Tenth Anniversary of Communio

TEN YEARS OF COMMUNIO. With this issue we finish ten years of publishing Communio. Sixty issues have been published. They are a testimony to the spirit and intentions of editors and the publisher. They are also a witness to the faithfulness and collaboration of our readers and friends. A most heartfelt thanks to all of them.

Ten years of Communio--this is also an opportunity to take a look backwards, in a spirit of thanks and humility, and to confirm the fruitfulness of the Communio-idea and the Communio-reality. Above all we are struck by the growth and spread of the Communio editorial boards in the last ten years. In the beginning (1972), there were only the German and Italian, followed by the Serbian-Croation, shortly afterwards the North American, then the French, the Flemish-Dutch, the Spanish, and in this year, as announced, the Polish. All of these boards, made up of priests and laity, publish in regular issues the International Catholic Review: Communio adapted to their own readership. Their collaboration is based on what comes out of two international meetings of the editorial boards each year. Unfortunately it was not possible to publish the Arabic edition of Communio this year. The political situation did not allow it. We are hopeful, though, that the board planning the Arabic edition will soon be able to realize their plans. Two more editions are in the planning stage, one for the Spanish-speaking public in America, the other for those who speak Portuguese.

We are aware that all of this work and activity could not have been realized without the help of our friends and supporters. We beg for your further participation, your good counsel, and criticism. Not least also for the continuation of your support in "Help for Readers." We know that we have many friends, especially in East Europe, who are very interested in the German edition of Communio, but who are unable to pay. The same is true for our Polish friends. Thanks to the initiative of our Holy Father, the Cardinal Primate, who died, and of the Archbishop of Krakow and Posen, the Poles have their own edition now. But they are interested in seeing the different ways in which Polish theologians and those who are not Polish approach the same topics. Please continue to help in the future with gift-subscriptions which will foster and make firm the communication among theologians of different lands. The same is true for priests and missionaries who work in the Third World.

Translated by John R. Sheets, S.J.