European Bishops Look at 10 Years of New Evangelization

In the midst of the Year of Faith, the postsynodal apostolic exhortation "Ecclesia in Europa" will have its 10th anniversary this Friday.

The 2003 document traced priorities for a renewal in the proclamation of the Gospel on the Old Continent.

Ten years on, the Secretaries of the European Bishops’ Conferences are to meet Thursday through Sunday in Warsaw, Poland, to discuss the evangelizing mission of the Church in today’s context of the Year of Faith.

An initial evaluation of the ten years of the new evangelisation from Ecclesia in Europa to the Year of Faith has been entrusted to the Vice-president of COMECE (the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community), Mgr Virgil Bercea, who participated in the Special Assembly on Europe (1999) and the Synod on the New Evangelisation (2012).

On Friday, the Secretaries will then focus on the current context marked by various forms of crises (economic, in values, etc.), but also by signs of hope.

An open discussion on “a radical understanding of the new evangelisation” will bring to an end the Secretaries’ work.

In the course of the meeting, the Secretaries of CCEE and COMECE will report on the activities of the two European episcopal bodies. The participants will also be informed about the situation of the Church in Poland and the process which led to the signing of a joint message between the Polish Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church on 17 August 2012.

The meeting will end on 30 June with the celebration of Mass with the local comunity in the Cathedral of the Polish capital and in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Mgr. Celestino Migliore and Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz.

On Friday 28 June, there will be a public prayer vigil for Europe, with the participation of young peoples of the John Paul II Foundation.