By BRIDGES team
From April 29 to May 3, 2026, the URI Europe Regional Assembly, themed “Sacred Earth, Shared Humanity: URI Europe Responses to Violence and Harm,” took place at the Martí Codolar Centre in Barcelona. Cooperation Circles of the United Religions Initiative (URI) gathered to reconnect, share experiences, celebrate diversity, and develop joint actions for the future. The Assembly included over 46 participants from 11 European countries, as well as representatives from the global URI network in the U.S. and Argentina.
URI sponsored the event, with hosting and support from AUDIR CC (Associació UNESCO per al Diàleg Interreligiós), creating a space for reinforcing peace, dialogue, justice, and healing commitments.
The Assembly brought together European Cooperation Circle leaders and the URI Europe leadership team to encourage exchange and collaboration, allowing for relationship development and shared vision emergence. Participants engaged in deep listening, learning from diverse realities, and recognizing the unique contributions each member brings to the URI network.
The Assembly, in line with URI’s Strategic Framework, aimed to enhance network vitality, build capacity across Europe, and increase collective impact in addressing religiously motivated violence, injustice, and ecological harm. Participants examined current challenges and the potential of coordinated interfaith action to promote peace, justice, and healing.
The importance of meeting in person at this critical time was emphasized, as it fostered trust, belonging, and alignment within the interfaith network.
The Assembly aimed to:
- Enhance connections and collaboration among European URI Cooperation Circles and reinforce community within the URI network;
- Share experiences, practices, and lessons from diverse interfaith efforts and contexts;
- Support Cooperation Circles’ growth, visibility, and capacity for promoting peace, justice, healing, and interfaith leadership;
- Explore collaborative responses to violence, social harm, and ecological challenges through dialogue;
- Integrate Indigenous and traditional wisdoms, aligning European initiatives with URI’s global vision;
- Promote interfaith cooperation in Barcelona, Catalonia, and Europe, strengthening partnerships with organizations dedicated to peace and social cohesion.
On May 1, the BRIDGES team led a 45-minute parallel session titled “Participatory Approaches to Protecting Places of Worship, Schools, and Community Centers (PARTESS-COM),” introducing the PARTESS-COM project and the Faith Guardian App. The session focused on:
- Introducing PARTESS-COM’s goals, methodology, and expected impact;
- Presenting the Faith Guardian App for enhancing safety and community engagement;
- Exploring security approaches emphasizing institutional and community collaboration;
- Encouraging dialogue on best practices for protecting vulnerable spaces.
Participants learned about national and European training sessions within the PARTESS-COM project, supported by the Brussels Police (PolBru) and safe.brussels. The project aims to enhance security at worship and educational sites through training, awareness activities, and security resources, promoting cooperation among communities and authorities for preventive security and crisis communication.
The training series focuses on sharing effective European security practices, emphasizing places of worship, and involves law enforcement, municipalities, and faith communities.
An upcoming capacity-building training in Sofia is part of the EU-funded PARTESS-COM project, focusing on protecting places of worship. This interfaith initiative will bring together various faith representatives in Bulgaria to exchange experiences and cooperation.
The training will provide practical knowledge on:
- Extremism and preventive security;
- Crisis communication;
- Vulnerability assessments;
- Using security resources;
- Community reporting mechanisms;
- Sharing experiences and solutions to challenges.
After a meeting at the Barcelona City Council, the Commissioner for Citizen Relations and Cultural and Religious Diversity was introduced to the PARTESS-COM project and the Faith Guardian App. The app offers tools for incident reporting, peer exchange, and security resources, supporting the protection of places of worship.
These services help shift religious institutions from vulnerability to collective preparedness.
BRIDGES team
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