Q. We are interested in the Community of Bose which in Malta is not so known, may you tell me how you started the foundation?

A. The Community was born on the 8th December of 1965, the day of the closing of the second Vatican Council. I choose that day to start living all alone, in a rented house near the derelict “borgo” of Bose. The first brothers joined me three years later, among them a woman and an evangelical pastor. From then on, every morning, midday and evening we celebrated the singing of the liturgical hours, we worked, we were open to hospitality, and we studied the scriptures and the monastic tradition. We started to live the fatigue of monastic daily life, as a fruitful adventure of the community. Today the community consists of 80 persons, men and women, some of whom are evangelical; five are priests and a pastor. Without ever planning it but as a great gift of the spirit, from the very beginning Christians of different denominations have formed part of Bose. From this happening we have sought to make a commitment towards the unity of all Christians having always faith in the words of Christ: “That all may be one.”

Q. Today the Church feels the crisis of vocations does this crisis affect the community of Bose?

A. For now we do not see a drop, but nothing guarantees that it will always be so. What is the essential is to seek always the renewal in following the Lord, to live with authenticity, in the freedom and love, the vocation we received.

Q. The ecumenical spirit of the community of Bose appeals even to the Orthodox, the Protestants and the Jews. How does Bose outreach to all these?

A. We were born in the years of ecumenical hope, which the community still follows in a time which is less exalted, with its fatigue and a patient research of a life of common faith which for centuries separated us all. Only the Word of God, the spiritual heritage of the diverse churches, the traditions, the rhythm of the spiritual life and the acceptance of one common ideal with unity of respect so as to overcome the divisions. Faithfulness and obedience, audacity and prophecy animate our constant journey towards conversion which is a return to the one Lord and His will that “all may be one.”