The spirituality of unity, a gift for our times, was the title of a study day to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Focolare in North America. It was organised by a group of academics who are involved in a project at Fordham University.

Fordham University, founded and run by the Jesuits, has two campuses in New York. The main campus is in the Bronx, while the Law School is in Manhattan. A smaller site, it is in the heart of the “Big Apple”, near the Lincoln Centre, the New York Philharmonic, the Ballet School… and only a few blocks from Broadway. It is a part of New York rich in art and culture.

New York, 4 April 2011. Mass in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral for the 50th anniversary of Focolare in North America. The mass was celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Dolan who invited everyone to bring light everywhere. A message from Pope Benedict XVI.

Red and black. Red vestments for the celebrants, and black the color chosen by the guest of honor, the President of the Focolare, Maria Voce. At the end of the Mass, Archbishop Timothy Dolan invited her up to the altar, put his right arm around her shoulders, and looking down at her from his full height said: “Come back soon! This is your home.” The archbishop was visibly happy, and his warm welcome was in every way anything but formal.

1,300 people from Canada, the United States and the Caribbean came together to celebrate the 50 years since the arrival of the Focolare Movement in North America. Members of the Jewish community and African American Muslims were among those present.

It could have been the finale of a Broadway musical. Men and women wearing black shirts, girls with yellow and blue scarves, dance routines, and a medley of well known songs about the joys and worries, the hard times and the dreams of Americans. The lengthy applause expressed joy and gratitude for “an unforgettable day for the whole of north America”, that, as one of the presenters put it, “took fifty years to prepare.”

“You are bursting with Chiara’s legacy”, Maria Voce told the young people from the USA during two lively hours of music, graphics and a confiding exchange of experiences and questions.

Up close and in person, it’s always a different story. In fact these young people had often seen Maria Voce and Giancarlo Faletti on DVD, their tone of voice was familiar, everyone knew how simple and uncomplicated they are. However, they were always president and co-president of one of the world’s biggest Ecclesial movements. The excitement among the 130 Gen (young people closely involved in the Focolare) who came from all over the USA for the event was therefore understandable. But any tension was dissolved once the meeting began. The backdrop: a snow-covered Mariapolis Luminosa, the Focolare’s ‘little town’ two hours north of New York.