More space for the good ” “

Internet, the family, information and ethics: they are the chosen themes for the meeting of some thirty participants at the annual meeting of the press officers and spokespersons of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE) being held in Athens from 24 to 27 June. “It’s a very important appointment for the Greek Church – declared the archbishop of Athens and president of the Greek bishops, Msgr. Nicolaos Foskolos in a comment to SIR – and represents a moral support for our communities. The presence here in Greece of the spokespersons of many episcopates of Europe will help to inform them about the situation of the Catholic Church in the Hellenic peninsula, which is subject to religious discrimination”. According to the archbishop of Athens, “the press offices of the Episcopal Conferences can contribute to disseminate more reliable and objective information and improve knowledge of not only religious conditions”. The objectives of this annual appointment are in essence three: the first is to examine some more general issue; this year it’s Internet and the relation between information and ethics. Msgr. Renato Boccardo, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications will introduce the theme with a basic report. Reflection will be followed by a more practical application, through analysis and evaluation of the internet sites of the episcopal conferences of Europe and experiences of information programmes available on Church websites in Europe. Why does evil create a bigger splash than good? That will be another central question at the meeting. If it is true that the tree that falls causes a greater stir than the tree that grows, it is more than ever indispensable today that space be given to what’s positive and new that is born and grows in the churches and in general in our continent. The press officers of the Episcopal Conferences feel they have this responsibility as service to the Church, but also as service to society and to European culture. Second objective of the meeting is to promote the exchange of experiences. The international year of the family, in which numerous episcopal conferences are involved, has been chosen as “common terrain”, starting out from the message of this year’s Day for Social Communications, which focused on the theme: “Media and family: a risk and a richness”. What can be done in practice to grow and improve in cooperation? That will be the third stage of the discussions. There already exists a regular exchange of information, skills and facilities between the episcopal conferences. Close collaboration also exists on joint initiatives (the Mittleuropäische Katholikentag, the Year of the Bible… ). At times, however, it’s difficult to identify common “cross-border” strategies in a Europe that presents significant cultural diversities and strong peculiarities of identity. Shared events in the months ahead – such as the projects being planned by the CCEE or international events such as World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005 – are a challenge for stronger synergies at the level of communication. The group of the press officers has also been invited to a meeting with the Orthodox archbishop of Athens Christodulos for a wide-ranging dialogue on themes of Europe and ecumenism. A dialogue is also planed with the Catholic archbishop of Athens. It will be an occasion to learn about the experience of the Catholic Church in the Hellenic peninsula, which is a minority community in a country with an Orthodox majority, and also to discover what pastoral and spiritual initiatives the churches of Greece are planning to accompany the forthcoming Olympic Games.