FOCOLARE TRUST

opis organizacji

Focolare Trust (Ireland) is a grassroots, civil society, youth and community organisation inspired by the message of unity contained in the Gospel: that all may be one (Jn 17:21). With this goal, the Focolare in Ireland seeks to be a community-building and partnership-building organisation. It organises educational, cultural and spiritual events to help unite diverse communities of people in Ireland and beyond.

The main community building programme stems from the centres the Focolare has across the island of Ireland. The main community hub is located in county Kildare with other centres in Dublin and Belfast. In these main hubs (and in other local communities across the country), along with our members, we run the following:

- Youth Mentorship Programmes and youth camps
- Ecumenical Dialogue
- Inter-faith dialogue for climate action
- Unity building retreats
- Outreach and support for homeless people
- Outreach for refugees
- Family Support Programmes
- Spiritual formation

Below is an explanation our current activities in each of these areas

Youth Mentorship Programmes and youth camps
We are currently preparing 15 young leaders to attend a leadership programme called ‘World Person’ in Kenya next August 2020. The young people are currently fundraising to help young African leaders attend the two-week leadership camp. Among our members are a number of trained youth coaches who provide coaching to around 50 young people across the island. We hold two annual youth camps at our Kildare Centre where up to 50 young people participate and have formation in unity and community building, alongside optional spiritual formation and practical support to develop their ideas into robust projects.

Ecumenical Dialogue
For many years, the Focolare Movement in Ireland has been engaged in ecumenical dialogue across the island. In October 2019, it hosted an international meeting of 40 Bishops and Christian Leaders in County Antrim. Our centre in Belfast specialises in ecumenical dialogue.

Inter-faith dialogue for climate action
Following a vigil for the planet in August 2018 in Christchurch Cathedral, core members of the Focolare Movement have continued to build relationships with the Dublin Inter-faith network to foster strong relationships and a united faith front for climate action. 10 of our core members are actively involved in this partnership, and together with the Dublin Inter-faith forum, they have attended the climate strike marches in Dublin on several occasions.

Unity building retreats
Our community hub in Kildare is designed to help facilitate reflection, particularly reflection that helps build more united communities. In the last year, we have hosted 15 weekend retreats at our centre. Half of these retreats are for internal members of the Focolare Movement to help encourage and support their local action in their communities. The other half focused mainly high school students, with one retreat for priests as well. The purpose of the retreats is to give the attendees the instruments to be more effective unity builders in their communities.

Outreach and support for homeless people
Our core members in Dublin have been focusing on outreach and support for homeless people, given the gravity of the homeless crisis in Dublin at the minute. For the last 3 years, the Focolare has developed a strong and effective partnership with Merchants’ Quay Initiative Ireland. We co-ordinated the shoe-box collection for the last two Christmas periods, have fundraisedfor MQI, and provide other support when needed by the organisation.

Outreach for refugees
For the last three years, our centre has hosted 3 intercultural parties for the community of Syrian refugees that live in Kildare. These moments were moments of strong dialogue between our community of core members and the community of refugees who had just arrived in Ireland.

Family Support Programme
In our Kildare Centre, we run a monthly family support programme – one day every month and one residential every year. We have created a community of around 30 families. During these days, we provide a fun and meaningful programme for the children and teenagers. We design the programme in order to give the parents the space to talk with each other. We often invite expert speakers for dialogue with the parents.

Spiritual Formation
In our Kildare Centre, we host spiritual formation days every two months that are open to all people interested in learning more about the spirituality of unity. Over the last two years, two experts have led a group of approximately 70 people through the different elements of the spirituality of unity that inspired the foundation of the Focolare Movement in Ireland.

In Ireland, there are approximately 300 core members and 5000 friends of the Focolare Movement. Focolare Trust is a registered charity CYH9612 and a company limited by guarantee.