Our stories

The project “Together WE Connect”, promoted by the Focolare in the Holy Land in collaboration with various institutions, is an educational program addressed to the youth that aims to strengthen active citizenship, the culture of care, inclusion, participation and cooperation. Students of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades participate in the program, developing their personality…

The event took place on Saturday afternoon, beginning in the courtyard of Catholic Action in Bethlehem. Music, activities, moments of prayer, and testimonies contributed to creating a wonderful atmosphere of faith — a manifestation of Christ, the giver of all charisms and gifts. ANNE MARIE Organizer – Regnum Christi It was a moment to be…

July 27-August 3, 2025 A small group of young people from the Holy Land lived a truly extraordinary experience this summer. They write: In this blessed and special year, despite the destruction and ongoing wars, we decided to participate in the Jubilee of Youth held in Rome, Italy, at the beginning of August. There were…

  On Thursday, May 8th, 350 people filled the Auditorium of the Terra Santa College to celebrate the conclusion of the first year of ‘togetherWEconnect,’ a project sponsored by the Focolare with the goal of forming young people capable of promoting a culture of fraternity, reconciliation and dialogue – a culture of encounter. Each school…

Mariapolis: a small temporary ‘city’ where people of different ages, languages, and backgrounds try to practice together the only law of this city: Jesus’ new commandment, ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ The focus of everything is on being a ‘neighbour’ to the others, by listening well to them, serving in concrete ways,…

“We had only one reason for coming here, to be near to you, to be close to the community in this land.  We came with only one desire: to bring hope, to bring all the prayers and all the unity of all the members of the Focolare Movement throughout the world.” This is how Margaret…

On Thursday, October 24, about 300 people gathered at the Terra Santa College in Bethlehem for the official opening of “TogetherWEconnect,” a project aimed at forming young leaders in schools located in Bethlehem and Jerusalem, and in the surrounding areas. The goal is to promote active citizenship and a culture of caring, inclusiveness, sharing and…

  October 2024 – A three-year initiative that the Focolare Movement in the Holy Land launched on 25 October. At the theatre of the Terra Sancta College in Bethlehem: the ‘Together We Connect’ project, a new ray of hope in light of the challenges facing the region. The project brings together five schools in Jerusalem…

More than 100 of us, mainly from Bethlehem, Beit Sahour, Beit Jala and Jerusalem, but also with a representation from Ramallah and Galilee, gathered at Talitha Kumi, in Beit Jala for a meeting entitled Mariapolis, “City of Mary,’ from July 6-7, 2024.  An annual meeting, but also the result of a desire to respond to…

  July 2024 – The Focolare Movement, a Catholic movement founded in Italy in the 1940s, organised the meeting of the Mariapolis, i.e. ‘City of Mary’. The aim was to meet and live the values of unity, love and peace, and responded to the appeal of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa. The…

Mar. 2024 – “Called and Sent“: this was the theme that approximately 80 families, youth and children from Galilee wanted to deepen together on March 15-16 in Tiberias, on the shores of the Lake, that very Lake that had witnessed the calling and sending forth of the apostles and the public mission of Jesus. This…