Fraternity as a political category: a path for implementing the vision of Gaudium et Spes
An overview of the Focolare Movement’s theory and praxis of universal brotherhood
by Amy Uelmen
Amy Uelmen, represented New Humanity, the Focolare Movement’s NGO, in the panel discussion.
She is the director of the Fordham University School of Law Institute on Religion, Law & Lawyer’s Work.
She can be reached at auelmen@law.fordham.edu.
New York City, 3 March 2005
We see today the increasingly urgent need to develop robust political categories which express not only the unique worth and dignity of each individual, but also the possibilities for relationships of respect, peace and open dialogue between cultures and nations. Yet, as US and other political theorists have acknowledged, when we consider modernity’s political project, liberty, equality and fraternity, in comparison with liberty and equality, the idea of fraternity has had a lesser place in democratic theory. Reading the “signs of the times,” Gaudium et Spes set out a sweeping vision of the unity of the human family (GS 24) and of Christ’s assurance that efforts to establish universal brotherhood are not in vain (GS 36). But how might this be applied concretely?
After decades of practical experience in fostering a culture based in what Pope John Paul II described as the spirituality of communion, Focolare founder Chiara Lubich offers profound reflections on the essential role that brotherhood can play in the life of the political community and the promotion of a community of nations. This presentation will offer a brief overview of the Focolare Movement’s theory and praxis of universal brotherhood, in the hopes that it might shed light on how to build the fraternity so urgently needed in our world.
For those perhaps less familiar with the Focolare, first just a few words of background. The Focolare came to life just over 60 years ago in Trent, in Northern Italy. Amidst the disastrous ruins of the World War II, 23 year old Chiara Lubich faced a dramatic decision: flee to safety with her family into the Dolomites, or return to the heavily bombed city? Sensing that something new was coming to life, she returned to the city, where together with a group of friends they worked to bring comfort and material goods to all those they could help.
As their dreams for the future crumbled under the bombs, they discovered God as the only Ideal that never dies, that God is love, and that the life of the Gospel put into practice could be the solution to every personal and social problem. Since several of their homes had been destroyed, they gathered in a small apartment that came to be known as the “Focolare” (which in Italian means “hearth”) because of the warm atmosphere of family and love that continues to be characteristic of these communities.
As the war continued to rage, conscious that any moment could be their last, they asked, what might be the words especially dear to Jesus. They discovered, “I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12-13), and they understood the measure of his love, he gave his life. Chiara remembers how they gathered in a circle and made a pact: “I am ready to give my life for you; I for you; each one for the other.” The effort to keep the flame of mutual love alive among them became their lifestyle.
In another moment, taking refuge from the bombings in a dark cellar, they opened the Gospel to the solemn page of Jesus’ prayer before dying: “Father, may they all be one” (Jn 17:11). As they read by candlelight the difficult and profound passage, Chiara remembers, “We had the impression that we had been born for those words, for unity, for contributing toward building it in the world. The new commandment, which we made the effort to keep alive among us always, achieved precisely that, unity.”
Little did they know at the time that the disastrous ruins of war-torn Trent would serve as the backdrop for the initial growth and development of a movement which now involves more than four and a half million people in 182 countries—people of all different races, cultures, social backgrounds and religious traditions. They are committed to being seeds of social and spiritual renewal, to building a more united world.
For each person who has been touched in some way by the Focolare spirituality and lifestyle, the initial step is similar to Chiara’s—as a response to the discovery of God’s love, to turn with love to neighbors in need. They often face what war-torn Trent continues to represent, all over the world – not only war and violence, but also poverty, injustice, and discord of every kind, in families, and between people of different religions and cultures, and they work to build up a community in which a life of mutual love brings the gift of unity.
Over the course of the past sixty years, what has emerged is not only a personal lifestyle that transforms the everyday lives of millions of people, but a cultural current that promises to transform social life and structures. As this year marks the 40th anniversary of Gaudium et Spes, I will refer to a few texts from the document to illustrate how this cultural current sheds light on how to apply them concretely.
