Preparing the Symposium on “Church and University in Europe” to be held in Rome from 24 to 27 July 2003: that will be the main objective of the meeting of national delegates of university apostolate and of the Group of coordination of the European Committee of university chaplains, scheduled to be held in Madrid from 27 to 29 September. “It’s the first time explains Msgr. Lorenzo Leuzzi, coordinator of the European Committee within the Council of European Episcopal Conferences, referring to the planned Symposium in 2003 that the European Churches have promoted a meeting of all the representatives of the dioceses that work in the university field”. The participation of some 2000 delegates from all the dioceses of Europe in which universities are situated is planned. The Symposium will represent the ideal continuation of the European conference held in Rome from 20 to 23 June, with the title “Towards a European Constitution?”, which saw the participation of university teachers from all over the continent (cf. SirEurope nos. 24 and 25/2002). “The aim is to promote the university apostolate in all the local Churches”, explains Leuzzi. “Reinforcing the relation between Church and university, which was very close in the past but that has experienced moments of difficulty in more recent centuries”: that’s another basic objective of the European Symposium in 2003, the preparatory document of which will be presented at Madrid. The programme of university apostolate for 2002-2003 will also be described at the Spanish meeting in September. Other initiatives being planned in preparation for the European Symposium include the Forum of the oldest universities of Europe (Rome, 8-10 December 2002) and the European Day of prayer of university students and staff, to be celebrated on 15 March 2003 on the theme of “intellectual charity”. A “European vademecum” for university chaplains will also be discussed in Madrid.
