In seeking to “build bridges” and create fruitful conversations between Christians globally, Urbiet Orbi Foundation is proud to announce that we endeavor to form an Institute: A place of understanding and walking together, an opportunity for exchange among young leaders to be “built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God” (Ephesians2:22). Our vision is engaging in what comes next for a world that has lost balance and can aptly be described as post-Christian and yet also post-pluralist. We approach this project with prayerful hope, believing that our way forward is together in mutual understanding and that dialogue makes a difference.

Our plan is to gather bright young minds globally from among the Churches — Catholic, Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic — for several days over the summer in Northern Virginia. Partnering with these various churches, we will identify pairs of graduate students from each Tradition that show ambition toward the healing of Christianity, either through their sense of call to vocations or by other professional avenues. They will be housed together, visit cultural and religious sites in the area together, but most importantly they will have time to learn from renowned scholars in their fields and discuss together matters of cultural, religious, economic, and societal importance that will shape the world in the decades to come. As we envision this being simply the inaugural Institute of many, a new guiding topic will be selected each year. At the conclusion of the session, the outcomes of the Institute will be published. We anticipate great things to come from this conversation.