Dear friends,
It is especially good to be writing to you for this first edition of our quarterly newsletter—and, for me personally, to be stepping back into the work of the Focolare Forum for Dialogue and Culture after several months away.
As we imagined this newsletter, we had in mind especially the many friends and partners with whom the Forum has had the privilege of working. Some of us came together last May for the Sustainable Peace Networks gathering; with others, we have worked side by side on programs for dialogue, peacebuilding, and depolarization. We hope this newsletter can be one small way to stay connected and share stories of collaboration growing among us.
Earlier this year, I realized I needed to take some time off after experiencing some flares in symptoms related to my multiple sclerosis. I am very grateful to say that I am doing much better now. But stepping away was not easy—particularly when so many new relationships, ideas, and possibilities were emerging from our work together following the Sustainable Peace Networks event last year.
I spent this sabbatical just outside Florence, at one of the Focolare Movement’s international centers. It was a time to rest and recover, but it also brought an unexpected gift: rich and spontaneous exchanges around peacebuilding and bridgebuilding with people from Focolare communities around the world. I often found myself sharing about what the Forum and our partner organizations have been building together. Many immediately connected it with realities in their own communities—from polarization in Central Europe and migration from Africa and Latin America to the challenge of dialogue amid conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Those conversations brought me back to questions many of us asked at Sustainable Peace Networks: How do we build relationships before a crisis occurs? How do we connect people doing courageous work in different contexts? How can those relationships become a resource in times of division or conflict? My time away made it clearer than ever that these questions cross countries, organizations, and regions.
One evening stands out especially. I invited a friend who is a refugee from Gaza to join me in watching Combatants for Peace’s Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Ceremony. Instead, she invited me to her apartment, where we watched together over a meal she had prepared. Far from both Washington, D.C., and the land at the heart of the conflict, we listened to Israelis and Palestinians speak about loss and their work for dialogue—and found ourselves sharing some of the challenges and joys we have encountered in that work, too.
That evening brought me back to something at the heart of the Forum’s work and of so much of the work we share with our partners: peacebuilding begins with human relationships. Networks, platforms, programs, and projects can strengthen those relationships—but they cannot replace them.
So I return with energy and excitement, but perhaps also with a wider lens. My months away reminded me how much wisdom, experience, pain, courage, and possibility exist in communities around the world—and how much we have to learn from one another.
Most of all, I return with renewed appreciation for this community and the relationships that make our collaboration possible. I’m grateful to be back among you, and excited to discover what might grow from them.
With gratitude,
Kate O’Brien
Director
Focolare Forum for Dialogue and Culture