Some Final Words and Reflections from Pere Beaupere

Shared from Melanie Finch:

You will remember I wrote an obituary for Fr René Beaupère a few months ago (Update 4/23.)

AFFMIC, the French interchurch families association, has just published a few more articles about him and his work in the ecumenical journal which Fr BP founded, Chrétiens en Marche.

I'm attaching translations of the articles particularly relevant to AIF members who have been involved in some of our international work in the past. One is a lovely final message sent to 'foyers mixtes' by Fr BP. And there are two short tributes to him, one by Jean-Baptiste Lipp from the Swiss French association and another by Nicola Kontzi, Fr BP's assistant for several years, whom some of us will remember very well. Both of them contributed a great deal to our work on the two international gatherings of interchurch families, and the subsequent contacts with, and visits to, the Vatican by groups of representatives from several countries.

Best wishes

 Melanie

Message from Père René Beaupère to ‘Foyers Mixtes’.

This last message from Fr Beaupère, left on his desk, was addressed to his dear ‘foyers mixtes’.  Written on the 1 January 1983, it had been re-read and ‘approved’ five times up until 2015.

"There are so many of you now that, like Abraham, I feel like a father (and grandfather) to a multitude! The fatherhood I voluntarily denied myself when I joined the Dominicans in my twenties has been returned to me a hundredfold. I've seen most of you grow to maturity, and I've had the joy of being able to call dozens and dozens of your children by name: those names I've often repeated in prayer, after on so many occasions pronouncing them for the first time at Baptism. 

I've shared with you the greatest of joys, above all that of seeing you live, and living with you in ‘real communion’.   At certain difficult moments for me, I have praised the Lord for your friendship to me and your love for one another.

I have loved each of you with your individual personalities and graces. I have above all carried in my heart those of you for whom life has brought suffering.

Today when, against my will (but accepting it in advance), I am leaving you for a while, and I am disappearing behind the veil of death into the arms of our Saviour, I want to say thank you for the support, the trust, the friendship, the love that you have shown me.

Thank you also for what you have taught me in my human life, and my Christian life. Thanks to you, I think, I haven't shrivelled up or become a ‘bedroom theologian’ or a bookworm (which I could have been).  You have given a profoundly pastoral dimension to my life. I have been - along with my pastor friends – your shepherd: I'm not ashamed of taking the old biblical word used by Jesus.

I have loved you all: Protestants, Catholics, Anglican, Orthodox ..., and you know very well that I no longer recognised any difference in my heart between these children of the same Father, even if my mind was still able to perceive the ongoing theological differences.

Now that I am on the other side of the veil, I will tell you a secret: I've lived a man's life and - like all of you - I've known moments of hesitation about the road to follow. You know as well as I do that we sometimes find ourselves at the crossroads of several loyalties that, at first glance, appear contradictory. It has been your presence and your trust that helped me to keep to as straight a path as possible, with the added joy of discovering beyond the crossroads - sometimes years later - that the loyalties weren’t in conflict at all. 

And now one wish: continue to move forward quietly, hand in hand, without worrying too much about the turmoils of the ‘world’. Remain in communion.

And don't forget: ‘God is bigger than our hearts’.

I keep each of your faces in my heart, and I embrace you all.

 
René Beaupère

Tributes to Père René Beaupère

Jean-Baptiste Lipp, President of the Conférence des Eglises Suisses Romandes, member of the ecumenical Groupe des Dombes, and a long-term friend who with his interchurch family worked closely with Père Beaupère and AFFMIC for many years. Jean-Baptiste was a member of the international PREPROMA committee who planned the 2003 Second International Gathering of Interchurch Families in Rome.

A pastoral theologian!

At the end of the 80s, in Fribourg, Dominique (Catholic) and I (Swiss Reformed pastor) were beginning our pastoral lives as an interchurch couple. Père Beaupère, the inventor of genuine Swiss-French pastoral care, was taking part in a regional weekend for interchurch families. As in the Gospel, we were called there and then to join the committee of the ‘Foyers Mixtes’ review.

This committee was to become the place where we could express ourselves, grow together in our faith and be gradually convinced that our interchurch life, far from being a problem was, at its heart, an opportunity. To the extent that if I was to make a decision to become a Catholic, Dominique would have become a Protestant, so as to keep safe this rich dialogue of denominational ‘otherness’…

We have given a lot and received a lot from this ecumenical adventure: links with such wonderful French interchurch families: a real family for us! Links with interchurch families from other countries and even other continents … two international gatherings, one at the World Council of Churches, the other in Rome, quite something!

Finally I would like to say, in the name of so many generations of interchurch families, priests, ministers and pastors, a enormous thank you to this indefatigable servant to unity and pastoral care.

Ecumenism does not consist solely of theological responsibilities, it also calls for pastoral obligations. Thank you, René, for being that pastoral theologian!

_____________________________________________________________

Pastor Nicola Kontzi, a young graduate in Islamology in Germany, joined the Centre Saint-Irénée (CSI) in 1996. A kingpin, she worked alongside René Beaupère day by day, especially accompanying groups of interchurch families in Lyon.

The crazy hope of God.

Father René Beaupère, Maurice, was a passionate Lyonnais. The day we first met, I shared with him my impression: ‘this city seems to me like a crossroads in western Europe’. And we immediately clicked. A crossroads allows encounters, allows travel with vast horizons.

Seven years, seven months, seven days with Père Beaupère at the CSI, where we saw each other nearly every day, and in the evenings after work, we put the world to rights. And 19 years of friendship taught me many things, of which I can only mention a few: the CSI lived on Hope, against all financial logic, God’s mad Hope. Teaching, journeys, exchanges, meetings: ecumenical relationships on every level, he was able to create bonds and he was happy with so many friendships and so much spiritual communion which could form around him or through him; here’s the proof.

I saw him address hundreds (almost thousands) of envelopes, and if anybody asked him why he didn’t have them printed he would answer ‘No, it’s an intercession.’ For him, ecumenism was alive, lived.

When I asked him how faith manifests itself, he pointed to the Rublev icon of the Trinity, which he particularly loved, this mystery of the Love of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And how much he loved quoting Cardinal Gerlier who had ordained him priest: ‘Everything happens as if there were a sort of providence.’ 

If we were talking about the meaning of life and the world, he would say: ‘We are put in a specific place and time – to carry out our task!’

My vocation to become a pastor developed during my years at the CSI, and Fr René Beaupère was among the ecumenical representatives at my ordination. He was my older brother in the Lord’s service, always ready to advise, with the warmth of his regard and his profound knowledge of the Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant world, and of ecumenism.

Also a reminder that bookings are now open for the 2023 AIF Weekend:

The Theme for 2023 is:
Interchurch Families – Beacons of Receptive Ecumenism

October 14-15th, 2023.

Though the Members only in Person event is held at The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire,

the weekend is open to all Online Via Zoom.

The sessions and worship will be broadcast simultaneously on Zoom to allow non-members, international friends, and members who cannot attend in person to participate on-line.

Booking for the “on-line only” event can be made via the Online Via Zoom link... Please note any non-members that book using the Members Only link who have not been members for the preceeding 12 months will have their booking cancelled.

Booking links can be found here: Upcoming Events (interchurchfamilies.org.uk)