June 20-24 I got to go to Mariapolis near Hyde Park, NY, one of the Focolare centers in the US to participate in an Economy of Communion workshop for young entrepreneurs, and then also to be at part of the EOC annual meeting.

The Focolare are a lay movement which started in the Catholic church but now extends to the Lutheran, Anglican, and even Baptist traditions, focusing on loving the poor and living for Christ.  The Economy of Communion is one of their offshoot movements started in 1981 to help the poor by creating jobs through private enterprise, rather than handouts.  Their idea is that job creation enables people to experience the dignity of self-sustaining work.

This was the first ever “EOC entrepreneur bootcamp” in the US, and I was grateful for an opportunity to talk about what the EOC is and to give people some vision of its purpose and hopes.  You can see part of my video of the talk at the “Economy of Communion in North America” facebook page here.

Mariapolis was once a kids camp, but the Focolare bought it and have over time rehabbed it into a truly peaceful place.  Each evening we had a social time together, and for every meal we ate together in the dining area (usually outside on the veranda).

The bootcamp/workshop went from Tuesday night until Friday noon.  Then the EOC regular annual meeting started, and many long time EOC members and associates showed up (and some of the students and entrepreneurs who were there for the bootcamp stayed as well).  There are many long standing relationships among these members, who have pursued a vision of serving Christ through practicing their business in a way which seeks to focus on humans and dignity as they make profits.

You can see a nice video on EOC here.

Like I said, I am grateful for the opportunity I had to be at the workshop and conference, and plan to be a regular there.