Members of religious communities and movements belonging to fifty different orders, congregations and institutes gathered together in the ecumenical Focolare village of Ottmaring in Germany, 1-5 July 2019. The 100 participants were consecrated and religious men and women. Sr Tiziana Longhitano SFP and Fr Salvo D’Orto OMI, who coordinate this area of the Focolare Movement internationally, explain the significance of this event.

Fr. Salvo: We see this as a step ahead along a journey we’ve been travelling together for more than ten years. The ecclesial maturity, we could say, of this year’s meeting benefited in the contribution from the preparatory stages of the German Conference of Superiors of Religious Orders (DOK). Sr. Tiziana: What’s become clear to us is that we’re forming a kind of “ideal convocation” where ancient and new charisms can meet and enrich one another in lively creative exchange. Everyone offers their own contribution as a sign of profound participation in the life of all, and we find ourselves spiritually enriched and nourished. Just how vital this kind of exchange is to the life of the Church and humanity today, is indicated by the participation for the second year running of the Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Cardinal João Braz De Aviz.   What is the role of the Focolare Movement in this event?  Fr. Salvo: The Focolare promoted this meeting throughout the diverse vocations present within the Movement. So Focolare members who belong to Religious orders attended, as did Focolarini men and women, and some of the “Volunteers of God”, including members of different Churches. Sr. Tiziana: What the Movement can offer is a “space of communion and of unity”. Other structures exist, of course, where Religious men and women can meet, but what the Focolare Movement has to offer is a “charismatic place” where all charisms feel at home and immersed in a harmonious relationship which nurtures every word and expression both verbal and non-verbal.   Did the meeting give rise to any new collaborative ventures? And – in your capacity as coordinators of the Religious men and women who are part of the Focolare Movement – how do you see the future following on from this meeting? Fr. Salvo: Thanks to the notable involvement of members of different Churches, this meeting had a decidedly ecumenical feel. This is a collaboration we see growing and expanding in future meetings to include those living the consecrated life in different Churches. In the future, the meeting may also open up to include lay people who live according to the charism of the founders of religious orders. The President of the German Conference of Superiors of Religious Orders, Sister Katharina Kluitmann encouraged future involvement of other ecclesial movements to facilitate an even wider sense of communion within the charismatic and prophetic dimension of the Churches, particularly in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In fact, after this meeting, we feel an ever stronger trust in the potential of the Focolare Movement to create “spaces of communion” and mutual enrichment which can be offered to religious orders today. Preparations are already underway for an event along these lines next year as part of the celebrations commemorating the centenary of Chiara Lubich’s birth. Our event will focus on the relationship between the Charism of Unity and other charisms, and will take place at Castelgandolfo, near Rome, Italy on 8^th and 9^th February 2020. Sr. Tiziana: We hope that the February 2020 event will prove to be an important step ahead in the journey of unity between consecrated people and the laity who feel called – in their own state of life – to share in the charism of our founders, and thereby participate in the same charismatic reality as religious women and men. With this in mind, in February we’ll be encouraging greater unity between the families of different charisms, facilitating communion among religious institutes and societies. This, it seems to us, is in line with the prophecy of the present and future Church and of humanity in its journey towards the “ut omnes unm sint” [“that all may be one”, Jn 17:21] for which Jesus prayed to the Father.

Edited by Anna Lisa Innocenti