{"id":305688,"date":"2017-11-27T01:10:35","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T00:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/the-churches-going-towards-humanity-together\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:35:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:35:53","slug":"the-churches-going-towards-humanity-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/the-churches-going-towards-humanity-together\/","title":{"rendered":"The Churches, going towards humanity together"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"P1320242\"<\/a>For the first time after 36 years, <\/strong>Poland <\/a>was the host country of the annual ecumenical convention of the \u00a0Bishop-friends of the Focolare Movement<\/a>. After Jerusalem, Istanbul, London, Augsburg and other \u201csymbolic\u201d cities of the ecumenical commitment, Katowice<\/em>, capital of Slesia, an ancient city of almost 300,000 inhabitant, welcomed, from \u00a015 to 18 November, 35 bishops of different Churches: Orthodox, Syriac-Orthodox, Evangelical-Lutherans, Anglican, Methodists and Catholics from Germany, Austria, England, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic, but also Brazil, Cyprus, India, Democratic Republic of Congo, Thailand and the USA. Along with around thirty lay people the bishops gathered in Katowice represented a cross section of various social and ecclesial communities, driven by the desire to make an experience of fraternal communion. \u201cTogether we confess, together we go forth\u201d was the title of the<\/strong> Convention<\/a>, which was organized not only by the Focolare Movement<\/a>, but also by the local Catholic Archdiocese and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Augustinian Confession, the Orthodox Church of Sosnowiec, the Faculty of Theology of the Slesia University and the city of Katowice itself, represented by mayor Marcin Krupa.<\/em> \"P1320292\"<\/a>The convention opened with the reflection of <\/strong>\u00a0Lesley Ellison,<\/a> an Anglican, on \u201cThe Spirituality of unity: an ecumenical spirituality,\u201d <\/em>and <\/em>had as its central theme \u00a0\u201cMary, the Mother of Jesus,\u201d <\/em>with the theological <\/em>studies in the various Catholic, Evangelic, Anglican and Orthodox perspectives. There were many encounters, celebrations and moments of prayer according to the various traditions, sealed by a \u201cpact of mutual love\u201d to live fraternal communion and to \u201clove the Church of the other as one\u2019s own<\/em> Brendan Leahly <\/strong>is the Catholic bishop of \u00a0Limerick (Irelanda), expert and counselor of ecumenical dialogue in his country. Interviewed on the phone, he said:<\/strong> \u201cI want to underline the warm welcome received in Katowice, which I had already visited in 1991, on the occasion of Chiara Lubich<\/a>\u2019s encounter with the Focolare centers of Western and Eastern Europe. It is a highly developed city, which valorizes diversity and hospitality. Just as what we experienced in these days, the hospitality of the Faculty of Theology which hosted us, but also of the Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox Churches.\u201d The convention was<\/strong> the occasion to get to know one another better, and acquire a deeper knowledge of the different ecclesial and socio-cultural realities we live in, especially in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. We realize that we cannot offer solutions for the problems of those countries (especially regarding the Middle East), but we can at least carry one another\u2019s burdens. Feeling the suffering of others has enlarged my heart. Now I no longer feel only like an Irish bishop, \u00a0<\/strong>I carry within also the situations and problems of the other bishops<\/strong>. But with a new hope. In every country there are signs of hope, and the steps taken at ecumenical level go to prove this fact. For example in the Czech Republic a process of mutual forgiveness is underway for the errors committed. Ecumenism \u2013 he continued<\/strong>\u2013 is a reality that started its path many years ago, and will meet ever new situations and give new testimonials. It is, after all, an experience of giving and receiving. What strikes me is the strong Catholic faith which is deeply rooted here in Poland, but also the openness to dialogue with the representatives of the other communities.\u201d \"P1320495\"<\/a>\u00c5ke Bonnier, <\/strong>Lutheran bishop of the diocese of \u00a0Skara, in Sweden<\/a>, said he was happy about the convention: \u00abWe were not bishops but brothers. <\/strong>What we shared in the convention was a reality, both during the breaks and intervals, and also during the celebrations. This was very important for me, it gave me new strength and enthusiasm. I now look forward to next year, <\/strong>when, I hope all of them and also others can come to Sweden. If they ask me if this meeting was important as a path for the unity of Christians, my answer is yes. Unity is not something that will come about only in the future, it is already a reality among us.\u201d  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirty-five Bishop-friends of the Focolare belonging to different Churches, gathered in Katowice, Poland, from 15 to18 November. The comments of Brendan Leahy, a Catholic and the Lutheran, \u00c5ke Bonnier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-305688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focolare-worldwide-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}