by Beatriz Lauenroth | Aug 16, 2023 | 2023 Friends | Timisoara, News
Three questions to Bishop József-Csaba Pál, Timisoara (Romania)
“This is the time when, in addition to cultural initiatives in museums and in holding memorials, we must also open the doors of our Churches to show the Christian roots of our people, our country and our city.” This was the reaction of Roman Catholic Bishop József-Csaba Pál (born in 1955) upon the announcement of the nomination of Timisoara as one of the three European Capitals of Culture for 2023.
What does this mean concretely?
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You have been the Roman Catholic Bishop of Timisoara since 2018. It must have been a great joy for you when you learned that Timisoara was awarded the coveted title of “European Capital of Culture” for 2023. What do you think is the motivation for such a decision?
For centuries, in Timisoara, the many different Churches and nationalities have peacefully lived side by side. They have been able to preserve their respective identity, and in this coexistence, diversity was seen as a mutual gift. Through living in families of mixed marriages and in mixed neighbourhoods they learned to respect and appreciate one another. That is why I think Timisoara has this experience to offer Europe: the spirit of peaceful coexistence.
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After eight months as “European Capital of Culture,” what do you think is Timisoara’s current contribution to today’s Europe?
In the spirit of multiculturalism there have been many cultural programmes.
For example, with young people we organized a week-long Ecumenical Youth Festival from 1st – 7th May. In the past our ancestors were driven to Timisoara by unemployment or the demand for certain professions. Today we also give a foundation to our living together but from a Christian point of view: we are all children of our heavenly Father. For His glory we want His children to get along with one another, to help and love each other. This should be the visible sign that Timisoara gives to Europe.
Young people from seven Churches and many different languages worked for fourteen months to prepare this Youth Festival. In the preparatory phase they said to themselves: the Festival must emanate something youthful, Christian and in the spirit of unity. And they succeeded: about 30 programmes, including a play staged in the Timisoara Opera Hall, a procession through the city in which we visited several Churches, a meditation during a boat trip on the Bega Canal, various lectures, a Gen Verde concert in the Timisoara Philharmonic Hall, etc… In addition, an ecumenical choir was formed comprising 40 young people who currently perform in different venues.
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Why did you extend the invitation to organise the Annual meeting of “Friends of Together for Europe” in November in your city? What do you expect from it?
In 2016 I attended a larger event of Together for Europe in Munich. I really enjoyed it and thought: these people from different Churches are doing what I have always dreamed of: living joyfully in unity in the presence of God. This is an overwhelming testimony. Now they must also witness this unity in God in Timisoara. When they come to Timisoara, we will strengthen each other in this very commitment.
Thank you for this conversation.
Beatriz Lauenroth
Photo: Bishop József-Csaba Pál during the Ecumenical Youth Festival, Timisoara May 2023
by Beatriz Lauenroth | Jul 29, 2023 | 2023 Friends | Timisoara, Experiences, reflections and interviews, News
Ecumenical Youth Festival 2023 in Timisoara
Jean Marc Ziadé (27), born in Lebanon and raised in Luxembourg, currently works as a sales and events manager at a conference centre in the Netherlands. From 4th to 7th May, he attended the Ecumenical Youth Festival in Timisoara, Romania.
Why did you attend the meeting?
First of all, I like to travel and I am interested in other countries and cultures.
It was very enriching for me to visit an Eastern European country, Romania, for the first time. I was amazed by all that Timisoara has to offer. Thanks to a guide and involvement in the local community, we were able to better understand, among other things, the bloody revolution of 1989 and how it still influences culture, people and the economy today. Thanks to the many events and conversations, the Ecumenical Youth Festival has given me a lot of inspiration and is – I believe – a positive surprise for the future of the Church!
What inspired you most?
I was most impressed by the motivation of the young people. It is amazing how they used different forms of artistic expression, such as music and theatre, videos and life testimonies, to create an unforgettable and meaningful experience.
