Together for Europe: a fascinating undertaking

“We have made the experience that our differences are not a reason for division, but they represent a multiplicity of gifts and a resource.” This is an extract from the Manifesto which was read out in the Square Meeting Center in Brussels, Belgium, at the conclusion of the day meeting Together for Europe 2012. More than a thousand people came together in Brussels from every part of Europe. Tens of thousands were linked via satellite in 22 countries, as all shared the message of hope, unity and peace for Europe. The underlying characteristic of this event sets it apart from all other events for Europe as it was complemented by a fine-mesh net of events and simultaneous meetings held in 144 cities throughout Europe. A mix of events, some small scale, others on a large scale, but all held in places of symbolic high profiles. They brought about collaboration between movements and ecclesial communities. These relationships showed a glimpse of hope for future moves to act together for the common good of local communities: from Wroclaw in Poland to Belfast in Northern Ireland, from Oslo in Norway to Valletta in Malta. There were so many initiatives involving people of all ages, walks of life and creeds. In Augsburg, Germany, the program started with a “flashmob” in the central square: seven giant balloons were released, each displaying one of the six yes-es (yes to peace, a just economy, ecology, life and family, solidarity, responsibility) which marked the commitment of the movements and communities to families, life, peace and a more balanced economy. In Wroclaw, Poland, their aim was to highlight the delicate process of meeting and reconciliation between the peoples of Poland and Germany (to heal the hurts lingering after the Second World War) through an event called “Christians of Germany and Poland Together for Europe.”

In Ischia, Italy, a human chain “encircled” the perimeter of the island in a symbolic welcome and as a gesture to defend the environment. Still in Florence, Italy at the “Sala dei Cinquecento,” located within the Old Palace, the event had a direct live link with the main event in the Square Meeting Center in Brussels. And if, for some of the Movements and Christian Communities, the way of brotherhood adopted by “Together for Europe” has been their experience over a number of years now, for others the events in 2012 were a new chance to have a first-hand experience of working together and getting to know each other better. A couple from Laudau in Germany explained: “Brussels 2012 has been an excuse to get to know one another better, to take an interest in Movements we had never heard of. We are very enthusiastic and want to concentrate our energies to bolster the Christian soul of Europe, starting in our own city.”
These stories of collaboration and fraternity helps us believe that Europe can reacquire the hope it lacks, as Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio Community, underlined in his talk in Brussels: “The greatest European mystery is the lack of hope.” Because of this “we need to generate a climate of empathy and solidarity. A sense of a common destiny has to rise up, a social network has to be born.”
“Together for Europe,” Maria Voce of Focolare underlined in her talk, “is a fascinating undertaking: we have the possibility, also through events such as this one today, to bear witness to the men and women of our times that life on earth in a spirit of sharing opens up to our continent and the whole of humanity a future of fraternity and peace for individuals and for all peoples.”
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