The style of encounter

“May Europe not forget prayer and its relation with God, and may Christians, in turn, not forget to pray for Europe”: that’s the hope expressed to SIR Europe by Father Duarte da Cunha, General Secretary of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe) whose 40th anniversary falls on 25 March, solemnity of the Annunciation; the “date is not casual”, observes the secretary. We asked him to sum up the role played by the organization and focus on its future plans. The CCEE’s priority remains, he underlines, “service to the faith, just as it has been over the last 40 years”.An “evangelical” method. “The CCEE derives its origin from the assembly which led to its foundation, held in Rome on 22-24 March 1971; it was approved by the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops on 25 March”, explains Father da Cunha, emphasizing that the organization “was born as a result of Vatican Council II: it was inspired by criteria of collegiality, friendship and mutual collaboration between the bishops, pastors of the Church in Europe, to share their concerns and their attention to the most important and delicate pastoral and social questions” of the time. The CCEE, Father da Cunha continues, is an organization “that was founded in a still-divided continent but that ever since its origin was determined to breath with two lungs because in the eyes of the Church Europe is a single great and indivisible continent”. “It has always privileged – points out the secretary – the style of encounter to foster dialogue on ideas and projects, and also to promote and reinforce interpersonal relations of friendship; a method of communion in some sense ‘evangelical’. The commitment to evangelization has always been a central focal point of the CCEE over these last forty years. It’s a commitment that will also continue in future, because the preaching of the Gospel and the task of being living stones and present in European society is our mission”.New evangelization. “The CCEE’s commitment to the new evangelization, to which will be dedicated the two meetings of its general secretaries and press officers in June – continues Father da Cunha -, already appears in its new statutes of 1995. It’s a commitment expressed in various fields: ecumenism; relations with other religions and with the Churches of other continents; migration; the defence of the person, life and the family; the problems of youth and dialogue with them; the major theme of education; the question of Church-State relations, more particularly between the national Bishops’ Conferences and their respective countries in the light of the doctrine of the Church and the evolution of social, cultural and political processes”. In these fields “the CCEE intends to continue to make its own contribution of thought”. Further fields of work include “the environment, i.e. man’s responsibility for the creation; culture and the use of the media for evangelization and also for a better understanding of culture itself; and – underlines Father da Cunha – what I would call the pastoral service of the mind. But beyond the mind is beauty: Europe, so rich in works of art, must rediscover how to cultivate genuine beauty, the beauty that is not limited to arousing emotions but that leads to truth”.An eye on Europe. With reference to the persecution of Christians in the world and the declaration in support of freedom of religion approved by the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU on 21 February, Father da Cunha says: “Europe must defend religious freedom; I hope that these declarations will be translated into specific and effective political measures that may involve and pledge states, beyond their political and economic interests, to protect this inalienable right”. Recalling the letter sent by the CCEE and the CEC to Baroness Ashton (EU foreign policy chief), the secretary describes it as “an appeal to the reality of European culture, which has always been the custodian of human rights and the promoter of religious freedom”. And this freedom also needs to be protected inside Europe: it needs to be “protected in the various states from the forms, at times subtle, of discrimination and intolerance to which Christians are subjected”. In this light Father da Cunha expresses “satisfaction for the judgement of the Grand Chamber of the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on the right to display the crucifix in school classrooms, issued on 18 March. It’s a judgement significant not only for Italy but for the whole continent”. It “also underlined that religious freedom must be safeguarded at the European level, but that its expression must take place at the national level within each individual member state”. The CCEE also has “a pre-political and post-political eye” for the process of European integration. “At the pre-political level – explains Father da Cunha – the Church intends to accompany the continent’s political and economic developments, and hence also the process of integration aimed at maintaining peace, by promoting the values of respect for life and of the person, solidarity and justice by which it ought to be inspired and guided”. “At the post-political level – he concludes – we must be able to express a judgement as Christians on this process, and be a critical conscience able to offer a contribution of reflection and guidance to the debate”.