YMCA Europe National General Secretaries’s Forum Celebration

7the November at the Chapel for Europe

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Welcome by Cedric Roulent, National Coordinator of YMCA Belgium

During the YMCA Europe National General Secretaries’s Forum, YMCA Belgium is glad to welcome you to this YMCA for Europe Celebration.

YMCAs in Europe want to build a european human community of justice, with love, peace and reconciliation for the fullness of life for all.

Let’s come and celebrate this work in Europe !

Let’s pray God :

Al-Fatiha by Ismaïl Oulkadi, member of YMCA Belgium :

"In the name of God, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

All praise and thanks is for to God, [The] Creator, Owner, Sustainer of the Worlds.

The Entirely Merciful, The Especially Merciful.

Owner of the Day of Recompense.

You alone do we worship and You alone we seek for help.

Guide us to the Straight Path.

The path of those whom Your blessings are upon, Not of those who You have cursed nor of those who have gone astray.

Quran 1 :1

38 Je louerai l’Eternel

Praise, i will praise you, Lord,

With all my heart.

O god, I will tell the wonders of your ways.

And glorify your name.

Praise, i will praise you, Lord,

With all my heart.

In your I will find the source of all my joy.

Alleluja !

Welcome by Krystian Sowa, chaplain of the Chapel for Europe  :

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.

Life is beauty, admire it.

Life is a dream, realize it.

Life is a challenge, meet it.

Life is a duty, complete it.

Life is a game, play it.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.

Life is sorrow, overcome it.

Life is a song, sing it.

Life is a struggle, accept it.

Life is a tragedy, confront it.

Life is an adventure, dare it.

Life is luck, make it.

Life is too precious, do not destroy it.

Life is life, fight for it.

M. Theresa

Intercession by Julia Eberlen, member of YMCA Belgium :

Speech delivered on August 21^st, 1849, during Peace Conference.

« The day will come when weapons will fall out of your hands too !

The day will come when war will look as absurd and as impossible between Paris and London, between Petersburg and Berlin, between Vienna and Turin, as it would look impossible and absurd today between Rouen and Amiens, between Boston and Philadelphia.

The day will come when France, Russia, Italy, England, Germany, when you all nations from the continent will tightly blend into a higher unit, without ever being deprived of your distinct qualities and your glorious individuality, and you will represent the European brotherhood, just as Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, Lorraine, Alsace, all our provinces have blended into France.

The day will come when there won't be any battlefield other than markets opening to trade and minds opening to ideas.

The day will come when cannonballs and bombs will be subsituted by ballot, by universal suffrage of the peoples, by the venerable arbitration of a great supreme Senate that will be to Europe what Parliament is to England, what the Diet / Bundestag is to Germany, what the legislative assembly is to France ! (Applause)

The day will come when canons will be exhibited in museums as torture devices are today, and we will be surprized that this could ever be ! (Laughters and cheers)

The day will come when we will witness these two vast groups, the United States of America, The United States of Europe (Applause), facing each other, reaching for each other over the seas, trading their products, making business, trading their manufactories, their arts, their brilliance, while clearing the land, colonizing deserts, improving creation under the eyes of the Creator, and in order to achieve everyone's well-being, combining together these two infinite forces, brotherhood and God's power ! » (Long applause)

                                                                                                                           Victor Hugo

132 Amazing grace  § 1, 2

Amazing grace ! How sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me !
I once was lost, but now i’m found,

Was blind, but now i see.

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I hace already come :

This grace has brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

Short speach given by Hugh Robert Boudin :

Welcome to Brussels, the capital of Europe.

You may think I am here quite alone to greet you

No. That is not the case. I am surrounded by a host of men and women, who join me to express good wishes for the success of your discussions.

Let me introduce some of them

Here to welcome you is Jean REY, one of the Fathers of the European Union, who laboured as a politician to build the new Europe. He was honorary président of the Belgian YMCA.

Here to welcome you is General Harry JUNGBLUTH, a very close adviser to King Albert the First, King of the Belgians. He eventually became Belgium’ Chief Scout. The King delegated him to discuss with the YMCA how to set up Centres for the Belgian troops. The biggest YMCA in the world was opened for military personnel in a huge department store in the rue Neuve in Brussels.

Here to welcome you is Hélène, comtesse GOBLET d’ALVIELLA, who during the First World War  enthused by what she saw in France, volunteered for the war services of the Y.W.C.A. Back in Belgium she founded a chain of Hostels in view of claiming the rights of Belgian women.

Here to welcome you is also Adolphe BUYSSENS, a botanical specialist, who wrote many floral manuals and devoted his spare time as president of the National Committee of YMCAs  of Belgium. After the First World War he examined at world level the necessities of recontruction of the Movement.

Here to welcome you is Lucienne LORENT-MASQUELIER who started as a girl’s leader to finish democratically elected as president of the Federation of Belgian Y.W.C.A.’s. A highlight in her Y carreer was her participation in the World Conference of Christian Youth in Oslo en 1947.

Here to welcome you is also Christian Phildius, an Austrian YMCA secretary sent by the World Alliance. He  came so often to Belgium that he started a shuttle service between Geneva, Brussels and Antwerp to discuss and confer with local leaders. It was the time when strategic locations were being chosen to open Central YMCA buildings in important towns.  With local help Y’s were pu up in France, Egypt, Russia and Switzerland. Thanks to him : Brussels and Antwerp could use well equiped Central buildings.

If per chance you heard a dog barking that will be Milou TINTIN’s faithfull compagnion, who is also here to greet you. They all have come to welcome you to Brussels.

A World Alliance Secretary keen on boy’s work and specialising  in leadership training was Henri JOHANNOT, a third generation YMCA leader. He  visited Belgium and went to our North Sea camp. On a walk with some of the campleaders he arrived at the sea front and asked :

What do you see ? A boy answered : The beach !

