On May 12th 2012 there will be the 3rd worldwide Run4Unity: an event which, in 2005 and 2008, involved over 100,000 young people in 182 cities. Texas youth are invited to join with thousands of their peers in significant locations around the globe to express their desire for a more united world.
Run4Unity aims to cover the earth with a rainbow of peace and unity and help to spread the Golden Rule: Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. Young people involved will be part of a virtual relay race in which the baton will be passed on from one time zone to another and the whole event can be followed by followed via internet.
The virtual baton will pass though many symbolic places: in the Holy Land, for example, youth from Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities will run together in Caesarea Maritima a place of importance for all three faith groups, in Malta the President of the Republic will launch the event, in Northern Ireland the event will take place in Stormount, a place of great significance in the peace process between Nationalists and Unionists.
The marathon will be launched in the Fiji Islands in the Pacific at 3pm local time. At 4pm it will pass to the next time zone. This will continue right up until 3pm in the local time zones of USA and Canada where the marathon will conclude. At events around the world there will be different ‘flash mobs’ that will make the word ‘yes’ in different languages: yes to more peace, solidarity and unity. The youth involved will be connected throughout the day by internet and there will be the possibility to link up with youth in some cities around the world where the event is taking place.
We would love for you to join us in Houston’s event where we want to involve youth from as many communities as possible in saying our ‘yes’ to unity. We will meet from 2pm- 5pm in St. Teresa’s Catholic School in Memorial Park.
Below, along with our contact information, there links where you will find more information as well as photos, videos and messages from Teens4Unity around the world.
For information contact: Kate at 713 869 1571 or email
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El Paso
The El Paso community will also be part of the Run4Unity. You are invited to join them at Eastwood Park baseball field #3 at 8:00 am until 12 pm on May 12. The park is located at 3001 Parkwood Drive. The El Paso community invites public and religious institutions to join them for this event.
For information please call Sandra Castro at 613-3163 or email her at
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After attending the beatification of Chiara Badano in Rome, teenagers and college students in Houston, Texas, took up the challenge to present her inspiring story to 200 others in Jones Hall at the University of St Thomas on Nov. 6.
The organizers were joined by students from the Teens for Unity Club at Incarnate Word Academy, a club inspired by the spirituality of unity of the Focolare Movement, who had closely followed the events surrounding her beatification.
In less than four weeks, the group put together a band and presented Chiara Badano's life through various artistic expressions, also showing parts of a documentary with interviews with Badano’s parents and friends. For the day itself, they were joined by other Texan youth who had gone to Rome for the events surrounding her beatification, an event that attracted 25,000 people from all over the world.
Chiara Badano was an Italian teenager and member of the Focolare Movement who died of bone cancer in 1990. During his recent apostolic trip to Sicily, in southern Italy, the Holy Father proposed her as a model of holiness for youth everywhere, inviting them to become more acquainted with her.
“Her life was brief, but carries a stupendous message … 19 years full of life and of faith,” said Pope Benedict XVI. “The last two years were full of suffering, but lived in the faith and in the joy that was born from her heart that was so full of God.”
A group of 18 teenagers and young adults from around Texas attended the beatification of the Blessed Chiara Luce Badano in Rome, Italy on Sept. 25.
The Mass, celebrated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Love, by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Monsignor Angelo Amato, representing Pope Benedict XVI.
Chiara Luce's parents sat in the front row of the modern church, which was filled with modern music, befitting of a 20th-Century teenager on the road to sainthood.
"The Mass was beautiful," the Texas group wrote in a short message home.
Later that evening, the Texas group found themselves among 8,000 other participants inside Paul VI Hall in the Vatican for the two-hour "Life, Love, Light" celebration. Thousands more braved the rain in St. Peter Square to watch the songs, dances, testimonies and memorial videos on jumbotrons.
You can watch replays of both the Mass and the celebration or read transcripts at live.focolare.org.
The youth worked for months to raise money for the trip through bake sales, barbecue lunches, work, and more. They witnessed the power of God's providence first-hand, and would like to thank everyone who helped them experience this historic moment in the Movement and in the Church.
Arkansas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado
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