Rome: Margaret Karram from the Holy Land was elected president of the Focolare Movement, an international organization that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood.
The 58-year-old Arab Catholic woman won more than two thirds of the votes cast in the movement’s 359-member General Assembly held on January 31.
Karram succeeds the founder Chiara Lubich and Maria Voce who was in office for 12 years (two terms).
Karram was born in Haifa and graduated in Judaism at the Hebrew University of Los Angeles (USA). She has held various positions of responsibility for the Focolare in Los Angeles and in Jerusalem.
Her past experience includes membership of various commissions and organizations for the promotion of dialogue between the three monotheistic religions, such as the Episcopal Commission for Interreligious Dialogue, the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land and the ICCI (Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel). She worked for 14 years at the Consulate General of Italy in Jerusalem.
Since 2014, she has been at the International Centre of the Focolare as councilor for Italy and Albania and co-responsible for Dialogue between Ecclesial Movements and New Catholic Communities.
She speaks Arabic, Hebrew, Italian and English. In 2013 she received the Mount Zion Award for Reconciliation, together with the Jewish scholar and researcher Yisca Harani, for their commitment to developing dialogue between different cultures and religions.
In 2016 she received the St Rita International Award for having promoted dialogue between Christians, Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, starting from people’s everyday life.
Karram’s election was approved by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life on February 1, as envisaged by the General Statutes of the Focolare Movement.
The document expresses the hope that the new president will be able to carry out her task “with faithfulness, in a spirit of service and ecclesial sensitivity, for the good of the members of the Movement and of the universal Church.”
According to the movement’s General Statutes, the president is chosen from among the focolarine (consecrated women with perpetual vows) and will always be a woman. The Statutes further say, the president “is the sign of the unity of the Movement.”
The president represents the great religious, cultural, social and geographical variety of those who adhere to the spirituality of the Focolare in the 182 countries and who identify with the message of fraternity that the founder, Chiara Lubich, drew from the Gospel: “Father, that they may all be one” (Jn 17:20-26).
There are many commitments and challenges awaiting Karram in the coming years: the tasks of governing and directing a worldwide Movement like the Focolare, which is deeply immersed in local and global realities and the challenges of humanity, starting from this time of pandemic. The Statutes also indicate the “style” that should distinguish the work of the president: “Hers is to be, above all, a presidency of love – they state – because she must be the first in loving and, therefore, in serving her own brothers and sisters, remembering the words of Jesus: “Whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all” (Mk 10:44).
The primary commitment of the President, therefore, is to be a builder of bridges and a spokesperson for the central message of the spirituality of the Focolare, ready to practice and spread it, as we read further on, even at the cost of her own life.
The next steps of the General Assembly of the Focolare are the election of the Co-President this afternoon and of the councilors on February 4.
The word “Focolare” is Italian for “hearth” or “family fireside.” While Focolare is the common sobriquet given to the organization, its official name when approved in 1990 as an International Association of the Faithful of Pontifical Right, was “Work of Mary.”
Source: indcatholicnews.com
The Focolare movement is serving humanity with humble dedication. Long live the memory of the contributions of the late Chiara Lubich and her successor Maria Voce. All the best to the new president Margaret Karram.