Following Gen Verde’s tour in France, they participated in Loppiano’s “Primo Maggio” in Loppiano and then spent some special days in Termoli (CB).
Gen Verde’s return to France came after an absence of many years. Working with the highly committed and extremely well prepared organisers in Lyon and Angers was a wonderful experience.
In both cities we held our ‘Start Now Workshop Project’, which concludes with the ‘Gen Verde in Concert’ together with the young participants of the singing, dancing, drama and percussion workshops.
In Lyon around 60 very impressive young people took part in the project. Among them were some young people who knew Gen Verde and who invited their friends to join the workshops… and from the first moment we felt we were like a family.
The concert was sold out! And the joy, cheers and applause from the audience during the concert was energizing for us because we knew something deep lay behind it. It was the kind of feeling you experience after a deep spiritual experience.
“After these days I take home that when life pushes us towards the ‘dark side of the force’, we must not let go… we can’t fall in those moments of weakness. And thinking about what we have experienced and learnt these days makes us stronger. We have experienced extraordinary things and therefore we will be able to go beyond these trials ”, said one of the young participants.
Another participant added: “perhaps we have the impression that we have been in a parallel world here, but we should not see it as a world apart, but as a ‘world from which to begin anew’ in order to return home and carry this to the real world”.
With this strength in our hearts we left for Angers, where we were welcomed by the Focolare community and the international ‘Fondacio’ Movement. There we shared some very beautiful days of collaboration and dialogue, as we carried out the project together with some 30 young people.
One of the participants, at the conclusion of the project, said: “I feel like the word thank you is not enough for me. And I think I have found the answer… I can be, I can become the ‘best ambassador’ of this project for others tomorrow in my daily life”.
Primo Maggio in Loppiano
This 1st May (Primo Maggio) we participated in the opening event of United World Week 2024 by singing ‘We Choose Peace’ in the live international streaming. Before that we hosted around 30 young people at our base, to participate in our dance and percussions workshops.
These workshops were part of the “MediterraNew” programme together with the ‘Giorgio La Pira International Student Centre’.
It was an intense morning full of experiences, dialogue, music and sharing.
In Termoli with Our Lady of Fatima
Immediately after 1 May, we left for Termoli (CB), in Molise, to take part in a series of celebrations organized by the Diocese to welcome the statue of Our Lady of Fatima.
As part of the official programme we held a concert in the town’s main square on Friday 5 May and on Saturday we held a ‘Meet Gen Verde’, where we met young people in a moment full of music and dialogue and on Sunday we sang during the Mass, celebrated by Cardinal Parolin (Vatican Secretary of State), which concluded the celebrations before the departure of Our Lady of Fatima.
New videoclip – “Niente ti fermerà (Magnificat)”
During these three very busy weeks we also launched the new videoclip of ‘Niente ti fermerà (Magnificat)’.
Mary is our model. Like her, we want to spread the message that ‘God is Love’ to everyone we meet through our concerts, artistic workshops, events…
Subtitles available in English, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), French and Korean.
