Twinning at the service of a missionary communion
The word twinning is displayed at the entrance of the localities: city twinned with... It is a sign of an openness to the elsewhere. In the Church, the word twinning resonates with fraternity, communion across borders, it is about being a brother of a distant Christian and thus participating in the construction of the one Church of Christ. If we are in communion with all the churches, we cannot maintain privileged relations with all, it is through a privileged relationship that the openness to the universal passes.
In his exhortation to the churches of Africa in November 2011, Pope Benedict XVI declared: "beyond the differences of origin or culture, the great challenge that awaits us all is to discern in the human person, loved by God, the foundation of a communion that respects and integrates the particular contributions of the various cultures. We must truly open these boundaries between tribes, ethnicities, religions, to the universality of God's love. Different men and women by origin, culture, language or religion can live together harmoniously. (Africae munus, n. 39). The challenge of twinning is the same: a communion across borders, a fraternity between peoples with different cultures, and a common participation in the same mission of announcing the Gospel to the men of this time
The purpose of twinning is to foster greater communion between two churches, so that the catholicity of the one Church of Christ is more evident (Jn 17:21). The life of the twinning covers several objectives and is built on three axes: the encounter, the brotherhood and the proclamation of the Gospel.
Many French dioceses are now twined with dioceses elsewhere, here are some examples:
- Albi-Toamasina (form. Tamatave) (Madagascar)
- Nancy-Tripoli (Libya)
- Moulins-Dakar (Senegal)
- Evreux-Boma (Dem. Republic of Congo)
- Lyon-Mosul (Iraq)
Like our dioceses of the MCR (French Christian movement of retired) teams have been thinking about creating links with teams of Ascending Life beyond our borders, in order to build a network of friendship and strengthen their Christian commitment.
To meet their desire to live other cultures and other ways of walking, they want to establish a regular exchange with teams living elsewhere to share their lives, their reciprocal experiences and their hope of believers and learn to discover each other.
An initiative of this kind was born recently between a team of Bordeaux and a team of Barcelona. After regular exchanges and a reciprocal discovery of the life of their teams, this initiative must be concretized soon by an on-site meeting and a reflection to lay the foundations of a twinning between the two teams.
This experience can be full of promises and the LAI website could help to put in contact with LAI teams around the world who would be interested in this type of initiative. Let us know!
As the Holy Pope John Paul II said: " "In a world that is becoming ever smaller as a result of the abolition of distances, ecclesial communities must unite with one another, exchange their energies and their means, engage together in the unique and common mission to announce and to live the gospel »