Focolare head to speak at Clergy congress

THE head of the worldwide Focolare Movement will be one of the lay sharers in the forthcoming National Congress of the Clergy on January 28.

Maria “Emmaus” Voce, president of Focolare is one of the five lay persons who will share with the clergy their experiences on the struggle to live a life of holiness in a secular world.

Other sharers include retired Chief Justice Art Panganiban, youth Darren Bancod and couple Leopoldo and Nena Repotente.

Aside from witnessing at the National Clergy retreat, Voce will also speak to the Focolare community at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on January 24. She will have a media conference on the same day where she is expected to talk on the Economy of Communion (EoC), which many economists think to be the solution to poverty in the Philippines, and the Movement for Unity in Politics.

The Focolare head will visit Focolare centers in Manila, Tagaytay and Cebu from January 17 to 31. Her stay in the country is part of her two-week visit of Focolare communities in Asian countries that also include Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Voce took over the helm of the movement upon the death of Focolare founder Chiara Lubich on March 14, 2008. At the general assembly of delegates in Rome on July, 2008, Voce was elected president. A Focolarino priest, Fr. Giancarlo Faletti, was elected as co-president.

A Focolarina since 1963, Voce worked in Istanbul, Turkey for 10 years involving herself in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue with the Orthodox church and the Muslim world. Voce, who is a lawyer by profession, had worked closely with Chiara Lubich since 2002, reviewing the Focolare statutes.

The Focolare Movement was founded by Chiara Lubich in December 7, 1943. It has now spread in 180 countries and counts with more than 2 million supporters. Focolare centers are found in 88 countries across the globe with membership of at least 140,000.