Unitas: Come, Rebuild My Church
Our Three Keystone Initiatives:
1. Unity within individuals: Koinonia, a Greek word meaning “joint participation” and Sorbornost, a Russian word meaning “unity” or “symphony,” best define the spirit of the Unitas Centers, which are committed to being a catalyst for Church unity. We strive to obtain a sense of communion and “freedom within unity,” in the spirit of the early Church Fathers.
Souls union with God through our Unitas centers: Over the past three decades, we have maintained a presence in both the Washington, D.C. area and Rome, Italy. We also have developed close relationships with the bishop in Assisi, Italy, and Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo in Budapest, as well as a long-standing collaboration with the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. These relationships offer us unique, inside access to these important focal points of faith. We will create spaces and opportunities for collaboration in all six of these locations, including unity-building conferences, round-table discussions, cultural events like concerts, and – of course – spiritual pilgrimages and retreats.
2. Unity within the Catholic Church through the Written Word: We will strengthen our digital and print presence as a completely independent source of Catholic news, reflection and analysis by expanding the reach of Inside the Vatican magazine (founded in 1993) and annually publishing books aimed at preserving our Catholic tradition, as well as bringing to internet audiences our highly-praised Virtual Pilgrimages and online webinars.
- Shine the Light Project is our newest initiative, aimed at helping Church leaders rid the Church of abuse and financial corruption. Through this vital project, we will publish “White Papers” and support objective reporting on abuse and corruption to help Bishops’ Conferences around the world, and the Vatican itself, confront this plague head-on. At the same time, Catholics need to see the tremendous good done by many unsung priests and bishops.
3. Unity with the Orthodox: Urbi et Orbi Foundation has “built bridges” for many years between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches through common projects, working with the hierarchies of both churches in Rome, Istanbul, Kiev, Moscow and other centers of Orthodoxy. We will increase scholarships for seminarians studying at Catholic and Orthodox universities as well as supporting pilgrimages and other joint projects.
The Foundation’s two newest projects are:
- Friends of Lebanon: our initiative to enable Lebanese young and old, both Orthodox and Catholics, who are fleeing their homeland en masse, to stay and thrive in this land where Christ Himself once walked, taught, and performed miracles.
- Women’s Council of the Heart: an international group of Catholic and Orthodox women working together on charitable projects, in support of their bishops, to answer the call from both Catholic and Orthodox churches for lay action worldwide.
