The fortieth meeting of the General Secretaries will be opened at Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth Conference Centre (Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AU) by Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, President of the Scottish Bishop’ Conference.

 

Last year, in Vilnius, the General Secretaries reflected on some specific elements of the new evangelisation, such as: the relationship between culture and the quality of faith; the spiritual life and ecclesial adherence; and, finally, structures and charisms in the Church (cf. the news release issued on 22 June 2011). This year, just a few months before the opening of the Synod of Bishops on the new evangelisation called by Pope Benedict XVI and scheduled to take place in October 2012 in the Vatican, the issue of public testimony of faith in European society will be tackled with reference to politics, culture, laws and public opinion. The reflections will be divided into three levels: the national level, that of Scotland, will be entrusted to Professor John Haldane, Director of the Centre for Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs of the University of St Andrews (Scotland); the European level, by Mgr Piotr Marzurkiewicz, General Secretary of ComECE (Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community) and by Mgr Aldo Giordano, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg; and finally with a testimony from across the ocean, that of Mgr Ronnie Jenkins, General Secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, who will talk about the American situation.

 

Subsequently the General Secretaries will focus their attention on issues of the financing of the Church in Europe, ecumenism and the translation of some of the Catholic Church’s liturgical texts.

 

The results of a survey carried out among the Bishops’ Conferences on the various financial systems of the Church in Europe will be presented by Dr Erwin Tanner, General Secretary of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference.

 

The ecumenical situation in Scotland and Europe will be described by Fr Stephen Smyth, General Secretary of ACTS (Action of Churches Together in Scotland) and Bob Fyffe, a canon of the Episcopal Church of Scotland and General Secretary of CTBI (Churches Together in Britain and Ireland).

 

Finally, the issue of the translation of the Missal and the Lectionary will be tackled by Mgr Bruce Harbert, former Executive Director of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL).

 

Also participating in the meeting will be Mgr Antonio Mennini, Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain; Mgr Mario Conti, Archbishop of Glasgow; and Mgr Peter Moran, Bishop Emeritus of Aberdeen.

 

The meeting will be marked by moments of prayer and the daily celebration of Mass. On Sunday 1 July, the General Secretaries will celebrate Mass along with Cardinal Keith O’Brien, in Edinburgh Cathedral at 1315.

 

Attached is the programme for the meeting and the list of participants. The meeting will take place behind closed doors, apart from the opening session, on Friday 29 June 2012 at 2030 at the Dynamic Earth Conference Centre. A final news release will be published at the end of the meeting.

 

A news conference will take place on Monday 2 July at 1100 in Edinburgh at the Macdonald Holyrood Hotel - 81, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, EH8 8AU

 

The meeting, promoted by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences, is taking place in Edinburgh at the invitation of the General Secretary of the Scottish Bishops’ Conference, Mgr Paul Conroy, and thanks to the hospitality of Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, President of the Scottish Bishop’ Conference.

 

 

PROGRAMME (ONLY IN ENGLISH)

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 

Below the news release in other languages