Thoughts, experience, projects

Collegiality amongst Europe’s Bishops Conferences, ecumenism, relations between the Church, culture and society remain the major spheres of action of the Ccee (the Council of Europe’s Bishops Conferences). The major events of the past months include the Secam-Ccee symposium held past November in Ghana “Slavery and new forms of slavery”; at the end of which a letter was sent to the summit of State leaders of the African Union and of the European Union, held in Lisbon in the month of December. In November, Rome hosted the Symposium on the European Survey on Catholic Teaching; while in December, in Berlin was held the Meeting of the Joint CCEE-KEK Commission for Relations with Muslims in Europe (Crme). Tomorrow the joint Ccee-Kek Committee Conference will commence. February 29 to March 2, will be marked by the summit of South-East Europe Presidents. Follows a survey of recent initiatives of European Churches. Each issue of SirEuropa devotes space to activities of all the Churches in the continent.Albania. On January 31, during its Plenary Assembly, Albania’s Parliament voted the ratification of the agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Albania “on a series of economic and tributary issues”, signed past December 3rd by the Apostolic nuncio Msgr. Giovanni Bulaitis, and by Albania’s Finance Minister Ridvan Bode. The Treaty, consisting of 11 articles, will promote the implementation of the specific mission of the Catholic Church and its bodies, to which the State will be granting consistent tax cuts, owing to their non-profit legal status and with social, educational and health charitable purposes. Belarus. On January 30 the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus signed a document regulating the summoning of foreigners for employment in the religious sphere. The law envisages that each religious body in Belarus which intends to summon a person from abroad for employment purposes, receive preliminary authorization from the Nationality and Religion Commissioner, who is entitled to reject the request, without being compelled to motivate his decision. The Translations Section of the Bishops Conference translated the Pope’s Encyclical “Spe salvi” into Belarussian. Bosnia and Herzegovina. January 18-25 the Council for Ecumenism and Dialogue of the Bishops Conference (CeBih) organized a week of prayer in the Catholic and in the Orthodox cathedrals in Sarajevo. The prayer was attended by priests along with Orthodox and Catholic faithful. His Eminence Cardinal Vinko Puljic, CeBih President, and Metropolitan Ortodox bishop Nikolaj officiated the celebrations and preached the sermons. In a joint letter issued at the beginning of January, they had invited faithful to pray for Christian Unity. A concert was organized in the Catholic Cathedral in Sarajevo with the contribution of all the Christian Churches in the city. Bulgaria. Benedict XVI’s Encyclical “Spe Salvi” was translated into the Bulgarian language and will be published soon. On January 18-25 all Parish churches prayed for Christian unity. The meditations focused on passages prepared by a specific international ecumenical commission which had been translated into Bulgarian. They were published by the monthly magazine Istina-Veritas , distributed throughout the Country. Very intense was the program in Plovdiv and Russe, where as part of the tradition during the Week of prayer for unity, an address was delivered in the Catholic Cathedral by representatives of the Orthodox, Armenian and Methodist Churches. Czechia. After months of negotiations, the churches and the religious institutions on one side and the Czech government on the other, reached an agreement on material goods as regards compensation of Church property. On January 23 the government received the proposal. On January 22-23 the Bishops of the Czech Republic met in Prague for the 71st Ordinary Plenary Assembly. The topics were: the Church in contemporary society, the establishment of a Greek-Catholic charity board in the Czech Republic along with school material for the teaching of religion. Croatia. On January 21 was held the extraordinary Assembly of Croatia’s Bishops conference. The main topic was the document The Pastoral care of sacraments in the Parish community . The bishops discussed the life of the Church in the Country along with catechesis teaching in middle schools. As a token of the ever-closer cooperation between the theological faculty of Zagreb and the theological orthodox one of Belgrade, on January 27 2008, representatives of the Faculty of Zagreb participated in Belgrade’s Faculties festivity. Lithuania. Between November 2007 and January 2008 there were two Plenary meetings of Lithuania’s Bishops Conference. Some of the addressed issues were: problems and opportunities of vocational pastoral care and