Mukacevo: I had never even heard of that town in western Ukraine when I arrived there in September 2024. It borders Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. I arrived there one fine September day, with the intention of supporting the small focolare community in this country tormented by war. Ukrainian friends had told me: ‘When the bombing of Kyiev started in 2022, the whole world was following us. Now the interest has waned and we are beginning to feel abandoned.’ This realisation – not without bitterness – set something in motion within me: Yes, I too want to give a sign of solidarity. As Pope Francis puts it: I want to make myself close to an experience that seems so far away from my life. My choice is facilitated by the fact, that I speak Russian – a language with which one can understand Ukrainians. I have decided, therefore, to make myself available for a certain period of time.
The airspace over Ukraine is closed. It took me two days to travel from Holland, where I live, to Mukacevo. When I arrived there, I had a totally new experience: air-raid warnings followed y bombardments, e.g. on the power station of Mukacevo. With each warning, people – consciously or unconsciously – fall into a ‘state of shock’. A friend came up with a drastic comparison to explain what happens on a psychological and spiritual level: ‘It is like unplugging a switched-on computer several times in a row. When you plug it back in, the system suffers. Our physical and mental health are severely rattled. In Ukraine we have been living like this for three years.’
I was strongly impressed by the women, many of whom nurture a solid faith in God. War meant that many men were at the front, wounded or dead. Others have fled and are hiding somewhere. The focolarine explained to me: “We stayed in Ukraine to share with the people an experience of God among us. He gives us the strength to resist”.
It is said that Ukrainians are very tenacious, and do not give up easily. I felt I can learn a lot from them. Oleksandra runs a family furniture business. Before the war it was a flourishing business; now, however, the men who used to work there have all been called for military service. This means that the income to support her family was no longer available. I was impressed by Oleksandra’s faith in God that helps her to face such a precarious situation with courage and creativity every day.
Irina is a woman like many others in Ukraine: her husband is at the front in the Donbass region. They often communicated by phone and he tells her many horrible things; nevertheless, he also tells her about the solidarity and hope among the soldiers. Although he does not identify with a specific religiosnl he too started to pray. “At the front”, he says, “there are no atheists. There are moments when everyone is praying”.
Tanja fled from an occupied city with her two daughters, aged 10 and 12, She hid them in the car among her suitcases. While queuing at a checkpoint, someone got out of the car and got shot, dying instantly. Tanja was terrified, but at that moment she was only thinking about pressing the accelerator in case she was hit so as to get her daughters to safety.
I only stayed a few months with these people. When I returned home to the Netherlands, I realised that something inside me had changed profoundly. The months spent in Ukraine taught me a ‘life lesson’: an unshakeable faith in God and the dignity of always being able to persevere, without any complaints. Indeed, it was Ukrainian women like Tanja, Irina and Oleksandra, who taught me with their lives that it is worth believing in a God who never abandons his people.
For their annual meeting under the auspicious title ‘Called to Hope’ the Friends of Together for Europe were hosted in Seggau Castle near Graz.
Christians from Eastern and Western Europe express hope even in times of war and crisis. One participant summed up his experience as follows: ‘Given the current situation in Europe, I arrived here discouraged and depressed. But these days fill me with new courage and hope’. And a lady who lives in Ukraine: ‘To be ambassadors of reconciliation – this I take away from the Together for Europe meeting. I live in a country at war, where one cannot yet speak of reconciliation. But I feel that being an ambassador is possible, because an ambassador is by definition a diplomat, he doesn’t impose, he delivers and prepares… This is the mission I feel I have to take there where I live. And I will try to do it by trying to be what Jesus Moran says in his speech, ‘an artisan of a new culture’’.
