During the weekend 27th/28th of October 2018, an ecumenical encounter of prayer took place in Görlitz, Saxony, in the eastern part of Germany. This occured due to the invitation of our friend Ludwig, director of the Youth ministry of the protestant church in that area, who had participated with a group of young adults in our Pilgrimage to Santiago in 2017. The aim of this meeting was to go on pilgrimage to the Holy Grave in Görlitz which is a reproduction from 1504 of the original in Jerusalem.
Besides ourselves Idente Missionaries and Ludwig, also participated Janet(responsable of the protestant cultural foundation of Görlitz), Marko (Catholic Youth Minister of the diocesis of Görlitz), Theresa (cantor in the protestant region of Schlesische Oberlausitz), Sebastian (responsable for the protestant youth int in the region Hoyerswerda), Uli (Protestant Youth Minister in Görlitz), 2 participants of the St. James way in 2017 and one young woman from Görlitz.
On Saturday, we all pilgrimaged the the grave. There the responsable gave an explanation fo the place and the sympols that adorn it. Finally, we prayed together in the chapel of the grave which is called ‘Holy Cross’. Later, after the typical Kaffee-Kuchen (coffe and cake), there was an exchange of experiences in the development of the Youth Ministry in the different churches and possible forms of improvement. We also talked about creating ways to work together and also to widen the ecumenic circle of participation churches. There was also a talk given by us Idente Missionaries about sanctity.
Then we celebrated the Protestant liturgy, had dinner together and finished the day with a walk through the town.
The next day, Sunday, we assisted the mass in the church St. James, which is the Bishop’s church. Afterwards, we were offered a tour through the church.
After lunch all groups returned to there homes mit the hope and desire having started something beautiful and important.
