CCEE: meeting on the religious situation in EuropeThe general secretaries of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe are due to meet at Covadonga (Spain), from 26 to 30 June. The Archbishop of Oviedo, the Most Rev. Carlos Osoro Sierra, is also due to participate in the meeting. The question on the order of the day is: “The religious situation in Europe: between secularisation and demand for meaning and spirituality”. Promoted by the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), the meeting is being held at the invitation of the Spanish Episcopal Conference and of its secretary, Mgr. Juan Antonio Martínez Camino SJ, auxiliary bishop of Madrid. “In particular – says a press release – the participants will analyse the religious situation in the various European countries, and try to elucidate fundamental problems and questions. Discussion will later focus on the prospects for the role of the Church, evangelization, pastoral care and the activities of the Bishops’ Conferences. The participants will also discuss particularly controversial issues in our time, including – in the field of bioethics – the legalization of euthanasia and research on embryonic stem cells. As regards the presence of Islam in Europe, the forthcoming European Christian-Muslim Conference (Malines/Brussels, Belgium, 20-23 October), organized by the CCEE and by the Conference of the European Churches (CEC/KEK), will be presented. The survey conducted by the CCEE on the teaching of religion in Europe will also be presented during the meeting. Other questions on the agenda: the forthcoming World Youth Day in Sydney (15-20 July); the Pauline Year 2008-2009; and the 12th ordinary Plenary of the Synod of Bishops (5-26 October 2008). The participants will also assess the Third European Ecumenical Assembly (EEA3, September 2007) and discuss its implications. The plenary assembly of the CCEE will be held in Budapest from 30 September to 3 October. COMECE-CEC: third seminar on IslamThe third seminar on Islam promoted by COMECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community), with the “Church and Society” Commission of the CEC and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS), in collaboration with Muslim partners, will be held in Brussels, at the headquarters of the European Parliament on 3 July, on the general theme of “Islam, Christianity and Europe”. More specifically the question to be addressed by this seminar is: “Christian Europe and Islam in Europe”. With the growth of immigration into Europe, Europeans must learn to co-exist with peoples of different cultural backgrounds and religious origins. In the light of this consciousness and to reinforce “social cohesion and civil peace in Europe”, the European Union has declared 2008 the “European Year of Intercultural Dialogue”. An important aspect of this growing diversity is the ever growing number of people of Muslim origin in a geographical area traditionally with a Christian majority. The four seminars promoted by COMECE, CEC/KEK and KAS fall into this context and are intended as a contribution to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. The first two seminars, on “Intercultural dialogue: in response to what problems?” and “Expressions of religion in the European public space: the question of places of worship and religious symbols in dress” have already been held, respectively on 17 April and 29 May. The last of the seminars, on “The external relations of the European Union with Muslim countries” is scheduled for 11 September. Catholic bishops urge G8 to address climate changeA greater commitment to the reduction of global poverty and to measures to tackle climate change is asked by the Bishops’ Conferences of the countries of the G8 in a joint letter sent to their respective heads of government, and released in recent days. In their letter, the bishops of Germany, England and Wales, Scotland, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the Russian Federation and the USA appeal to the participants in the G8 summit in Toyako (Japan), urging that the pledges made during the summits of Gleneagles (2005) and Heiligendamm (2007) be honoured. “Additional commitments should be made in the areas of health care, education and humanitarian aid”, write the bishops. The bishops also reaffirm “a religious and moral commitment” to protect human life and promote human dignity, and appeal to world leaders “to advance the global common good by taking concrete measures to reduce poverty and address climate change”. The bishops further ask G8 leaders to take steps “to mitigate the impact of the world food crisis on poor communities, increase health and education spending, and move towards just world trade policies that respect the dignity of the human person in their working life”. According to the bishops, “the poor need to be empowered to be drivers of their own development”. The letter emphasises that “the world’s poor “experience a disproportionate share of the harmful effects of climate change”. So “the costs of initiatives to prevent and adapt to the harmful consequences of climate change should be borne more by richer peoples and nations that have benefited most from the emissions that have fuelled development”.