First, I think the roots of fraternity as a political category are perhaps best understood in the light of the vision of the human person that Gaudium et Spes sets forth, and now also beautifully articulated in the new Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. As the opening chapter of the Compendium explains:
The revelation in Christ of the mystery of God as Trinitarian love is at the same time the revelation of the vocation of the human person to love. This revelation sheds light on every aspect of the personal dignity and freedom of men and women, and on the depths of their social nature. (n.34)
And as the Council Fathers explained in Gaudium et Spes:
Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ, when praying to the Father, ‘that they may all be one… as we are one’ (Jn 17:21-22), has opened up new horizons closed to human reason by implying that there is a certain parallel between the union existing among the divine Persons and the union of the children of God in truth and love. It follows, then, that if man is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake, man can fully discover his true self only in a sincere giving of himself. (n. 24)
An anthropology based on the model of a triune God whose very nature is communal and social offers a rich description a union of persons without loss of individual identity—in theological terms, pericoresis, or “mutual indwelling.” (Cambon, 30). Specifically, the commandment of love is “lived out and measured against Jesus’ love for us, to the point of abandonment…” (Lubich, Abba School, 25). He who was God “emptied himself”—kenosis. (cf. Philippians 2:6-7). Mutual indwelling is possible through an essential attitude of openness to the other, of “making room” for the other, even to the point of “emptying” oneself for the other. (Novo Millennio n.43, cf. Galatians 6:2). In the life of the Trinity, this openness or emptiness is not a negative encroachment on one’s personhood, but actually the positive key to self-fulfillment: “whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Mt. 10:39, 16:25).
Reflecting on the mysterious cry that Jesus addressed to the Father before dying, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46) Chiara Lubich probes the paradox:
There may be those who think that to affirm self is to struggle against all that is not self, because what is not self is perceived as limit and, what is more, as a threat to the integrity of the self. But Jesus forsaken, in that terrible moment of his passion, tells us that while the awareness of his subjectivity appears to be diminishing because it seems he is being annulled, in that very moment it is in all its fullness. (Lubich, Abba School, 33).
Based on this example, she draws out striking implications for the philosophy of being: “[Jesus forsaken] shows us, by his being reduced to nothing, accepted out of love for the Father to whom he re-abandons himself . . . that I am myself not when I close myself off from the other, but when I give myself, when out of love I am lost in the other.” (Id. 33).
This, according to Lubich, is the inter-personal dynamic at the heart of the Trinity: “In the relationship of the three divine Persons, each one, being Love, is completely by not being, each one mutually indwelling in an eternal self-giving.” (Id. 34). And as the “heart of Christian anthropology,” this is the dynamic that can inform all human relationships and social structures. If “I am myself when I give myself,” to make room for the other is neither a sad concession to the realities of the social contract, nor a simple nod of respect for the principle of equality. Rather, it is one’s door to authentic freedom and human fulfillment. As Centesimus Annus highlights: “Indeed, it is through the free gift of self that man truly finds himself.” (n.41)
In much of the underlying political, economic and legal theory, the principles of liberty and equality are in profound tension—and their very definitions leave little room for fraternity as an operative political category. As one philosopher put it, “the more I have to do for other people, the less I can do for myself.” (Menlowe, 38). Perhaps I’ll acknowledge the other’s equal rights, but it is essentially a process of balancing—the more I give, the more I lose.
An anthropology grounded in the Trinity opens up the model completely. As John Paul II framed it in Sollecitudo rei socialis, a Trinitarian vision brings one “[b]eyond human and natural bonds,” in order to discern “a new model of the unity of the human race, which must ultimately inspire our solidarity” (n.40). The more I give of myself and open up to others, the more I am myself.
The vision is clear: as the Council fathers reflected, “God, who is a father to everybody, wants all men to be one family and behave to each other as brothers.” (GS 24). And one can see a very promising key in the Trinity as a social model. But can this be put this into practice? I’d like to draw this out by giving a few examples of how fraternity is lived in the culture emerging from the Focolare spirituality, in political life, in the dialogue with people of other religions, and in economic life.
