The annual meeting of spokesmen of the European Bishops’ Conferences will be held at Maynooth, in Ireland, from 20 to 23 July. Various questions are on the order of the day; they include the relation between “communication, Europe and Islam” and the “Catholic perspective of press freedom and respect for religions”. Theological and pastoral aspects linked to the Church and social communications will also be debated and time made available for the exchange of ideas and experiences. A central aspect of the meeting will also be the ecumenical aspects and cooperation between the Bishops’ Conferences. In this regard, Thierry Bonaventura, CCEE press officer, will speak about the “Third European Ecumenical Assembly: the assembly process and the role of the press officers of the European Bishops’ Conferences”. This latter role has still to be consolidated and is struggling to find its proper institutional place in many European Churches. The meeting of spokesmen and press officers of the European churches will also have a discussion on the journalistic aspects of their work with Paolo Bustaffa, director of the SIR press agency that publishes SirEurope , on 22 July. Jan Willem Wits, in charge of communications within the Bishops’ Conference of the Netherlands will offer his testimony, while Tommie Gorman, director of the RTE, the Irish public radio and television service, will speak on “the problems of Northern Ireland – is God to be blamed?”.
