8 may 2012
The organisation of the meeting to be held on 12 May, which is the 2012 edition of “Together for Europe”, is almost finalised. Young people and adults from over 300 movements and Christian communities are expected to attend the event. The meeting aims to give visibility to the dynamism of fraternity that runs through the continent which will be expressed through experiences and proposals that touch on economy and work, justice and peace, integration, family and other themes.
The central point will be the event at Square Meeting Centre in Brussels that, together with the representatives of movements and Christian communities from all of Europe, will gather dignitaries from the European political, institutional and cultural panorama.
Integral part of the event will be the 130 gatherings hat will happen simultaneously in as many number of cities throughout the continent, which will be linked by satellite and internet with the main event in Brussels.
The variety of the initiatives are immense. Some examples are:
- Poland – with the motto “Reconciliation, Encounter, Dialogue”, Christians from Germany and Poland will gather in Breslau.
- Malta – in the southernmost island of Europe, a project geared towards welcoming people from overseas and also towards dialogue;
- Northern Ireland – in Belfast, the youth of the Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Orthodox Church and of the Church of Ireland, affirm their common commitment for peace;
- Portugal – diversified projects in 7 cities, among which is a project in the capital city of the Azores (Ponta Delgada), the westernmost region of the European Union;
- Germany – there are 26 cities that welcome the projects of the 12th of May, involving more than 200 Movements, Associations and Communities of different Christian denominations;
- Italy – the 2012 edition has a sizeable number of projects: 36 events in the same number of cities, from the North to the South.
This year the youth of the Focolare Movement have scheduled their event “Run For Unity” for the same day – 12 May. A project for universal brotherhood organised on a worldwide scale,”Run for Unity” is thus linked in the various European countries to the goals and visions which underline “Together for Europe”.
At the conclusion of the convention on 12 May, a final manifesto will be announced, addressed to the European institutions and to all its citizens.
For further information:
Press Area – Together for Europe Official Website
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“Together for Europe” is the expression of a process that gathers numerous activities of Christian communities and movements geared towards the promotion of reconciliation, peace, fraternity in the European continent. It is also the title of specific big European events that took place in 2004 and in 2007 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Christian communities and movements, although they are as different as their cultures, language, region of Europe, they are aware of that which could divide them, but they value even more the spirit, the ideas, the values, the commitments that they share.
Together, they make the specific gifts that each one brings more effective for the good of the women and men of our continent, today and in the future.
They are present all over Europe, they live among them a relationship of profound communion, in freedom, in the respect for diversity. They cultivate openness and dialogue with all those who have the future of Europe in their heart and its responsibility in front of the world.
Updated on 8th May 2012
UF – LH
SIF – Focolare Information Service
“We have experienced that our differences are not a motive for division, but represent a multiplicity of gifts and of resourcefulness. Together we have seen that unity is possible, unity does not annull identities but re-enforces them.” This is how the decleration proclaimed at the Square Meeting Centre started, at the conclusion of the day “Together forEurope”.
