Thoughts, experiences, projects” “

The most significant event in the life of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) over the last three months was World Youth Day in Cologne (17-21 August 2005) with the meeting with Benedict XVI. The plenary assembly of the CCEE (Rome, 29 September – 2 October 2005) reflected on the indications and results of this event. As regards relations between the Churches and European culture and society, the annual meeting of press officers and spokespersons of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe was held in Warsaw (Poland on 14-15 September; the focal point of discussion was Catholic press agencies. The next meeting was fixed for 6-8 July 2006 in Ireland. Forthcoming appointments of the CCEE: the Delegation of bishops for solidarity with the Holy Land (Holy Land, 16-19 January 2006); the meeting of the preparatory Committee of the Third Ecumenical Assembly (AEE3, Rome, 23-24 January 2006); the first stage of AEE3 (Rome, 24-27 January 2006) and the meeting of the joint CCEE-CEC Committee (Rome, 27-28 January 2006). We present a survey of the most important events in the life of the European Churches and their projects for the months ahead. ALBANIA. The national conference on consecrated life with the title “Re-reading the signs of the times in Albania: our role as consecrated persons” was held at Scutari in September; it was attended by 220 religious and consecrated delegates. The President of the Bishops’ Conference, Msgr. Angelo Massafra, and almost all the ordinaries of the dioceses of Albania, were also present. An important event in the life of the Albanian Church was the conclusion of the Eucharistic Year celebrated at Rreshen in the presence of thousands of faithful, priests, and men and women religious from all the dioceses of the country together with their bishops. The solemn mass, concelebrated in the cathedral, was followed by a procession through the streets of the bunting-decked city. The local and national media devoted widespread coverage to the event. BELARUS. The Commission for Catechesis of the Bishops’ Conference of Belarus (CECB) published in recent weeks its catechetical programme for children and adolescents at secondary schools. The 3rd international Conference of organ music and the 17th Conference of European Associations for Liturgical Music, both promoted by the CECB’s liturgical music department in collaboration with the state Music Academy, were held in Minsk. Focal points of the meetings: the construction of organs, modern teaching methods for the organ and liturgical practice. The 5th academic year of the inter-diocesan Major Seminary, which currently comprises 41 seminarians, was inaugurated at Pinsk on 1st October. A further 61 young men are currently preparing for the priesthood in the Major Seminary of Grodno. BELGIUM. “Ordained ministries and other ministries: towards complementarity in the service of the people of God” is the title of a recent document in which the Belgian episcopal “Church and Faith” Commission reflects on how to reconcile, and make complementary, the ordained ministries and the other forms of pastoral service in the contemporary Church. In the framework of the Year of Prayer being celebrated by the Belgian Church, leaflets containing the text of “Our Father” and the “Ave Maria”, accompanied by attractive images, were distributed to all children of the second year of the preparatory cycle of official and free religious education in Belgium. “Prayer dice”, each containing six prayers written by the bishops for families and schools, were also published and put on sale. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA. The current state of human rights in the country was reviewed at the last session of the “Justitia et Pax” Commission, held in recent days; the Commission also discussed preparations for the round table planned for 15 December and the annual Assembly of all the European Commissions of “Justice and Peace”. The 35th ordinary session of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in Sarajevo at the end of October, assessed, among other things, the situation of Greek-Catholics in the country and the question of the pastoral and economic Councils in the parishes. To mark the 40th anniversary of Vatican Council II, the bishops also examined some themes of the Constitution of the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et spes, and recognized the need to promote lay associations in the spirit of Catholic Action in the country. The bishops lastly published a proposal for the socio-juridical organization of the territory under the title “Bosnia-Herzegovina – source of instability and threat to peace or future member of the EU?”