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During a meeting in Rome in May 2002 of founders and leaders of different Catholic and Evangelical Movements and Communities, the idea came up to promote a large-scale assembly in Germany, as a contribution to giving Europe a soul. Present at this meeting were representatives of the: St. Egidio Community, Convention of Evangelical Leaders, Cursillos de Cristiandad, Focolare Movement, Schoenstatt Movement, the Italian section of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement, the Evangelical Charismatic Renewal Movement, and the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association)
The assembly entitled ‘Together for Europe’ is the result of an itinerary which had its beginnings among the Evangelical-Lutherans in 1969, and has been taken up by over 120 Movements, Communities and groups in Germany. Also Catholic groups have begun to meet together since the Vigil of Pentecost 1998 with Pope John Paul II, and the effort now involves over 240 Catholic Movements and Communities all over the world.
Since October 31, 1999 – date of the historic signing of the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification by the Catholic Church and the World Lutheran Federation – on the occasion of a meeting of leaders of Catholic and Evangelical-Lutheran Movements, Communities and groups at the Ecumenical Center of Ottmaring, near Augsburg, a new experience of fellowship and collaboration has been flourishing and is spreading among Orthodox, Anglicans and other Christians as well.
About the Christian Movements, communities and groups that will participate in Stuttgart:
� They have originated in different European countries before and after World War II, and most of them have spread all over Europe and in other parts of the world;
� They differ in nature, expansion, areas of commitment; they are predominantly lay, and involve people of all ages and categories;
� They are widely open to dialogue at various levels;
� What they have in common is the aspiration to return to an authentic life of the Gospel and the awareness that they are not a product of a human project but of a gift of the Spirit as a response to the challenges of today.
The Stuttgart event takes place within the framework of a week that is very important for Europe
� May 1: extension of the European Union with the inclusion of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta and Cyprus.
� May 8: anniversary of the end of World War II (May 8, 1945)
� May 9: celebration for Europe, on the occasion of the anniversary of Robert Schuman’s historic declaration of 1950, which proposed the formation of a community at the service of peace, herald of the European Union.
