We Are Church Intl.

We Are Church Council - Rome - March 2018


Representatives from countries around the world.

 

Pictured, Sigrid Grabmeier, We Are Church (Germany) hands the Chair of the Council to Colm Holmes, We Are Church (Ireland).

A personal reflection from Colm Holmes

25 delegates from 12 countries attended meetings in Rome where much was discussed and ideas shared.

For me there were two highlights:

  • Our Prayer Vigil close to St Peter’s at 10pm on St Patrick’s Day
  • Our shared Eucharist

Those were two very special occasions where we prayed and shared at a deeper level with the Holy Spirit very present.

On the Friday we had a Joint meeting with the European Network Church on the Move (EN-RE). Martha Heizer shared her experiences from the AYA/ATP meeting in Indonesia where young leaders from 10 Asian countries discussed how they deal with life and death issues. Edson Silva presented an overview on Liberation Theology which led right up to the assassination of Marielle Franco, a young woman Council Member in Rio on 14 March 2018. We hope Edson’s paper will be translated into English.

The Joint meeting with EN-RE produced suggestions for 5 possible Joint Projects.

The WAC-International meetings included:

  • Country Reports
  • We have 21 members in 19 countries (2 members each in both France and Brazil)
  • 500th anniversary of the Reformation witnesses outside and inside churches in 17 countries and 6 continents and using social media to share over 500 photos
  • Red scarf Pentecost celebration
  • 18 Press Releases issued
  • Next WAC-International meeting will again be held in Rome at the end of March 2020.
  • We linked up online with Ashik Naz Khokhar in Pakistan
  • The election of our new Coordinating Team:

§ Chair Colm Holmes (Ireland)
§ Vice Chair Martha Heizer (Austria)
§ Communications Valerie Stroud (Great Britain)
- - Assistant Ashik Naz Khokhar (Pakistan)
§ Media coordinator Marianne Duddy Burke (U.S.A.)
§ Treasurer ? [Interim: Colm Holmes Ireland]
§ Membership In-Reach Martha Heizer (Austria)
- - Assistant Erik Westerberg (Sweden)
§ Outreach Jean-Pierre Schmitz (France)
- - Assistant Ed Schreurs (Netherlands)

Following up from the Council 50 meeting in Rome there is a large team working on the GCN Aparacida meeting in Brazil 15-18 November 2018 which has three titles:

  • 2nd Global Forum of the People of God from Medellin 1968 to Aparacida 2018
  • “EMPOWERING THE PEOPLE IN THE CHURCH AND IN SOCIETY”
  • The Gospel challenged by globalization: justice, peace, democracy, environment, spirituality

The keynote speaker will be Leonardo Boff with many other Brazilian and international speakers.

My sincere thanks to all our members who give freely of their time, energy and expertise to help to reform our Church into a more Christ like body.