Chiara Lubich Research Articles

“Gifts of Light”—Chiara Lubich’s Mystical Narrative with Hindus: An Analysis of a Hindu–Christian Dialogue Experience

The present paper offers a presentation and a phenomenological analysis of a rather unusual event in the sphere of interreligious dialogue: a Catholic woman, the protagonist of a mystical experience, shared some of the traits of this experience with people of another culture and religion. The protagonists of this experience include Chiara Lubich and a group of Hindus, some neo-Vedanta scholars and other social activists inspired by Gandhian philosophy and ideals. These pages represent an initial study of this case, which, at least so far, appears to be rather unique.

Integral Education Based on the Pedagogy of Unity

The article substantiates the opinion that integral education based on personalism covers all dimensions of personality development: physical, mental, social, cultural, and religious. The purpose of the study is to present the innovative content of integral education, expressed in the Pedagogy of unity by Chiara Lubich. The reflections on integral education, based on the interpretation of Lubich's texts and the experience of the Focolare Movement educational community, founded by her, describe the original directions of integral education in the Pedagogy of unity. It is emphasized that the concept of holistic education of the Pedagogy of unity, based on Christian ideas, is compatible with the trends of personalistic pedagogy and - although it originates from the religious message of the charism of unity by Chiara Lubich - is characterized by universality, developed on love, presenting it as a pedagogical value. Based on the results of the analysis of modern scientific sources, it has been proven that due to love, and mutual understanding in interpersonal relationships, effective communication is created at the social level, a person is elevated to higher spiritual values, and a harmonious educational environment is formed for self-assertion and freedom. It has been found that this direction of education makes it possible to build universal fraternity, peace, and unity. The author claims that the interpretation of holistic education in this context allows for preserving the unity of the human being and his/her harmonious development. The presented analysis of the features of integrated education by the pedagogy of unity does not diminish the general idea expressed in Chiara Lubich’s theory. New directions have been determined for further scientific research, both in the field of the hermeneutics of Lubich's works as well as in the field of scientific research of the educational practice of the Focolare Movement and educational institutions in various cultures of the world, oriented on the charism of unity.

A Sociologist on the Contribution of Mystique and Theology in Interreligious Dialogue

One of the spectacular changes in the Catholic Church in the 1960s was her positive judgement on the other religions, as transmitted by the texts of the second Vatican Council (1962–1965). A sociologist is by profession interested in the diverse processes of cultural changes, and the birth of Catholic interreligious dialogue is therefore a very good case to study. For Catholics involved in interreligious dialogue, we can observe ideal-typically two attitudes at work that hinder a true dialogue between different religions: one is named ‘religious imperialism’ and the other is the contrary attitude, ‘religious indifferentism’. The present article studies how, in a crucial moment for the Catholic understanding of interreligious dialogue (around the year 2000), the mystical insights of Chiara Lubich (1920–2008), foundress of the Focolare Movement, alongside the theology of Piero Coda have made an interesting contribution to sustaining the process of change towards an always more convincing engagement in interreligious dialogue. In the context of the controversy on ‘Dominus Jesus’ (August 2000), they found a way to navigate between religious imperialism and religious indifferentism.

Chiara Lubich and the Intercultural Dialogue—Educational Relevance in a Time of New Conflicts

As in a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces put together place before us the drama of the proliferation of new conflicts. Such are the times of today when people try to justify war on the grounds of belonging to different and incompatible cultures. Hence, there is an urgent need for a revival of intercultural dialogue and adequate education to foster it. Aware of the current challenge to peace, the two authors, who come from different geographical areas and cultures, seek through their research to highlight the educational value of Chiara Lubich’s charism, her work and that of the Focolare Movement she founded. To this end, they make use of the hermeneutic method of “text” analysis, understood as everything the person said, did and wrote. For this, they focus on what, with respect to the epistemology of education, consists in the real innovation, namely: the Lubich synoran, the Golden Rule as the axiological foundation of intercultural dialogue education, the Art of Loving as a method and the Cube of Peace as a teaching tool.

