“European cultures: the challenge of diversity and unity” is the theme of the eighth Summer University of the Commission of the episcopates of the European Community (COMECE), due to be held in the educational centre at Seggau, near Graz (Austria) from 30 June to 14 July. The summer school will have university status, with two courses and seminar modules for 80 students that will be equivalent to taking university courses in their own countries in the form of credits (ECTS – European credit transfer system). Explaining the choice of the theme, Manfred Priesching, sociologist of the University of Graz, said that “diversity is at times a resource and at times a weakness: a strength because the particular dynamic and innovation of Europe are rooted in the diversity of the cultures present on the territory; but a weakness because it is difficult to build a society that is born from such different peoples and communities”. “A united Europe – he concluded – is not a ready-made product that history delivers to us at home, but a model that needs to developed with patience and drive”. For further information on the programme of the Summer University: www.uni-graz.at/en/bibwww_soe_seggau.htm.
