Listening and proclaiming” “

Benedict XVI, in his message to the plenary assembly of the CCEE (Rome, 29 September- 2 October), exhorted the Presidents of the 34 Bishops’ Conferences of Europe “not to be afraid of facing up to the present-day pastoral challenges, being in position to listen to the concrete conditions of man’s personal and social life, ready to proclaim the Gospel of hope to all. The Gospel is a light entrusted to Christians of the third millennium”. And there is no shortage of challenges, as emphasized by the feelings of “amazement and sadness” of the bishops of all Europe, in reaction to the decision of the Spanish government to equate same-sex unions with families formed by marriage between a man and a woman. “This is not a ‘progressive, lay and modern’ way of looking at things – says the final communiqué of the CCEE Assembly – but a boomerang which will rebound with serious consequences above all on the future generations”. The European Bishops’ Conferences therefore express “solidarity with the Spanish bishops in their commitment to safeguarding the family and fundamental human and Christian values”. “The outcome of the 12/13 June Italian referendum on fertility treatment showed that where life is concerned people do not want to ‘vote’. What happened in Italy is being watched very carefully by other European countries and shows that a new and promising path is already open”. Below, some reflections that emerge from the final communiqué. The Ccee plenary assembly was attended by the Presidents of the current 34 Bishops’ Conferences of the continent and some delegate bishops for special pastoral tasks. Msgr. Tomash Peta, President of the recently established Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan, also participated in the assembly as a guest. The meeting ended with the participation of the delegates in the opening Mass of the Synod of Bishops in St. Peter’s Basilica, on 2 October. Unanimously, the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe accepted the invitation of Msgr. Joseph Werth, President of the Catholic Bishops of the Russian Federation, to hold their next plenary assembly in St. Petersburg from 5 to 8 October 2006. “The journey” to Christian unity. The members of the CCEE plenary assembly express “clear support” for the process of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly, that will begin in Rome in January 2006 and culminate in Sibiu (Romania) in September 2007. “Europe – they write in their final communiqué – is the only continent that is able to create a space where the various Christian denominations can meet each other and share mutual testimonies. It is time to set out together humbly to overcome mistrust and inactivity. Europe needs Christian unity”. Among the encouraging signs they cite World Youth Day in Cologne (August 2005), which “showed the emergence of a new generation searching for spirituality, the meaning of life and God”. Rethinking “european construction”. Political references are not lacking in the document, with particular regard to the new “orders” that are emerging in our continent. “The pause for reflection imposed on the process of European unification by the ‘no’ of France and the Netherlands to the Constitutional Treaty and the lack of agreement on the EU budget 2007/2013 – warns the CCEE – must become an auspicious occasion to rethink European construction from its original inspirations and to communicate to the young the meaning and the idea of this project”. The process of European unification, in fact, “is going through an uncertain moment above all due to the ‘no’ votes to the Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands. The two negative votes express not just a rejection of the European Union but a return to ancestral fears: the loss of identity and national autonomy in the face of ever more supranational legislation, the increase in youth unemployment and the lack of recognition for some educational qualifications”. The Apostolic Nuncio to the European institutions, Msgr. André Dupuy, the vice-president and general secretary of COMECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community), Msgr. Adrian Van Luyn and Msgr. Noël Treanor, presented the problems and current plans surrounding the European Union: the debate on the Constitutional Treaty; enlargement of the European Union; ethical problems; Turkey’s entry into the EU; the meeting with the American Bishops; the renewal of the Lisbon strategy; regular dialogue between the Churches and institutions. The bishops also noted “the growing importance of the European dimension even for individual Conferences. They judge it “important for each Conference to equip itself at the national level and for collaboration to be deepened between CCEE and COMECE at the European level”. 40th anniversary of the Council. In the light of Vatican Council II, the European bishops reflected on “how to interpret the historical and cultural changes of recent decades and the paths to follow in the immediate future, in the area of evangelisation, the role of the Church in today’s European society, ecumenical dialogue, the meeting between religions and culture, and European unification”. Ccee President Bishop Amédée Grab quoted the words of Pope Paul VI, spoken at the closing ceremony of the Second Vatican Council (7 December 1965): “But we call upon those who term themselves modern humanists, and who have renounced the transcendental value of the highest realities, to give the Council credit at least for one quality, and to recognize our new type of humanism: we too, in fact, we more than any others, honour mankind”. At the Council “tradition and renewal embraced”, said Msgr. Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants: “It is wrong to think of the Council as a traumatic change or in terms of breaking continuity. The path to realizing this embrace is that of dialogue and reaching consensus, for only in dialogue is it possible to bring about the union of truth and charity, intelligence and love”. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, President of the Italian Bishops, maintained that the Council’s aim was to “ensure that the Church of the twentieth century may emerge ever better equipped to proclaim the gospel to the people of this century”. The major historical events of the last forty years that separate us from the Council (the unrest of 1968, the revolutions of 1989, scientific development, terrorism, etc.), he added, re-propose the urgency of the question about man and the “public role of Christianity in guaranteeing, in present-day free and democratic society, the fundamental values of living side-by-side”. Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, examined the theme of the Council and dialogue: “At the ecumenical level – he explained – it is not just a matter of agreeing diplomatically about the minimum of giving way to relativist positions, but realizing a true enrichment, sharing mutually the gifts that each one has. That’s why spiritual ecumenism seems today to be the guiding path to go down in the journey to Christian unity”. Evangelisation and faith. “The Christian heritage that Europe inherited from the past and that has deeply marked the identity of this old continent commits us bishops not to resign ourselves to the spiritual deserts and difficulties which increasing secularisation creates, but to face up to today’s challenges with the courage which in born in a bishop from faith and a sense of responsibility”, said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops. “In recent years – say the European bishops – the awareness has grown throughout Europe that the task of evangelisation affects Europe, too. The development of modernity has brought on a crisis in Christianity with the spread of secularisation. In Eastern Europe, the degenerate fruit of this phenomenon has been state atheism: the consequences are still burdensome, especially in countries such as the Czech Republic or the eastern part of Germany. In the West, the culture characterized by secularism in recent decades has thrown into disorder even countries with deep Catholic and missionary traditions such as Belgium, Holland, Ireland, France and Spain”. Faced with this situation, the European bishops “perceive the urgent task for a re-proclamation of the ‘Good News’ and a new inculturation of Christianity”. Catechesis, schools and universities, the media. “The world’s future depends on education”, insist the European bishops. In their view, “catechesis and formation in schools and universities are privileged and effective means for education in life and faith, not only for the new generations but also for adults themselves, who always need formation in a life of faith and moral and civil commitment consistent with the values that they wish to transmit to young people”. In this sense the European bishops reaffirmed their openness to contributing to the current process of reforming the European university system sanctioned by the Bologna agreement, also by intensifying the European network between universities, professors and students. Following the plenary assembly of the Episcopal Commission for the Media (Warsaw, 15-18 September 2005), Msgr. Peter Henrici, President of the Commission reaffirmed the need for the European Churches “to draw up pastoral plans for social communications, promote critical, continual and well-founded observations about the media scene, train competent workers in the media and draw attention to the great public media, trying to be a presence there and insisting on the safeguarding of the public service”. Migration and Vocations. Msgr. Louis Pelatre, Catholic Bishop of Istanbul, confirmed that “migrants constitute an integral part of Europe’s history, and represent an important aspect of its present-day reality. No European state can say that it is free from the phenomenon of migratory flows. The Church is called to pay particular attention to young people, to the old, to women, families, and Eastern rite Catholics. Better European co-ordination is urgently needed between the various ecclesiastical resources that work in the area of migration”. As for vocations, “a wide-ranging pastoral initiative” is needed, urged Msgr. Alois Kothgasser, President of the European Vocations Service: “The protagonists of the pastoral care of vocations must – he said – be encouraged in collaboration and sharing of resources, rather than having a competitive idea of their own work”. Great attention must also be paid “to the discernment of vocations”. The matter is so crucial that a special session will in future be devoted to it at Ccee plenary assemblies.