MESSAGE FROM THE EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY IN VERONA 20th-27th August ’14

We send you warmest greetings from the magnificent setting of Sezano near Verona where, surrounded by vines and olive trees, our assembly brought together, from 20th to 27th August, 19 delegates from 10 countries representing 1600 members of our fraternities in Europe. The following are some of the main conclusions we want to share with you.

1. We are walking with the Church through changing times:

– our Churches in Europe are facing the religious indifference of their people, either because these have gradually lapsed from their faith or because they are ignorant of the basics of Christianity. The Church has been relegated to the margins of society.
– our societies themselves have been shaken by the assaults of financial capitalism that has neither regard for human values nor care for the environment.
– the reality of migration in search of work or asylum and the growing presence of Islam in our societies are a challenge and sometimes a cause for concern.
– the style and the gestures of Pope Francis give us new heart and summon us back to the simplicity of the Gospel.

2. As priests walking with the Church in new situations, we rediscover the relevance of the charism of Br. Charles de Foucauld

– his passion for God led him to put Christ at the centre and to make God’s Word in the Scriptures his essential food.
– his discovery of the saving implications of the hidden life of Jesus in Nazareth led him to a life of great simplicity and closeness to the poor.
– his passion for the Gospel ‘to be cried aloud with the whole of his life’ led him to give priority to encounters, conversations, friendships and the duty of understanding the other person’s culture as a way to mission.
– he anticipated some of the great intuitions of the Second Vatican Council which point the way for our Church today: the Word of God (Dei Verbum), the Eucharist as source and summit (Sacrosanctum Concilium), the mission and the mystery of the Church (Lumen Gentium), human beings to be loved (Gaudium et Spes).

3. In the footsteps of Br Charles, we feel called to boldly take the road Pope Francis is showing the Church.

– called to be rooted in Christ so that our lives re-echo the Gospel.
– called to play our part in being a Church that ‘goes forth’ and becomes more missionary.
– called to give first place to encounter, dialogue, listening to others (especially muslims) and so draw close to those on the different ‘margins’.
– called to keep a simple life-style, making us accessible to the poor, close to the people and ‘smelling of the sheep’.
– called to keep our hearts open to the joys and sorrows of our vast world, attentive to the work of the Holy Spirit.
– called as fraternities to be an influence for unity in our presbyterates, marked by diverse pastoral options and the presence of priests from other countries.

During the assembly we were filled with joy and thanksgiving for the presence among us of our brother Gianantonio Allegri, recently set free after 57 days of captivity in the hands of Boko Haram. He recounted this terrifying episode which also turned out to be ‘the treasure hidden in the field’.

We listened to the experience of the fraternities in French-speaking Africa which had just held their Month of Nazareth. Here was an invitation to strengthen our ties with fraternities of different continents which can teach us much in the face of common concerns like the dialogue with Islam and how to establish fraternity in a context of violence.

Sharing too with other visitors from the wider family of Charles de Foucauld (lay, religious men and women) brought home the importance of keeping in touch. Br. Charles considered the role of the laity as vital in evangelization.

Finally, a visit/pilgimage to the monument on Monte Grappa commemorating the 25,000 soldiers from all over Europe who lost their lives there during World War 1 came as a call to our fraternities to work tirelessly for peace at a time when ‘the senseless massacre of war’ (Pope Benedict XV in 1917) is again at the gates of Europe. (Ukraine, Middle
East)