With the passing of Focolare founder and President Chiara Lubich last March 14, 2008 and the elections of the new President Maria Voce and Co-President Giancarlo Faletti, last July 7, 2008, the Focolare Movement started a new page in its history. The role of the new president obviously differs from that played by Chiara herself. Chiara had often said it would not be just one person who would succeed or replace her, but ‘“a body’” of people in the General Council together with the president and the co-president, thus guaranteeing the continuity of the charism of unity. Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that she gave Maria Voce the name “Emmaus” (a tradition in the Focolare which Chiara started when people asked her for a name to express a new life). Emmaus, the Focolare’s new president, is deeply aware that, by prioritizing interpersonal relationships, Focolare members can repeat the experience of the disciples at Emmaus—“Did not our hearts burn within us” (Luke 24:32), because of the presence of Christ alive among its members through constant and mutual charity.

Maria Voce, known simply as Emmaus to Focolare members, was elected the new president by the General Assembly of the Focolare Movement on July 7, 2008, a little over four months after the passing of Chiara Lubich.

Emmaus was born in Ajello Calabro (Cosenza, Italy) on July 16, 1937. Her father, a doctor, was the city health officer. Her mother, a housewife, had left her studies as an aspiring primary school teacher to take care of the growing family. Emmaus is the eldest of seven children (five girls and two boys). She had always loved studies very much and she had to struggle to continue her education, by sitting for exams privately, from middle school exams to those of higher school, since there were no schools in her town. After in Cosenza, she continued Law school and graduated when she was 22 years old.

In May 1959, on her last year of studies in Rome, she met a group of Focolarinos at the university, and was immediately attracted by their evangelical way of life. “My life was turned upside down,” she comments. Her only aim in life became to live for God, and studying was but a way to love him and do his will. After graduation, she returned to Calabria where she practiced as a lawyer for four years. The only woman lawyer to work in the forum of Cosenza, she had a promising career ahead of her.

In 1963, unexpectedly she felt the overwhelming call of God to follow Chiara Lubich in the way of the Focolare. “In one week, I had left everything without ever regretting it.” She attended the international school of formation for the Focolarinas, which was then in Grottaferrata, Italy. Her new name, Emmaus, was given her by Chiara in 1964. This name refers to the experience of the two disciples after the death of Jesus when they were walking toward a village called Emmaus. Not at first recognizing that the man who walked with them, who explained the scriptures and broke bread with them was Jesus, the two disciples then exclaimed, “did not our hearts burn within us” as soon as they recognized Jesus (Lk 24). Keeping alive the presence of Christ among Focolare members is at the heart of the Focolare’s charism: Jesus present in the midst of two or three who are united (Mt. 18:20) by living his new Commandment of love (Jn 13:34).

Between 1964 and 1972, Emmaus lived in a Focolare in Sicily (first in Syracuse and then in Catania). From 1972 to 1978, she worked in the personal secretariat of Chiara Lubich at Rocca di Papa. Then for 10 years, from 1978 to 1988, she moved to Istanbul where she had numerous contacts with the previous Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, now with Patriarch Bartholomew I, with the leaders of other Christian Churches and with Muslims. In 1988, Chiara recalled her to the Focolare’s Headquarters in Rocca di Papa to assist Gisella Calliari, one of the two central delegates of the Movement.

Since 1995, Maria Voce has been a member of the “Abba School” (a center of interdisciplinary studies), which was presided over by Chiara Lubich. She is among the group of promoters and leaders of “Communion and Law,” an international network of lawyers, magistrates, professors and other professionals involved in the renewal of the legal profession. Since 2002, she has collaborated directly with Chiara to update the General Statutes of the Focolare Movement. Then in October 2007, she became a member of the General Council of the Movement.

In a first interview published by the New City Philippine edition in September 2008 issue, she was asked, “What direction would you give to your presidency?” She answered, “My intention is to give priority to building and strengthening relationships.” Now, in the latest interview published in this issue, she admits, “Building relationship has been tedious, because it’s not something done once and for all; rather it requires starting over every day – laborious, but not difficult. To prioritize relationships is a guideline for me in my action and my contacts with others.” In the direction of building relationships, Emmaus has pursued the tradition of dialogue started by Chiara Lubich. She already made successful trips in Switzerland to the General Council of World Churches, in Germany to visit the Evangelical and Lutheran brethren, and in Africa, especially to Fontem, in Cameroon. This year January 2010 is a special one, as she plans to visit Asia to renew the contacts with friends in the Focolare Movement, especially those from different world religions in Japan, Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.

Jose Aranas