The true dialogue

The new President of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe) for the five-year period 2006-2011 is the Archbishop of Budapest and Primate of Hungary, Cardinal PETER ERDÖ. He was elected during the plenary assembly of the CCEE, representing the 34 Bishops’ Conferences of the continent, which ended in St. Petersburg on 8 October. As CCEE vice-presidents, the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozani?, was reconfirmed, while Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux succeeds Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. PRIORITIES IN EUROPE. “Ecumenical dialogue; collaboration with the bishops of the other continents, in particular Africa; the dialogue with Islam” and “the challenge posed by the secularisation of the continent” are, in the view of Cardinal Erdö, the priority commitments of the European Churches in the years ahead. “Faith – emphasized the new CCEE President – must be the driving force of our life”. A further field “in which as Christians we must fundamentally commit ourselves”, said Cardinal Erdö, is that of “respect for life, the family and human dignity”. The task of the Church in Europe today, which “suffers from cardio-sclerosis”, i.e. the “hardness of heart to the moral law”, said the Archbishop of Moscow TADEUSZ KONDRUSIEWICZ , during the homily he gave in the church of St. Catherine in St. Petersburg on 8 October on the Assembly’s conclusion, is “to heal this malady, and a healthy family, as the indispensable boon and foundation of society, can be of invaluable help to this end”. “The Church as communio – added the archbishop – is a family that reunites all the peoples. The Catholic Churches of many countries in the former USSR, which do not form part of the EU, are nonetheless reunited in the structure of the CCEE, and this is a sign of solidarity”. According to the Archbishop of Moscow, “Europe does not end at the frontiers of the EU, but extends eastwards to the Urals”, and “all of us together are responsible for its destiny”. The President of the Russian Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor JOSEPH WERTH, for his part, emphasized the importance of the formation of priests, but also remarked “the presence of the laity remains indispensable”; to this end “courses to prepare them for mission and for catechesis have been begun in all the dioceses of our territory”. LIVING IN FIDELITY. Such questions as “concern for vocations to the priesthood”, relations with Islam and the future of the family were also addressed by Monsignor AMÉDÉÈ Grab , outgoing President of the CCEE, during the plenary Assembly. “All of us are conscious of the fact – he declared – that Islam has become established throughout Europe” and we wonder whether “Muslims will become integrated in European society or whether they will dominate it”. In this regard, Bishop Grab explained that “our objective is not to ‘maintain the Christianity of Europe’, rejecting the other religions that have their origins outside Europe, but to help Christians in Europe to live in fidelity to their baptismal vocation and constantly represent the message of Jesus Christ to all our brothers and sisters in the world”. The future of the family, continued Bishop Grab, is a matter of deep concern to the Church, since “a growing number of governments are undermining the traditional concept of marriage and family life” to “satisfy the requests of groups that want to obtain financial security for couples involved” in relations that cannot be defined as “marriage”. In Grab’s view, “legalizing the cohabitation of same-sex couples, whether they be defined as ‘marriage’ or not, goes well beyond the pursuit of equity under the law”. Other challenges concern ethical questions “such as stem-cell research and euthanasia”. Bishop Grab expressed the hope that “the Catholic Church would succeed in playing her role in persuading governments to consider the common good of humanity throughout the world”. GREATER COOPERATION. In all these fields, added Bishop Grab, “it is inconceivable to think the CCEE could act without COMECE (Commission of the episcopates of the European Community)”. “The time has come to re-define the relations between these two organizations”, he said: that means increasing cooperation between the Bishops’ Conferences without allowing these organizations to become excessively large. Also to Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor “it seems rather clear that there ought to be a decidedly closer relation between CCEE and COMECE”. Expressing a “dream for the Church in Europe”, the outgoing Vice-President of the CCEE suggested that “a reorganization of the CCEE and COMECE would be to the benefit of the bishops of all countries in Europe”. In the English cardinal’s view, it is important “to express together a clear voice” on such questions as “the relation with Islam” and the phenomenon of migration and immigration” and “on questions that concern the kind of Europe that is emerging in the present phase”, as also those concerning our ecumenical mission and the family. “Too often – said the cardinal – the good work we do vanishes into thin