Opening “a direct consultation” to “examine new forms of presence in European university environments”, in a situation like the present one “characterized by a pronounced cultural, ethical and religious pluralism” and “profoundly marked by secularisation, in which Christians can make an original contribution also for the growth of the European Community spirit”: that’s the main objective of the “Lineamenta” for university apostolate in Europe, at the centre of the European meeting of national delegates for university ministry scheduled to be held in Budapest, from 23 to 25 September. The meeting is sponsored by the Council of the European Bishops’ Conferences (Ccee). The preparatory document already presented last November, and now available in an updated version is analysed by the jurist Giuseppe Dalla Torre, rector of Lumsa, in an article published in the last number of the two-monthly review “Studium” (no.4/2005). He calls it a document “of particular interest not only for the internal life of the Church and for her pastoral action, but also for the Italian and European university system”, thanks to the “significance” it has for state and non-state, Catholic and non-Catholic universities. At its centre is the recognition of the “freedom” and “inalienable right” of the universities to “express and exercise their own religious faith”. From this explains Dalla Torre derives “the prohibition of discrimination for religious reasons” and “the duty of the State and public institutions to remove the obstacles that in effect prevent the exercise of that right”. That entails, in turn, the need to “ensure suitable spaces for the free exercise of religion”, among which the universities assume particular importance, given that the “structures of university apostolate” form part of the traditional field of so-called “spiritual assistance”. At a wider level, points out Dalle Torre, the Ccee document “sees in the university ministry a place and a means for the inculturation of the faith and of the evangelization of cultures”, which “form an integral part of the Church’s responsibilities, especially in the context of a secularized society like ours today”.
