Family is life” “

The spring session of the plenary of Austrian bishops ended at Sonntagberg on 16 March. Among the main issues discussed by the bishops was the protection of life and of the family, including one novelty: the presentation of the new official portal of the Austrian Catholic Church, which can be consulted on the website www.katholisch.at . The session, inaugurated on 14 March, was preceded by a study day on “Marriage and Family”, in which the bishops discussed the question together with experts and couples. We present some passages from the final document of the bishops, published at the end of the plenary. “PASSION FOR LIFE”. That’s what impels the Catholic Church to encourage people to have the courage to get married and have children. Therefore, “the Austrian bishops wish to thank all those who find this courage in spite of the conditions of life today. With the intensification of preparation for matrimony and the pastoral ministry to families, the Church intends to make its own contribution, so that many young people may find their way to Christian matrimony, open to new life. At the same time, the bishops appeal to politicians and society for the family to be better protected and for the conditions for marriage and the family to be further improved. A broad alliance for the family based on the marriage between man and woman is necessary”. Referring to the results of the study day on marriage and the family, the bishops announce that “over the next three years, the preparation for marriage offered by the Church will be reformed and augmented. Moreover, the pastoral ministry for the family will be reinforced in parishes, so as to offer families genuine aid. That also goes for families in crisis: separated spouses need special help and support. They need to be better counselled on the possibilities of marriage annulment offered by the Church. The efforts devoted to education in marriage and Christian sexual education are also being stepped up in the youth ministry”. SOLIDARITY WITH FAMILIES. “A society may function only if based on the family: families too have a need for solidarity”, declare the Austrian bishops, who to this end make an appeal to the economy: “Employers must take parents into greater consideration. Women cannot be put under pressure to renounce having children to the benefit of unlimited productivity. Moreover, fathers and mothers must be actively supported, with the adaptation of hours of work to family tasks”. The Austrian Bishops’ Conference looks forward to the world meeting of the family due to be held this year at Valencia (Spain) from 1st to 9 July. In preparation for the event, numerous small family pilgrimages, with the slogan “God moves us” will be held in all Austrian dioceses on 11 June. The family pilgrimages form part of the wider programme of events organized for the Central European Katholikentag (Catholic Congress) (MEKT): in fact family pilgrimages are planned on the same day in all the countries participating in the MEKT (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Austria). MEKT. The fruits of the Central European Katholikentag, now its fourth year, are ever more present in the life of the Church in the countries that participated in the great Pilgrimage of Peoples to Mariazell in 2004: the Bishops’ Conferences of Hungary and Austrian will thus meet at the Marian Sanctuary from 19 to 21 June to discuss, among other things, their cross-border commitment to the preservation of Sunday as a day of rest, and their pastoral mission to the Sinti and Rom. Mariazell is further confirmed as the spiritual centre of Austrian Catholic life; and the bishops express their joy about the Pope’s visit on 8 September 2007, on the occasion of the 850th anniversary of the sanctuary. “The presence of the Holy Father will resume and reinforce the impulses of the MEKT and the “Pilgrimage of Peoples”, they declare. Just before the papal visit, from 12 to 15 August, Mariazell will also host the pilgrimage of Central European youth, whose organizers recently met the Pope in Rome, accompanied by Cardinal Schönborn.