“Globalization, a challenge for the Church, society and the State”, this is the theme of the “summer university” promoted by COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community), currently being held at Goslar, near Hanover, in Germany. Some 50 young people who work for the Episcopal Conferences of the Fifteen and for the countries seeking to join the EU are participating the course. The speakers include the president of COMECE, Msgr. Josef Homeyer, Msgr. Diarmuid Martin, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, and Tönis Lukas, minister of culture of the Republic of Estonia. The theme of globalization is being tackled not only from the economic, but also from the cultural, ethical and social point of view. The participants have also visited the Volkswagen plant at Wolfsburg. Previous programmes of the COMECE summer university have been held in Souvigny, in France in 1999, and at Menaggio, in Italy, in 2000.