Crisis of Family Realities in Taiwan: Chiara Lubich’s Concept of „Unity“ as the Possible Core Path of Reconciliation

From the Past to the Present, Taiwan, as part of Chinese culture circle, has experienced distinct changes of family reality. Politics, economy, migration, and globalization have been or are the crucial factors to influence on the families. Polygamy, extended family, nuclear family, transnational family, same-sex marriage and diversified family construct the contexts of families in Taiwan. These multi-family forms seem to ingratiate themselves with the popular concept „diversity” which is articulated since 21th century. Many people think that “diversity” could eliminate conflicts, because not any part will be ignored; “diversity” shows tolerance, progress of society. In fact, there are at the same time more and more conflicts and problems occurred because of diversity. How would be the potential causes of problems? And how could these problems and conflicts in the families be dealt with? The core solutions seem not easy to find. Since 1960s, Chiara Lubich’s concepts: “unity,” “mutual love” and “the model of new family” were spread into Taiwan. Her concepts influence on many families to live in a new way. In this paper, some historical and current family models in Taiwan as well as the relation between the Chiara Lubich’s concept of “unity” and families will be explored to see whether her concepts could be the possible path to reconcile the conflicts of families, and how it could be possibly put into practice.

Gift of Unity: The Spirituality of Communion of Chiara Lubich and Luigi Giussani

In his Apostolic Letter Novo Millenio Ineunte, Pope John Paul II wrote that the Church must become the ‘home and school of communion’ if is to ‘be faithful to God’s plan and respond to the world’s deepest yearnings’. For this to take place, he indicated that even prior to making practical plans that ‘we need to promote a spirituality of communion’, a spirituality which ‘indicates above all the heart’s contemplation of the mystery of the Trinity dwelling in us, and whose light we must also be able to see shining on the face of the brothers and sisters around us’ (43). This paper will examine the spirituality of communion as it is proposed in the teachings of two prominent leaders within the new ecclesial movements within the Catholic Church in the 20th century, Chiara Lubich (1920–2008) and Fr Luigi Giussani (1922–2005).

Reading through the Other’s Eyes: The Mystical Foundations of Interreligious Dialogue in Chiara Lubich’s Paradise ‘49

The life and spirituality of Chiara Lubich (1920–2008), the founder of the Focolare Movement, is marked by a particular mystical experience in the years 1949 and 1950, which found expression in a text entitled Paradise ‘49. In this mystical imprint—according to the thesis of the following paper—the explanation can be found for the fact that Lubich, starting from a traditionally Catholic milieu, followed a path that brought her into dialogue with representatives of all world religions. In particular, phrases with “to live” and “to be” are examined, which point to an existential understanding of religious truth. Dialogue does not mean relativizing one’s own truth, but leads to a deeper understanding.

Ontologische Voraussetzungen der geistlichen Begleitung in gemeinschaftlicher Spiritualität

In the history of spirituality, a way to search for the wisdom facilitating the imitation of wise people’s lives has been developed. This sort of spiritual guidance had been developed by the desert fathers and mothers, in the cloisters, and through the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola. An important step in the achievement of spiritual guidance is a search for a guide to help the guided person learn to discern the spirits. The discernment of spirits is to help one in selecting the goals and means of one’s activities of self-improvement. Spiritual guidance can be provided by individual men and women, but also by communities. A specific type of communitarian spiritual guidance was developed within the Focolare Movement, founded by Chiara Lubich, who understood God as love. Forsaken Jesus and Jesus who dwells in unity can be considered a foundation of this communitarian spirituality. The mystical experiences of Chiara Lubich in Paradise ‘49 point to the fact that this spirituality is premised upon an ontology, which has been developed into a Trinitarian ontology by Klaus Hemmerle.