The participants
The participants came from political and ecclesial backgrounds (Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Protestants, Reformed and members of the Free Churches), spiritual leaders and lay people. Among them were Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl of the Graz-Seckau Diocese, Bishop Joszef Pàl of the Timisoara Diocese (Romania), Co-President of the International Focolare Movement Jesus Moran (Italy), Reinhardt Schink head of the German Evangelical Alliance, Markus Marosch of the Round Table (Austria), Márk Aurél Erszegi of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, the former Prime Minister of Slovenia Alojz Peterle and the former Prime Minister of Slovakia Eduard Heger. A delegation from the IAO (Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy) with Secretary General Maximos Charakopoulos (Greece) and Advisor Kostantinos Mygdalis also attended the conference.
The programme
Talks, testimonies and working groups were central at the conference in Graz-Seggau. After the 2023 experience in Timisoara with the title ‘Called to unity’, the participants in Graz felt in a completely new way that the combination of their charisms and their Churches contains many graces and a hope for our tormented Europe.
Precisely on 31 October 2024 Together for Europe celebrated its 25th anniversary. And Gerhard Pross (YMCA Esslingen), who witnessed the beginning, highlighted in his opening speech the many moments of grace experienced during these years. Another witness of the time, the former bishopChristian Krause, president of the Lutheran World Federation in 1999 and at that time co-signatory of the ‘Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification’, emphasised the importance of Together for Europe in a touching audio message that sounded almost like a testament. ‘Together with others, I want to pick up the baton,’ a younger participant of the Steering Committee promised afterwards.
Three speeches took centre stage on Friday morning. Thomas Römer (YMCA Munich): ‘We want to make ourselves available so that Jesus can also bless Europe through us, to us Christians He puts the key to reconciliation in our hands. We want to aim for the love to which Jesus calls us and not for power’. Jesús Moran (Focolare Movement) explained: ‘‘Things don’t change overnight, what is important are the artisans, the cultivators of a new culture, who patiently work and sow, who hope… The whole we are talking about is not a whole in the sense of a union. Unlike union, unity considers subjects as persons. Its goal is communion… While in union diversity is a source of conflict, in unity it is a source of richness. Unity ultimately refers to something that is beyond the participants, that transcends them and is therefore not made but received as a gift’. P. Raffael Rieger (Schönstatt Movement) said: ‘We need various communities so that people in variety can find their home and grow. Collaboration between the various communities to realise the 7 Yeses (YES to family, to creation, to solidarity with the poor, to peace, to a fair economy, to peace, to commitment in society) is a sign of unity and hope for society and the world.
At the conclusion of the second day, the participants solemnly renewed the Pact of Mutual Love, the basis of their common commitment. ‘We continue on the path we have taken together, trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide us also in the future; we follow Him wherever He leads us,’ said one conference participant.
On the last day, the meeting was open to the inhabitants of the region, among them Siegfried Nagl (former mayor of Graz from 2003 to 2021), who actively supported the work of Together for Europe during his term of office.
How do we get out of the current polarisation and into Togetherness? This was the question for the panel discussion with Bishop Krautwaschl, Alojz Peterle, Eduard Heger and Vienna University Professor Ingeborg Gerda Gabriel. Christians should show more their identity with respect, but with conviction and competence. ‘Even words are actions’, the professor argued. At the same time, it is necessary to ‘disarm’ words and listen. Given the empty rhetoric and fake news, it takes strength to stay focused on essential issues like God, justice… and it is important to be able to withstand the resistance of others. In this way it is possible to move from polarisation to Togetherness.
The network is planning a major event for 2027 with the aim of sending together a powerful signal of unity and hope to Europe.
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 this occasion, Together for Europe (TfE) has joined forces with an important Orthodox Association – the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy (I.A.O.) – as well as with the Focolare Movement and JC2033, a Movement that calls for an ecumenical journey towards 2033, the Jubilee of 2000 years since Jesus’ resurrection.