The international music group Gen Verde, the theatrical performances largely created by young people, beautiful songs, workshops on dialogue and the ‘Economy of Francis’ (young entrepreneurs working for a new economy) were not only entertaining, but also brought depth and reflection to the festival.
What do you take away from Timisoara?
Certainly, the living faith I found there and the ecumenical aspect have left a lasting impression on me. I think not everyone understands what ecumenism means. This trip allowed me to discover the different denominations and the cooperation between the Churches, from Greek Orthodox, to Serbian, to Greek Catholic, to Roman Catholic and other Churches, which we visited and which I did not know before. This festival and the way the Churches of Eastern Europe work together show that unity between the Churches is possible! Now wars and prejudices want to prevent us from working together. Even if we think that Church members are decreasing in number, the young people have shown me that this is not the case everywhere. This is certainly a sign of hope. This experience will continue to inspire others and me to work together for a more united and harmonious future for all Christians.
Thank you, Jean Marc, for this interview.
Beatriz Lauenroth
by TogetherforEurope | Jun 26, 2023 | 2023 Friends | Timisoara, News
The eccumenical network Together for Europe in Timisoara
„Europe lives in Timisoara” – So reads the invitation to the leaders of Movements and Communities of various Churches, who are meeting in the Romanian city this year. Timisoara, European Cultural Capital 2023, already tells many stories of ‘togetherness’: indeed, here different cultures meet in faith and life.
The event aims to highlight the ecumenical network’s call to unity through speeches and testimonies at the local and European level.
Six workshops will offer the opportunity to come into lively contact with the realities of the city: Orthodox spirituality, social hot spots, East-West relations, youth engagement, steps on the road to peace are some of the topics. Let us be guarantors of a Europe that lives from its Christian roots.
Timisoara is a place of hope. The two days are addressed to the current and future leadership of Movements and Communities, who wish to make a sign of hope:
- Together, rather than against each other!
- East and West come together!
- Unity is possible!
As Communities and Movements we are ready to live our charism of unity in a new way and to “enter again into the rifts” (Ez 22:30) for Europe, the Churches and society. We are looking forward to seeing you!
The Together for Europe Secretariat
Flyer with register link>>
by TogetherforEurope | Jun 15, 2023 | 2023 Friends | Timisoara, Experiences, reflections and interviews, News
Interview with Herbert Lauenroth (1) ahead of the next meeting in Timisoara
Where do you see the main values of Together for Europe (TfE)?
Based on common Christian roots, TfE has made its own the vision of a Europe of solidarity, peace, reconciliation, justice and fraternity. TfE wants to re-propose the Christian ethos (with reference to Jn 15:12: This is my commandment: that you love one another, as I have loved you) in the light of a ‘tolerance of ambiguity’ (in the words of the Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman), which seems to be the indispensable basis for a communication capable of overcoming the current tendencies of increasing polarisation and fragmentation. It is in acquiring a “culture of listening”, that very promising avenues for dialogue and for an experience of reciprocity are opened up, thus coping with the media pathologies of a so-called “post-factual” (with their notoriety, such as disinformation, denunciation, “hate speech”, dissemination of “fake news”, etc.).
Does this create greater solidarity?
I think so. Because solidarity is born in the light of the Christian experience, of its vision of a “universal brotherhood”, which brings us out of our respective “echo chambers” or “bubbles”, to open up to the (discursive) spaces of an “egaliberté” or “egalberty” (according to the neologism of French philosopher Etienne Balibar). These spaces resonate with what Gal 3:28 states: there is no longer Jew nor Greek; there is no longer slave nor free; there is no longer man nor woman. Being ‘Christian’ therefore means being a ‘citizen’. Democracy, as a secular project, needs very precise presuppositions, namely the reference to the transcendent, to the ‘religious’ sphere (it is enough to remember the emblematic meeting in this regard between Card. Joseph Ratzinger and the renowned German representative of so-called post-metaphysical thought, Jürgen Habermas, in 2004).
And how can these values be realised?
