![\"(C)](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/20160630_135038_0979MfE_Do_PlenumPart2_FotoHaaf.jpg\")
<\/a>Martin Wagner, CVJM M\u00fcnchen and Gabriele Deutschmann, CVJM Esslingen interview evangelical-lutheran bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, and Card.Reinhard Marx (C) T4E, Foto: Haaf<\/p><\/div> \u201cMovements can bring together a Europe that is increasingly polarised.\u201d <\/strong>This was the message of Evangelical-Lutheran Heinrich Bedford-Strohm during the first morning of the Congress of Collaborators in the Ecumenical network \u201cTogether for Europe\u201d in Munich, is said in the Together for Europe press release at the conclusion of the first day of work. Seventeen hundred participants from 200 Christian Communities and Movements from forty countries are together at Circus Krone on June 30 and July 1. \u201cUnless we clarify the urgent questions of Europe, they will overrun us,\u201d <\/strong>Gerhard Pross of the International Steering Committee declared at the beginning. \u201cEurope has to learn to share!\u201d Fifteen years of experience by Christian Communities and Movements in a \u201cprofound process of reconciliation to form a community in diversity has been experienced as an enrichment\u201d to oppose the centrifugal forces in Europe with a path towards a new togetherness,\u201d Together for Europe declares. At the press conference on June 30 in Munich, Focolare president Maria Voce called it \u201ccommunion at the service of others\u201d. <\/strong>\u201cThis is why,\u201d she reiterated while recalling the 7 Yeses of 2007, \u201cwe are making concrete commitments,\u201d in favour of life, family, creation, a solid economy, peace, personal and collective responsibility. We\u2019ve found that there is more strength and incisiveness when we act together, overcoming our differences, borders and any other obstacle there may be. And we have found that the institutions need this, because they often find themselves all alone in facing serious problems.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> \u201cCardinal Reinhard Marx and Bishop Heinrich and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm <\/strong>gave a convincing example of their friendship and their way together. \u201cThe ecumenism of the heart promises far more for the future of the churches than we imagine,\u201d the chairman of the Evangelical Churches in Germany stated. \u201cWe only reach the goal of unity if we are completely and utterly reconciled,\u201d Cardinal Marx emphasised. The strength to achieve it arises from the encounter, \u201cThe other person strengthens us and helps us along the way to reconciliation.\u201d Press Conferenze, June, 30<\/p><\/div> In the afternoon nineteen very different forums<\/strong> gave the participants an opportunity to enter into dialogue with one another. These included reports on projects and the initiatives of individual communities, as well as personal testimonies of faith. A well-attended forum discussed the \u201cstumbling blocks\u201d in Ecumenism, to which Cardinal Kasper, former President of the Catholic Ecumenical Secretariat, made a contribution. \u201cIn experiences of learning and forgiving you are important outposts!\u201d the expert in ecumenism stated, and held out the prospect that in the foreseeable future a declaration could be made on a consensus of doctrines between Evangelical-Lutheran and the Catholic Churches on the subject of the Church, office and an understanding of the Eucharist. As for the talk of break-up on the European continent, <\/strong>Maria Voce stated at the press conference: \u201cnationalist, separatist tendencies running through Europe are a result of the fact that Europe has forgotten its values. Declarations from representatives of the Churches are not enough. There is a need for Christian life, and we feel particularly called to contribute to this.\u201d Press Release Together for Europe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Grassroots of European Churches discuss ecumenism and Europe in Munich: 1700 people from 200 Movements and Communities of 40 countries gather.<\/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-328388","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\/328388","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=328388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"(C)](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/20160630_104000_4351MfE_Do_PresseKonferenz_FotoBrehm.jpg\")
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