News & events / page 17

Ukraine is undoubtedly a laboratory for the Jesus Celebration 2033 movement. So much diversity, so much dynamism and potential within so many pressures in this beautiful Ukraine, so complex and so wounded by tears of all kinds that we visited in early June 2017.

I traveled to Belgium from May 1-3, 2017 with Olivier Fleury, director of the “Jesus Celebration 2033” Association (JC 2033), which calls on churches to walk together towards 2033, the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The former director of Belgium's “Parcours Alpha”, Joseph Hoquet, greets us at the airport and takes us to the Chevetogne monastery, southwest of Brussels.

The aim of this trip with Olivier Fleury, director of the Association, Martin Hoegger and a young couple, Elodie and Rémy Pilloud, was to listen to the different churches (there are many in Lebanon!). How can they give a common witness on the occasion of the 2000th anniversary of Christ's resurrection in 2033?

Monday, November 7, 2016. A delegation from the Jesus Celebration 2033 team (Olivier Fleury, Jason Hollinger, Martin Hoegger) visited Rome to meet with leaders of churches and movements to discuss the project "Jesus Celebration 2033".

We visited in Rome different churches. We had some amazing and unexpected encouters and open doors.

Rome, 12th November 2016. After working in the "secret archives" we dined at the "Borgo Pio", the neighborhood next to the Vatican. We met Nicolas Buttet, founder and director of the Valais Eucharist community, and his friend René Meldem. They came to Rome for the "Fratello" meeting with Pope Francis: 4,000 homeless people from different European countries. This meeting is the last of the "Jubilee of Mercy" that ends on Sunday, November 13th.

Vatican, November 9, 2016. This morning the doors of the Secret Archives of the Vatican open. We met the prefect, Bishop Sergio Pagano before receiving our personal access cards. Visiting these archives illustrates, for us, one of the charismas of the Catholic Church. Everything is very well organized!

Wednesday 9th November 2016. A day full of surprises! The first one waits for the team in the Vatican, where the "customs" deny them access to consult the documents of the anniversaries of 1933, 1833 ... in the "Archivum Secretum Vaticanum". They search for missing documents to enter this enigmatic place and send it to the "Monsignor", who is responsible for the archives. Not without having prayed together for doors to open by the grace of him "who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” (Rev 3.7)