Welcome to the 50^th anniversary of the Focolare Movement in North America!

This year we are giving thanks to God for the gift of the spirituality of unity and celebrating all it has done in the lives of so many people, in so many ways.

Much has happened, from the arrival of the first members to New York in 1961, to their journeys into Canada, Puerto Rico and the Carribean in the 70’s.

Maria “Emmaus” Voce is interviewed on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Focolare in North America and her upcoming visit to Canada and the United States.

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Chiara made her first visit to North America in 1964. She often wrote about what she was living in those days...

March 31, 1964
“Yesterday I spent the whole day with the Focolarini. Today they are working. They have a great desire for God… With them I understood that Jesus in our midst is like the loudspeaker of Jesus in each soul. His presence makes his voice inside of us grow and prepares us to hear it, to understand it, and as a consequence, to live the ‘new man’ in us.
This discovery seems even more beautiful to me, new and apropos, here where the characteristic is to have the biggest things in the world – the biggest roads, the biggest skyscrapers, like the Empire State Building.

We visited it right after our meeting and we went up, I don't know how many stories, 102 or so. From up high, since the sun was shining, we could see a good part of New York, all the way to the Statue of Liberty. That liberty which seems to be the striking note of this country. Certainly the Focolarini are few here if we think of the millions of people living in this city. They are millions but they are all entrusted to the heart of Jesus because this city lends itself to a fire of divine love."

To be continued...