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Introduction
At the end of 1998, the Church of England diocese of St Albans was invited to take part in an ecumenical initiative launched by the three neighbouring Roman Catholic dioceses of Fano, Pesaro and Urbino on the east coast of Italy. This project was inspired by Chiara Lubich’s idea of an "ecumenism of the people" where ordinary Christian congregations of different denominations could force church leaders and theologians to confront obstacles to Christian Unity by actually living it.
Following the Pope’s address to the European Churches’ Assembly in Graz, a major ecumenical project was started by these three dioceses. The focal point of this is the fostering of direct links between their parishes and communities and those of other Christian denominations. Since Pesaro has been twinned with Watford for a number of years, and St Albans had just started a civil link with Fano, these Italian dioceses looked to us for Anglican partners in this initiative.
Development of the links
A small delegation from the Diocese of St Albans which was led by Bishop David Farmbrough attended a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in this area. They joined representatives from the Romanian and Ukrainian Orthodox churches in services and discussions. This has since continued annually, with the additional participation of the Danish Lutherans.
Ecumenical delegates (including laity) from the three Italian Dioceses visited St Albans the following year. They took part in services and a series of dialogues. Consequently, an invitation to visit the three Italian Dioceses in April 2002 was accepted by Bishop Christopher Herbert. Additionally, Bishop Christopher Foster of Hertford went out for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January 2002.
The Bishop of Fano has visited St Albans, and an Italian delegation attended Jeffery John’s inauguration as Dean of St Albans in 2004. May 2005 saw a youth ecumenical event held to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the church of Christ the Worker in Calpino, Italy. Delegations from both Sharnbrook (the Anglican parish twinned with Calpino) and the St Albans Diocese joined groups from Caransebes in Romania, and Aarhus, Denmark in celebrating and praying together.
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