What is the Focolare? – A view from St John Henry Newman Parish

 

We’ve been really blessed as four churches coming together as one parish to have the involvement of the Focolare Movement in our new joint life.  

As four churches became ‘One Faith Family’ members of the Movement who live locally have helped us foster bonds of unity.  The Focolare Movement is all about unity and love, but aren’t we all meant to be about that!  That said, having now benefitted from the Focolare Movement as a presence in our parish we can see or rather experience their ‘Charism’.  

It’s not about a ‘campaign’ or an ‘in your face’ or a ‘we/you must’. It’s more a ‘simple’ listening to the Holy Spirit to make sure that those opportunities to spread the love of Christ and Unity amongst peoples and faiths are not missed. 

Well that’s our take on it and when we say ‘simple’ we know it’s far from simple and it takes effort and determination. Early on in our ‘Cluster life’ (as we were then) our Parish Priest had coffee with a member of the Focolare Community in the garden at one of our churches. The Mission we set him was to pin down exactly who and what they were, for truth be told at that stage, we were all a little unsure. After the meeting when we asked him to feedback he said ‘it’s something about the hearth and unity’.  Focolare means hearth and yes we’ve since learnt that it is by that gathering as a sense of family around the ‘warm fireplace’ or in other words in safe spaces, that relationships are made and yes indeed unity and the presence of Christ is most effectively nurtured. 

Today many of us are still asking lots of questions about who and what the Focolare are and often we still don’t have the right, or rather full answer, and that is because in part you can’t put into words what the Movement is and what is does.   

You can look up about the Movement on the internet where you will see a plethora of stories about its life and work and alas some about the mistakes that the young movement has made as well, it’s part of a journeying and synodal church.

More important though than what you will read is what we see. We see unity being lived out in the two communities (men’s and women’s houses) and as we all know it’s not easy to live in community whether that be with people we have chosen and especially those we have not chosen.

We SEE their work/charism in the little conversations we see members of the Focolare having with other parishioners, and we know, because we’re told, how important these encounters have been for folks.   

We SEE their charism/work in bringing people of different religions together for times of fellowship locally and nationally. Doesn’t the world need that more than ever at the moment!   

We SEE their work/charism in the wonderful afternoons they lead in our parish where people of different ages and cultures come together to learn of love and enjoy being together. 

We FEEL their charism in the support that they give to our priest and our new parish, often an unspoken word, a kind smile or gesture which is always appreciated!

So like a good beer the only way to know what the Focolare truly is, is to sample it..

Discover Focolare 

Discover St John Henry Newman Parish

What is Mariapolis?

We were recently invited by them to take part in their annual gathering called Mariapolis.  When we asked what it was all about, guess what, the response was a little unclear.  Once again, it was hard to pin down - you have to live it we were told.  Literally though the name means ‘City of Mary’.  

So on Saturday 27 July over 30 of us set off from the Parish to experience Mariapolis first hand, which this year was being held at the Harper Adams University in Newport. 
 
The Mariapolis had started two days earlier and there were already well over 300 people present, some had been camping, others staying in student accommodation and others who were visiting each day.  We were straight away made very welcome and made to feel as if we had been there since the start.  

The day included Prayer, Mass, reflections, games, discussions and most importantly time to be with people who you’d never met before but wanted you to be there.  There were people of different cultures, ages, ways of life present, all enjoying being together.  

Like the Movement itself though, it’s not in the strict structures that the Holy Spirit could be felt to be so powerfully at work, but through the simply being in one another’s presence.  

It is truly hard to put down in writing the atmosphere and sense of joy and peace by those who attended.  We had taken a mixed group, a group who didn’t have a clue what to expect but who came away knowing that they had had a blessed time and felt closer to the Lord for being there.

Yes we had gathered at this ‘pop up’ Mary’s City and she did, as she always does, point us to her Son, through Word, through Sacrament, through time and encounter with others, even the outdoor games on the football pitch.  Fr Craig still thinks the referee needs to go to ‘spec savers' though! *

We look forward to next year’s Mariapolis when we hope more of our parish will be blessed by the Focolare Movement which gives us opportunities for unity and love, all under the watchful care of Our Lady their Patron. 

* Other opticians are available!