There have been many occasions in the past. Most recently, TfE participated in the Ecumenical Youth Festival in Timisoara/Romania, to promote dialogue between young people of various Churches.
On 5 May 2023, we offered a workshop on the theme of citizenship and the transformation of cities, starting from the passage of scripture ‘Seek the Good/the Shalôm of the City’ (Jer. 29:7) and a text – endowed with an unprecedented prophetic pragmatism – by Chiara Lubich: ‘One city is not enough’. Approximately 100 young Catholics, Orthodox and members of other Christian churches participated. The workshop was then further divided into various thematic groups, of which ‘The Art of Listening’, ‘Christians=citizens’ and ‘Ideas for a film/storyboard about my city’ were the most popular. On the part of the young people (16 to 28 age bracket), both the practice of ‘story-telling’ and a psycho-spiritual approach to group dynamics were appreciated, as well as the enhancement of the aesthetic side (in addition to the diaconic or social side).
From 16 to 18 November 2023 there will be the annual meeting of the ‘Friends of Together for Europe‘ also in Timisoara. Why?
For the year 2023, Eleusis (Greece), Veszprém (Hungary) and Timişoara (Romania) won the title of ‘European Capital of Culture’. On this occasion, Catholic Bishop Pál József Csaba of Timişoara invited to his city the annual meeting of the Friends of Together for Europe. The TfE Steering Committee accepted the invitation and included it in its programme.
On an annual basis, the meeting of the ‘Friends of TfE‘ takes place in Eastern and Western European countries (e.g. Prague, Timisoara and Porto) with the aim of creating the basis for a differentiated and fruitful dialogue. It is about fostering an attitude that creates the conditions for this very dialogue. The aim is to learn more deeply the ‘Art-of-Listening’, the readiness to mutually ‘listen’, which is the only way that can lead to a solid and sustainable knowledge of the other’s culture.
For the Friends’ meeting in November, among other things, we would like to propose workshops that take up and discern in depth the theme “Seek the Good/the Shalôm of the City” on a larger scale.
Beatriz Lauenroth
(1) Herbert Lauenroth, historian, is a member of the Steering Committee of Together for Europe and has accompanied the development of the international network since its inception.
by Ilona Toth | May 27, 2023 | 2023 Europe Day, Italy, News
Europe Day 2023 in Milan, Siena and Bari
IN MILAN DEEP REFLECTIONS AND COURAGEOUS RESOLUTIONS
It was a welcoming house in Via Rovigo in Milan that saw around sixty people from Together for Europe gather for a moment of reflection, discussion and dialogue on the theme of Europe and peace. As Dolores Librale and Alfonso Fornasari affirmed, it was a true celebration of “song, relationships and prayer” to make deep reflections and courageous resolutions. There were four ‘books to leaf through’: the legacy of the Founding Fathers of the European Union, the historical experience of Eastern Europe, the universal vision of Christianity and the testimony of a European politician.
Prof. Edoardo Zin (former vice-president of the Institut Saint Benoit, patron of Europe; postulator of the cause for the beatification of Robert Schuman) did not hesitate to emphasise that “… peace will never come from the pursuit of one’s own strategic interests, but from policies capable of looking at the Whole, at the development of all, attentive to people, to the poor and to tomorrow, not only to the power, gains and opportunities of the present. For all this, Christians are called to be the sentinels keeping watch over Europe”.
Fr Traian Valdman, Archpriest, Eparchial Vicar Emeritus of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Italy, offered a perspective on Eastern Europe: “… I come from a world that was not free, but where Christians continued to greet each other, from Easter to Ascension, with the acclamation “Christ is risen”, in defiance of all the ideology of the regime in power”.
Prof. Emilio Florio, President of the Protestant Cultural Centre of Milan and professor of philosophy and history, took us to the “earthly garden created to host the human race”: “We are Christians precisely because we lean out beyond the boundaries to welcome, to speak to everyone…(…) The first Christians were ‘Catholics’, that is, they were universalists, they saw in the other the brother. Not just ‘those from here’. Instead, by interpreting the concept of a garden narrowly, we have built walls everywhere in Europe. (…) We are trees towering on one side towards Heaven and on the other side towards our brothers and sisters in the Universe World to which we have been called”.
