Thoughts, experiences, projects

Collegiality between the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, ecumenism, relations between the Church and culture and society in Europe: these were the main focuses of activity of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe) in recent months. The first meeting of the new CCEE Presidency to discuss its plan of work for the years ahead was held in St. Gallen (Switzerland) in December 2006. On that occasion the CCEE Presidency also met the chairmen of the various CCEE Committees. The third stage towards the European Ecumenical Assembly of Sibiu (EEA3) is now being held at Wittenberg (Germany) until 18 February; it was preceded by a meeting of the CCEE and CEC secretariats in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) in November 2006, and by a meeting of the CCEE-CEC preparatory committee of the EEA3, it too in Wittenberg, in December. Forthcoming events of the CCEE include the European Day of University Students in Rome on 10 March; the plenary assembly of COMECE and the European congress to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, again in the Italian capital from 23-25 March. Further preparatory meetings for the EEA3 are due to be held in Sibiu (Romania) between 26 and 30 March. Below a review of the most recent activities of the European Churches. ALBANIA . A solemn concelebration was held in the cathedral of Rreshen in recent weeks, marking the 10th anniversary of the diocese (7-12-1996); the rite was officiated by Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna, who visited the cathedral, the gift of his diocese. The Albanian Bishops’ Conference has translated, printed and published, in Albanian, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. The 10th anniversary of the death of the first Albanian cardinal Mikel Koliqi was celebrated in the cathedral of Scutari at the end of January. BELARUS . During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a series of meetings between Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants were held in the church of Saints Simon and Helena in Minsk on the initiative of the Bishops’ Conference. Numerous participants took part. A meeting with the representatives of the Jewish community of Belarus was also held in late January. The bishop of Vitebsk, Vladyslav Blin, was awarded a prize by the State in recognition of his contribution to the “religious renewal” of the country.BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA and CROATIA. The Croat-language edition of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was presented in Sarajevo in December 2006. The Croatian Bishops’ Conference and the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina held their regular annual meeting in Zagreb in recent weeks. On the order of the day: the pastoral care of Croatian Catholics abroad; the aid of the Catholic Church in Croatia to the Catholic Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina through the Caritas agencies of the two Bishops’ Conferences; and new editions of some liturgical books.CZECH REPUBLIC. During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and as stage two of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly (EEA3), a “Night of Open Churches” was organized in Prague, during which the Czech Churches signed the Charta oecumenica , visits to churches were organized, and a packed programme of events was held to promote knowledge of the life of the Churches, the Charta oecumenica and the programme of EEA3. The event, promoted by the Czech Bishops’ Conference and the Council of Churches, attracted widespread media interest. The traditional collection of the Three Magi (“T?íkrálová sbírka”), organized by the Association ?eská katolická, was held in January; the funds collected, so far 57 million Czech korunas (c. 2 million euros), will be used to fund humanitarian projects. The press room of the Bishops’ Conference has begun publishing bulletins also in English on its website: http://tisk.cirkev.cz/en/. GREECE. During the autumn plenary assembly of the Greek Bishops’ Conference, the bishops reflected on their ad limina visit to Rome and meeting with the Pope, underlining the love demonstrated by Benedict XVI not only for the Catholic Church but also for the Orthodox Church and the Archbishop of Athens and of all Greece, Christodoulos. Central focal points of the discussions were the future of the religious congregations in Greece, questions of vocations to the consecrated life and to the priesthood, the Synod of the Greek Catholic Church due to be held at the end of 2007, with the theme “Church – community: the family habitat of the Church”, and the legal situation of the Catholic Church in Greece.HOLLAND. The most important issues tackled in the meetings of Dutch bishops over the last three months have been the creation of a Canonical Theological Faculty at Utrecht; the programme of the Ecumenical Council of the