European Churches" "" "
“The parish: Church that lives amid the houses of man” is the theme of the 52nd general assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI). To be held in Assisi from 17 to 20 November, the assembly will be attended by some 250 bishops, 20 parish priests, representatives of religious congregations, secular institutes, members of lay associations and movements, and 12 experts. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of CEI, will open the assembly on 17 November. Its programme will include a pastoral-theological report, and a series of communications with supplementary data on the clergy and parish structures, on the application of the law on the legal status of teachers of Catholic religion, on the preparations for the 24th national Eucharistic Congress (Bari, 21-29 May 2005) and on the 48th international Eucharistic Congress (Guadalajara, 10-17 October 2004). Particular attention will be devoted to the commitment of the Churches in Europe and the current constitutional process of the European Union. “Today Msgr. Renato Corti, vice-president of CEI, told SIR the parish finds itself in a new situation, where the general social context is no longer Christian and where the parish can no longer presuppose that children, when they reach the age of First Communion, for example, have already learned the rudiments of the faith in their families. Giving a missionary face to the parish means taking account of such changes, in order to find more effective forms of presence for the transmission of the faith”.
