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Geneva
has played a pivotal role in the history of the Church. It was, for
example, the center of the Reformation movement of John Calvin who came to
the place in 1536. But it was more the struggle for political independence
from the duke of Savoy that led the city toward the Reformation. In 1541
the city council passed into law Calvin’s church constitution, the
Ecclesiastical Ordinances, and by 1555 Geneva was a completely organized
theocracy and center of Calvinism. Calvin died in Geneva in 1564. Today,
Geneva is the site of the headquarters of many United Nations agencies and
other international organizations. I
went to Geneva last month to meet with officials of the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade
Organization (WTO) concerning possible collaboration with the Economic and
Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on a million dollar
capacity building project on trade and environment and to attend a
workshop on the same subject organized by the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) at Palais des Nations. I
was eager to go because I knew that Frank and Lu Cimafranca had moved to
Geneva. Frank and Lu joined Couples for Christ in Jakarta when Jean and I
were the leaders of the CFC community there. They were very active in the
community, always ready for service, and were members of the music
ministry and choir, the CFC Voices of Praise. We both loved the CFC
community in Jakarta and were fond of reminiscing the days when we were
serving there together. I informed Frank and Lu about my visit and
requested if I could meet the CFC community in Geneva. Frank
and Lu organized a dinner in their apartment during my first night in
Geneva. There I met the members of the fraternal household that served as
the governance team of the community. I was delighted to find all of them
to be full of zeal for service. But I also learned that the community –
as in many new and fast growing CFC communities – was encountering a
number of serious pastoral concerns involving some of its members. They
sought my advice and I gave some suggestions on how best to deal with the
problems. On my third and final evening, they requested me to give a teaching on evangelization and on how to deal with difficulties and problems in the community. The teaching was held in a hall in one of the Catholic parishes and the community came in large numbers despite the short notice. The teaching was received with great enthusiasm. They wanted to hear more, but we started late, and a priest came to remind, not without showing his irritation, that we were already past the agreed time for the use of the hall. I was surprised to learn
that, in the midst of Europe and the presence of a large number of U.N.
agencies and international organizations, the CFC community in Geneva was
composed solely of Filipinos. CFC Geneva had not been able to attract
anyone from another nationality to complete the CLP. Frank, Lu and I
therefore shared our experience in Jakarta and related how, with the help
of Jack Burgoyne from CFC Manila, we were able to attract non-Filipinos
into the community. I encouraged the leaders to organize a strategic CLP
in July this year for non-Filipinos, particularly those working in the
United Nations and other international organizations. I related what happened
during my luncheon meeting at Palais des Nations. I was having lunch with
a senior official of UNCTAD, whom I was meeting for the first time. When
he saw me make the sign of the cross and say a short prayer before taking
my meal, our conversation turned to religion. I found out that he belonged
to the Russian Orthodox Church. Earlier that day, I met another U.N.
official who, during the course of our conversation, I learned belonged to
the Greek Orthodox Church. This indicated, I told the leaders, that there
were many Christians working in the U.N. who were interested in religion
and could be invited to the CLP. When
I learned that the chapter head of CFC Geneva worked for the International
Trade Center, a joint programme of UNCTAD and WTO, while the unit head,
who was the acting chapter head, worked for the World Health Organization
(WHO), I told the CFC leaders that this gave an indication of what God
wanted them to do. Their mission was to evangelize the United Nations and
the other international agencies in Geneva. I promised that, with God’s
grace, I could come to Geneva in July to help conduct the strategic CLP.
My brothers and sisters,
in Couples for Christ, we are constantly challenged by the following words
of Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Tertio
Millenio Adveniente: The first
evangelization took place above all in the region of the Mediterranean. In
the course of the first millenium, missions setting out from Rome and
Constantinople brought Christianity to the whole continent of Europe. At
the same time they made their way to the heart of Asia … With the fall
of the great anti-Christian systems in Europe, first of Nazism and then of
Communism, there is urgent need to bring once more the liberating message
of the Gospel to the men and women of Europe. Europe
brought the Gospel to Asia, and now God is calling the people of Asia,
particularly the Filipinos through Couples for Christ, “to bring once
more the liberating message of the Gospel to the men and women of
Europe.” The presence in Geneva of a large number of people of various
nationalities working in U.N. agencies and other international
organizations presents a unique opportunity to hasten the evangelization
of Europe and the world. Five hundred years ago,
Geneva became the center of a movement that brought millions of people
away from the Catholic Church. Today, it could become the center of a
movement that would bring back millions to Christ and the Church. This
could happen through you, the community of Couples for Christ in Geneva.
As the location of the headquarters of many United Nations agencies and
other international organizations, Geneva could, and should, play a
strategic role in our global work of evangelization. Indeed
a number of you, my dear brothers and sisters, are already in the United
Nations. I encourage you to dare to organize the strategic CLP in July
this year for your colleagues and friends in the United Nations and other
international organizations. I admonish you to dare to carry the Good News
into your work place and share the joy that is now in your heart and the
peace that is now in your mind. Share this joy and peace that you
experience in serving the Lord! Show that you care for them as to say: So
deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not
only the gospel of God but also our own selves because you have become
very dear to us (1 Thes 2:8). Finally, pray for them – pray that the
Holy Spirit may touch their hearts, that they may respond positively to
your invitation. My brothers and sisters,
“you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce
the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful
light” (1 Pt 2:9). God has chosen you to be in Geneva for a purpose.
You are God’s own people placed in a strategic location. And God has
called you out of darkness into His wonderful light so that you may
announce His praises and proclaim His mighty acts. I pray that I may join
you in July!
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