The spring session of the plenary assembly of the Austrian bishops is being held for the first time in Lambach, in Austria. At the centre of the meeting (7-10 March) are the themes of mission and cooperation for development, to which a study day was also dedicated on the inaugural day of the assembly. The other issues on the agenda, announced in a press release issued on 1st March, comprise current trends of Church and society, discussion of the new Austrian constitution now being drafted, the Year of the Eucharist, WYD in Cologne at which a large participation of Austrian youth is expected and the pilgrimage to Kupres in Bosnia, on the occasion of the first anniversary of the “Pilgrimage of peoples” to Mariazell. The Austrian bishops will make a pilgrimage to Kupres between 20 and 21 May this year. On Tuesday 8 March, the bishops paid a visit to the community of work for missions (MIVA) at Stadl, where the representatives of the official humanitarian projects of the Catholic Church and the missionary orders will describe the Church’s involvement in the field of mission, cooperation for development and international solidarity. A community Mass at the Stiftskirche in Lambach will be celebrated on Wednesday 9 March; it will be officiated by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, president of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, while Auxiliary Bishop Ludwig Schwarz, delegate of the Bishops’ Conference for missions and cooperation for development, will give the homily.
