A European Catholic network

Each year the general secretaries of the 34 Bishops’ Conferences of Europe meet to assess the steps taken and review future activities: the 2007 meeting will be held in Minsk (Belarus) from 14 to 18 June on “Migrations: a challenge for Europe”. This meeting forms part of the service that the CCEE (Council of European Bishops’ Conferences) offers to communion and collaboration between European Conferences and bishops, especially in the form of a series of meetings that has led in recent years to the consolidation and expansion of a European “Catholic network”. The Presidents of the 33 Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (or a delegate on their behalf) and the Archbishop of Luxembourg (34 in total) meet each year for the CCEE plenary. Other guests are currently invited to attend the plenary: namely, the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Kazakhstan; the bishop delegates for the pastoral care of vocations, migrations, media, catechesis/schools/universities; members of COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community); and the representatives of the Holy See to the European institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg. During the 2006 plenary in St. Petersburg (4-8 October) the new CCEE Presidency was elected: Cardinal Péter Erdö, Archbishop of Budapest, as President, and French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard and Croatian Cardinal Josip Bozanic as Vice-Presidents. The 2007 plenary is due to be held in Fatima (Portugal) from 4 to 7 October.