Bishops from South-East Europe Will Reflect Mixed Marriages

7th annual meeting of the presidents of bishops' conferences in South-East Europe will be held on 1-4 Mar 2007 in Oradea, Romania. Bishops, representatives of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) and experts will speak on the theme 'Mixed Marriages and the Family in Europe.'CZECH

St Gallen (CH), Oradea (RO): The annual meeting of bishops of South-East Europe will be opened on Thursday 1 Mar 2007 at 6.30 pm in the Hotel Vulturul Negru in Oradea, Romania, and will end on Sunday 4 Mar after lunch. The participants will reflect the theme of mixed marriages, i.e. a bond between a Catholic and a non-Catholic Christian, or between a Catholic and a non-baptised person. During the meeting, the results of a CCEE research on the family in Europe will be also presented. Various other topical issues of the region will be considered: the 3rd European Ecumenical Assembly that will be closed on 4-9 Sep 2007 in Sibiu, Romania; the Pope's visit to Turkey on 28 Nov – 1 Dec 2006; and the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the EU.

7 presidents of the bishops' conferences (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and the international bishops' conference of Serbia and Montenegro – Macedonia) will be joined by the representatives of the Holy See to Romania and to EU, respectively Jean-Claude Perisset and Andre Dupuy. Some bishops of the hosting Bishops' Conference of Romania, the General Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) Noel Treanor and representatives of CCEE – President Cardinal Peter Erdo and General Secretary Aldo Giordano – will also attend.

The gathering also includes meetings with the local community and with representatives of the Orthodox Church – on Friday 2 Mar at 8.00 am, the presidents of the bishops' conferences of South-East Europe will participate in the liturgy at the Greek-Catholic cathedral of Oradea together with the students of the Greek Catholic Lyceum, and on Sunday 4 Mar at 10.00 am, they will celebrate the mass at the same place.