Church in Europe
The French Bishops’ Conference has launched a summer section on its website cef.fr featuring spiritual initiatives as well as festivals, meetings and pilgrimages “to help you have an inspired summer”. The starting point is the idea that “summer is both an opportunity for training and to discover the treasures of our religious heritage” and “a privileged time to get involved and reach out to others, to recharge your batteries and reconnect with God”. There are six sections. “Meetings, conferences and other events” includes a list of initiatives of a more cultural character proposed by several dioceses: from meetings on the Reformation to the summer university as well as Marian and popular piety celebrations; then there is the section named “pilgrimages” with many proposals for community walks and trekking; the “summer camps” section is a separate chapter with initiatives organised mainly by youth movements and associations. Then there is the section “solidarity” with information on how to participate in meetings with testimonies, in debates on various topics, or in the Solifest, the festival held on the bay of Mont St Michel on 14-16 June, to make people rediscover the international dimension of solidarity. Then the section called “cultural events” and, of course, a series of “retreats” proposed by some dioceses for different age groups.
