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Coordinator's Report
3 June 2005
Dear Fellow Chaplains,
Over the past months, I have been working hard in establishing contacts
within the framework of the EU. It seems that there has been a significant
breakthrough!
On the 19th of June I will go to Brussels for three very important
meetings:
· The first will be with Dr. Michael Weniger, Policy Advisor to the
President of the EU, The Honourable Jose Manuel Barroso, and Chairman of
the EU Group of Concerning Dialogue with Religion, Churches and Humanism.
· The second will be with Mr. Margaritis Schinas, Director of the Office
of the Commissioner of Public Health, Pavlos Kyrpianou.
· The third will be with Dr. Antoios Trakatellis (M.D.), Vice-President of
the EU Parliament.
All three meetings will have their own importance. It is my sense that the
meeting with Dr. Weniger will be the most important in that the advisory
group he chairs is related to the spiritual issues of the EU.
I was to meet with the Commissioner of Public Health himself, but he is
not available. My experience though is that the directors of such offices
are equally as important and many time more effective in carrying out
promises.
Dr. Trakatelis is a doctor and professor of medicine. He has a rich
spiritual background. His position in the EU parliament and his
participation in several committees that are related to the area of public
health will indeed be valuable.
The question I would like to pose to each you is what you think should be
our goal in these meeting – what are we asking them to do. They will be
expecting some concrete proposals and not just a theoretical introduction
to chaplaincy.
My hope is to provoke them to join together and possibly form a meeting in
discussing spiritual health care within the framework of public health
care in the EU. My hope is that we can also introduce the thought that the
Standards of Health Care Chaplaincy for Europe can be introduced into the
EU Parliament and accepted.
I would like to ask all of you to write me a short email describing what
you think should be discussed in these three important meetings. Your
impute is most needed!
We are now at a point where the ENHCC and health care chaplaincy in Europe
is entering another stage of maturation. It is a time of great
expectations and excitement. At the same time, we must also be aware that
such efforts are part of a long process that needs patience and a great
deal of work. Step by step, I am confident that we will reach our goal.
Sincerely yours,
Rev. Dr. Stavros Kofinas
Coordinator of the European Network of Healthcare Chaplaincy
(Representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate)
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