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Formation and accompanying Catholic teachers
CCEE-CEEC Congress on schools
Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina, 15-18 May2014
More than 70 participants, including bishops and those responsible for pastoral work in schools from the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe and CEEC representatives, are to meet in Sarajevo (Bosnia Herzegovina) from 15-18 May 2014 to reflect on and examine the figure of the Catholic teacher in school. The Congress, ogranised jointly by the ‘School’ section of the CCEE ‘Catechesis, School, University’ Commission, the European Committee for Catholic Education (CEEC) and the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia Herzegovina is taking place six years after the last meeting in Rome (December 2008) which tackled the issue of the Catholic school in the European public sphere.
In the course of the four-day meeting, participants will discussThe Christian formation and spiritual accompaniment of Catholic teachers in school. The theme, introduced by His Lordship Mgr Eric Aumonier, President of the ‘School’ section of the CCEE Commission, will be structured around four elements: the challenges of initial and on-going formation of teachers in their personal faith journey; how the teacher communicates to students their relationship with Christ; how the Church accompanies teachers; and finally, future perspectives for pastoral care of teachers.
“We decided to tackle the issue of the formation of Catholic teachers in schools”, said Fr Michel Remery, CCEE Deputy General Secretary, “because we are conscious of the fundamental role the teacher has along with parents in the integral, and therefore also spiritual formation of young people. At the same time, we feel the need for teachers who profess to be Catholic to be helped to grow in their personal relationship with Christ. Only in this way can the teacher respond in their vocation to beingnot just an instructor and formator, but above all a teacher. And to be a teacher means to establish a personal and wise relationship with the student. This relationship must be able to transmit the word of life even before handing on ideas. In short, for the teacher it means corresponding with that educative mission which also manifests itself in giving reasons for that hope, which is Christ, which animates the teacher daily in his or her personal life”.
The meeting, which will be opened by the President of the CCEE Commission, His Grace Mgr Marek Jedraszewski,the President of CEEC, Dr. Christine Mann, andCardinalVinkoPuljić, Archbishop of Sarajevo, will also focus on the situation and role of Catholic schools for the future of Bosnia Herzegovina, a country which still bears the wounds of the war, as shown by recent demonstrations in the country.
The meeting will conclude, Sunday 18 May, with the celebration of the Mass (10.00) at the Saints Cyril and Method’s Church, presided by H.E. Bishop FranjoKomarica of Banja Luka, President of the Bosnia Herzegovina Bishops’ Conference.
The meeting will take place behind closed doors at Sarajevo’s Hotel Saraj. The programme and list of participants are available on the CCEE website (
Interviews during the breaks can be co-ordinated by contacting the CCEE Media Office (Thierry Bonaventura, CCEE - +41 79 12 80 189; Mons. Ivo Tomasevic, BK BiH - +387 63 88 31 88)
A news release will be published at the end of the meeting on Monday 19 May.
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On the morning of 15 May, the bishops in charge of the various sections of CCEE’s ‘Catechesis, School, University’ Commission will meet to audit planned activities.
In the course of the meeting, the CEEC Annual Assembly will take place.
Set up in 1974 as the regional secretariat of the Catholic International Education Office, the European Committee for Catholic Education (CEEC) is now an international non-profit association. It is the cooperation tool for 28 Catholic education networks in 26 Central, Eastern and Western European countries. CEEC is a meeting-point for the heads of these networks and also a study and information centre. Moreover it plays the role of a promoter of free Catholic education towards the various European bodies. CEEC represents more than 35,000 schools and 8 million pupils.