International Congress for the New Evangelisation, 2007 Budapest

„…to give you a future and a hope”
(Jer. 29:11)

The year of 2007 is dedicated to the New Evangelisation in Budapest. For the inspiration of John Paul II several cardinals of various European cities realised that the richness of our faith should be presented to the world in a new way. We should show the sign of Christ’s Good News to everyone as well as all the cultural and human richness of Christianity in Europe. Therefore we turn to the inhabitants of European cities bravely but not arrogantly using the help of the modern ways of communication, that of the sights, arts and music.

A city can be the symbol of the world, the profane world. It is a place where people having different cultures, religions, and ideologies meet each other; a place where the greatest danger lies in disinterest, drifting “mass-behaviour”, increasing loneliness and faceless greyness as opposed to the richness of individuality and identity lived not at the cost of others. For that reason the words of Jeremiah, the motto of our Congress, are completely relevant: “…to give you a future and a hope”.

As we turn to the communities of Vienna, Paris, Lisbon, and Brussels we would like to forward the invitation for the event in Budapest in the autumn of 2007. We are looking forward to welcoming the bishops and representatives of the four missionary cities as well as the bishops and believers of other countries and continents to join us in our prayers and the various cultural and spiritual programmes. The experience shared with others strengthens us handing on the joy of our belief. That is how nowadays’ testimony becomes worldwide and global in a good sense.

As our churches and communities of believers reflect God’s presence, which creates new meaningful communities among people that call to unselfishness so do we believe that Christ’s presence and message make the life of the communities more human and precious in modern cities.