. BULGARIA. The seventh meeting of studies on Eastern Europe was held in Sofia, in the seat of the Apostolate Exarchate, in recent weeks; it followed similar meetings already held in Hungary, Germany, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Romania. Chaired by Bishop Alfons Berger, of the diocese of Hildesheim (Germany), the meeting reviewed the life of the Church, politics and the social situation in Bulgaria and reflected on the country’s integration in Europe. A conference on “Family, Church and Society” was held in recent days, again in the seat of the Exarchate in Sofia; it was attended by delegates from Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro. CROATIA. At the 31st plenary assembly of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference held in recent days, the bishops published a statement on the opening of the process of negotiations for the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, and emphasized the importance of the maintenance of the spiritual and cultural peculiarities of the Croatian people as a source of enrichment of Europe itself. An accord between Government and Bishops’ Conference on pastoral care in hospitals and in other healthcare institutions, as well as an accord on the restitution of church registers, deeds and other records illegally expropriated from the Catholic Church during the Communist regime, were signed in the seat of the Secretariat of the Bishops’ Conference in Zagreb on 31st October. The accords were signed by the head of the Government, Ivo Sanader, and the President of the Croatian Bishops, Cardinal Josip Bozanic. ENGLAND AND WALES. In recent weeks the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland published a joint doctrinal document on the role of Scripture in the life of the Church: “The Gift of Scripture”. It was officially presented to Benedict XVI by Archbishop Mario Conti and Bishop Donal Mullins on behalf of the two Conferences. The text has been available in the British Library in London since November. In October the English and Welsh bishops also officially replied to the “Rochester Report” of the women’s work group of the House of Bishops of the Church of England. The response (in English) can be found on the website www.catholicchurch.org.uk/unity under the link “documents”. LITHUANIA. The new President of the Lithuanian bishops, elected during the plenary session of the Bishops’ Conference in recent weeks, is Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius. Other issues discussed during the assembly included the approval of the new curriculum for religious education and the problems posed to the Church by the government’s new interpretation of the tax regime applicable to churches and religious communities. The bishops also discussed the negotiations in progress for the restoration of the Church’s cultural heritage, as stipulated in the accords between the Holy See and the Republic of Lithuania. SCANDINAVIA. One of the main issues discussed by the plenary assembly of the Bishops’ Conference of the Scandinavian countries held at Reykjavik (Iceland) in recent weeks, was the document of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants. The bishops also drafted a pastoral letter on marriage and the family that will be published to coincide with the Feast of the Holy Family on 30 December 2005. The document will also be translated into non-Nordic languages. The recent ordination of the new bishop of Oslo, Markus Bernt Eidsvig, was attended, among others, by the members of the Bishops’ Conference of the Scandinavian countries, the Lutheran bishop of Oslo, Ole Christian Kyarne, and representatives of the other churches. Bishop Kyarne, on this occasion, expressed his willingness to work with the Catholic Church. SLOVENIA. While the universal Church concluded the Year of the Eucharist, the bishops of Slovenia decided to dedicate the new pastoral year 2005-2006 to dropouts from the life of the Church, who require a kind of “new evangelization”. Pastoral workers discussed the question at special days of formation held in each diocese. In the meantime, the Slovene Bishops’ Conference published the translation into the national language of the second edition of the Rite of Matrimony ( Ordo celebrandi matrimonium). The liturgical Commission is currently working on the publication of a new translation of the Liturgy of the Hours, while the Slovene translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is currently awaiting the recognitio of the Holy See. UKRAINE (Latin rite). In recent weeks Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Metropolitan Archbishop of Latin-rite Catholics in Lvov, consecrated a new church dedicated to the Divine Mercy in the Riasna district of the city. It’s the first church to be built in Lvov since the end of the Second World War. Cardinal Jaworski, together with the bishops of Byzantine rite Sofron Mudryj and Wolodymyr Wijtyszyn (diocese of Ivano-Frankivsk), also consecrated a new church for Byzantine-rite Catholics: the first church in the Ukraine to be consecrated by Catholic bishops of both rites. The inauguration of the new academic year took place in the diocesan seminary of Lvov last month; nine students of the Pallottine Fathers and four of the Basilian Fathers of Byzantine rite are also studying at the seminary. There are in all 142 seminarians from six dioceses in Ukraine. The seminarians of the diocese of Mukachiv study in Hungary and Slovakia.