“With our Protestant brothers and sisters, who welcome us in their cathedral, we want simply to make a strong ecumenical gesture, a sign that we all live together in Geneva,” he said, adding that the Mass was a “gesture of hospitality” within the city’s Christian community.‘
In a time of a threat to the Unity of the Orthodox Churches around the world – because of the action of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kiri by his decision to align himself with Russian President Valdimir Putin’s criminal invasion of nearby Ukraine – a contrary sign of Eucharistic convergence between the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches in Geneva is all the more welcomed.
In a historical moment, an invitation by the Protestant Leaders at Geneva Cathedral was gladly taken up by Geneva’s Catholic community to celebrate a Mass there in the Roman Catholic tradition – an action greeted by both Christian communities as a welcome sign of cooperation between Protestants and Catholics, and a unique opportunity for each to offer sincere and welcome repentance for each other’s sins against one another which have occurred during and since the Calvinist Protestant Reformation that took place in the city centuries ago.
As well as the moving moment when both communities expressed their regret for the antagonism that had taken place between them in the interim period; there was this note given in a letter following the Celebration that expresses the desire for reconciliation from the Catholic side: ““With our Protestant brothers and sisters, who welcome us in their cathedral, we want simply to make a strong ecumenical gesture, a sign that we all live together in Geneva,” he said, adding that the Mass was a “gesture of hospitality” within the city’s Christian community.
One can only thank God for those occasion of ecumenical togetherness that help to counteract the actions of Church Leaders whose intransigence leads to further disunity of the Body of Christ.
Father Ron Smith, Christchurch, New Zealand
____________________________________________
Geneva Cathedral – first Catholic Mass in 500 years
Monday, March 14th, 2022
- Latest News
A cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, has celebrated its first Catholic Mass in nearly 500 years.
The vigil of the First Sunday of Lent was the day chosen to celebrate the historic Mass.
The last (R.C.) Mass celebrated at St Pierre Cathedral took place in 1535.
After the Reformation, the building was taken over by John Calvin’s Reformed Protestant Church.
All the cathedral’s statues, paintings and stained-glass windows were destroyed and Catholic worship was banned.
Around 1,500 people attended the Mass, led by the episcopal vicar of Geneva Father Pascal Desthieux.
Among those present was a representative of the Protestant community, who faced the congregation and formally asked pardon for historic actions against Christian unity.
Desthieux said Geneva’s Catholics were touched by the Protestant community’s invitation to celebrate Mass at St Pierre Cathedral.
He also asked for forgiveness for “faults against unity”: acts of mockery, caricature, or challenge to the Reformed community.
He underlined the desire to “enrich each other with our differences.”
Couples from religiously mixed marriages “live ecumenism in the most intimate way,” he said.
He urged everyone to “resist the forces of division in our lives between us and among us Christians.”
Once a stained-glass window, it was replaced after the Reformation.
The Mass has been planned for two years but delayed because of COVID quarantine restrictions.
In a letter published on the vicariate’s website in 2020, Desthieux described the cathedral as the “central and symbolic location of Geneva’s Christian history.”
It has its Catholic history and following the Reformation, it became a location “emblematic of the Calvinist reform,” he said.
While acknowledging that the return of the Catholic Mass to the cathedral was a cause for rejoicing, Desthieux cautioned against “triumphalism,” as well as any language suggesting that Catholics were looking to “take over” the building.
“With our Protestant brothers and sisters, who welcome us in their cathedral, we want simply to make a strong ecumenical gesture, a sign that we all live together in Geneva,” he said, adding that the Mass was a “gesture of hospitality” within the city’s Christian community.
Kiwianglo's Blog 