It is on the eve of the Congress of the Commission Vocations-EVS (European Vocations Service) on vocational pastoral care in Europe (Tirana, February 28 – March 3) that took place, this morning in Tirana, the first meeting of the CCEE Commission “Youth”. Created by the 2017 CCEE Plenary Assembly, the establishment of this new commission within CCEE testifies to the desire of the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences in Europe to give greater attention and emphasis to the theme of the accompaniment of young people on their journey of faith, restructuring and enhancing the work done so far in the field of youth ministry and in other pastoral areas in which particular attention is given to the young people.
The works, led by the President of the Commission, the Archbishop of Luxembourg, H.E. Mgr Jean-Claude Hollerich, began with an evaluation of the work carried out in previous years and with an exchange around some themes that closely affect youth ministry.
Subsequently, the Commission looked at the work of each of the three sections of its competence (school and university, youth ministry and pastoral care of vocations), developing some guidelines for the work of the next years to be presented to the presidency and the next Plenary Assembly of CCEE – the ecclesial assembly of the Presidents of the thirty-nine Conferences Episcopal members of the CCEE -, scheduled for September 13-16 in Poznań (Poland).
The Commission welcomed the work of preparation for the Episcopal Conferences to the forthcoming Synod of Bishops on Youth, Faith and Vocational Discernment, scheduled for next October, and began to reflect the ways in which to promote, in the various areas of the commission, the expected fruits of the Synod.
On the “Youth” Commission of CCEE
The “Youth” Commission of the CCEE is made up of H.E. Mgr Jean-Claude Hollerich, Archbishop of Luxembourg, elected President of the Commission by the Plenary Assembly last autumn (28 September – 1 October 2017) in Minsk. Archbishop Hollerich is also leading the “Youth Ministry” section. The Commission intends to explore the themes and animate the network of bishops and persons responsible of the Bishops’ Conferences in the pastoral areas (sections) for which the CCEE Presidency appointed last December the following bishops as persons in charge: for “School and University”, H.E. Mgr Marek Jędraszewski, Archbishop of Krakow (Poland) and for “Vocations”, H.E. Mgr Oscar Cantoni, Bishop of Como (Italy). The Secretary of the Commission is Fr Jorge Alvarez of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Luxembourg.