EUROPE - The role of Christianity and the Churches in Europe today: General Secretaries of European Bishops’ Conferences meet in Belgrade

Belgrade (Fides Service) - From 10th to 13th June 2004, the general secretaries of Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences will meet at the invitation of Father Leopold Rochmes, who is the general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of Serbia and Montenegro. As representatives of the Bishops’ Conferences, they will discuss the role of Christianity and the Churches in Europe today, paying special attention to:
1.European unification and the process of composition and approval of the constitutional treaty, themes that are particularly significant at the very moment when the European Union’s citizens are due to vote for new members of the European Parliament.
2.Using the experience of Serbia and Montenegro as a starting-point, one session will focus on ecumenism: key issues in this debate will be links between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and the Third European Ecumenical Assembly.
3.There will also be a discussion on the contribution Christianity, other religions and secularity (la laïcité) can make to international peace and harmony in Europe and the wider world.
Part of the time will be given over to an exchange of views on major events in the life of the Bishops’ Conferences in recent months (an evaluation of the Mitteleuropäische Katholikentag, the meeting of Catholics in Central and Eastern Europe, preparations for the World Youth Day in 2005, initiatives for the international year of the family…).
During the meeting there will be discussions: with Archbishop Stansilav Hocevar of Belgrade, with Cardinal Josip Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb and vice-president of CCEE and, on Saturday 12th June, with the Orthodox Patriarch Pavle of Serbia.
The general secretaries of Bishops’ Conferences in 29 countries will take part in the meeting, which is organised each year by the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE): Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scandinavia (the Nordic countries), Scotland, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine (Latin and Byzantine Catholics). . (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 9/6/2004; Righe 26; Parole 301)