Eastern Catholic Church leaders discuss family in Europe

(Vatican Radio)  The annual meeting of the Eastern Catholic hierarchs  of Europe is taking place in Prague- Břevnov (Czech Republic), at the invitation of Mgr Ladislav Hučko, Apostolic Exarch for Byzantine Rite Catholics resident in the Czech Republic. The meeting will take place at the Benedictine Archabbey of St Adalbert and St Margaret (Břevnov).

In Břevnov, the bishops representing 14 Eastern Catholic Churches in Europe are discussing issues concerning the family in Europe and the role and mission of the Eastern Catholic Churches.  The discussions are taking place with a view, too, to the upcoming Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family this coming October. Participants at the meeting are examining two reports: one on The contemporary family in Europe by Deacon Jaroslav Max Kašparů, a well-known lecturer in the Czech Republic; and one on the “sacramental potential” of the family by Fr Volodymyr Los, a priest of the Greek-Catholic Church diocese of Buchach, Ukraine.

Mgr Ladislav Hučko was expected to illustrate the situation and mission of the Greek-Catholic Church in the Czech Republic.

The meeting will end on Sunday 7 June with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy along with the local community in the Greek-Catholic Cathedral of St Clement.

Participants at the meeting, organised by the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE), include Mgr Cyril Vasil’, Archbishop Secretary of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, and Mgr Duarte da Cunha, CCEE General Secretary.