Meeting of the General Secretaries of Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences
Spain (Covadonga, 26-30 June 2008)

The General Secretaries of Europe’s Bishops’ Conferences met in the Spanish city of Covadonga from 26-30 June 2008. There were representatives from: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, England and Wales, France, Germany, Hungary, the International Bishops’ Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scandinavia, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the Ukraine (Byzantine Rite) and the Ukraine (Latin Rite). The meeting was promoted by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) and took place at the invitation of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference and its secretary Mgr Juan Antonio Martínez Camino SJ, Auxiliary Bishop of Madrid.

The meeting took place at the Shrine of Covadonga, about 80 km from Oviedo. Covadonga is part of the heartland of Asturia which was central to the re-birth of Christianity in Spain in the eighth century.
In this place so rich in historical and spiritual significance the General Secretaries held their working sessions at the “Nuestra Señora de Covadonga” Marian Institute and celebrated Mass at the Shrine and the Virgin’s grotto.

The Archbishop of Oviedo, Mgr D. Carlos Osoro Sierra, greeted participants on the evening of Thursday 26 June and spoke to them about the situation of the church in Oviedo and the Santa Cruz Jubilee Year which is being celebrated from 7 January, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Mgr Osoro presided at the solemn Pilgrim Mass on Sunday 29 June, celebrated in Oviedo Cathedral along with the European Bishops.

On the evening of 27 June,  Mgr D. Juan Antonio Martínez Camino, General Secretary of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, spoke about the situation of the Church in Spain, in particular the dioceses and events of the year: the beatification of 498 twentieth-century martyrs in Rome last October; the publication of the Catechism of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference “Jesús es el Señor”, aimed at children; and the stance taken by the Spanish bishops on the law about education, above all defending the fundamental rights of parents.

The basic theme addressed by the General Secretaries was: The religious situation in Europe: between secularisation and questions about meaning and spirituality.

In Europe there is a growing openness to and interest in the religious dimension. Many young people are searching for ways to overcome a disappointing materialism and rediscover the reality of the transcendent, truth, beauty and goodness. This search goes on within a context of increasing religious pluralism, whose origins lie especially in migration, which creates a type of ‘competition’ between religions and truths. The challenge above all today is with Islam. In public opinion religion, largely due to terrorism, is no longer taken for granted as a good thing. In such a complex situation one notices the tendency towards a certain melting down of the Christian faith where there is no reference to the objective dimension verified by faith. Instead, faith and morals are constructed privately through one’s own descriptions and emotions. This calls for a degree of prudence, because the situations of fragmentation and real weakness are clearly prey to totalitarian powers. Even the Church, too, is often perceived in a disparaging manner as a civil institution, interesting only for its commitment to solidarity and the environment. At the same time, one notices the spread of an aggressive humanist atheism, which although present among a minority is very visible in the media and the public domain. Furthermore, it tends to be organised along ecclesial lines. Faced with such a situation there is a risk that the reaction will be one of a rigid fundamentalism quickly prone to new schisms.

In the Communist era, the Christians of the East looked towards the West with hope, seeing it as a place of religious freedom. But they have quickly noticed that the reality is very different. And even today they must still spend a lot of time on the question of the restitution of the goods of the Church and the regularisation of Church-State relations.
 
It is clear that we are no longer a Christian society, but there is a great opportunity to proclaim the Christian vision of reality. Christians have a chance: to testify how the Christian faith possesses a unique richness for humanity. The Church must be herself, overcome its own internal temptation to secularisation, witness to the Risen Lord,  and give God back to Europe with humility and freedom and be at the service of the meeting of Europeans and Jesus Christ. In Europe there is a space for this healthy identity and for a serious, dialogical presentation of faith. There is an expectancy for a light capable of fulfilling humanity’s profound aspirations, broadening the horizons of reason beyond the merely scientific and generating culture. There are many experiences, both at the parish level and that of old and new spritual trends, which show that it is possible to lead a Christian life in a secularised culture. The forthcoming World Youth Day in Sydney and the numerous meetings of young people that will take place in various European countries at the same time as the Sydney event are a sign that this is a possibility.

The meeting of the General Secretaries was also an opportunity to salute and thank Mgr Aldo Giordano, who for 13 years has been CCEE General Secretary and has now been appointed the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.  He joined CCEE in 1995, when Europe was still going through the tragedy of the Balkans and the post-Wall era was beginning. In subsequent years there has been a dramatic increase in the process of reduction of time and space. The world is getting ever smaller and more global. Now Europe’s problems are those of the world: the emergence of China and India, climate change, the question of energy sources, hunger, terrorism, migration. Changes are evermore rapid – one has only to look at the worlds of communications and of science. In a completely new way we are faced with cultural changes and unimaginable ethical problems concerned with life and the very essence of the human person.

Deepening the network and communion between the Bishops’ Conference, the bishops and Europe’s Christian communities, allows one to provide a significant response to these great questions. This is the meaning of service for CCEE. Intensifying this “network for the benefit of all”, as one participant put it, is also important for the contribution that the Church can make to the process of unifcation, peace and stability in Europe. Europe needs to rediscover the way. The community’s institutions appear to be too distant from real people, as suggested by the Irish ‘No’ vote to the Lisbon Treaty.

A network of experts from the Bishops’ Conferences can contribute to facing up to the most delicate ethical problems that are often on the agenda of national governments and European bodies, such as euthanasia, paliative care, stem cell research, and abortion.

It is time to deepen our Christian identity, our belonging to the Church, our communion and our responsibility towards the human person of today.

The 2009 meeting of the general Secretaries of the bishops’ conferences of Europe will be held in Ukraine from 9 to 13 July.

Covadonga, 30 June 2008

Mgr Aldo Giordano
CCEE General Secretary

For further information please contact:

Isidro Catela Marcos
Director Oficina de Información Conferencia Episcopal Española
Tel.: 34 91 343 97 32
E-mail: isidrocatela@planalfa.es

CCEE Secretariat