"What is the contribution of the Churches to the Europe of today?": this question opened the reflection of Jean Arnold De Clermont, president of the Conference of European Churches (Kek), which this afternoon, after the welcome address of mgr. Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Cei commission for ecumenism and dialogue, kick-started the third national ecumenical meeting, promoted until June 7th in Terni about "Christians and Europe" and chaired by the metropolitan bishop of the Sacred Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy, Gennadios Zervos. The meeting, jointly organised by the Cei commission for ecumenism and dialogue, the Orthodox Church of Italy and the Federation of Evangelical Churches of Italy, is the third of a series that took place in Perugia and Viterbo and is part of the preparation in the run-up to the ecumenical Assembly of the European Churches that will be held in Sibiu, Romania, in 2007. "Sibiu said De Clermont will be an essential step to put in practice the ecumenical charter, because in Romania, where the majority church is the Orthodox one, we will be welcomed by the whole of the local Churches, both Catholic and Protestant. So it will be an opportunity for us to have direct experience of one of the most difficult problems to be faced in Europe, i.e. the relation between majority churches and minority churches". In addition, according to De Clermont, the Churches will be called "to bear witness, together, at the very heart of the European project".