David Sassoli (President of the European Parliament until his untimely death) – almost as an illustration of these phrases – through a short video prepared in 2020 was able to testify that together it is possible to achieve whatever one dreams about Europe.
IN BARI FROM SIX DIFFERENT CHURCHES
And here is the email Rita and Giulio Seller wrote to us from Bari:
“We have just concluded our Together for Europe meeting, and we are overjoyed at the success of the event. We were from six different Churches and about ten Catholic movements; in all 130 people seated and some standing. The meeting took place in a hall attached to a Christian bookstore. The bishop came and gave a greeting together with the two keynote speakers: the Lutheran Pastor of Naples-Bari, Kirsten Thie, and Giuseppe Gabrielli of the St Egidio community. The evening was enlivened by songs from the ‘Anna Sinigaglia’ ecumenical choir. It was a great opportunity to create unity between us all, and in the end we were all grateful for the success of the event”.
ECUMENICAL PRAYER FOR EUROPE IN SIENA
The attached photos say it all about the event in Siena.
Edited by Ilona Tóth
by Diego Goller | May 26, 2023 | 2023 Europe Day, News
Flash news from several European Countries
France
Building on last year’s success, Together for Europe wished to repeat a popular mobilisation in Strasbourg: a procession of around 150 people marched peacefully through the city under the slogan: ‘Together for Europe – Objective Peace’. It started at the European Parliament and ended at a Protestant church in the city centre.
We proclaimed loudly that, as Christians, our priority yearning is peace, and that creative solutions must be found. The Together for Europe groups from Lyon and Landau (Germany) also participated.
Led in song by a group of young people from Taizé, the procession ended in Temple Neuf with an hour full of prayer, praise and conversion to peace; this was an ecumenical prayer promoted by the Council of Christian Churches in Strasbourg for reconciliation and the unity of Europe. There were about 400 people present, including representatives of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe.
Belgium
Astenet (Eupen) is known as the country of the three borders (Belgium, Holland, Germany). On 27 April, a delegation of Together for Europe – consisting of people from the Charismatic Renewal, Community of St Egidio and Focolare – went there to the shrine of St Catherine of Siena, patron saint of Europe, to mark her feast day.
After a fraternal meeting with the local Catharines, we participated in the Eucharist. At the end, we presented our ecumenical network and our initiatives for Europe Day. We experienced a fraternal, prayerful and joy-filled meeting. This opens new horizons for our network in Belgium.
Germany
For a number of years now, the city of Munich has been inviting people around 9 May to a ‘Europe Day’ to raise awareness of various issues concerning our Continent.
Together with some thirty organisations and associations that care about our Continent, for the second year running ‘Together for Europe’ was also present with a well-attended gazebo and a few ‘gondola’ rides in the big wheel, which offers a panoramic view of the city. One ride (10 people) lasted 25 minutes and offered the opportunity to talk about our network, initiatives and the ideals that move us.
As Christians from various Churches, we felt challenged to witness our commitment to a more fraternal Europe and, above all, to peace. We have already made an appointment for next year!
Portugal
A prayer for peace in Europe was also held in Porto on 9 May; it was promoted by Together for Europe and the city’s Ecumenical Commission, in the Igreja de Cedofeita. Representatives of six Churches, the bishops of the Catholic and Lusitanian Churches, and various Movements were present. The prayer was centred on the phrases of the Lord’s Prayer; while the European countries for which they were praying were mentioned, the flags of these countries were carried to the altar.
The Novena, a nine-day prayer for peace in Europe, written this year especially for Europe Day, has also been translated into Portuguese (cf: Article on our website: The Lord’s Prayer – a prayer for Europe, 30.3.2023).
Many places in Europe prayed the Novena intensively; in Vallendar, at the Schönstatt International Centre, the entire community of that movement did so.
by Diego Goller
