Fondacio, a movement of Christian lay people, is celebrating its Jubilee this year.
To mark this anniversary, a series of events is being organized in its host countries throughout 2024-2025. These highlights are an opportunity to remember its history, the dynamics of faith that run through it, and its fruitfulness in the service of a more humane, more just, and more fraternal world.
Foundations and deployment
Emerging from a charismatic prayer group, the Christian Training Community (CCF), from which Fondacio originated, was founded in 1974 in Poitiers, France. Its four priorities are: a life rooted in God, training, community life, and the proclamation of the Gospel. Its goal is to raise up people, men and women, committed "to a new world."
Today, Fondacio is present in some twenty countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The movement continues its mission, forming and awakening the best in each person and working for the evolution of society. This mission is based on a community dynamic and a spirituality rooted in the Gospel, vibrant and open to all.
Concretely, Fondacio offers retreats, training courses for diverse audiences, youth camps, schools, and implements development and solidarity projects throughout the world. In France, the movement operates two centers dedicated to integral ecology in Versailles and Angers. Through community groups and fraternities, Fondacio supports the engagement of its members as actors within society and the Church.
A rich program to celebrate 50 years of history
Throughout 2024 and 2025, numerous highlights and events will punctuate this celebration:
- Meetings and testimonies with Fondacio stakeholders,
- Conferences on current issues,
- Solidarity actions and innovative projects,
- A large gathering on Ascension Day at the Esvière third-place in Angers, the Festival des Vivants, which includes the inauguration of our site after seven years of work. Three days to experience today the world we want for tomorrow: conferences, workshops, performances and meeting space, time of prayer, march for Peace. Open to all, this Festival will be an opportunity to mobilize together for a desirable future.
- A "family" time, on June 1st, (with all those who actively participated in the life of Fondacio) following the three days of the Festival, from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon.
Rereading a story made of shadows and lights
Preparing for the future requires taking the time to reread history, without obscuring the wounds and deviations of the past.
Indeed, Fondacio experienced a major crisis in 1991, when cases of sexual abuse and control phenomena were discovered in the context of spiritual and work support led by its founder Jean-Michel Rousseau. The community leaders seemed completely unaware of these facts, which, due to their seriousness, led them to immediately terminate all its functions. The community was decimated, but with the support and confirmation of three bishops, it decided to continue its path as a Christian community within the Catholic Church.
Although significant work of rereading and institutionalization was carried out in conjunction with diocesan and ecclesiastical authorities (theologians, psychologists, the diocese of Versailles), there was no follow-up work, particularly with the victims. Thus, for years, Fondacio was marked by abuses by the founder, but without identification of the victims, nor communication regarding the seriousness of the sexual abuse and therefore the suffering experienced by the victims.
Following a call for testimonies in 2020 and an independent listening unit to enable free speech and highlight this stage of our history, Fondacio has chosen to join the CRR (Commission Reconnaissance et Réparation) upon its creation in 2022 in order to support the work of truth and care for victims. Determined to shed light on its history and identify possible dysfunctions facilitating phenomena of control or abuse in its organizations, Fondacio has mandated an independent study commission, which has been at work since 2024 and will deliver its conclusions in June 2026. The work of the independent study commission will be made public. It will be an essential contribution to the rereading of the history of our community that we owe to the victims and the actors and beneficiaries of yesterday and today.
The choice to celebrate the Jubilee
It is in the heart of this context that Fondacio has chosen, despite everything, to celebrate its Jubilee, of which the work of remembrance is an integral part, while also celebrating the grace and charism deployed throughout this community. Indeed, the testimonies heard throughout all these years are powerful: the people whose lives have found flavor and meaning, those who have risen from trials, those who have been inspired in their capacity to commit themselves and to act for an effective transformation of the world (in businesses, social projects, in the Church, in politics, etc.), ...
A jubilee to open the future
This anniversary is an opportunity for Fondacio to renew its commitment and explore new ways of serving the Common Good. Faced with the challenges of today's world, the movement intends to continue its work by focusing on training (spiritual, human, and entrepreneurial), social innovation, and intercultural dialogue.
For more information on Fondacio's 50th anniversary events, visit the Fondacio website in France or contact us at contact@fondacio.org
About Fondacio
Fondacio is an international Christian movement that supports individuals in their personal development and commitment to serving the world. Present in more than 20 countries, it works through educational, social, and spiritual initiatives to build a more united, fraternal, and sustainable society.
Fondacio, as a Church community, has canonical statutes, as a private assembly of faithful of pontifical right, followed by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.
Contact Presse :
- Cécile Villegas - co-president of Fondacio International
07 82 17 00 51
- Marie Levier - co-president of Fondacio France
06 83 04 16 19
Comments are closed