By CEC Study Secretary Rev. Dr Peter Pavlovic
Marc Lenders and Helmut von Verschuer were pioneers of the ecumenical movement of churches in Brussels. They paved the way for the active presence of churches within the European political institutions and for a structured dialogue between churches and the European Union.
Marc Lenders, a Brussels-born Belgian pastor and theologian, returned to Brussels in the mid-60s after his theological studies and first assignments. He was given the new and challenging task to work along with teaching religion at the European school on establishing a link between churches and the European political institutions, notably the Commission which was then the core institution of the developing European project.
Marc understood this work to be a particular calling. As he expressed in one of his late interviews: ‘Ecumenical presence in Brussels in relating churches to the European project was an opportunity for a new way of being the church.’ Marc was not only convinced of the importance of faith as the life-forming power but also of the necessity to give faith a civil shape. The action of faith was for him not limited to the four walls of a particular building. Faith had to be demonstrated in a daily activity.
He was convinced that faith had to unfold itself within society. Society, although already multi-faceted, has to find a place for and can be enriched by a dialogue of faith with the decision-makers in power. The ecumenical centre was an opportunity for him to make faith meaningful in the secular world of the 20th and 21st centuries.
He found a listening ear for such an approach in Brussels. Helmut von Verschuer was a high-ranking German civil servant working in the European Commission, in the directorate general for agriculture. Along with an enthusiasm for a vision of Europe based on cooperation and sharing, he was convinced of the role of faith in this project. Marc Lenders and Helmut von Verschuer established the first group of civil servants from within the institutions who were ready to meet regularly for prayers and open conversation on what it means to be a person of faith in modern society, along with the intersection of church and politics.
They were both key persons in the development of an ecumenical association, at that time under different names, the last and most known being the 'European Ecumenical Commission for Church and Society (EECCS)', which later became the Church and Society Commission that was subsequently integrated into the Conference of European Churches (CEC) towards the end of the century. Although CEC has existed since 1959, it was engaged in a different part of an ecumenical agenda, and dialogue with European politics entered CEC's portfolio only after the integration of EECCS. The prayer group of European civil servants, of which was Helmut von Verschuer the President, was closely linked with the EECCS since its inception.
Building a new vision for Europe and a new understanding of faith, and giving faith a presence in society, was of key importance to Marc Lenders and Helmut von Verschuer. Europe would not be built around power but around sharing and community. This was the inspiring conviction of the fathers of modern Europe. Marc and Helmut were strongly related to that vision.
The most condensed meaning of this vision was given the wording ‘the Soul for Europe.’ The formula was indeed created in one of the meetings between church leaders and the President of the European Commission. It put in succinct form what both sides considered the most fundamental dimension of the European project. Not business, not prosperity, but a vision of common aim and belonging, a vision of solidarity and cooperation. Churches were invited to contribute to giving Europe its soul. It was natural that the formula ‘giving soul for Europe’ resonated with both sides, churches as well as European politics, and opened the way for structural cooperation and dialogue between them both. Dialogue, in which Marc and Helmut were the driving force. Giving Europe the soul was their way of looking at Europe, their way of looking at the role of the church in society.
Marc Lenders and Helmut von Verschuer both departed this world within several days of one another. It is perhaps more than a coincidence that their funerals will take place on the same day, Thursday, March 28, even if in different places on the continent. They leave with us the testimony of their faith. Faith that is transforming the presence of Christ in the world and thereby transforming the world.
Let their memory remain among us.