In the past few days the European office of the
Hospitaller Order in Brussels has been visited many times thanks by Brothers,
Sisters and Co-workers present in the capital of the European Union.
On 12 and 13 October, the Office Director, Carlo
Galasso, met Brother Imre Kozma, who was in Brussels to attend the official
ceremony at the European Parliament with all the winners of the European
Citizen’s Prize 2016. Brother Imre was presented with the important commemorative
plaque by the Vice President of the European Parliament, Sylvie Guillaume, who
had awarded the same prize in 2014 to the Superior General, Brother Jesús Etayo
in tribute to the Hospitaller Order as a whole.
On Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 October, the office
received the visit of Brother Alain-Samuel Jeancler, the Superior of the French
Province, accompanied by Mr Antoine Soubrier (the Hospitality Europe reference
person for the French Province). In addition to the Hospitality Europe office,
Brother Alain-Samuel and Mr Soubrier also visited the European Union
Institutions, and in particular the European Parliament, where they were able
to sit in on a hearing of the French Republic Rights Ombudsman, Jacques Toubon,
before the Justice and Civil Freedoms Committee. Dr Galasso and Brother Alain-Samuel also held
a private meeting with Brother Olivier Poquillon OP, the new Secretary-General
of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, COMECE.
On Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October, it was the
turn of the Western European Province. Our Co-workers Alayn Byrne and Sarah
Boland, jointly with two guests with disabilities from the “St John of God
Community Services” (Dublin), addressed a conference on the rights of people
with disabilities in Europe and spoke of their personal experience in their
centre with the European DESkTOP project, promoted by Hospitality Europe and
eight centres of the Order and the Sisters Hospitallers.
More detailed news will be published on the visits and
the issues discussed in the November Newsletter of Hospitality Europe, which will
be available on the website at www.hospitality-europe.eu
