Church – Francis – Movements Category

ROME/VATICAN, by Maria Fischer • “I never imagined being here,” said Mercedes MacDonough. “I still can’t believe I’m here at the Holy Father’s Mass in St. Peters on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.” With love and emotion, she raises her pilgrim mother and a small cross of the Lord of the Miracles of Salta, Argentina, which she would later take to Room 101 at the Fr. Kentenich House in Belmonte, the “Argentina” room. It is 29 June, a Wednesday, but her dream to attend Pope Francis’ general audienceRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE by Fr. Hans-Martin Samietz • We were surprised.  Eighty collaborators of the Schoenstatt Movement gathered on Sunday to celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving at the Munich Schoenstatt Center.  Throughout the weekend, Christians kept the city of Munich in suspense with the congress and the “Together for Europe” rally. And Schoenstatt was in the middle of it Eighty-nine Schoenstatters had registered for the congress. Schoenstatt held the third place, according to the number of participants.  Moreover, it was estimated that there would be up to 120 Schoenstatters involvedRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE – Impressions of the Ecumenical prayers on 2 July 2016 • In the morning of 2 July, the morning of the Rally at the Stachus, out in the open and surrounded by shopping, strolling, or telephoning pedestrians on their way to watch football, a participant at the Congress “Together for Europe” managed to visit all six churches within which Christians of very different confessions had gathered simultaneously for ecumenical prayer. It was the conclusion of the Congress and spiritual preparation for the rally. The other participants decidedRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE – Impressions of the conclusion of the Congress on 1 July 2016 • While she was reading the Sacred Scriptures, Salomy thought of her experiences on this second day of the Congress “Together for Europe”. She had read an exciting story from the Old Testament, in this case, that of Elias who maintained that if you only pray ardently and trustingly enough to God for rain, this God would hear him and let it rain. … After a nerve-racking wait a tiny little cloud appeared on theRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE – Impressions of 1 July 2016, morning • “That’s awesome that’s absolutely awesome!” Manuela Miller didn’t spend much time with the welcome. She and her husband, Peter, were collaborating in one of the nineteen forums on the first day of the Congress “Together for Europe”, but they didn’t have much to say about that. Their main concern was their experience of the openness for one another, the togetherness they had experienced from the first day of the congress in the countless people they met – old andRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE – Press Release July 2, 2016 • “We won’t be able to separate these Christians again, they belong together.” Not only Cardinal Reinard Marx showed that he was moved by the atmosphere among the five thousand present at the final rally of “Together for Europe” in Munich. After two days with a filled programme in Circus Krone, the Christians from two hundred communities and Movements from thirty-two countries wanted to offer a public sign of reconciliation and togetherness of the confessions. “Your togetherness is a force forRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE – Press release July 1, 2016 (2) • In the afternoon of the second day of their Congress, seventeen podium discussions in the inner city of Munich took place between the communities and Movements, and politicians, Church representatives and motivators from the economy and society, and an interested public. “Christianity is not there to satisfy religious needs, but to place the world in a new light”, Cardinal Reinhard Marx emphasised in his statement on “Europe’s future lies in its roots”. Political influence has a part to playRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE – Press Release July 1, 2016 (1) • “Europe at the Moment” was the title of the second day of the Ecumenical Congress of the European Network “Together for Europe” in Munich. Michael Hochschild, Director of Research and Professor of Modern Thinking at the TimeLab in Paris, underscored the social and political importance of the Movements and spiritual communities in Europe. They are an answer to the question whether hope has a future, because we can see already today how things can be different tomorrow. “We areRead More
TOGETHER FOR EUROPE – press release June 30, 2016 • Christian communities and Movements can bring together a Europe that is increasingly polarised. This was the message of Evangelical-Lutheran Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm during the first morning of the Congress of Collaborators in the Ecumenical network “Together for Europe” in Munich.  Seventeen hundred participants from two hundred Christian communities and Movements from forty countries are meeting until tomorrow (Friday) in Circus Krone. “Unless we clarify the urgent questions of Europe, they will overrun us”, Gerhard Pross of the international Steering CommitteeRead More
The Holy See Press Office/AICA • The Holy See Press Office gave the following summary of the Letter by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith Iuvenescit Ecclesia (The Church Rejuvenates) to the Bishops of the Catholic Church Regarding the Relationship Between Hierarchical and Charismatic Gifts in the Life and the Mission of the Church: The following is a summary of the Letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Iuvenescit Ecclesia” (The Church rejuvenates), to the bishops of the Catholic Church on the relationship between hierarchicalRead More