The fourth consultation of the European Episcopal Conferences on the responsibility for the creation will be held in Venice from 23 to 26 May. Organized by the CCEE, the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe, this year’s meeting is devoted to the theme: “Work and responsibility for the creation. Sustainable development demands a new view of labour”. Delegates of the 34 European Episcopal Conferences, bishops and experts will attend the meeting. Also present will be guests of the international European organizations that deal specifically with these issues. In the last consultation held last year in Slovakia, the experts in the sector had asserted that the solution of the ecological crisis can only come from a “wider perspective”, by tackling together the problem of the campaign against poverty (“many highly indebted countries are reduced to destroying their own heritage of natural resources”) and economic efficiency in social development (“problems such as unemployment prevent many European countries from dealing with questions regarding the future”).The reflection will continue in Venice by examining the economic dimension of “sustainability”: discussion will start out from the Christian meaning of work (Fr. Philipp Schmitz Pontifical Gregorian University) and the question will be posed whether “the economy inspired by the principle of sustainability is a possible solution also for the problems of unemployment” (Ignazio Musu, Italy). An integral part of the meeting will be a slot dedicated to the contribution of the Churches of Europe to the “Rio+10” Conference (Johannesburg, September 2002). Also included in the programme will be a public debate on “Work and health”, focusing on the case of Venice-Porto Marghera and the Chernobyl disaster. Time will also be made available this year, as in the past, for an exchange of experiences that the episcopal conferences are promoting at the local level for the safeguard of the creation (ethical banks, fair trade, scales of justice, Agenda 21, economy of communion…).
