Celebration of unity draws churches in Geneva together

Anne Deshusses-Raemy, a Roman Catholic, and Blaise Menu, a Protestant, offered the homily together. Deshusses-Raemy and Menu are co-directors of l’Atelier Œcuménique de Théologie.

Deshusses-Raemy spoke of how unity in Christ is not "uniformity" in a single mould, but “unity in diversity.”

Menu reflected that, as long as we don't take the step of a real ecumenism of agape, “as long as the first step of ecumenism is not the meeting, but the negotiation, we will indeed have nothing to do together and our ecumenism will only be a façade.”

Yet, he added, “in front of Christ, we are imperfect churches, but in Christ, we have communion and we are one.”

Deshusses-Raemy said that that “co-construction” to which Christ calls us is not a loss of one’s own identity. “The only risk we take is to lose ourselves together in the infinite love of God,” she said.

18 January 2023, Geneva, Switzerland: A near-brimful chapel at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva serves as the venue for a prayer to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 2023. The prayer is hosted by the World Council of Churches together with the Committee of the Fellowship of Christian Churches in Geneva. Here, co-directors of L’Atelier Oecuménique de Théologie: Anne Deshusses-Raemy and Blaise Menu.

Aurélie Ethuin-Lanoy, president of the Rassemblement des Eglises et Communautés Chrétiennes de Genève, reflected that the prayer service was an unmissable event for those who are committed to the ecumenism, as it was an opportunity to pray together and to come together as Christians. “The Rassemblement des Eglises et Communautés Chrétiennes de Genève gathers around 25 different churches in Geneva, and this event gives visibility to small churches,” she said. “We have a lot to offer each other and it is very important to be able to pray together."

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Week of Prayer for Christian Unity