Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Manila (Agenzia Fides) - Promote and participate actively in the creation of harmony and interreligious dialogue in the Philippines and throughout eastern Asia is one of the objectives of the mission of the Focolare communities in the continent. This was reaffirmed by the President of the Focolare, Maria Voce, on her trip to Asia. Maria Voce is now in the Philippines, where the Focolare Movement has been present since the mid 60s. There will be a meeting next January 24 and on January 27, she will present her testimony at the Second National Congress for the Clergy.
The President recently made stops in Japan and confirmed good relations with the "Rissho Kosei-kai (RKK), a Buddhist association with nearly six million adherents, common in many Asian countries, USA, Brazil , Switzerland, and Russia.
Maria Voce gave a talk in the Great Sacred Hall of the RKK, where Chiara Lubich spoke in 1981, making a gift of her testimony of faith. In front of over 3,000 Buddhist faithful gathered for the ceremony, Maria Voce retraced the steps of the fraternal bond between Nikkyo Niwano and Chiara Lubich, and between the two movements they founded: the RKK and the Focolare Movement. Both, she said, had the common dream "to help all people to tend to the only truth and to have a single heart." Even amidst great diversity - said Maria Voce - the two movements can become "bridges from the Buddhist world to the Christian world and vice-versa.” The effort entails "working together to make the human family more united with the love and compassion," she concluded. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 21/01/2010)
