The European Coal and Steel Authority

Recently a congress was held in Luxembourg on the social problems of the European Coal and Steel Authority. The report made by ICARES (International Catholic Institute for Social-Ecclesiastical Research) contained three points on this subject which, in Our opinion, are of particular importance to the problem We are dealing with here. First, the mining population in the territory of the Authority, which extends from the Ruhr to Belgium and the Pyrenees, consists mainly of emigrants from various European countries. Secondly, where religious practice is concerned, the miners, in comparison with their social environment, are only a small minority because they are more easily uprooted than other categories of workers. They therefore are in need of a social reintegration. Thirdly, and this applies to the life of the Catholic community, the religious behavior of the emigrant miner is closely dependent on the position of the family, on housing conditions, and on his more or less rapid integration into the environment in which he is received. The report also states that the lay apostolate must aim at applying to the miner in a concrete way the principles of the Apostolic Constitution Exsul familia.

It is absolutely necessary to prevent the miners of the E.S.C.A. from becoming the prey of atheist movements and to make every effort to save them and lead them to God and to Christ.