is not over yet. We contacted the Focolare community there to find out how they are coping with this situation.
Carlos Santos, from the Focolare community in Los Angeles, told us, “The wildfires in various parts of our region are causing great anxiety because due to strong winds it’s impossible to fully extinguish the flames. The forecast is that they will continue for several more days. Many people have been evacuated and many have lost everything. However, we are also witnessing an enormous response from people who have brought food, clothing, money and other donations to those affected by the wildfires. The response has been so overwhelming that in some places TV stations have been used to ask people to stop donating because there is no more space for the items being delivered. Indeed, Providence has arrived in abundance and beyond what is needed.
The fires have not reached the homes of any members of the local Focolare community. However, some have had to move because they live in areas at risk of wildfires.
The Women’s Focolare, hosted a family for three days until authorities confirmed it was safe for them to return home. Our Men’s Focolare is also available to welcome anyone in need of shelter. This has brought more peace of mind to the community, as several areas in Los Angeles County could face evacuation orders if the winds change direction and move the fires toward them. Through their work, some focolarini have directly witnessed the suffering of many people and families who have lost everything. We want to accompany these people, offer comfort, and help them find stable solutions.” Carlos concluded thanking everyone for the many messages of solidarity and prayers during this time of great suffering.
You can read about the “miracle of the tabernacle” at Corpus Christi Church in the Pacific Palisades community of California on this link from the Focolare Media website, the communication platform for the Focolare Movement in North America,.
“Let’s start from the least, from those who are rejected and abandoned by society.” This is how the “Chiara Lubich” Hogar Centre for the elderly began in the Peruvian Amazon. A place where, thanks to the generosity of a family, together with the Focolare community, they welcome elderly people who are abandoned, who need help, who need to be cared for, who need a hot meal or simply who need the warmth of a family.
The news of Bishop Christian Krause’s death reached me just as I was beginning a Zoom conference call with Bishops from various churches who are friends of the Focolare Movement, with whom he has been a faithful traveling companion for many years. We knew his health had been deteriorating and we had been praying for him, so it was spontaneous to recite the ‘Our Father’ together, thanking God for his prophetic and encouraging presence among us. He was a man with a big heart and broad horizons.
“Colourful Bishops”
There would be a lot to say about Bishop Christian. As I write, I have before me a photograph of Cardinal Vlk of Prague (Czech Republic), Cardinal Kriengsak of Bangkok (Thailand), Dr. Mor Theophilose Kuriakose of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church (India), myself (a Catholic) and Bishop Christian walking towards the city centre of Lund (Sweden), dressed in our ecclesiastical robes, heading for a ceremony at the Cathedral to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. This ecumenical event, hosted by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and attended by Pope Francis, was the first time that Catholics and Lutherans commemorated the Reformation together on a global level.
The photo reminds me of the fondness with which Bishop Christian called the Bishops of various Churches associated with the Focolare Movement “colourful bishops”. He was deeply passionate about the experience of unity in variety and diversity, inspired by a charism and by a spirituality of unity and supported by the Focolare, a predominantly lay movement. Our colourful vestments symbolized the deeper richness of the gifts exchanged during the dialogue of life undertaken by Bishops from various churches since 1982—a dialogue initiated by Bishop Klaus Hemmerle and Chiara Lubich, with the blessing of Pope John Paul II.
An Historic Day
Although Bishop Christian became acquainted with the Focolare in the 1980s through Bishop Hemmerle, his meeting with Chiara Lubich on 31st October, 1999 was a special moment for him. It took place in the context of what was undoubtedly a key moment in his life: the signing, on behalf of the LWF, of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification with the Roman Catholic Church, on 31st October 1999 in Augsburg, Germany. Over the years, Bishop Krause has often shared with us the significance of that event, emphasizing its importance as a document signed on the brink of the 21st century. He often recalled how, on that very occasion, a group of founders and leaders of Evangelical and Catholic Movements and Communities gathered in the Focolare little town of Ottmaring to launch the ‘Together for Europe’ project. That day’s meeting with Chiara Lubich opened a path for him into an ecumenical experience whose prophetic possibilities and implications he perhaps understood more deeply than many of us.
Broad Horizons
When I became a bishop in 2013, I came into much closer contact with Bishop Christian within the framework of the Bishops of various churches who are friends of the Focolare Movement. After Lund, several of us met for monthly online teleconferences. Meeting with Christian was always a great way to broaden your horizons, because he liked to see things in the bigger picture. His sense of humour was evident in the sparkle in his eyes and his kind smile.
Bishop Christian Krause was passionate about the Church, about the unity of the Church and the need to move forward. For him, life was not about standing still. If we want to improve the future, we must be ready to disrupt the present! In the case of the Bishop Friends of the Focolare, Bishop Christian urged us to widen the circle and to commit ourselves to promoting circles of living dialogue with the Bishops of various Churches in the Global South. He was so pleased that in September 2021, in the midst of Covid, we were able to organize an online meeting for 180 bishops from 70 Churches from all over the world. It was a wonderful three-day meeting.
