This article comes from the website of the CCEE.
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The challenges of ecclesial collaboration: relationships within the Church, relationships with States, the relationship with public opinion.
8th meeting of the General Secretaries of Europe's Bishops Conferences - Rome, 10-13 June 2010
On the occasion of the closure of the Year for Priests, the General Secretaries of Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences are to meet in Rome (10-13 June 2010) at the offices of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. The annual meeting, promoted by the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), is taking place in Rome at the invitation of His Lordship Mgr Mariano Crociata, General Secretary of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI).
The meeting will begin with the General Secretaries participating in the celebrations marking the closure of the Year for Priests (Thursday 10 June, Prayer Vigil in St Peter’s at 2030; Friday 11 June Mass presided by Pope Benedict XVI). “In this way”, said Fr Duarte da Cuhna, CCEE General Secretary, “the meeting also aims to be an opportunity to reflect and celebrate, together with thousands of priests from all over the world, on our ministry as priests and General Secretaries of the Bishops’ Conferences, and to represent, in some way, all the priests of our European nations”.
At the heart of the meeting is the theme of the challenges of ecclesial collaboration examined from different perspectives: between the Bishops’ Conferences, with States and with the world of the media. Each aspect of the theme will be introduced by experts in each field: for State relationships, Mgr Ettore Balestrero, Under-secretary for relations with States from the Vatican Secretariat of State; for the world of the media Mgr Domenico Pompili, Director of the CEI National Office for Social Communications, and Fr Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office.
In the course of the meeting, participants will also discuss the issue of child abuse, with contributions from His Lordship Mgr Luís Ladaria SJ and Mgr Robert Deeley, respectively Secretary and Collaborator from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Finally, the General Secretaries will report on current issues in their respective countries and the activities undertaken in the course of the year by their respective Bishops’ Conferences. They will also receive a report on the on-going activities of the various CCEE commissions.
The programme will also include moments of prayer and the celebration of Mass. On Sunday 13 June, on the feast of St Anthony, the local community is invited to the celebration of Mass at 1145 in the church of Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi in Via dei Portoghesi, 6 – 00186 Rome.
The meeting will take place behind closed doors. A Final Press Release will be issued at the end of the meeting.
CCEE General Secretary, Fr Duarte da Cunha, will attend on Monday 14 June the funerals of Bishop Luigi Padovese which will be held in Milan’s Duomo at 1030.
The Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE) gathers the Presidents of the current 33 European Bishops’ Conferences of this Continent, represented by their Presidents, and the Archbishops of Luxembourg and of the Principality of Monaco, as well as the Bishop of Chişinău (Moldavia) and the Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus. The President is Cardinal Péter Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Primate of Hungary; the Vice-Presidents are Cardinal Josip Bosanic, Archbishop of Zagreb, and Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux. The General Secretary of CCEE is Fr Duarte da Cunha. The headquarters of the Secretariat is in St Gallen (Switzerland).