Anything else ? Another responded :  The sea.

JOHANNOT answered : That ‘s were you are mistaken You do not observe the sea. You only see its surface, the ripples of the waves, the incessant movement and  the foam .

You only perceive the surface and not what is underneath. To be able to have real contact with the sea you must dive. To see under water, you need divers goggles. They will help you to find your way in and under the sea and oceans.

That is what YMCA  leaders must  do : equip the boys,  girls and young people with whom they come in contact, with the adequate diving gear and prepare them physically to withstand the pressure, train them intellectully so they comprehend what comes across their way, build up their spirituality so as to know where their priorities lie and how to progress on their life’s path. They have to avoid the danger zones, where only grief and sadness dwell

With the goggles you give your members : they will be equiped for lifes’ travel, prepared for the up and downs of their existence; they will understand how to chart a safe course towards their own goals and if at all possible enter into happiness

You will be helping young people making the right decisions. They will  learn to shoulder responsibility, not to flee it or be indifferent, but squarely take it up at their level.

In the troubled waters of the everyday existence  many Young Europeans need guidance, need hope, need friends, need divers goggles.

What you will be doing during these days in Brussels is peering into the future, with the eyes of a sailor, seeing how the lands of Europe lie, assessing the strong points of the movement and identifying its inherent  weaknesses.

Each of you will have to sharpen his or her gaze into the coming years. Especially your glance will have to detect the specific calling of the YMCA’s. Indeed so many youth movements secular, political, physical and religious vie today for the souls of young Europeans. You must know clearly  and state it distinctly and answer adequately : Why the Y ?

Never in the modern history of the Y. M. C. A., has a gathering such as yours taken place with such a broad spectre of nations in the capital of Europe.

With the help of God, the assistance of his Holy Spirit and the companionship of Jesus-Christ, you must not miss this rendez-vous with destiny.

49 Ose shalom bimromav

Ose shalom bimromav

Hu jaase shalom alenu

We alkol Jisrael we imru, imru : Amen !

Jaase shalom, jaase shalom, shalom alenu we alkol Jisrael !

Jaase shalom, jaase shalom, shalom alenu we alkol Jisrael !

Jasse shalom, jaase shalom,

Shalom alenu we alkol Jisrael !

Jasse shalom, jaase shalom,

Shalom alenu we alkol Jisrael !

He who bring peace to the heavens, will also bring peace to us and to all Israel.

Here are some lyrics from the

Ode to Joy (european hymn) by Alexandre Vermeir, member of YMCA Belgium :

Oh friends, not these tones!

Rather, let us raise our voices in more pleasing

And more joyful sounds!

Joy!

Glad, as His suns fly

Through the Heaven's glorious design,

Run, brothers, your path,

Joyful, as a hero to victory.

Be embraced, millions!

This kiss for the whole world!

Brothers, above the starry canopy

Must a loving Father dwell.

Do you bow down, millions?

Do you sense the Creator, world?

Seek Him beyond the starry canopy!

Beyond the stars must He dwell.

Must a loving Father dwell.

Be embraced,

This kiss for the whole world!

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods,

Daughter of Elysium,

Joy, beautiful spark of the gods

Spark of the gods!

Prayer for Europe by David de Souza, member of YMCA Belgium

Father of Mankind

Lord of History,

Look at this continent on which You have sent philosophers,

Law-makers and wise men,

Faith pioneers in your Son who has died and is resurrected.

Look at these peoples evangelized by Peter and Paul,

By prophets, monks and saints,

Look at these territories bathed with martyrs' blood and called

By the voices of the reformers.

Look at the people united by multiple binds and divided by hate and war.

Grant us to be involved in a Europe of the spirit,

Not only based upon trade agreements,

But also on human and eternal values ;

A Europe capable of ethnic and ecumenical reconciliations,

Ready to greet the stranger, respectful for all dignities.

Grant us to look up trustfully at our duty,

To spark off and promote harmony between the people who, on all continents, ensure

Justice and bread, freedom and peace.

Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini

Archbishop emeritus in Milan

153 Abide with me : §1, 3

Abide with me : fast falls the eventide ;

The darkness deepens ; Lord, with me abide :

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

I need thy presence ev’ry passing hour ;

What but thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r ?

Who like thyself my guide and stay can be ?

Through cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me.

Word from Ed Eggink, President of YMCA Europe and Juan Simoes, General Secretary of YMCA Europe

YMCA Europe is an umbrella organization that serves 37 member and 8 cooperating YMCA movements throughout Europe. It offers administrative support, facilitates networking and programme sharing, organizes seminars and events and, in accordance with its Strategic Plan, serves to enhance and positively influence lives of young people.

Based in Prague, Czech Republic, YMCA Europe annually designs and develops different programme initiatives mainly for young people that belong to the member and cooperating movements. It also facilitates the contact exchange among national movements, various task groups, European institutions, the World Alliance of YMCAs and other organizations. Collectively YMCAs in Europe reach 1.384.000 beneficiaries in 5.574 locations. More than 100.000 volunteers and 21.000 staff serve in YMCAs across Europe.

The Executive Committee is elected among the member movements and it consists of a President, a Vice President, a Treasurer, a Recording Secretary and five assessors. The Secretary General leads a staff team spread across Europe and their main role is to implement the Strategic Plan accepted by the member movements.

The 2011 – 2016 Strategic Plan includes three priorities (Mission Awareness / Representation / Advocacy ; Relevant Programmes ; Sustainability) and three flagship programmes (Peace / Justice / Democracy ; Healthy Living ; Inclusive Christianity) defined in 12 aims and 50 objectives.

www.ymcaeurope.com