Yesterday, L’Œuvre d’Orient celebrated its 170th anniversary with a Mass at Notre-Dame de Paris, bringing together a large congregation and nearly 150 Eastern patriarchs and priests at Notre-Dame Cathedral.
The celebration was presided over by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, in the presence of Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris and Bishop Hugues de Woillemont, Vicar General for Eastern Catholics in France and Director General of L’Œuvre d’Orient. This time of prayer and thanksgiving provided an opportunity to pay tribute to the mission carried out for 170 years by the Œuvre d’Orient among the Christian communities of the East.
Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti emphasised the importance of remaining sustained by hope and by the Holy Spirit in the Church’s mission: “May the Holy Spirit be the soul of your work, your consolation, and the source of your creativity.”
In Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Chapel of the Eastern Christians serves as a visible reminder of the unity and universality of the Catholic Church. It also manifests the deep spiritual bonds that unite Paris with the various Eastern traditions, rich in their liturgical, cultural and theological diversity.
