Chiara Lubich: Founder Of Focalare

Sometimes, the NCW is called a "cult" and compared to the Legion of Christ whose founder led a double life.  Marcial Maciel Degollado was the founder of the Legion of Christ who abused young boys and maintained a relationship with two women, fathering up to at least six children.  Kiko Arguello is in no way like Marcial.  There are no such allegations like that against him. 

Just because one founder fell does not mean that ALL founders will fall.  Chiara Lubich, for example, is the founder of the Focalare movement.  She died in 2008 at the age of 88.  Five years after her death, she has become a candidate for sainthood.   

Did the Focolare Movement experience any controversy similar to the Neocatechumenal Way? Of course they did.  You can read about some of the controversy regarding the Focolare Movement here.  Their controversy is similar to the NCW, and some of the sources are coming from disgruntled ex-Focolares. With the founder of Focolare on the road to sainthood, one wonders what they have to say now?  This simply goes to show that one should not compare all organizations to the founder of the Legion of Christ.  Just because one founder fell does not mean that ALL founders will fall.   

According to the weblink below:  

The Focolare, which in Italian means “hearth,” is a Catholic movement founded by Lubich in Trent during the Second World War with the aim of promoting unity. Over the years, it’s been especially active in ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue, and currently claims 100,000 members in 182 countries.

The Focolare are also the only movement in the Catholic Church whose statutes require the group's president to be a woman. 

During the papacies of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, Lubich was a close confidante and probably the most visible lay woman in Catholicism. 

Pope St. John Paul II, for instance, requested her participation as an observer at several meetings of the Synod of Bishops. 

Upon her death in 2008, Benedict XVI regarded Lubich as the “founder of a large spiritual family that embraces multiple domains of evangelization,” and expressed his admiration for Lubich’s constant commitment for communion in the Church, for ecumenical dialogue, and for fraternity among all people.........

That tree, the pontiff said, “now extends its branches in all the expressions of the Christian family and also among members of different religions and among many who cultivate justice and solidarity together with the search for truth.”

The Focolare began their ecumenical dialogue in 1961 and have forged ties with Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and others, including the American Society of Muslims founded by the late Imam Warith Deen Mohammed. 

Talking to Vatican Radio, Maria Voce, who succeeded Lubich in the presidency of the movement, said there is a large cache of documents, letters, and videos of Lubich that they had turned over to the diocese for a tribunal that will study the sainthood cause.

With the collected information, the tribunal will have to determine if Lubich lived Christian virtues in a heroic way and deserves to be declared venerable. If so, the attribution of a miracle to her intercession would then be the normal requirement for beatification, and another one would be needed to declare her a saint. 

In that Jan. 20 interview, Voce said Lubich’s holiness can be seen in her ordinariness, calling her an example of being a saint “by leading a normal life.” 

Everything extraordinary in her “normal life is the fruit that comes from God, from Chiara’s relationship with God and Chiara’s normal relationship with the people,” Voce said.

If Lubich is eventually declared blessed, she’ll become the second Focolare to receive the honor. Chiara “Luce” Badano, an Italian girl who died at 19 after a two-year fight against bone cancer, was beatified in 2010. 

http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/01/28/woman-who-was-confidante-to-popes-now-a-sainthood-candidate/