By Joseph Tulloch
Every autumn, the World Council of Churches welcomes a cohort of around 40 students to its Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Geneva, Switzerland.
During their stay, the students; who come from all over the world and from many different Christian traditions; live, pray, and study together in an 18th century Swiss chateau. Their stay in Bossey normally lasts for one academic semester, and includes a visit to Rome for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
When this year’s cohort visited Rome, Vatican News had a chance to speak to two of its members – Tobias Adam of the Protestant Church in Switzerland, and the Rev Veronica Brilliant, from Indonesia’s Batak Christian Protestant Church.
A week in Rome
The 40 students from Bossey arrived in Rome on Sunday, Jan 19, and will remain until Sunday 26th.
In that time, they will participate in prayer services, visit various Vatican Dicasteries and some of Rome’s main churches, and also have time to explore historical sites in the city.
The Rev Brilliant said that the opportunity to meet with officials from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, which she had studied at Bossey, was “exciting”.
“The Dicastery was the starting point for Roman Catholic engagement with the ecumenical movement after the Second Vatican Council”, she said.
“It was fascinating”, adds Adam, “to get inside those giant buildings with the fancy names and the Pope’s crest.”
“It was so interesting to meet the people behind those names, to see their stories, their diversity, their backgrounds – and also to see them as humans, as fellow believers.”
Week of Prayer
The students are in Rome as part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, celebrated every year from the 18th to the 25th January.
“I think it’s a very, very important week”, says Adam, “because it gives us a taste of what unity is all about.”
During the week, he said, participants “pray together, stand in front of our God together, and get to know each other’s traditions. I think that prayer is such a beautiful space to do that, because it’s not only about theological differences or what separates us, but what unites us – and that’s our faith in one, triune God.”
“I was thinking about Pope John Paul II’s enyclical Ut Unum Sint (That all might be one)”, adds the Rev Brilliant.
“We have our own tradition, we have different backgrounds, but in the end we stand together as one body – with Christ at the head.” – Vatican News
