COMECE: a “cultural project” for Europe”What we are and what we want to be: that is the transition we need to define the European identity. It’s a cultural project that involves everybody and to which the Catholic Church intends to continue to make her contribution”, said Father Piotr Mazurkiewicz, the new general secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), at his first meeting with journalists at COMECE headquarters in Brussels on 22 October. Father Mazurkiewicz succeeds Monsignor Noel Treanor, now Bishop of Down & Connor in Northern Ireland, and is about to coordinate the activities of this important agency of the Catholic Church in Europe, whose President is the Bishop of Rotterdam, the Most Rev. Adrianus van Luyn. “COMECE – explained the new secretary – has the task of correctly informing the European Churches of the activities of the European institutions and correctly reporting the thought of the Church herself to the institutions, thus creating, in conformity with the autonomy of both sides, a relation of cooperation in response to the various needs of citizens”. Mazurkiewicz, a professor of political science and political philosophy, and an expert on European questions, commenting on current affairs, added that “the social doctrine of the Church offers valuable guidance on the social and economic questions of the present day, including the financial crisis in which the EU is engaged in an unprecedented phase of reflection on the relation between economic policy and ethics”.Romania: 60th anniversary of persecution of the Catholic Church”We must not let the events that shaped the history of the Romanian Catholic Church be forgotten”, said Father Francisc Ungureanu, postulator of the cause of beatification of Monsignor Vladimir Ghika, during a symposium held at the Collegio Pio Romeno in Rome on 16 October. The symposium is one of the events with which the Romanian Catholic Church is commemorating the 60th anniversary of the start of the persecution of the Church during the Stalinist period. An album and a documentary film on the correspondence between Mgr. Vladimir Ghika and his exiled brother Dimitrie, from 1948 to 1952, were presented at the symposium. The documentary “Letters to my brother in exile”, produced by the Signis Romania Association and directed by Anca Berlogea, had its premiere in Paris in recent days, and was also presented at Blaj, on 21 October, in the main hall of the Theological Institute. Also in memory of Vladimir Ghika, a work for the theatre he wrote in 1931, with the title “The woman taken in adultery – evangelic mystery”, has recently been staged. Performed by a cast of Romanian and French actors, the play was given seven performances in Paris in September and one at Auberive (the abbey where Mgr. Ghika tried to found a religious community). Two further performances will follow in the church of St. Lambert in Brussels on 28 and 29 October.Croatia: Commission of Justice and PeaceThe world economic crisis, which has also involved Croatia, was one of the main topics discussed by Croatian bishops on Tuesday, 21 October, during the meeting of the Justitia et Pax Commission of the Croatian Bishops’ Conference. The Commission, chaired by the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanic, maintains that “the cause of the current economic crisis is the ethical crisis, based on a culture of greed and mistrust in society”. In this context, the Commission urged all members of Croatian society, in particular Christians, “to live an ethical life”. The Commission also discussed questions concerning corruption, violence in society and the role of the media in Croatian society. At the meeting it was also explained that the Croatian Justitia et Pax Commission has asked its European counterpart to consider it “an equal partner” in their future work together.Slovakia: new diocesan centre at NitraA diocesan Centre “for the third millennium”: that’s how Bishop Viliam Judák described the new diocesean Centre inaugurated at Nitra (western Slovakia) on 22 October. The Centre will also be used for the pastoral activities serving the two universities of Nitra, the University of Constantine the Philosopher and the Slovakian University of Agriculture, as well as for an office of catechesis and the commission for youth apostolate. At weekends the Centre can also be used for retreats and spiritual exercises. Bishop Judák, during the ceremony of blessing the new Centre, expressed the hope that it would be used to preach the Gospel in a modern way, for the man of the third millennium. The pastoral administrator of the diocesan Centre is the university chaplain Father Lubomir Hlad. Nitra is the oldest diocese in the territory of present-day Slovakia; it was established by Pope John VIII in 880. Its first bishop was St. Methodius. The territory of the diocese was reorganized on 14 February 2008. At the present time the diocese of Nitra comprises 196 parishes in 17 deaneries.