God in Otherness. Chiara Lubich’s Ecumenism as Mysticism of Encounter

Abstract Chiara Lubich (1920-2008) is well known as founder of the Focolare Movement with its large ecumenical commitment, but not so much in her mystical experience and writings, not yet published in full. In her experience of faith, especially in the mystical period called Paradise ’49, lies the spiritual ground of her engagement in worldwide dialogue. ‘Unity’ (John 17,21) and ‘Jesus Forsaken’ (as a speci!c understanding of redemption) are the two sides of a spiritual life based on the Word of God.

The Paradigm of Unity (PU) as the Basis for a “Copernican Revolution” (CR) in the Social Sciences (Note 1)

Thomas Kuhn regarded the Copernican Revolution (CR) as the one which best illustrates the nature of scientific revolutions in the history of science. This is related with the essence of the paradigm in a Kuhnian sense that is a mental shift involving change in the theories, instruments, values and assumptions used to understand a set of phenomena. Copernicus had to change the well-established geocentric system, which functioned not only in the science of his day but also in the culture, tradition, social perception, and even the mentality of religious and political The concept of Paradigm of Unity (PU) is used to denote the societal activity of Chiara Lubich and the Focolare Movemen—in building the psychosocial infrastructure for unity in various social domains; for example, in the economy of communion, in politics (politicians for unity project), in public media (journalists for unity), in ecumenism and interreligious contacts (ecumenical and interreligious Focolari Centers). This conception is a great inspiration, a kind of Copernican revolution for the social sciences, which would motivate researchers in the social sciences to build their own research paradigm with a mental and methodological power and potentiality that could offer new vision to the social sciences (as Copernicus did in the natural sciences).

Paths to Interreligious Dialogue: The Teaching of the Lotus Sutra and the Spirituality of Focolare Movement

This essay explores two religious movements, one Buddhist and the other Christian, to show how both arrive at the site of interreligious dialogue. One is Rissho Koseikai, established by Rev. Nikkyo Niwano based on the teaching of Buddhism with a special focus on the Lotus Sutra. The other is the Focolare Movement, established by Chiara Lubich within the Catholic Church. Although both have different objects of devotion, teachings, modes of spirituality, practices and organizational structures, religious joy, a consequence of overcoming difficulties and suffering through faith becomes the common ground for a path to their sustained encounter of interreligious dialogue.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, INNOVATION, AND GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF THE ECONOMY OF COMMUNION IN ITALY

The Economy of Communion (EoC) movement is one of the most interesting phenomena both in today’s Catholicism and in the global field of spiritually oriented entrepreneurship. This model – first elaborated by the founder of the Focolare movement, Chiara Lubich – is focused on a ‘culture of giving’; on the development of a relation of ‘communion’ with employees, customers and even competitors; on transparency and fairness; and on environmental sustainability. Although grounded in the Gospel and the Catholic Church’s social doctrine, it is meant as a business model which can be adopted also by people belonging to other religious traditions, and even by non-believers. This paper, based on interviews to people involved in the EoC movement and on other primary and secondary sources, will analyse the movement in Italy, focusing on a side understudied by the literature: the complex web of organizations which provide it with a structure and a governance. Particularly, the paper will show how such organizations try to strike a balance between preserving the movement’s identity and Chiara Lubich’s message, and spreading the EoC model by trying to make it popular, also outside the Focolare movement.

Chiara Lubich’s Pedagogy in the “Spiritual Thoughts of Collegamento CH”

The current study addresses the writings by Chiara Lubich, who founded the Focolare Movement in the 1940s. Lubich adopted the “Spiritual Thoughts” as an education resource capable of reaching people and places that she could not physically reach. In addition, throughout her life, she developed an educational approach seen as a different Catholic pedagogy perspective due to its notoriety in the religious and social spheres. The aim of the current study is to investigate, through the analysis of one of the “Spiritual Thoughts” by Chiara Lubich, how she configured her educational practice through messages and, more specifically, to assess the pedagogical approach in her writings. The reflection presents the concepts of charisma, religious field and symbolic relations based on the historical and social perspective as theoretical reference.