Churches for 2007 – 2011; the introduction of an annual ‘Day of Judaism’ (17 January); an episcopal letter on the 40th anniversary of the encyclical Populorum Progressio ; and the pastoral letter for Lent 2007.LITHUANIA. Two sessions of the plenary assembly of the Lithuanian Bishops’ Conference were held in recent months. The issues discussed included the presentation and approval ad experimentum for one year of the new programme for the preparation of engaged couples for the sacrament of matrimony; the approval of the Instruction on days of penance and fasting, according to the norms of the Code of Canon Law; the pensions of the clergy in Lithuanian dioceses; and the approval of the Lithuanian translation of the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.LUXEMBOURG. The archdiocese of Luxembourg began the second stage of its three-year pastoral project (“Three Steps”) in the autumn of 2006, examining the Eucharist, the second of the three sacraments of initiation. The diocesan office for pastoral care has prepared a series of didactic and pastoral aids. The archbishop focused his message for Lent (“Free for God and free for man”) on the Sunday Eucharist. The archdiocese has also begun preparing a social document, to be drafted at all levels of the Church and of civil society (Christian-Social party, Christian trade-union, etc.); it is due to be published before the summer of 2007.MALTA. The new archbishop, the Right Rev. Paolo Cremona, of the Order of Preachers, was ordained in recent day. The whole Christian community has expressed its deep appreciation and esteem for the precious work performed by Monsignor Cremona’s predecessor, Archbishop Mercieca, during the three decades in which he led the Church of Malta.POLAND. An extraordinary session of the permanent Council of the Bishops’ Conference was held in recent weeks; during this meeting the bishops discussed, in particular, the need to submit the documents now in the archives of the Institute of National Memory, regarding bishops, to the Church’s historical Commission. The bishops have also addressed a pastoral letter to the faithful in which they announce that Ash Wednesday this year will be a special day of prayer and penance for all priests in Poland, to ask forgiveness for errors committed and weaknesses shown in preaching the Gospel. During the meeting the bishops called for a better legal protection of life, from conception to natural end.SCOTLAND. According to the Scottish bishops , the anti-discrimination legislation proposed by the British government, especially in terms of discrimination based on sexual orientation, represents a threat to the freedom of the Church to act according to conscience. They have therefore written to the government supporting the bishops of England and Wales, voicing their concerns about the future of Catholic adoption agencies, and appealing to ministers to consider the best interests of children. They also reflected on what needs to be done to raise the awareness and encourage the participation of citizens in view of the elections to the Scottish Parliament, scheduled for March 2007.SLOVAKIA. Cardinal Jozef Tomko gave an address on “The Church and the State” and presented his new book “With Heart in Slovakia” in Bratislava in recent weeks. The first ecumenical translation of the Old Testament into modern Slovak, completed after 19 years of work, was presented by the Committee of translators composed of Catholic and Evangelical Bible scholars at a ceremony in Bratislava on 30 January.SAINTS CYRIL AND METHODIUS. The International Bishops’ Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius has a new member. He is Monsignor Dode Gergij, hitherto Bishop of Sepe (Albania), who was appointed apostolic administrator of Prizren in early December. The conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was celebrated at Subotica on 25 January, in a service officiated by the Catholic bishops of Serbia, together with the bishop of the Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Community. UKRAINE (BYZANTINE RITE). The Congress of Ukrainian Greek-Catholic theologians was held in recent weeks at the seminary of the arch-eparchy of Lviv. Theme of the congress: “Eucharistic communion: a challenge of the tradition and of the present for the traditional Churches”. The aim was to identity the role of the Eucharist in the ecclesiologies of the various Churches and in the work of re-establishing visible unity. Special attention was devoted to the prospects of communion between the Churches of the so-called “volodymyrian baptism”, i.e. those that trace their roots back to the baptism of the Rus of Kiev introduced by St. Vladimir the Great. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was held in Kiev from 19 to 25 January with ecumenical celebrations in the Lutheran church of St. Catherine, the Roman-Catholic church of St. Alexander and the church of St. Basil the Great of the Basilian Order.