ongoing formation of priests; pastoral care for Lithuanians in Western European Countries and in the United States; debate and support to the family law debated in Parliament, which identifies the family as the marriage bond between man and woman; opportunities for pastoral care on the occasion of the commemoration of the millennium of the term “Lithuania”, to be held in 2009; preparation for the commemoration of the 400th anniversary since the apparition of the Holy Vergin in Maria a Šiluva (archdiocese of Kaunas).Luxembourg. Luxembourg’s archdiocese is working on the third and last part of its three-year pastoral care plan “draiSchrett” (Three steps). The sacrament of Confirmation is at the centre of Christian initiation. In this context, the archbishop issued a message for Lent on the Holy Spirit and lessons to be drawn as relates to the social commitment of the Christian and of the Church. The letter is titled The Holy Spirit, our force .Malta. Malta’s Bishops Conference promoted the establishment of a Pastoral Mission for the faithful who work and live in Brussels and Luxembourg. Since Malta has become EU Member State, there has been an increase in the number of Maltese citizens working for Community institutions. The Mission was initiated by Msgr. Mario Grech, bishop of Gozo, accompanied by the archbishop delegate for the migrants. The initiative was received with enthusiasm. Moldavia. For the first time the community of Chisinau has a Moldavian “permanent deacon”, ordained on December 17 2007, after having undergone specific formation with the support of the archdiocese of Lecce (Italy). The Sister Church of Lecce on January 1st donated a priest “fidei donum” for the pastoral service to Moldavia, which along with the direction of the Regina Pacis Foundation (a structure operating in the field of charity service), will accompany the bishops in more committing assignments. On the occasion of the solemnity of Christ the King the community welcomed the priestly ordination of a dehonian religious in Transnistria.Munich. The period November 2007-January 2008 was particularly intense for the archdiocese of Munich. On the occasion of the National Holiday a solemn Mass was celebrated before the presence of the sovereign prince and of his family, of the Diplomatic corps, of the Apostolic nuncio Msgr. André Dupuy. Diplomatic credit continue, representing an occasion for the archbishop to personally receive the new ambassadors and discuss with them the religious situation in the respective Countries. Poland. On January 17-25, the Church in Poland celebrated the Week of Universal Prayer for Christian unity. It was preceded by the XI Day of Judaism, celebrated on January 17 on: “God created man to his own image: to the image of God he created him: male and female he created them” . Ecumenical celebrations closed on January 26 with the VIII Day of Islam, with the slogan: “Peace in both traditions”. Past January 28, in the seat of the Cep Secretariat, Secretary General Msgr. Stanis?aw Budzik met with his counterpart of Germany’s Bishops Conference, Hans Langendörfer. Topic of the meeting: seeking ways to implement a closer cooperation between the two bodies. Slovakia. On January 30, Benedict XVI reorganized Slovakia’s Greek-Catholic Church nominating it Metropolitan Church “sui iuris”. The heparchy of Prešov for Catholics of Byzantine rite was elevated as Metropolitan see and Msgr. Ján Babjak, until now eparchial bishop of Prešov, was promoted Metropolitan archbishop. The Apostolic exarchate of Košice was elevated as eparchy and the present exarch Msgr. Milan Chautur, was appointed first eparchial bishop. The new eparchy of Bratislava was also erected for Catholics of Byzantine rite, with the first bishop Msgr. Peter Rusnak.Slovenia. Past 21 December Slovenia entered the Schengen area and on January 1st 2008 it took office at the Presidency of the EU Council for one semester. For the occasion, Parish Churches received a Pastoral Letter from bishops along with special prayers, which were translated and sent to European Bishops Conferences. In this period Slovenian prelates will have the opportunity of meeting European and international political officials visiting the Country. Ukraine (Byzantines). On December 11 the solemn meeting of the pan-Ukranian Council of religious Churches and Organizations took place in Kiev, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary. The Council is composed by the leaders of the major Christian Churches and Communities (Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants) as well as of the Jewish and Muslim communities. The Council expresses its position on important social, political and religious issues through letters and appeals to the population and to civil authorities. The Church proclaimed the year 2008 as the “Year of Christian Vocation”.