First, the spirituality encourages all people—young and old, simple and sophisticated, to live fraternity in their every day lives. For example, for the children four to eight years old, the Focolare spirituality’s recipe for living as “brothers” has been synthesized into six key points which cover the sides of a cube—for example, love everyone, including our enemies; take the initiative in loving; love concretely, by sharing the other’s joy or pain. Each morning the kids roll the cube, and then try to live according to what comes out on top and in the evening, they share their efforts with their friends and family. If we could eavesdrop on their conversations, we would hear something like this: “I wanted the doughnut with the sprinkles and so did my brother, then I remembered the cube said be the first to love, so I shared it; there’s a girl in my class who no one likes to play with, the cube said love everyone so I spent recess with her,” and so on. (Vanderbroek).
What happens when these principles are “translated” into the context of politics and political life? Since 1996, the Focolare’s Movement for Unity in Politics has been working to bring the principle of brotherhood into the concrete dimensions of political life.
First, it is important to note that this is not a new party. Rather, it’s a change in method, and a vision of the initial choice to become politically active as “an act of love through which [politicians] respond to an authentic vocation, to a personal calling.” On the basis of this vision, Lubich challenges politicians to then open up to the possibility that others, too, even political opponents, “might have made their choices out of love”—and therefore to respect them; to seek understand the essence of their commitment, going beyond their ways of expressing themselves. “Loving everyone” means being interested even in bringing to fruition the good proposals of ones adversaries. In fact, if such a proposal answers a calling, an authentic need, it is an integral part of that common good which can only be built together. (Lubich, London; GS 43).
And when there are conflicts, deep divisions between politicians and with citizens? The politician of unity takes the first step toward the other, to heal the divisions, even with a small gesture or a greeting. Lubich explains, “For the politician of unity, being the first to love is a duty owed to the dignity of the person, but it can also be transformed into a real and true political initiative, helping to overcome prejudices and political maneuvering, which very often paralyze politicians in useless confrontations.” (Lubich, Rimini, 8).
Politicians of the Movement for Unity gather regularly to encourage one another in these efforts. They meet in eighteen different places—including six European countries, in the Argentinean parliament, in Brasilia and in Montevideo, Uruguay. In total the Movement involves about three thousand politicians from all over the world. (Fronza).
These gatherings also encourage politicians to see how fraternity “is fully expressed in mutual love”—which through the lens of the spirituality, is considered the heart of democracy. “The politician of unity is not satisfied with loving on his own; he seeks to lead others, ally or adversary, to love, because politics is relationship, it is a shared project.” And the vision reaches as wide as the globe, as the goal of a united world. Lubich explains: “we should love the country of others as we love our own. In fact, humanity’s greatest dignity would be to no longer feel that it is a collection of peoples living side by side and frequently in conflict with one another, but rather, through mutual love, a single people, enriched by one another’s diversity and safeguarding each one’s identity.” (Lubich, Rimini, 8).
The Movement for Unity in Politics has a wonderful protector—the process of canonization is underway for Igino Giordani, Italian member of parliament and co-founder of Focolare, who intuited from the Focolare’s beginnings the role that it could play in social life. In fact, he wrote “When we cross the threshold of our home to go out into the world, we cannot leave our faith hanging on the back of the door like a faded old hat.” (Lubich, London, 2004; Fides).
During these tense times, we also see the promise of this method for building up relationships of fraternity between people of different religions. For those who live the Focolare spirituality, inter-religious dialogue is much more than learning how to be kind, tolerant, and appreciative of religious difference. For example, at a November 2000 gathering of 5,000 Christians and Muslims in Washington DC, Chiara Lubich highlighted the parallel teachings on love in the Qur’an and the Gospels, encouraging the participants, “we can already appreciate that what is taking place among us . . . is not a mere dialogue of words: what we are experiencing is communion in God.” At the same gathering, Imam Warith Dean Mohammed responded to Lubich’s address, giving an inkling of the depths of this communion: “I read in the Bible when Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, invited his followers to wash each other’s feet, and I think that’s just what we are doing. We are washing each other’s feet.” (Lubich, 2000).
