immigrants" "
“Women and families in migrations” is the theme of the seminar organized by the CCEE (Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe) to be held in Smyrna, in Turkey, from 9 to 14 October. It will be attended by the bishop delegates and the national directors for the pastoral care of migrants. The theme “is not only topical, but almost obligatory explain the organizers given the situation in which women who voluntarily or compulsorily leave their own country find themselves (clandestine work, prostitution). The seminar’s aim is to offer human and Christian suggestions for the solution of a problem that affects the European countries as point of arrival and tens of others as point of departure”. Turkey is itself a land of emigration: the Turks are in fact the largest group of immigrants in Europe. The seminar will also be characterized by the meeting with some professors at the University of Smyrna to discuss the question, also with the contribution of Moslems. Some twenty delegates will take part in the meeting, which will be chaired by Bishop Amédée Grab of Chur, CCEE president. The seminar will be addressed by Turkish, German and Italian academics and by a representative of the Pontifical Council for migrants. A series of practical “recommendations” for the European Churches will be drawn up at the end of the meeting. A solemn concelebration will be held in the basilica of the Council at Ephesus on its final day (13 October): a special privilege granted by the Turkish government to Archbishop Giuseppe Bernardini of Smyrna only once each year.
