Meeting of the Friends of

Together for Europe 2022

Porto, 11-13 November 2022

From 11 to 13 November 2022, the Friends of TfE gathered in Porto/Portugal for their annual exchange of experiences: 166 Europeans from 19 countries (including Ukraine and Russia) took part. The participants came from 45 Christian Movements and Organisations, including representatives of the Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Free Churches. The Portuguese National Committee, made up of people from 11 different Movements, welcomed the many guests with particular warmth and generosity.

In search of a ‘new vision for Europe’, the young generation repeatedly contributed to the discussion with experiences and insights. “In 2010 I passed my exams in European Studies. I was full of idealism for a united Europe. Today I can say: building Europe does not mean diving into an idyllic vision of unity, but it means facing imperfections, accepting them and letting them challenge me’. (Frans Verkaart, Netherlands). Salomé Andrade and her friends from Portugal come from the ‘existential periphery’. They met TfE 10 years ago, when they were still children: ‘TfE teaches us to open up beyond our Movement’.

João Manuel Duque, rector of the UCP Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Braga; Victoria Martín de la Torre, journalist, Brussels; and Sr. Nicole Grochowina, historian, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, spoke during a well-received panel discussion on ‘Europe today – challenges and opportunities’.

The meeting was also characterised by powerful spiritual moments of sharing and prayer. In solemnly renewing the ‘Pact of mutual love’ (Jn 13:34), those present again promised to ‘continue on our common path, in full trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us’.