air and is not as effective as it ought to be. So, essentially, my dream contemplates European structures that work together and permit the presidents of the bishops’ conferences to concentrate on priority themes, while not ignoring those questions of lesser importance that still need to be tackled”. MESSAGE TO THE POPE. On the conclusion of the plenary Assembly, Bishop Grab, as outgoing President of the CCEE, sent a message to the Pope on behalf of the 34 Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe. “We have come here from all over Europe – says the letter – to express our deepest communion and friendship to the Catholics who live in this great country. With the delegates of the Patriarchate of Moscow and of all Russia, we have prayed that our presence may help foster mutual esteem and collaboration between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church”. “We share your concern and your sorrow – continues the letter to the Pope – that the great mobilization of peoples and cultures now underway runs the risk of exploiting religion to justify irrational and violent acts. We assure you of our efforts to promote true dialogue” and the “logic of love that you indicated to us in Deus Caritas est“. Monsignor Grab also sent a message to the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexei II, and another to Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the occasion of his 54th birthday on 7 October. “One of the greatest blessings of our work – declared the outgoing CCEE President in his letter to Alexei II – is the privilege of experiencing the joys, sorrows and fears of men and women throughout Europe: a fact that increasingly convinces us” that the continent “needs to listen anew to the Gospel of Christ”. “The aspiration of the powers of the Russian State to consolidate equal relations between the various denominations, to continue the democratic transformations in the country and to pay attention to the needs of the faithful – wrote Mons. Grab in his letter to Putin – helps to promote the influence of spiritual leaders on Russian society for the common good”. OUTLOOK ON THE WORLD. After reflecting on international problems, the presidents of the European bishops’ conferences, at the end of their plenary assembly, also issued a statement in which they make an appeal for Darfur and express their great concern for the Catholics of Sri Lanka, and for the continuing violence in Iraq and in the Palestinian Territories. “The Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe – write the bishops – unites its voice with the cries for help on behalf of the people of the region of Darfur in Sudan. The statistics are grim: at least 200,000 dead and millions made homeless. In so complex a political situation the bishops of Europe, together with their colleagues in the Sudanese Bishops’ Conference, express their concern for the victims of the humanitarian disaster and encourage the Catholics of Europe to do everything possible to support their efforts, with prayer and with financial aid”. No less disturbing are the reports that “are reaching us from the Catholics of Sri Lanka” where “many, including some priests, have ‘disappeared’ without trace, and hundreds of people have been killed in these last few months”. MILLENNIUM GOALS. In their statement the bishops also recall “the tragic fate of the Iraqi people; for centuries Muslims and Christians have lived together in peace, but the violence between religious groups in recent months is tearing apart the Muslim community and making almost impossible the very survival of the Christian community. At the same time, particularly ferocious acts of violence continue to occur in the Palestinian territories, where internal divisions seem to represent the most serious challenge that this people has yet had to face”. In response to all these situations, “the members of the CCEE hope that the faithful will devote themselves to giving every possible aid. An important task is also that of informing ourselves about countries – even those not very far away – where the right to religious freedom is often violated and about all those regions where disease and famine claim the lives of so many children of God, and thus maintaining awareness high of the problem in public opinion and among the authorities”. The European bishops, lastly, “urge that the programme of the ‘Millennium Goals’ be seriously resumed”: goals that set the target of eliminating, by 2015, poverty, hunger, infant mortality, disease and support for education, equality and a sustainable environment. Launched in the Jubilee of 2000, the Millennium Goals are still too often ignored”. PROJECTS AT THE PLANNING STAGE. Projects on the future agenda of the CCEE include the congress of teachers of all the universities of Europe due to be held in Rome from 21 to 24 June 2007 on the theme “A new humanism for Europe. The role of the Universities”; the Third European Ecumenical Assembly due to be held in Sibiu (Romania) from 4 to 8 September 2007; and the planned seminars between European and African bishops on migration that will conclude with a symposium on evangelisation and cultures in 2010.