Reflection text
This week’s service was prepared by brothers and sisters from New York.
An Address by His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
Delivered at the celebration to welcome Chemin Neuf and to launch the Community at the Crossing program at the Cathedral of St John the Divine (September 8, 2022)
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Even as we are present with you in spirit today, what comes to mind is the powerful symbol of doors! What we would like to see and encourage you to aspire to, dear friends, is for your newly-planted community to become a door for the young men and women that it will shape through this initiative:
- a door to heaven and a door to the world;
- a door to the heart and a door to humankind and all creation;
- a door to the compassionate nature of God and a door to the communal nature of the Church.
Such is surely the authentic expression of monasticism. […] monasticism has never existed for itself but has always burned like a candle of intercession to the loving Lord for the life of the world.
Therefore, our hope and prayer for this new house of Chemin Neuf on the cathedral campus of St. John the Divine is that it may become a place of contemplation and consolation, another “bronze door” that will reflect the light of Christ onto the world and welcome “all those who labor and are heavy laden that they may find rest . . . For [the Lord is] gentle and lowly in heart” (Mt 11.28–29).
Intercessions
St John the Divine Cathedral in New York, in partnership with the Chemin Neuf Community, welcomed the third cohort of the Community at the Crossing (CATC) on Sunday 21 September. This new cohort includes 13 young adults from across the United States, as well as international participants from Japan and India. Representing a wide range of Christian traditions, the cohort includes members from the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and non-denominational churches.
We entrust to you, Lord, each member of this third cohort, that their shared journey and their differences in background and tradition may become sources of learning and growth, offering a living witness to the unity that can arise from dialogue and hospitality.
2. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, spiritual leader of 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, received the 2025 Templeton Prize for his pioneering efforts to bridge scientific and spiritual understandings of the relationship between humanity and the natural world, by bringing together people of different faiths to respond to the call for responsible stewardship of creation.
We entrust to you, Lord, his work accomplished in partnership with other leaders such as scientists, academics, politicians and various religious representatives from the Catholic, Jewish and Muslim worlds, so that he may highlight environmental concerns as a means of caring for the most vulnerable members of our societies.
3. The Jewish community in New York is estimated to number between 1.6 and 1.8 million people, making it the largest Jewish community in the diaspora. A large part of this population is concentrated in Brooklyn neighbourhoods such as Williamsburg, Crown Heights and Borough Park, which are important centres of the Hasidic movements.
We entrust to you, Lord, the Jewish communities throughout the world as they enter the Jewish autumn holidays.
4. Recent events in the United States have highlighted the growing political polarisation and social fragmentation in that country, as well as their impact on the ability to conduct peaceful debate and express differences of opinion in a healthy manner.
Lord, we pray for all victims of political violence in the United States and abroad. Inspire leaders to find ways to ease tensions and listen to one another.
We entrust to you in particular the work of the United Nations and its important summit this week.