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Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
People
on the Move
N° 105 (Suppl.), December 2007
Report from THE Secretary General of the European Catholic Civil
Aviation Chaplains
Rev. David
Lacy
Secretary General
1. Website
Much effort has gone into creating a new website,
since gaining access to airchap.com (the previous website which had the
server in Poland) proved impossible due to language problems and poor
communication. The name of the new website is: euroairchap.co.uk. It
has translation facilities. The Secretariat is grateful to Ray Russell
for taking on the task of Webmaster. Comments would be welcome to
improve the service. There will be a running cost both to Gabriel Media
for the server, and Mr. Russell for his management of the website. The
cost involved was £400. We would be grateful if these could be met from
subscriptions or donations.
2. European Association
- Constitution. Not much progress has been made
on the draft Constitution. We thank Archbishop Agostino Marchetto
who has sent us his suggested amendments. We would need to vote on
that. What is the next step?
- Funding. There was much promise last year, but only €100 came
into the treasury. A bank account is in the process of being set up
and signatories are needed. Could we vote on the suggested
subscription of €100 per chaplain?
- Title. We need to go firm on the Title of the Association so
that the Constitution will have a title. Suggestion: European
Catholic Chaplains in Civil Aviation (ECCCA)
3. Birmingham Conference
- Limited resources for planning. Need for
secretarial assistance, for monitoring visitors and their needs and
seeking speakers, to arrange transport around Birmingham,
interpreters, and accommodation.
- Took on the job as Secretary General at short
notice but did not anticipate organizing the conference in addition.
However, I have looked into interpreters which cost £2000 per
day. Accommodation can be arranged at Oscott College, our
seminary. There are 30 rooms and conference facilities at a
reasonable cost, historic venue, with easy access to the city of
Birmingham and other places of Catholic religious interest. Our
needs would be sensitively dealt with, and we would be comfortable
in new conference facilities. Additional accommodation
in local hotel.
- Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols is
generally supportive of the idea of organizing the conference, but
he did not want to see me overloaded with extra work, in addition to
parish and hospital duties.
- Local sponsorship is not forthcoming. Local
political and business people are not responsive. Ecumenical
contacts will be supportive.
- The IACAC Conference in Nice might dilute the
interest in traveling to Birmingham as both conferences will be in
Europe.
- What is the theme to be for the 2008
Conference? Suggested multi-cultural Midlands City with a variety of
religious practice and experience?
Votes on
- amendments,
- level of subscription,
- title of the Association, and
- theme for the Birmingham Conference 2008.
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