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The meeting in Castelgandolfo – (C) Thomas Klann<\/p><\/div> The course was opened with words by Chiara Lubich: \u201cThe charism of unity [. . .] fell upon a young Christian woman who God wished to be Catholic. But [. . .] it wasn\u2019t only for the Catholics; that wouldn\u2019t have made any sense, it\u2019s for all Christians.\u201d The course on Pentecostalism was presented by the Focolare\u2019s office for ecumenism and held in Castelgandolfo, Italy. Pentecostalism is a renewal movement in Christianity that began in the United States in 1901 (with antecedents in previous centuries), and it continues to grow.
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Udo and Ilona Knoefel, founders of\u00a0the\u00a0Jesus-Gemeinde Sohland<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Pentecostal Community\u00a0– (C) Thomas Klann<\/p><\/div> Five lectures were presented by experts: Professor Teresa Rossi from the Angelicum Pontifical University of Rome; Msgr Juan Usma from the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity; Pastor Albert Pataky, President of the Pentecostal Church of Hungary; Michelle Moran, President of the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal (ICCRS) and the Jesus-Gemeinde Sohland<\/em> (Sohland Jesus-Community) <\/em>Pentecostal Community founded by Udo and Ilona Knofel in Germany. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em> The course was attended by over a hundred people \u2013 Pentecostals, members of the Reformed Church, Catholics, one Lutheran and one Orthodox Christian \u2013 from twenty European countries, Brazil and Korea. Professor Rossi outlined the history and development of Pentecostalism. Msgr Usma described the dialogue with the Catholic Church, stating that it is \u201ca complex phenomenon with which the Vatican had agreed to dialogue.\u201d It should be noted that there was Pentecostal observer at the Second Vatican Council. He cited the Aparecida<\/em> document, published by the Latin American Bishops in 2007, which underlines the fact that many Catholics are migrating towards Pentecostalism, not because of doctrinal or theological reasons but because they are looking for God. President of the Pentecostal Church of Hungary, Albert Pataky, regularly attends an ecumenical group promoted by the Focolare that meets once a month to reflect on the Word of God. \u201cOur Movement,\u201d he recounted \u201cwas begun in prayer, which continually strengthens and renews us.\u201d<\/span> One community, which was formed around Udo and Ilona Knofel in East Germany during Communism, was not accepted by the local Evangelical Church because of its charismatic style. Through its contact with the Focolare Movement in 2004, the community sought reconciliation. Now it is spreading Jesus\u2019 name in regions of Europe that are considered to be the \u201cmost atheistic\u201d.<\/span> Olivier Fleury and Raphael Tanner (Switzerland), Mons. Juan Usma Gomez (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity)<\/span> A course on ecumenism offered by the Focolare\u2019s office on ecumenism at Castelgandolfo, Italy (April 11-13, 2014). Unity in Christ grows through knowledge and mutual love.<\/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":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-343014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343014","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=343014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/201404Pentecostali1.jpg\")
\u00a0–\u00a0(C) Thomas Klann<\/p><\/div> There were many experiences tied to the <\/span>dialogue of life, <\/em>which is the particular contribution of the Focolare. That dialogue is based on the <\/span>art of loving <\/em>which creates the conditions for Jesus\u2019 promise to be spiritually present among Christians who are united in his name (Mt 18:20). In Bari, Italy there is a lively exchange among Focolare members and a Nigerian Pentecostal community. In Venezuela such an ecumenical relationship has developed over the years that an ecumenical Forum, which included a Venezuelan Pentecostal pastor, could be presented at the American Missionary convention that welcomed 4,000 delegates in November 2013.<\/span> During the course at Castelgandolfo, after listening to Chiara Lubich\u2019s speech on mutual love, one of the participants asked forgiveness of the Pentecostals in the audience, for the prejudices she was holding in her heart. With her words she expressed what many were feeling. Pastor Pataky from Hungary stated: \u201cLove is the most important thing. Pride divides; love unites. The truths of the faith contained in each Church will unite us if we live in love for one another. The work of the Holy Spirit longs to unite us.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"