The 28th ordinary Assembly of the Slovene Bishops’ Conference (SBC) was held in Ljubljana on 6-7 March. According to the Slovene bishops’ spokesman, the Rev. Andrej Saje, the bishops during their plenary had a meeting with the dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Ljubljana, Father Bogdan Kolar, and with other faculty members responsible for the adaptation of theological studies according to the Bologna process, to discuss the role of lay theologians in the Slovene Church. Another point on the agenda was pastoral activity in favour of Slovenes resident abroad, in particular in Western Europe. It emerged that the presence of Slovene priests engaged in this type of pastoral ministry is not guaranteed in all the most important foreign cities”. The main decisions made during the plenary included the definition of the meeting with the Union of Superiors Major of Slovenia, fixed for 15 May, in which the question of private schools and the collaboration of the Catholic Church will be tackled, and support for the various initiatives of the Week of the war on cancer. The bishops also identified the SBC delegates who will participate in the various international events planned in the near future, from the Consistory during which the Archbishop emeritus of Ljubljana Franc Rodé, Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, will be created a cardinal to the visit of the Holy Father Benedict XVI to Poland and the International Meeting of Families in Valencia. The Bishops lastly gave their support to the campaign against tumours and awarded the medal of the SBC to tefan Fale, first ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the Holy See.
