Steering Committee members, from left: Wolfgang Rank, Peter Annegarn,
Magdalena Bogner,
Wlodzimierz Mier-Jedrzejowicz, Katarina Hulmanova, Seán O’Donnell.
Study Assembly in Birmingham
Human dignity in a changing Europe -
a Christian response
During the Study Assembly from
6th – 11th July in Birmingham
Peter Annegarn, the President of the Belgium Conseil Interdiocésain
des Laics, was unanimously
elected to head the European Lay Forum (ELF) for the next four years.
Maria Draaijers from Holland left the Steering Committee after having
been President of the ELF for 8 years.
Katarina Hulmanova
(FKI/Slovakia) succeeds Sigrid Schraml (ZdK/Germany) as Secretary. As
further ordinary members of the Steering Committee have been elected:
Magdalena Bogner
(ZdK/Germany), Wlodzimierz
Mier-Jedrzejowicz (Polish communities in Western Europe) and
Wolfgang Rank
(KLRÖ/Austria).
The
newly elected President stated that the new team intends to build on the
initiatives of the previous Steering Committee, i.e. to further develop
the exchange among ELF members, to share good practices and build
partnerships, to gain new member organisations, and to intensify the
cooperation with the Pontifical Council for the Laity and other
international and European Church organisations. Annegarn also stressed
that the European Lay Forum should play a more active role with respect
to social and political questions, as Benedict XVI had pointed out in
his address to the members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity at
its 24th Plenary Assembly in May 2010: “It is of the
competence of the faithful also to participate actively in political
life.“ (http://www.zenit.org/article-29337?l=english).
12 European countries had sent their delegates to Birmingham to take
part in the Study Assembly. The National Council of Lay Associations of
England and Wales and the diocese of Birmingham and were hosting this
year's meeting. Under the theme
Human dignity in a changing
Europe - a Christian response delegates discussed questions of
rising poverty in Europe and worldwide as well as migration and refugee
issues. The introductory speech given by Bishop
William
Kenney, Auxiliary Bishop of
Birmingham and long-time president of Caritas Europa, was followed by
lectures of Christophe
Renders (Jesuit Refugee
Service Belgium), Jan
de
Volder
(Sant’ Egidio Belgium) and
Lidmila Nemcová (KAP
Czech Republic). The Study Assembly was wounded up by visits to social
projects in different districts of the city and a public lecture given
by the former Irish Prime Minister
John Bruton in St Chad’s
Cathedral.