Holland: new president of the bishopsMgr. Adrianus Herman van Luyn, bishop of Rotterdam, is the new president of the Dutch Bishops Conference. He was appointed on January 9th by the Dutch Bishops; the deputy president will be the bishop of Roermond, mgr. Franciscus Jozef Maria Wiertz. They will take their post on January 26th, when the diocese of Utrecht will be taken over by mgr. Willem Jacobus Eijk, in replacement of card. Adrianus Johannes Simonis, the outgoing president. Van Luyn, who is also the president of Comece (Commission of the EU Bishops Conferences), has been the bishop of Rotterdam since 1994. Bishop Wiertz, instead, has headed the diocese of Roermond since 1993, and since 2005 he has been a member of the Permanent Bishops Council as well as a director of the Pastoral of Media and Communication. Italy: 665,000 under-age immigrantsThe next World Migrant’s Day, to be celebrated on Sunday 13 January, will be dedicated, in Italy, to the theme “Young migrants: resource and provocation. “Of the over 3,500,000 Italian emigrants abroad, 18%, equivalent to 665,000, are still minors; if we add to this figure those who have already passed this threshold, but are still below the age of thirty, an age we still commonly consider young, the figure rises to over a million”, pointed out Monsignor Piergiorgio Saviola, director general of the Italian Bishops’ Foundation Migrantes, speaking in Rome on Wednesday 9 January. As for immigrants in Italy, there were “665,00 immigrant minors at the start of 2007” and, altogether, youth below the age of 25 represent 33% of the foreign population in Italy. Not to mention the Rom and Sinti, of whom there are 120,00 in Italy, over 40% of them juveniles. In addition, there are the children of circus and fairground workers, some 9,600, and the seamen in transit in the “Stella Maris” centres: two million people, altogether, half of them youth. According to Msgr. Saviola, young migrants constitute a resource on many levels: demographic, economic, professional, and “also at the level of integration” and that of the promotion of “dialogue between different cultures”, because “the relation between Italians and foreigners is easier and, I would say, more spontaneous in the classroom, in the sports ground and on the street”.Switzerland: on behalf of mothers and families in difficultyThe Bishops’ Conference of Switzerland has called a special collection in support of future mothers and families in need on Sunday, 13 January. The funds raised during the event will be devolved to “SOFO – Solidarity Fund for mothers and children” and “SOS Future Mums”. “Switzerland is a rich country – write the bishops – but the gap between rich and poor has been growing wider in recent years. This has led in our country to some 250,000 children growing up in families where the financial situation is precarious. Little is needed, at times, to support someone at the right time, or encourage a young woman to accept her pregnancy as a gift and not as a threat. “State aid and support for the family are not always enough – add the bishops – and that’s why the “SOFO – Solidarity Fund for mothers and children” and the “SOS Future Mums” organization are considered of great importance as sources of additional support: places where families and mothers in difficulty can be given a welcome. The aim on the collection is thus to reinforce the service provided by these two charities”. Further info on: www.sosfuturesmamans.ch and www.sofo.chnone. Portugal: volunter jurists in aid of convictsThe Portuguese Church invited the Catholic jurists to set up a volunteer network in aid of convicts, to give them advice and help them in their social rehabilitation. On the occasion of the national meeting of prison chaplains and visitors, in Fatima, the coordinator of the Pastoral of the Prisons, father João Gonçalves, stated that “these volunteers can help reassure the convicts by giving them answers to problems that are not closely related to their pending suits. Without questioning the work of the official lawyers, the convicts can be helped to become aware of the prison regulations, their rights and duties, and citizenship issues”. The opinion is shared by the president of the Bishops Commission of the Social Pastoral, mgr. José Alves: “this is an excellent contribution to make the public services more human. The Church is strongly motivated in the establishment of this volunteer legal network, which will respond to the convicts’ needs. Volunteers willing to help will be organised in every diocese, and the chaplain of every prison will be able to contact them at any time to answer questions or dispel the doubts of a convict or ex convict, chiefly with a view to their active social rehabilitation”.
