It’s October 16 in the morning and we are in one of the meeting rooms at the European Parliament. “It’s very clear that something is happening when people of peace are talking”, comments Catarina Martins, Portuguese MEP, beginning her concluding presentation of the DialogUE Project, in which Together for Europe is participating. “This is precisely this kind of moment”, Ms Martins continues, “Dialogue is a powerful instrument of peace”
Present are 50 representatives of the Project’s partners: people involved in European institutions, religious leaders, and also from civil society. The purpose of the meeting is to present recommendations to the European Union, which are summarised in the brochure “DialogUE Kit” >>
During the two year project, four dialogue groups have collaborated in three main areas: communication, ecology and social policy.
The groups were the following:
Christians of various Churches, through the Together for Europe network
Catholics and Muslims, through the Focolare Movement’s Centre for Interreligious Dialogue
Catholics and people with no formal faith, through the DIALOP platform for transversal dialogue
Citizens from Western and Eastern Europe, through the Multipolar Dialogue group
The project aimed to transmit the importance of, and the methodologies needed for, fruitful dialogue. It brought together international expertise in these three key areas, helping the participants to understand the main documents of the UE on these topics, and to explore their various dimensions. About 10,000 people from 23 European countries took part.
Its full title: “DialogUE: Diverse Identities Allied, Open to generate a United Europe”. The final discussion showed how necessary it is to be close to the institutions, in order to share ideas and projects which promote more inclusive and sustainable policies.
In the afternoon of the same day, a discussion was held at the KU Leuven (University of Louvain) in Brussels, where the participants analysed some of the good practices that emerged from the project and spoke about how these practices could be spread through the “DialogUE Kit”. The event was streamed lived and is available on Youtube>>
On the occasion of Europe Day 2024, the 10 May the event organised in Rome took place in the S. Maria in Campitelli complex. Among the 150 or so people present, members of various Movements and Communities of the Network in Rome, were people from the European Institutions, including Hon. Silvia Costa, and Filippo Sassoli, brother of David M. Sassoli.
The keynote speech by Claudio Sardo, a long-standing journalist who has been working for several years in the secretariat of Sergio Mattarella, the President of the Republic, was of great depth. His historical and sociological analysis offered much food for thought, and his assessments underlined the principles that motivate us.
This was followed by some good practices, including those of some young people: Giulia Covalea from the A. Megalizzi Foundation, Fabiola Marotti as ‘Ambassador of a United World’ and two 5th grade students who spoke about the Mediterranean Festival.
Young people also featured in the high-level musical interludes.
At the start, it seemed quite appropriate to play Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, first played exactly 200 years ago, and since 1985 the official anthem of the European Community.
In the adjoining, spacious church, an ecumenical prayer took place; 10 Churches and Ecclesial Communities took part. Accompanied by the choir, made up of people from various Movements and Communities, prayers and intentions were expressed to emphasise peace and love of neighbour. As a tangible sign, bread was distributed to each participant: this bread was then spontaneously exchanged with others. The service ended with the solemn joint blessing of the Church representatives.
Refreshments provided an opportunity to continue and deepen relations and knowledge among the participants.
An appeal in view of the upcoming European elections
Together for Europe endorses this appeal to institutions, politicians and candidates for the European elections. The document was drafted by CEC (Conference of European Churches), COMECE (Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union) and I.A.O. (International Assembly on Orthodoxy).
The document emphasises the importance of Christian values as fundamental for the construction of Europe and invites the European institutions to a regular and transparent dialogue with Churches and religious associations, as foreseen in Article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty.
The challenges for the protection of creation and an integral ecology are growing exponentially worldwide. On 2nd March 2024, the Together for Europe network has dedicated an entire day online to this topic. Professionals and activists from various Churches and Movements, from 9 European countries, spoke at the Seminar entitled: ‘Called to Unity – Towards an Ecology of Relationships’. An enthralling ‘journey’, in which the speakers in an atmosphere of increasing convergence presented their research and commitment to environmental protection, and then entered into dialogue with the many persons present in the ‘virtual hall’. Experiences already in place in many places and encouraging good practices, easily imitated, have highlighted the desire and commitment to respect and preserve creation for future generations. This unites us as Christians and easily connects us with others.
For our network it was time to deepen one of the ‘7 YESes’ with which we committed ourselves in 2007 at the big Stuttgart Manifestation. It states: “Let us say Yes to creation, by defending nature and the environment, gifts of God to be safeguarded with commitment that respects future generations.”
The inputs of this rich meeting were very interesting and informative. As an example, we quote two sentences from the contribution of Dr Stefania Papa[1]she emphasised “the network of complex and interdependent relationships between every living being and every element of nature, which, together, sustain life itself. These relationships are not unidirectional, but characterised by mutual exchanges of energy, matter and information”. While this creates harmony, there is also conflict, disruption. And it is precisely “this diversity of relationships, including both conflict and cooperation, that is fundamental to the functioning of ecosystems and to the continuous evolution of life on Earth, which is continually subject to new challenges”.
We are grateful to the speakers who allowed us to make their contributions available. You can download them at the bottom of this page.
During the Workshop, which was part of an EU-supported project, DialogUE, the European Grean Deal document was presented; this is an ambitious project in which the EU has developed some of the strictest environmental standards in the world. The contents of the Webinar and the answers of the participants to the questionnaires concerning this event will help to elaborate a KIT with concrete suggestions to the European Union. It will be delivered on 16th October 2024 to the European Institutions in Brussels, together with the results of the previous workshops on communication and social policies, held in 2023 and co-funded like the latter by the European Union.
The Team of the Secretariat of Together for Europe
[1] Associate Professor of Ecology, Dept. of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Italy
“Called to unity – Towards an ecology of relationships”
This is the title of an
online workshop scheduled for 2 March 2024
which our network is promoting in 4 languages: English, Italian German and French.
The event was prepared with representatives of various Churches, Movements and Communities, with the aim of highlighting one of the ‘7 YESES’ of our journey together: the ‘YES to creation’.
During the morning, the speakers will take us through the Churches’ thinking on this subject; afterwards, we will dialogue with them to further explore the topic.
In the afternoon, ample space will be devoted to good practices in the efforts to safeguard creation which are already underway in various European countries.
The Focus? The relationships that form the basis of our acting and interacting with creation.
We would like to offer this opportunity to enhance a network regarding ecology, encouraging positive and imitable initiatives.
The Workshop is being supported by European Union Funds and is part of the ‘DialogUE’ project, which we joined as the Together for Europe network.
To participate, one needs to register via the link on the Flyer that you can download here>>. Subsequently, the link to the webinar, together with the programme, will be sent for registered participants.
