General Assembly 2026

The 22nd General Assembly of the UCESM will be held from 20 to 25 April 2026 in the town of Marija Bistrica, a well-known place of pilgrimage to the Virgin Mary in Croatia, some forty kilometres north of Zagreb. The venue chosen for the meeting is the Hotel Kaj****, a small establishment with around sixty rooms reserved exclusively for the holding of this Assembly.

The theme of this year is

Religious Life and the Cultures – the Consequences for our Life and our Mission

Under this overarching theme, the members of the Executive Committee have chosen to address four very specific cultures:

• the digital world (AI, games, social media, etc.) – challenges and tensions, consequences for religious life; speaker: Br. Lluís Oviedo ofm
• youth culture: how do we reach young people and how can we be attractive to them?; speaker: Mrs. Claire Jonard ovc
• interculturality within our communities; speaker: Fr. Peter Claver Narh svd
• a culture of safeguarding in our (often small) communities; speaker: Fr. Hans Zollner sj.

The conference languages will be English, Italian and French, with simultaneous translation.
We look forward to meeting many international people!