CHURCHES IN BRIEF
COMECE: Plenary Assembly"The Financial Crisis and the future of European Integration" is the theme that will be discussed by all 23 member bishops of COMECE, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, who will gather in Brussels from the 26th to the 28th of October for their Autumn Plenary Assembly. "The bishops a release from Comece states will analyse the economical and political reasons for the debt crisis in Europe and the instruments that have been set up to tackle the crisis. They will also reflect on "confidence" as a key factor to solve the crisis in a political, economical and social context". Guest speakers will include Peter Wagner, Head of Unit, Task Force for Greece, European Commission; Lans Bovenberg, Tilburg University (The Netherlands); Emmanuel van der Mensbrugghe, Director of the IMF – International Monetary Fund – Offices in Europe, and Jean-Pierre Jouyet, President of the French Financial Markets Authority (France). COMECE Plenary assemblies are closed to the public. There will be no Press Conference. A final press release will be issued as usual on Friday at noon.Slovakia: 2012 Catholic Media Day Financial support of Catholic media projects, opening of nominations for the 2012 Andrej Radlinsky Prize, preparations for the Catholic Media Day in Slovakia these were the topics of the meeting of the Council for Social Communications of the Bishops’ Conference held on 10 October in Bratislava. The highlight of the programme were the debates on media projects aspiring for grants from a collection taking part every year on the Seventh Sunday of Easter in the country’s parishes. Final decisions will be made by the bishops at the plenary session scheduled to take place at the end of October. Another point of the meeting was the opening of nominations for the Andrej Radlinsky Prize scheduled to take place the following year. According to the director of the Press Office of the Bishops’ Conference, Jozef Kovacik, "its main purpose is to express gratitude to people who contributed to the development of Christian media in Slovakia in a significant way and to those who with their work brought a spirit of truth and Christian faith to the world of media". Nominations can be submitted by individuals and organisations by the end of January 2012. Members of the Council agreed that the following Day of Catholic media will take place on 19 May next year on the Kapitulska street in Bratislava where most of them reside, with eucharistic celebration in the Cathedral of St. Martin, associated with awarding of the Prize of Andrej Radlinsky and cultural programme.Ukraine: Ugcc on Catholic-Orthodox dialogue "From the very beginning of my ministry as a head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) I have been saying that the desire for unity and communion between the Churches is our top priority. In the spirit of my predecessors I repeat the words ‘forgive and ask for forgiveness’ and hope for the same response from the Orthodox brothers" said His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk in his speech at the premises of the Ecumenical Institute in Venice on 12 October. His detailed report was entitled "UGCC’s contribution to the dialog with the Orthodox in the Catholic-Orthodox joint commission". He stressed that after the promulgation of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, the Greek Catholic Churches began with deep consideration of their special status and tried to find a synthesis between Catholic and Orthodox ecclesiology. "We are well aware of the difficulties that may arise in this process but we also agree on the absolute necessity that such dialog between the Catholics and the Orthodox continue", added His Beatitude Sviatoslav. According to his words, Eastern Catholic Churches can make a significant contribution to the theological dialog with the Orthodox, primarily because of its full compliance with the Eastern tradition. "After the recent meetings with Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church I have grown convinced that we have established a relationship of openness and sincerity. We know about the differences, but we promised to work together wherever it is possible. And in this perspective I would like to continue in our efforts towards the unity of our Church", concluded the head of the UGCC.
