What the companionship with Central Pennsylvania
means to the São Paulo Diocese

“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ”. 1John 3,4.

The Christian message has two great aims, to produce fellowship with men and fellowship with God. Jesus Christ calls all men to share in the fullness of life with God and their fellow men. If men are ever to find fellowship with one another and fellowship with God, and if they are ever to find true joy they must find them in Jesus Christ.

The New Testament word for fellowship, koinonia, communicates the deepest kind of togetherness, a togetherness that has all things in common, that shares the most intimate experiences of life from agonies to joys. We never have to feel alone in our experience of the Christian life. God has given us others to be with us in a growing fellowship-relationship with Jesus. God has placed us together so we might support and help each other as we share experiences common to us all.

So our relationship with Central Pennsylvania means we can learn from each other and build a relationship based on spirituality and fraternity.

Faith as the believing of certain facts which are entirely and wholly trustworthy will certainly increase through the learning process within Christian fellowship, and as we learn from each other exchanging experiences of our lives our hope is that our faith will continue to grow, and our area of activity greatly expand, enabling us to widen our circle of influence by spreading the word of God.

We hope to build a relationship that will benefit us all, and that is what happens when we see each other as valuable and worthwhile and when we communicate this perception to each other. As Paul says in Galatians “Carry each other’s burdens” we hope to share with each other our difficulties our worries, so that we can encourage and stir up each other to act in the faith and confidence that God will act in us.

We see the possibility of joint programs and projects however small they may be that will increase our experience and knowledge of the Christian life and be a benefit to both of our dioceses.

Having accepted to enter into a covenant with Central Pennsylvania has meant meetings in all parishes to discuss the meaning of the covenant to exchange ideas and to find people committed to this project. New life and ideas are beginning to germinate, people are beginning to think of things separated from their parochial lives new interests are forming, and people are accepting new commitments. The idea of parish to parish companionship has meant the involvement of the whole of the diocese and parishes. People are finding that they have to be open to new thoughts and ideas concerning the Christian life in this great communion of ours and to accompany these thoughts they have to be willing to change to realize that we are no longer closed communities but part of a global Anglican communion.

Companionship means to us new life, a breath of fresh air, new thoughts and new visions. May our joint efforts to make this project a success be blessed by the Holy Spirit and may we learn to live beyond ourselves.

Hiroshi Ito

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