Glimpses of Hope
I recently visited Bishop Christian in the nursing home where he had moved in the last weeks of his life. Our conversation was one I will remember for a long time. He spoke to me of his gratitude for having encountered the charism of the Focolare, of the support and friendship he had experienced. Raised in the tradition of “awakening” (pietistic), his encounter with the Movement was in line with his personal conviction of the need for piety, for spirituality.
He did not hide the pain he felt at times, seeing how the world seems to have lost the visionary dynamic of hope from the 1960s, when global mission and the horizons of peace seemed within reach. Equally painful for him was the fact that it was still not possible to receive communion in the Catholic Church.
He told me about an event in the ‘90s when Chiara Lubich was not well. During a meeting, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk invited him to come with him and make a short phone call to Chiara. It was to be a short phone call and so to keep it that way, Bishop Christian simply asked Chiara: “Do you have a word for us?” Chiara did not hesitate to answer: “Always Go Forward!” Christian was very impressed.
“Always Go Forward” was the stimulus that Bishop Christian always brought us. Speaking to me about his preparation for death, he showed his strong faith with which he knew how to look to the future, including death, with hope. He shared with me the prayer taken from a famous poem by Dietrich Bonhoeffer that inspired him in that last period: “By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered, And confidently waiting, come what may, We know that God is with us night and morning, And never fails to greet us each new day”.
Bishop Brendan Leahy Bishop of Limerick, Ireland
Bishop emeritus Christian Krause was born on 6th January 1940 in Dallgow-Döberitz, Brandenburg (Germany). He studied theology in Germany (Marburg, Heidelberg and Göttingen) and in the United States (Chicago). He was ordained a Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover in 1969. He worked as an assistant at the then Department of Theology of the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva (Switzerland) from 1969 to 1970 and at the headquarters of the Christian Service for Refugees of Tanganyika in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1985 he was responsible for international ecumenical affairs, serving as Executive Secretary (Oberkirchenrat) to the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany and the German National Committee of the LWF in Hanover, Germany. From 1985 to 1994 he was General Secretary of the German Evangelical Kirchentag (Lay Movement of the Protestant Church). He was Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brunswick, Germany, from 1994 to 2002. From 1997 to 2003 he was President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). He died on 28th November in Wolfenbüttel, Germany, at the age of 84. Bishop Christian leaves behind his wife Gertrud Krause and four children.
This morning, while shopping at the supermarket, I passed by a large trolley where a shop assistant was piling up boxes. I noticed two of them were on the ground.
Fearing that I had inadvertently dropped them, I apologised, picked up the boxes and placed them on the trolley.
The shop assistant thanked me and said not to worry, then called after me: ‘Kindness is rare!’. Another person who was passing by just at that moment confirmed: “That’s very true!” whereupon the shop assistant, by way of explanation, told her what had happened.
As for me, I was happy, not least because this little episode reminded me of a phrase I had heard some time ago which had struck me. It spoke about “sowing kindness”. It felt like a ‘caress’ from God.
G.S. – Italy (*)
Healing relationships
I have a brother, a Catholic Christian, who married a German woman from the Evangelical Church. When they settled in Italy, the relationship between my mother and sister-in-law was not easy, even though she was not against their children being educated in the Catholic Church. As for me, I tried to be a ‘mediator’ between her and my mother. My sister-in-law also suffered because of this misunderstanding, which was however healed shortly before our mother died. For some time now, I have been sharing the ‘Thought for the Day’ with her via Whatsapp which helps us to live Gospel-based love on a daily basis. One day the thought invited us to ‘be merciful’, with this short commentary sentence: “Mercy is a love that knows how to welcome every neighbour, especially the poorest and neediest. A love that does not measure, is abundant, universal, concrete”. Her response was immediate: ‘If I have made you feel bad in certain circumstances over the past years, please forgive me”. Astonished, I replied in turn: “I too apologise”. And she: “I don’t remember any incident for which need to apologise…’.
C. – Italy (*)
Called and sent
Someone very dear to me asked me to write something about my experience as a teacher for an acquaintance of hers from another country who was doing a project on values education.
I realised that it was an opportunity to transform into a testimony and ‘proclamation’ what, in some ways, has been my personal response to the ‘call’ to live according to the teachings of the Gospel as a teacher and as a mother.
The piece took many hours of writing, deleting, correcting, rewriting, remembering aspects that I could add, deleting others that seemed irrelevant and, above all, filtering each word with love. I tried to put myself in the place of the person I was writing for, because even though I did not know her, I could love Jesus in her.
I sent it to my friend, aware that it might not be exactly what she needed, and so was ready to change everything.
To my surprise, she replied: “I have already sent your letter. I really liked it”. No doubt it was not the writing itself that was liked, but the work that God had done in me which could be a little light for others by being shared.
And, of course, the other things I had to do in those days were easily taken care of, as there had been some changes in the rota that left me with more free time.
