PRESS RELEASE No. 1

7th European Ecumenical Encounter opens today in Strasbourg (France).

Miloslav Cardinal Vlk and Metropolitan Jeremie Caligiorgis: the "Charta Oecumenica", a step forward in the ecumenical journey.

Strasbourg, 19th April 2001 - The 7th European Ecumenical Encounter, convened by the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), with the participation of 100 church leaders and 100 young people opened today in Strasbourg, France.

This Ecumenical Encounter (EEE) - the first in the new century and millennium - takes place immediately after Easter - which by rare coincidence was celebrated simultaneously this year by all Christian churches. Its biblical theme are the words of the risen Lord: "I am with you always, to the end of the world" (Matthew 28,20). Participants, numbering over 200, divide into two categories: 100 church leaders (Roman Catholic bishops and leaders of the Orthodox and Protestant churches belonging to CEC) and an equal number of youth representatives, coming from all church traditions and almost all European countries. The young people began their preparatory meeting on Tuesday evening (17 April), while on Wednesday, 18th, the plenary Assembly of CCEE and the Central Committee of CEC met separately. Today, all participants converged in the Hall of the Strasbourg University to officially open the EEE, which will last until Sunday.

The aims of the encounter were given at an opening press conference by the presidents of CEC and CCEE respectively, Metropolitan Jérémie of Paris and Miloslav Cardinal Vlk, of Prague. Also at the Press Conference was a representative from the youth encounter, Christopher Docherty - a Roman Catholic from Scotland. He expressed the enthusiasm and the engagement of the young people for the "Charta Oecumenica", that is the document containing "Guidelines for the growing cooperation among the churches in Europe", which in a ceremony at the conclusion of the closing ecumenical worship on Sunday (22 April) will be commended to the churches and signed by the two presidents.

After reminding the gathered journalists that his mandate ends in May, (yesterday the CCEE Assembly elected a new president, Mons. Amédée Grab from Switzerland) Cardinal Vlk underlined that during his eight years of chairmanship the key word has been "collegiality": not only in relations between the European bishops and between them and Rome, but also ecumenically. A ripe fruit of this cooperation is the Charta Oecumenica: "a great step forward", he said, "for our continent from which all Christian divisions began". "The document", he added, "needs to be adopted and adapted in each of the local contexts". From the Roman Catholic side, anyway, the Cardinal's signature will be on behalf of all European Bishops' Conferences. Cardinal Vlk also quoted from a message from Pope John Paul II who, on the occasion of the Strasbourg meeting, encourages Christians to intensify their ecumenical cooperation.

Metropolitan Jeremie recalled the various stages of the ecumenical cooperation between CEC and CCEE - particularly the two European Ecumenical Assemblies, held in Basel (1989) and Graz (1997). He underlined the extraordinary circulation of the "Charta Oecumenica": its first draft was widely debated. He noted that more than 150 written responses were received from churches and church related groups. The new text takes into account many of the comments made. The final version, he said, concentrates on three main issues: the European churches' engagement for visible unity, their common mission in a secularized Europe, and their witness and contribution toward the building of a new European society.