L’amore come dinamica fondamentale dell’educazione in famiglia secondo Chiara Lubich. Alcuni aspetti

Civilisational progress and globalisation processes at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries have changed the shape, function and role of family in social life, posing a threat to its stability. Consequently, many family support institutions and organisations are created that offer social services focused on prevention, family therapy and support, particularly in terms of family upbringing. In search of a model of family upbringing that teaches how to build long-term interpersonal relationships and overcome difficulties by referring to values helpful in dealing with family crises, the article focuses on the pedagogical potential of contemporary movements and communities of the Catholic Church. Substantial studies in this regard are provided by the New Families Movement, an initiative that operates under the international Focolare Movement founded by the Italian teacher Chiara Lubich (1920–2008). Based on the hermeneutics of Lubich’s texts, the article presents her main thoughts on family upbringing. Following the adopted research procedure, the text discusses the significance of personal love from the philosophical, psychological and theological perspective as well as through life and educational experience of Chiara Lubich and her anthropological and theological reflections on education. In this context, several key aspects of family upbringing are discussed in the context of personal love: parental authority and responsibilities, specificity of integral education, characteristics of pro-social education and development of skills necessary to overcome difficulties. They appear to be a fundamental part in Lubich’s ‘style’ of family upbringing. The resulting analysis belongs to the field of family pedagogy and pedagogy of religion, and is mostly based on Italian literature sources. Chiara Lubich’s pedagogical thought is not well-known in Polish pedagogical literature, which makes it all the more compelling to address this topic.

Miłość jako podstawowa dynamika wychowania w rodzinie w ujęciu Chiary Lubich. Wybrane aspekty

Civilisational progress and globalisation processes at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries have changed the shape, function and role of family in social life, posing a threat to its stability. Consequently, many family support institutions and organisations are created that offer social services focused on prevention, family therapy and support, particularly in terms of family upbringing. In search of a model of family upbringing that teaches how to build long-term interpersonal relationships and overcome difficulties by referring to values helpful in dealing with family crises, the article focuses on the pedagogical potential of contemporary movements and communities of the Catholic Church. Substantial studies in this regard are provided by the New Families Movement, an initiative that operates under the international Focolare Movement founded by the Italian teacher Chiara Lubich (1920–2008). Based on the hermeneutics of Lubich’s texts, the article presents her main thoughts on family upbringing. Following the adopted research procedure, the text discusses the significance of personal love from the philosophical, psychological and theological perspective as well as through life and educational experience of Chiara Lubich and her anthropological and theological reflections on education. In this context, several key aspects of family upbringing are discussed in the context of personal love: parental authority and responsibilities, specificity of integral education, characteristics of pro-social education and development of skills necessary to overcome difficulties. They appear to be a fundamental part in Lubich’s ‘style’ of family upbringing. The resulting analysis belongs to the field of family pedagogy and pedagogy of religion, and is mostly based on Italian literature sources. Chiara Lubich’s pedagogical thought is not well-known in Polish pedagogical literature, which makes it all the more compelling to address this topic.

Un nuovo maestro, una scuola nuova

How can Chiara Lubich’s educational thought inspire the teaching, the teacher’s profile, the school’s organisational model? What is fundamental to Chiara’s vision is the reference to the human person, the key element of relationship. Chiara Lubich’s teacher model is Jesus, the Master. The teacher–pupil relationship has, at the centre, Jesus (Jesus in the middle ). The organisational model of the school is the community; a place of personal care, dialogue and fraternity. The community is inspired by family values, but it is not a closed place. It is an educational place that opens up responsibility towards others and towards society. Educating is not an academic task, but it involves getting in touch with the real world, acting for a better world.

