Friar Ivo Markovic’s Pontanima Choir sang in China last week at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. I wasn’t surprised. Nor did I blink when I saw Friar Ivo’s monastery featured in a Common Ground News Service article, at about this same time, for work done right at home in Sarajevo.
I’m feeling nostalgic today, thinking back to when we were in Sarajevo with Friar Ivo – and the other Tanenbaum Peacemakers – in 2007. The chronicles of that week, including the amazing sounds of Pontanima in red robed splendor and at the back of a bus en route to Srebenica, were my first blog posts for Tanenbaum.
Being with him in his home country, seeing his projects, meeting his partners and friends, we could experience Friar Ivo’s ability to inspire change through example. As he says, “Let’s not talk about ecumenism. Let’s live ecumenism.” This is the same for him and for Pontanima whereever they go.