European Churches" "
The Swiss Church too is having to come to terms with the shortfall of priests. The assembly of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, meeting in St. Gallen from 1/3 December, tackled the question, also in response to the message addressed to it by the Lucerne Synod, which appealed for the abolition of compulsory celibacy for priests and access of women to the ministerial priesthood. The bishops says the final communiqué of the assembly “share with the members of the Synod the concern for the shortage of priests. But the questions raised in this context can only be tackled at the level of the universal Church”. The Swiss episcopate has, on the other hand, recognized that the declaration of the Lucerne Synod poses in general “the question of the Church’s lack of credibility in our country”; this is a problem also shared by the other religious confessions present in the Swiss cantons. “Credibility add the Swiss bishops depends on coherence with faith. The more deeply men and women are rooted in their faith, the more they are credible”. The bishops thus appeal to all believers to model their life on the principles of the faith, and find in the example of the saints an “ideal” to imitate. “Today we are asked to bear witness to hope”, add the bishops, and this testimony needs to be combined with “our commitment to and prayer for vocations to the priesthood”. The assembly, which proceeded to renew the executive’s term of office and some other internal appointments, then dealt with the organization and programme of the first national meeting of Catholic youth, scheduled to be held in Bern on 6/7 June. It is estimated that several thousand young people will attend the meeting. It is also expected that the Pope will attend it: he is due to celebrate a mass during the morning of Sunday 6 June. The previous day will be dedicated to a series of meetings, celebrations and concerts and concluded with a torchlight parade, followed by a great “festival of light”.
