"Charles de Foucauld" communities
The communities "Charles de Foucauld" are also known as the "Contemplative Missionary Movement Charles de Foucauld" ( English Contemplative Missionary Movement Charles de Foucauld; Italian Movimento contemlativo Missionario "P. de Foucauld" ). The communities are an association of believers recognized by the Holy See in 1990 . As a missionary movement, the communities are integrated into the spiritual family Charles de Foucauld , they consist of 39 communities worldwide.
history
October 7, 1951 marks the founding day of the community, which was originally created to help street children in Cuneo ( Italy ). Her founding father, Don Andrea Gasparoni (1923-2010), took in the first five street children and lived with them in a house. The children were mainly a result of the Second World War to orphans become and out of the small group, the "Citta dei Ragizza" grew in no time ( dt. "City of Youth") and Gasparoni was nicknamed "Il Padre" (Eng. "The Father"). In 1953 he was joined by volunteer lay people who took care of the care and care of the homeless children, from this a religious and spiritual community of " brothers and sisters " developed by 1959 , which was episcopally recognized in 1983 by the diocesan bishop Carlo Aliprandi (1924-2003) . In the 1960s, the community decided to join the spirit and self-image of Charles de Foucauld (1858–1916) and henceforth referred to itself as the "contemplative, missionary movement of Father Charles de Foucauld". As early as 1961 the community opened a mission station in Brazil , followed by communities in Asia , Africa and Eastern Europe . On June 14, 1990, the missionary movement was recognized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity as an international Catholic association of believers under papal law.
Self-image
The communities have a contemplative missionary orientation, their care is given to the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. Their motto is " Jesus + Caritas ", their spirituality is based on the charisma of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, the brothers and sisters want to share their lives with those in need. For this reason the members live in small, monk-like, open communities, they want to set a sign of charity , make prayer a gift and testify to the love of God. The spiritual attitude is reflected in togetherness and mutual responsibility, every community is part of a parish .
Organization and expansion
The following individual communities are affiliated to the movement: In Cuneo, the main community is located next to 6 communities, other communities live in Genoa and Turin , 4 in Madagascar , 3 in Kenya , 2 in Ethiopia , 3 in Bangladesh , 6 in South Korea , 1 in Hong Kong and 1 in the People's Republic of China , 4 in Brazil , 1 in Russia , 4 in Europe and finally 1 Community in Albania . Around 5,000 to 6,000 men and women worldwide are affiliated with them. In Germany, the communities will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2015 and give the number of members around 130.
All communities are led by a leadership council consisting of two brothers and three sisters, further members can be friends and sympathizers of the Charles de Foucauld movement. Several poor kitchens are run by the communities, and training centers run by some elementary and sewing schools . The Charles de Foucauld women's association also belongs to the Charles Foucauld communities .
See also
literature
- The Spiritual Communities of the Catholic Church - Compendium (No. 82, Contemplative, Missionary Movement "Charles de Foucauld" (Communities "Charles de Foucauld"), pp. 236–237), St. Benno-Verlag , Leipzig , 204, ISBN 3 -7462-1995-7 .
Web links
- Communities of Charles de Foucauld in Germany
- Community of Charles de Foucauld in the diocese of Aachen
- International website (multilingual)
- Entry on gcatholic.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ It: Andrea Gasparino in the Italian Wikipedia
- ↑ 50 years of the Charles de Foucauld Community in Germany [1]