Gerhard Pross, moderator of TfE, presented the initiative ‘Easter Together 2025’ to the Patriarch. ‘It is our desire that faith be the foundation of Europe,’ he said, ’indeed, we believe that the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is an excellent opportunity to focus on Christian unity, because the Nicene Creed is our common confession of faith. That is why we want to support all that is being done, so that a new fire can be kindled and the risen Christ can be witnessed on a large scale’.
A meeting with Pope Francis is planned in Nicaea in 2025
In his reply, Patriarch Bartholomew announced that an Ecumenical Commission is working on the programme for the commemoration of the shared Easter and the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the first Ecumenical Council. The commission has already visited Iznick – the Turkish name for Nicaea – and examined the conditions.
The Mayor of Nicaea is very supportive and ready to collaborate with this Commission. An invitation was also extended to Pope Francis. From what he remembers, this will be their 13th meeting. He also stressed that the date of Easter is not a matter of dogma or faith, but of astronomical calculation.
The meaning of ecumenism
The initiator of the ‘Easter Together 2025’ project is the I.A.O.. Ioan Vulpescu, its new President (and former Romanian Minister of Education), recalled the meaning of the word ‘ecumenism’ (oikoumene): that is, the inhabited world, the earth conceived as a home where all peoples, all tribes and all languages live. The mission of the I.A.O. is to make every believer, wherever he or she is, in whatever state and within whatever society, feel safe at home. An ‘oikoumene’ to be built through dialogue!
‘Blessed are the peacemakers’
The Patriarch praised the I.A.O.’s efforts to promote Christian values and strengthen dialogue between peoples. He also emphasised its role in defending human rights and promoting peaceful coexistence, in the spirit of love of Christ who said: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God’. He observed with great sadness the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which not only threatens the stability of the region, but is also causing new divisions within the Orthodox Church. He constantly prays for peace and reconciliation.
The Audience with Pope Francis
Less than a week later, on 19th September, the same delegation was received in audience by Pope Francis in Rome. He expressed his joy at the work done and at seeing us together, Christians representing all the families of the Churches. He shared the hope that ‘the common celebration of the Day of the Resurrection may no longer be an exception, but rather become the norm.’ And he encouraged those involved in the search for a shared agreement, ‘avoiding anything that may instead lead to further divisions’.
Speaking on behalf of ‘Easter Together 2025’, Ioan Vulpescu, president of I.A.O., emphasised the positive message that a shared date for Easter could bring to a Europe in crisis. It is wonderful that parliamentarians care about the unity of the Church and its witness in society.
Easter belongs to Christ!
It was touching that Pope Francis took the time to greet us personally, refraining from reading the speech he had prepared (click here to read it>>>>).
Finally, the most important thing for him is not the calendar, but witnessing together the resurrection of Christ, which manifests God’s love for all humanity. ‘Above all’, he continued, ‘Easter does not take place by our own initiative or by one calendar or another. …. Easter belongs to Christ! Moreover, it is good for us to ask for the grace to be ever more his disciples…
Let us therefore seek to reflect, share and plan together, keeping Jesus before us, grateful for his call and eager, in unity, to become his witnesses, so that the world may believe’.
I’ve always been interested in a lived ecumenism, where people meet at eye level, try understand one other, and to learn and benefit from one other in faith. As a Protestant Christian, I find myself in a minority situation in Austria, which is why I am always especially happy when I can speak to the Catholic brothers and sisters in our Church. This fruitful exchange happens regularly in our group in Styria (Austria) of Together for Europe. Here, genuine friendships and mutual appreciation have developed.
Do you feel European at heart?
Of course! I was born in Graz in 1965, about 50 kilometres from what was then Yugoslavia in the south and Hungary in the east. In other words, not far from the ‘Iron Curtain’ which separated the West from the East. For me, as a child and even as a young adult, the world beyond it was foreign and distant, while today you can reach it in 45 minutes by car or train! I have always been connected to Eastern Europe, however, because my maternal grandparents came from what is now Hungary, and Slovenia. At the time it was all part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and they arrived in Graz around 1910.
