The Europe Commission held its second meeting in 2018 on 22 September, at the General Curia of the Hospitaller Order, four months after being officially installed. 

It was opened with a welcome address by the President, Brother Rudolf Knopp, and a spiritual meditation led by Brother Amador Fernández, the Superior of the Castile Province.

For the first time, the meeting was also attended by the members of the Operational Committee of the European Commission, to guarantee that the Europe Commission’s resolutions would be properly debated and implemented, and to liaise with the European working groups.

The Commission Coordinator – Dr. Carlo Galasso – moderated the meeting, at which a number of very important ideas were raised and important strategic decisions taken.

The meeting illustrated the structure and functioning of the four working groups created by the Commission (coordinating Hospitality Europe, vocations promotion and initial formation, pastoral social and health care, bioethics). The first two working groups will be meeting in the coming weeks while the other two (pastoral care of the sick and bioethics) will begin operations in 2019.

Other agenda items that were updated and discussed were the proposals for collaboration raised by the participants at the meeting of the Communications Directors of the European Provinces, the project to establish the European Novitiate, the one-week formation course for the European Scholastics, and an updated activities report by the Order’s Brussels office (Hospitality Europe).

The meeting also paved the way for the 2018 Assembly of Major Superiors to be held on 24-28 September at the General Curia, which will be the final collegial meeting of the Provincial Superiors of the Hospitaller Order of the 2013-2018 Sexennium, followed by the celebration of the 69^th General Chapter early in the new year.