TOGETHER is BETTER expresses one of the main aims of Catholic Action, to underline the value of the “association” that in the Church takes on the spiritual, ecclesiological, apostolic dimension of communion to be welcomed and experienced in the community and mission. In Apostolicam Actuositatem 18 we read: The group apostolate of Christian believers then happily corresponds to a human and Christian need and at the same time signifies the communion and unity of the Church in Christ, who said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20).
The main objective of the project TOGETHER is BETTER was therefore to foster encounter, friendship in the name of the Lord, an exercise of communion to build up the Church as lay people and as associated lay people, to form lay missionary disciples in the parish, aware of their vocation, in the faithful people of God to develop a culture of the encounter cf EG 220, “never tiring of our decision to live in fraternity” EG 91.
The initiatives have been carried out in different continental realities, promoted at regional and national level, with the specific objective of inviting representatives of new countries together with the member countries of the International Forum of Catholic Action and expanding the network of contacts and experiences. The TOGETHER IS BETTER project was divided into 5 mini projects in Asia, Holy Land, Europe, Africa and America.
Thanks for the contribution to
ASIA: Inter-diocesan meeting in MYANMAR
Taungyi, 2/5 May 2029
350 Participants from the dioceses of: Keng Tung, Taungngu, Pekhon, Loikaw, Taunggyi, Laisho, Yangon, Pyay, Mandalay.
REGIONAL MEETING Central and Eastern AFRICA
First step: Kigali (Rwanda) 21-24 August 2019
84 Participants from: Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Senegal and Congo. Due to problems caused by the Ebola epidemic not all expected participants were able to reach Rwanda.
Second step: Bujumbura (Burundi) 17-21 December 2019.
87 Participants from: Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, DRCongo, Zambia and other African countries (Senegal, South Africa and Guinea Conakry)
EUROPE: BLACK SEA AGORA
Odessa (Ukraine), 23-27 October 2019
41 Participants from: Romania, Republic of Moldova, Georgia, Bulgaria, Ukraine.
REGIONAL MEETING AMERICA
Montevideo (Uruguay), 12-15 December 2019
40 Participants from: Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay. In Videoconference: Colombia, Venezuela, United States (Miami), Spain.
HOLY LAND
First stage: Summer 2019. Young people from the Holy Land hosted in Europe
2 young people from the parish of Zababdeh hosted in Italy (25 July-5 August)
2 young people from the parishes of Ramallah and Beit Jala hosted in Malta (20-30 July)
2 young people from the parishes of Nazareth and Jerusalem hosted in Spain (25 July – 5 August) 2 boys from the parish of Nazareth hosted in Romania (17-31 August)
Second step in Bethlehem 28 November – 1 December 2019
24 Participants from 6 parishes in the Holy Land and from Italy, Spain, Romania, Malta.
Some general and common notes
The variety of initiatives in different contexts has confirmed how the universality of the Church becomes concrete in local Churches engaged in the inculturation of the faith. Catholic Action is part of this universal – local dynamic.
The formation, witness and mission of the laity become more and more important and urgent, the association offers an experience and a proposal for lay people aware of their lay vocation in the Church and in society.
The value of the association favours above all the co-responsibility of everyone and together, in their own reality but also in relation to other realities, with an opening of horizons that makes us members of the Catholic Church and citizens of the world.
The first fruit is mutual knowledge and friendship among people in the name of the Lord: a very precious gift to welcome, a talent to put to good use.
The program has helped to develop various dimensions: the spiritual one with common and personal moments of prayer, the social one with the presentation of one’s own different realities in the regional and continental context, the cultural one with the deepening of themes and phenomena, the solidarity one of mutual support, even with the effort of the organization, before during and after
