Monday, April 16, 2012

Christians prepare for “Together for Europe” event

As announced by Catholic news agency Zenit on Holy Saturday, the final preparations for the big “Together for Europe” gathering which will launch a manifesto on the theme of European unity, starting from Christian values. 

Brussels will be the centre for the event and will connect via video links with over 300 movements. 

Communities of different Christian confessions will engage in an effort to contribute to the building of a “new spiritual Europe”, reviving and renewing the continent’s Christian roots. 

The rally gained its inspiration from the gathering of ecclesiastical Movements and New Communities that have grown within the Catholic Church, convened by John Paul II on Pentecost day in 1998.

The following year, on 31 October 1999, organisers of Catholic and evangelical movements met in Ottmaring near Augsburg, in Germany, at the end of the ceremony for the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ) signed between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation.

After this a new relationship flourished between them, leading to a public rally in Munich Cathedral on 8 December 2001. 

During the rally, members of 45 Movements, Communities and Groups of the Catholic and evangelical Church and the free Churches made the “pact of reciprocal love” which forms the basis of their communion. 

Stuttgart hosted these rallies on three occasions, in 2004, 2007 and in 2009, with the aim of spreading their spirit of communion and looking together at the situation in Germany.

Last September in Loppiano (Florence), the convention “Sulla Tua Parola… camminiamo insieme” (Let’s Walk Together...On Your Words) offered an opportunity for reflection and preparation for the Italian group preparing for the Italian rally which will be held in Campidoglio, Rome from 15:30. 

Other national gatherings have been held in Slovenia, Hungary, Belgium, France and Slovakia in order to lay the foundations for the European rally.

The associations of Rome’s organising committee include: Catholic Action, the International Association of "Caterinati", the Community of Sant’Egidio, the Comunità Gesù Risorto, the New Horizons Community, the Fifth Dimension Community, the Comunità Vittoria di Dio, the Cursillos de Cristianidad, the Équipes Notre Dame, the Teresian Association, the Focolare Movement, the Movement for a Better World, Regnum Christi, the Rinnovamento nello Spirito Santo movement and Turris Eburnea. 

They have all prepared a rich programme involving round tables and interviews on the family, a kaleidoscope on integration and dialogue, proposals for the common good and a fair economy, dance shows and performances by various musical bands.