A Catholic Community
with an ecumenical vocation
A call for Christian unity
Brothers and sisters of Chemin Neuf Community make a special commitment to Christian unity.
A Call
This call is rooted in the experience of our founder, Father Laurent Fabre, who in 1971 experienced a decisive encounter with God through the Baptism in the Holy Spirit during a time of prayer with Protestant Christians.
In accord with the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council, we desire “under the inspiring grace of the Holy Spirit … to recognize the signs of the times and to take an active and intelligent part in the work of ecumenism.” (#4).
Jesus’ prayer
Jesus was the first to pray for the unity of his disciples. We want to make his prayer our own – “that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me (Jn 17:21).
Today we seek to hear how the Spirit is guiding the Churches on the path to Christian unity.
Each day we pray for unity:
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will, according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin and to hope beyond all hope. Amen.
Our daily commitment
Our community includes members from different Churches – Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Orthodox, and Anglicans. We commit ourselves to share daily life, pray together, and participate in ongoing formation so as to be able to evangelize together and bear witness to the work of the Risen Christ in the world.
„Because the division of Christians is the greatest obstacle to evangelization, and because we believe that the prayer of Jesus Christ for unity will be answered – “May all be one so that the world may believe,” together – Orthodox,Protestants, Catholics – without further delay, we take the humble path of a shared daily life. (Community Manifesto, 1986)
The vision of the “invisible monastery” – a Net for God
We pray for Christian unity in a special way each Thursday, according to a vision received in 1944 by Paul Couturier, French priest and pioneer of “spiritual ecumenism”:
« If every Thursday evening, the weekly commemoration of Holy Thursday, an increasing multitude of Christians of all denominations formed a sort of huge network enfolding the earth, like a vast invisible monastery into which everyone was to be engrossed in prayer of Christ for unity, wouldn’t that be the dawn of Christian unity breaking over the world? Is it not the deep and fervent attitude of spiritual emulation that the Father is waiting for to realise the visible unity of the body of the Church, to work all the miracles required to gather in His invisible Church all those who love Him and who have been visibly marked by the baptismal seal?”