“ …I find that the project for Bucharest that the Province of France has been contemplating for some time now is the project behind which we must invest our greatest energies and resources.  What I have understood of this project impresses me with its modesty and its realism, but also with its promise and with its potentially important impact not only locally but on the entire Assumptionist mission in Eastern Europe. It is a very concrete project, a precise strategy, but one inspired by a broader vision. It would allow the Assumption to be present in an important and explicit way in the Orthodox world.

 The project entails the refounding of an Assumptionist community in the building in Bucharest (Christian Tell Street) built by the Congregation in 1936. The intention would be to create an ecumenical center, and house the very rich ecumenical library of the French Institute of Byzantine Studies. When I first heard of the project, I thought of the ecumenical community of Enzo Bianchi in Bose (Italy) and could easily imagine a similar community in Bucharest, of Assumptionist inspiration, even with Catholic and Orthodox members. The community would be our first mission, with a strong emphasis on fraternal life (the best “strategy” for the ecumenical mission) and of a life of common prayer at once open to visitors, beautiful, and inspired by our sister Christian traditions. Also, the brothers, depending on their own training and charisms, could be involved in ecumenical study, teaching and research, as well as in pastoral and social endeavors with other Christians.”