Austria | Together 4 Europe

May 8 Graz – time to dialogue

by TogetherforEurope | Apr 12, 2021 | 2021 Europe Day, Austria

Once again, Covid-19 is preventing the holding of the ‘Meeting in Graz’ on the occasion of the 2021 Europe Day. Nevertheless, a Zoom meeting will cater for the manifold friendships:

Saturday, May 8, 2021, from 9 till 11 a.m. from Graz

With participants and contributions from Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia

(with simultaneous translations in the national languages and English)

Topic: “A conversation that brings us all together” (Laudato si‘ 14). DIALOGUE

Guest speaker: Dr. Petra Steinmair-Pösel

Ecumenical prayer with Bishop Dr. Wilhelm Krautwaschl, the superintendent Mag. Wolfgang Rehner, and Pastor Bruno Gasper

This is being organised by the Styria Team of Together for Europe

Bookings at Elfriede Palt: elfi.palt@gmx.net stating name and surname, language and respective Community/Movement

You can download the invitation and the programme:

Programme Zoom Meeting from Graz 2021 05 08

An International Link-up on the Feast of Europe

by TogetherforEurope | May 12, 2020 | 2020 Europe Day, Austria, News

“Welcome to you all gathered here in the Graz Town Hall for our meeting on Europe Day!” This was the way we planned to welcome the participants on Saturday, May 9, 2020. However, Covid-19 disrupted all our plans.

Therefore, toward the end of March, our regional team of Together for Europe decided to postpone the meeting for next year, and to offer a simple substitute program via Skype.

**The video conference call of Together for Europe, Saturday May 9, 2020**

Nevertheless, the ‘makeshift solution’ resulted in an hour-long online meeting with about 100 participants from Austria and five other neighbouring Countries. The participants included Christians belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, the Evangelical Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church and Communities of the Free Churches.

Brief inputs from Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy and Carinthia provided an updated and authentic insight regarding daily life during the Covid-19 crisis. All the participants were grateful that they could mutually share their experiences and thus become aware of how others are living in their respective Countries. Thus means that, now, they can pray even better for each other.

The diocesan Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl, too, took part in this online meeting. He thanked for this experience of communion that goes beyond borders, and concluded by saying “In spite of our differences and separations, through the Cross we are all united one to the other”.

Plans for May 8, 2021…

Naturally, a video conference call cannot take the place of a Day Meeting. Yet, in the present circumstances, by the way this Europe Day 2020 was lived out, Together was strengthened. It was, indeed, a successful preparation for the Day Meeting scheduled for May 8, 2021, when we could, hopefully, truly say: “Grüß Gott hier im Rathaus Graz …!” – “Welcome to Graz Town Hall!”.

The Together for Europe Team, Austria.

Graz – ‘Plan B’ for the Europe Day 2020

by TogetherforEurope | Apr 3, 2020 | 2020 Europe Day, Austria, News

On February 27, we updated you about the intensive preparations being carried out by the local team of Together for Europe to mark the Europe Day with an international event in Graz (Austria). Although, due to the pandemic a Plan B is now needed, this did not prevent those persons to keep going ‘together’ to start preparing for 2021. And they will do so with a Skype Conference call on May 9.

This is what Theresia Fürpass, of the organizing team wrote to us:

“The idea behind the event to mark the Europe Day on May 9, 2020 – “Together for Europe – Meeting in Graz” – was to promote the encounter of Austrians, Italians, Slovenians, Croatians and Hungarians. Read more>>

We were planning to have an in-depth approach to the theme of dialogue; to exchange experiences resulting for the ‘7 Yeses’ of Together for Europe; to offer a guided tour of Graz, and to conclude the day with an ecumenical prayer meeting. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, has made all this impossible. Nonetheless, we still want to keep on journeying together seeing that a lot has been already done. Therefore, we are planning to hold this meeting in 2021.

An yet, it would be a great pity if we were to allow the Europe Day to pass without any sign of celebration! Thus, we invite all those who were planning to participate at “Together for Europe – Meeting in Graz” to join us for a Skype Conference all on May 9, from 10 to 11 a.m. Many have already confirmed their participation. Some of us will give an update regarding the present situation in their Country and we shall conclude by praying together the ‘Our Father’.

We are more than convinced that God will show us the way forward. So far, he has guided us in an impressive way, and has made it possible for us to achieve much more than we could have ever imagined”.

The Team of TfE in Austria

Contact: f.theresia@gmx.at
0043 3842 27 513
0043 664 73577 163

At Graz, May 9 will be international

by TogetherforEurope | Feb 27, 2020 | 2020 Europe Day, Austria

“Visiting one another, talk to each other, being a gift one for the other and praying together”. The preparations for the Feast of Europe (May 9, 2020) in the Austrian city of Graz have been going on for months. The team of Together for Europe in Styria extends its invitation for an open and international Meeting.

On the occasion of the Feast of Europe (May 9, 2020) the Friends of Together for Europe from Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary will come together in the Town Hall of Graz. The meeting will give persons coming from Eastern and Western Europe the opportunity to meet and know each other. With the aim of facilitating the sharing between the participants, there will be a keynote speech about dialogue.

Several Movements and Communities of Together for Europe will share how they live out marriage and family life, the economy, the safeguarding of life and creation, civic responsibilities, etc, as Christians. They would indicate pathways for an ever more liveable Europe.

The guided tours of the city will enhance the participants’ encounter with Austria and among themselves. During the concluding ecumenical prayer meeting in the Landhaushof the pressing issues that Europe is facing will be entrusted to God through thanksgivings and prayers. The program will be enriched with musical performances.

The detailed program:

8.30 a.m. Arrivals, coffee and cakes
9.00 a.m. Greetings by the mayor Dr. Siegfried Nagl, Dr Anna Hollwäger, Superintendent Wolfgang Rehner and others
9.30 a.m. Prof. Dr Petra Seinmair-Pösel: “A conversation that unites us all“. The importance of dialogue for Europe
10.30 a.m. Break
11.00 a.m. Life experiences regarding the following realities:

– Marriage and family life
– Solidarity with the poor
– Civic responsibilities
– Safeguarding life
– Safeguarding creation
– A commitment for peace
– Economy at the service of the human person

12.00 noon. Lunch offered by the city of Graz
1.30 p.m. Guided tours of the city in these languages: German, Italian, Croatian, Slovenian and Hungarian.
3.30 – 4.00 p.m. Concluding ecumenical prayer meeting in the courtyard of the palace “Landhaushof”.

Bookings are to be made not later than Sunday April 26, 2020.

f.theresia@gmx.at
0043 3842 27 513
0043 664 73577 163

The team of Together for Europe in Styria

Download the invitation (in German): 2020 05 09 MfE Oesterreich Einladung Graz

Photo: Pixabay, Map: by Tschubby – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0