An Asian Perspective on Chiara Lubich and her Pedagogy of Fraternity: An Example of the Course “Culture of Unity” in Higher Education in Taiwan

As founder of the Focolare Movement, Chiara Lubich was greatly influenced by various fields and disciplines. Her thinking offers a platform of common ground for dialogue. The fundamental elements of Chiara’s dialogue are the concepts of love and fraternity , which not only help the Catholic Church to have dialogue with other cultures and religions, but are also relevant to the academic world and our daily life. Chiara’s thoughts on unity offer a fresh new perspective; once we have adapted our thinking to this, then a new kind of education becomes possible. Her spirituality of unity—introduced to Asia in 1966—has been influential despite the fact that most of the population are non-Christian. Recently, some Asian scholars have been exploring new approaches using Chiara’s philosophy to improve their research methodology and teaching; in Taiwan, the “Culture of Unity” course has experimented with new educational techniques influenced by Chiara’s thinking. This paper aims to examine Chiara’s thoughts on education, as well as her influence on higher education in Taiwan.

Wychowanie interpersonalne

Recent contributions from neuroscience and their implications on school teaching have encouraged openness to new knowledge, to the need for new skills and to the revamping of teaching, placing educational relationship at the centre of everything. The brain has been designed to learn through sharing experiences. The purpose of these pages is hence to see if there is a correlation between mental development and relationality. In that sense, as Chiara Lubich’s pedagogy highlights, educational goal is to develop personal identity starting from the encounter with the other. Besides, interpersonal relationships and emotions will help to improve learning. Neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience have demonstrated there is an interconnection between perception, emotion and cognition during school learning. Therefore, we think that valuation of relational and emotional dimensions in education can improve the processes of teaching and learning. In fact, in the last decades, studies and research about human brain function and teaching and learning processes have led to new findings that nowadays are modifying current pedagogy. The progress on science says that interpersonal skills development can improve children’s brain development. The relationship with others and other attachment figures is the enabler to allow or inhibit the organisation of neuronal connections, the capability to activate them as a response to stimulus and allow the expression of brain structures genetically determined. This scenario presents the development of prosocial behaviour, which optimise and postulate the capacity for empathy, promoted by Chiara Lubich as behavioural categories of the Art of Love.

Wychowanek w „spojrzeniu” wychowawcy – w ujęciu Chiary Lubich i Janusza Korczaka

The article aims to highlight some pedagogical implications of the text of Chiara Lubich Looking at All the Flowers , putting it in dialogue with the work of Janusz Korczak. The universality inherent in Chiara Lubich’s exhortation to “look at all the flowers”, can be found in the exhortation of Korczak to “respect all the ages of life”, as a consequence of the high consideration that he has of the child and his rights, first of which the right to respect. The depth of meaning that “looking at” assumes in this text of Chiara Lubich, where it becomes synonymous with “loving”, can be found declined and deployed in pedagogical terms in the work of Korczak. The juxtaposition of some passages of the texts of these two authors reveals profound assonances in the anthropological foundations of their thought.

„Kochaj a zrozumiesz”: charyzmat Chiary Lubich w dialogu z pedagogią uczenia się przez służbę (aprendizaje-servicio)

Having originated from very old and diverse roots, the pedagogy of service-learning continues to spread on five continents under different names. It was given its present name in the USA and has developed systematically since 1968. Two years earlier, Chiara Lubich founded the Gen Movement, a youth-based branch of the Focolare Movement. The article explores her key speeches and messages that she addressed to young people. Lubich’s charisma inspired many practices and reflections on service-learning, laying the foundations for this pedagogy. They may be easier to understand if analysed through the prism of ideas discussed by Lubich in her studies, writings and works that inspired the Focolare Movement. The article presents the first reflections on the contemporary dialogue between Chiara Lubich’s charisma and the pedagogy of service-learning. The first part proposes a brief introduction to the idea of pedagogy of service-learning, while the second offers an analysis of some of its fundamental features present in the dialogue with the “charisma of unity”.