These gatherings are not one time events, but part of an ongoing relationship. Christians continue to gather with Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews, to deepen reciprocal understanding and respect. In the awareness of being part of one human family, they strengthen their common commitment to work together for a world of peace and unity. For example, throughout the United States, periodic “Encounters in the Spirit of Universal Brotherhood” continue the dialogue between the people of Imam Mohammad’s community and Focolare communities in many different cities. (Zanzucchi).
One may also intuit the impact that such choices may also have for social and economic structures. Awareness of others as members of the same family awakens due regard for what others need to live a dignified life. (GS 27). In fact, the effort to live fraternity is also a light to see the extent to which much of the tension, hostility and resentment in our world is grounded in the economic and social imbalance between rich and poor countries, and the fact that efforts to remediate have been put off for so long. (GS 83).
We could speak at length about the Economy of Communion—a project in which entrepreneurs put universal brotherhood at the foundation of their business life—by sharing profits with the poor and for structures which further a life of communion, and by fostering business environments in which brotherhood guides the everyday choices and interactions among employees and with management, with customers and with the public. (EoC website).
Here, too, participants in the project discover the depths of the truth articulated so beautifully in Gaudium et Spes, that we discover our true selves in giving, in the gift of self, and in building up authentic and sincere relationships of brotherhood, modeled on the very life of Trintarian love.
To conclude: As I work with the contours of legal theory, or even just look around the many tensions in our world, I often have the impression of a Gordian knot—in which principles are in profound tension with one another. Liberty collides with equality and development, national security seems to collide with the cultural awareness needed for peace in our increasingly globalized world, and so on. The more you pull at one end of the knot, the the tighter and more impossible the knot becomes.
I recently came across a German painting, Maria Knotenlöserin, depicting the angels with a rope full of knots, and Mary untying them, one by one. I believe that fraternity as a political category has the potential to play the same role—to melt the knots which keep us from understanding the deepest meaning of freedom and equality, and thus unbound, to discover within Trinitarian love the heart of human fulfillment.
References
Portions of the notes on the background of the Focolare Movement and its founder were previously published at Amelia J. Uelmen, Chiara Lubich: A Life for Unity, Logos 8:1 (Winter 2005) pp. 52-64. More information about the Focolare Movement’s origins and diffusion can also be found on the international website: www.focolare.org.
(Where original sources are in Italian, translations are my own).
Cambón, Enrique , Trinità modello sociale (Città Nuova 1999).
Economy of Communion International Website, www.edc-online.org/defaultE.htm
Fides, Holiness Should Not Be the Privilege of a Few but Rather a Mass Phenomenon Involving All Christians, www.fides.org/eng/news/2004/0406/04_2534.html
Fronza Crepaz, Lucia, Linee di presentazione del Movimento politico per l’unità, Bern, Switzerland (September 4, 2004), http://www.focolare.org/it/sif/2004/it20040909c.html
John Paul II
Novo Millennio Inuente (2001)
Centesimus Annus (1991)
Sollecitudo Rei Socialis (1987)
Lubich, Chiara
Liberty, Equality . . . What Ever Happened to Fraternity? (London, June 22, 2004) http://www.focolare.org.uk/Images/Politicstalknew
Fraternity and Peace for the Unity of Peoples (Rimini, Italy, June 22, 2002), http://www.focolare.org/live/testiTrad/TEN-200206TP.PDF
Toward a Theology and Philosophy of Unity, in An Introduction to the Abba School 25 (New City Press 2002).
A Spirituality of Unity for the Harmonious Living of the Human Family, Living City 40, no. 1 (2001), 22-24; “A Spirituality of Unity for the Harmonious Living of the Human Family” <http://www.focolare.org/en/sif/2000/20001114e_c.html> (26 May 2004).
Menlowe, Michael A., The Philosophical Foundations of Duty to Rescue, in Michael A. Menlowe and Alexander McCall Smith, The Duty to Rescue: Jurisprudence of Aid 93 (1993)
Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) (1995)
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (2004).
Vanderbroek, Gerta, and Mauro Camozzi, eds., The Cube of Love: Discovering Life with God through Children, (New York: Living City Magazine, 2000).
Zanzucchi, Clare, Thursday’s at Shapiro’s, Living City v.43 n.5 (2004) (Living City is the North American version of the Focolare Movement’s periodical magazine).
