Iceland knows the secret to stopping teen substance abuse
In the past 20 years, teen alcohol and drug abuse plummeted among Icelandic youth… but why? In the past 20 years, Iceland’s rates of teen drinking, smoking, and drug use rates have drastically plummeted. Mosaic Science reports that in 1998, the percentage of 14- to 16-year-olds who reported being drunk in the previous month was 42 percent and by 2016, it was just 5 percent. Cigarette smoking went from 23 percent to 3 percent, and using cannabis from 17 percent to 7 percent. The secret? Common sense solutions, inspired by fresh data, and rooted in the community and the family. Iceland’s success actually began in the US, with an American psychology professor named Harvey Milkman. He studied drug use in the 1970s and in his doctoral ...

Vigil at Diaconia marks the visit of Archbishop Rino Fisichella to Shalom Catholic Community
The night of January 28 th will be etched in the spirit and heart of the participants of the Vigil “To the end of the earth”. The event has been prepared for Archbishop Rino Fisichella’s visit to Shalom Community. The Archibishop from Italy is the president of the Pontifical Council for promoting the new evangelization. The night was composed of artistic, formative, prayerful moments. The vigil has begun with a word of Archibishop Fisichella to the young people. Right after, the participants could attend the Show “Resposta” (“Answer”), a show which tells the story of the begining of Shalom Community, and the experience made by Moysés Azevedo, Emmir  Nogueira and other young people. The event went on with a moment ...

President of New Evangelization Council visits Shalom Community in Brazil
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, will visit Shalom Catholic Community’s headquarters (Diaconia) in Aquiraz, Brazil, on January 28-31, 2017. His visit is part of Shalom’s 35th anniversary celebrations this year. The Archbishop will participate on the 28th January in a night vigil event for the youth organized by Shalom Community. The event will have moments of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Eucharist, testimonies, praise and worship, music, dance and theatrical performances. Moyses Azevedo, founder of Shalom Community and Emmir Nogueira, co-founder, will take part in the event’s activities. “To the ends of the earth” is the theme of the vigil that will have within its many activities the performance of Missionario Shalom band. The band is ...

Shalom Community is counting the days for the great celebration of its 35th anniversary in Rome with Pope Francis
2017 has barely begun and the members of Shalom Community are already counting the days for the great celebration of thanksgiving for its 35th anniversary in September in Rome at the Shalom Convention 35years. There will be 10 days of activities, conferences, shows, pilgrimage to Assisi, International Youth Congress and a moment of meeting with the Holy Father, Pope Francis, where the whole community will renew its promises of life offer. The Shalom Convention is an event not only for the Shalom Community but open to the whole Church, so anyone who wishes can participate by making their registration through the Shalom35years website available in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian where you can check the entire schedule. The foresight is ...

How do we keep Christ in Christmas?
December reminds us of Christmas. However, what exactly does Christmas mean? How do we keep Christ in Christmas? Shalom missionaries and some friends who participate in the prayer group every Saturday had a Christmas celebration in a different way from what people generally do. On December 17th, 2016, during the prayer group they got together around a Nativity scene to sing some songs as a way to welcome each other and to prepare their souls for a special moment: Adoration – an encounter with our Savior and Lord that took place in St. Francis Chapel, in Cambridge. After Adoration, all of the participants went to the Shalom house to share their thoughts on some statements about Christmas written by Pope ...

“It was God who always provided for us”. A strong testimony of faith from a family of Shalom Covenant Community
“I have been married to Denise for 8 years now, and we have a 2 1/2-year-old daughter”, says Tancredo. He and Denise, his wife, are both members of Shalom Covenant Community, having already made their Definitive Promises. “About 4 years ago we started a long adoption process, since we would not be able to bear biological children due to health reasons. It was God who, even before we got married, had put in our hearts such desire and it grew with time”, remembers Tancredo. “On July 31 2014 we received the papers which cleared us for adoption and from then on we set ourselves on visiting shelters to find the child we were going to adopt. On August 1 I ...

Shalom Youth Congress in Italia moved the participants to a deeper meeting with Jesus
A deeper meeting with Jesus! The second day of Shalom Youth Congress, on Saturday, December 3rd, opened with the intervention of Moyses Azevedo, who preached to the Italian youth about the friendship with God and how to go “farther than where our feet can get” the central theme of the Congress. The founder of Shalom Catholic Community started to talk about his own story of his encounter with Jesus and how he discovered God’s plan for his life. “God has a plan of love for each of us. Because He loves us. But who is God? What is God’s name? The name of God is mercy. God does not want to condemn anybody. Jesus gave his life for all, He ...

A meeting of peace, the first Shalom Youth Congress held in Italy
  On December 2, 3 and 4 at the Chapel of the oldest university in Europe, La Sapienza, young people from various regions of Italy will be gathered for a meeting of peace, the first Shalom Youth Congress held in Italy. The Shalom Youth Congress has already been held in Brazil and Latin America for years since 1989. The first edition happened in Brazil with only a few hundred of young people. The last edition was held in the Brazilian capital, Brasilia, and gathered more than 4,000 young people from Brazil and Latin America. The first European edition was in Paris in 2015, only a week after the terrorist attacks that frightened the whole world but failed to discourage the ...