I am happy and grateful that today many people from the former Eastern Bloc can come to Austria. There have also been wonderful encounters here in Graz in recent years, at the international meetings of Together for Europe celebrating Europe Day in May.
Why is the Friends’ meeting in Graz this year?
Graz has a particular religious history: in the 16th century the Reformation found fertile ground here, as in many other regions of present-day Austria. Even today, evidence of this can be seen in Graz, such as the Landhaus, built by Protestants at the time; or the memorial plaque of the famous astronomer Johannes Kepler, a Protestant, who taught in Graz.
In 1997, the ‘Second European Ecumenical Assembly’ was held here, with thousands of guests from all over Europe. In 2017, on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, a memorial plaque was unveiled in the courtyard of the Landhaus. It bears the words ‘Gegeneinander – Nebeneinander – Miteinander’ (one against the other – close to each other – together), which succinctly express the eventful history of the faith. I think this was one of the main reasons why Graz was chosen.
You also work as a cabaret artist, performing in churches with your colleague Oliver Hochkofler. Do faith and humour go together?
Yes, they do! Who, if not us Christians, can laugh for the joy of the Gospel? Of course, not every kind of joke or cabaret has its place in a church. Moreover, we would never make fun of Jesus or the Bible. On the contrary: Oliver and I want to use our programmes to show how beautiful and enriching faith can be, to invite people to discover the treasure of the gospel in a humorous and informative way. In our new programme ‘Out of the blue – With the Church around the cross’, we take a look at individual focal points, but above all at what the denominations have in common. Of course, we also shed light on this or that challenge that the churches are facing. And when visitors distant from the Church say after the programme that they learned something and took away an idea or two, we are happy.
In 2018, you participated in the Friends of Together for Europe meeting in Prague. Shortly afterwards you entered politics. Is there a relationship between these two facts?
Sure! And it is a very important relationship for me. If one wants to live politics with the ideal of service, one needs to get to know other politicians who have the same goal. The possibility of creating a ‘positive network’ with others also during the meeting in Prague helped me a lot at the beginning of my political life. And it still helps me.
What motivated you to get involved in politics?
Seeing and understanding how much effort it takes. Politics is a specific field, which touches the life of each one of us. And it is crucial that only those men and women who want to put themselves at the service of others enter politics. Otherwise, one leaves room for those who seek only power. I try to invite other friends into politics, especially young ones.
How do you deal with disappointments if working ‘together’ is not successful and certain opinions/views seem irreconcilable?
Politics is in need of good ideals! If these are missing, it only becomes a ‘technocracy’, and later an ‘autocracy’ of someone, who instead of ‘together’ puts ‘I by myself’. Not everyone is seeking ‘togetherness’. However, we are called upon to do our best, because we believe that this ‘togetherness’ is exactly what our world needs. We strive to do well our part and leave the rest in the hands of the Lord.
You were a candidate in the European elections. You were only a few votes away from being elected. Had you been elected, what would you have committed yourself to in the first place?
For four years I have been the Vice-President of our regional government. The region is called ‘Southern Bohemia’ I am mainly involved in agriculture and ecology; if I had been elected to the European Parliament, I would have been a member of these committees (AGRI and ENVI). The election campaign was a wonderful time in my life. In our list, the top six were elected: I was in seventh place. But I am sure that the Lord knows why. So, I look forward to seeing where he invites me next time.
The democratic values seem to be overshadowed. How could Together for Europe contribute to politics?
The biggest challenge, in my opinion, is that few engage in politics. I know cities where nobody wants to be mayor. If no democratic politician will do it, an extremist will come along and take this space for himself. This may also happen in our parliaments. The most important thing is to invite new men and women to engage in politics, ready to ‘put their hands in the pie’ and serve others through politics. Helping people understand this responsibility is something that Together for Europe could contribute to my generation.
