Portugal: one-way solidarity?The proposal to extend school hours in primary school reducing subsidies to leisure activity Centres (Atl) is the object of public debate between the Portuguese government on the one side, and Mercy Institutes supported by Social solidarity private institutions on the other. According to data issued by these organisations’ National Federation, (Cnis), “out of the 1200 Atl present in the Country, only 200 will continue receiving enough funding to cover the costs of their service, since the near-by schools haven’t changed their timetable”. The President of Portugal’s Mercy Institutes Union (Ump) Manuel Lemos, affirmed that “a social policy of this kind seriously harms families’ rights and is detrimental to children who risk playing in the streets without appropriate supervision.” Father Lino Maia, Cnis President, maintains: “not only will many centres be forced to close, but at least half of the approximate 12 thousand employed in solidarity institutions will be reduced to unemployment”. To counter the government’s measure, from the beginning of January thousands have already signed a National Petitition in defense of families’ “freedom to choose whom they wish to entrust the responsibility of their children’s leisure activities”. The document will be submitted to parliamentary debate. Lithuania: freedom, a special wordIn the past few days, during the parliamentary session dedicated to the Day for the Defenders of Freedom, Card. Audrys Juozas Backis, archbishop of Vilnius, asked whether “today we intend freedom in the same terms as intended by those who defended the freedom of our Country, and if we imagine the State and its future precisely as they have dreamt them”. “Only after having honestly replied to this question – he said – will be able to establish a link between memory and life”. The Cardinal recalled that “freedom has been a special word for those Lithuanians who rallied in the streets to defend it” while today, “when we listen to MPs pronouncing this word on television or over the radio, we are speaking about completely different things”. The Cardinal believes “it should be accompanied by the word ‘responsibility'”. “What is the State? The State is the institution which protects citizens, especially the weakest ones”, His Eminence remarked. “How is the State defending weak brackets today? I’m not only referring to care for the needy or the disabled. I refer to those tools that enable the defense of life. Other things seem always more important than initiatives aimed at the defense of life”. As it happens, “life isn’t defended because women have a right to reproduction and drivers have the right to buy alcoholics at gas stations. In the meantime, human life is increasingly endangered.” The archbishop of Vilnius declared that the State must be founded also on justice: otherwise it risks becoming a ‘gang of thieves’, according to Saint Augustine’s definition. Furthermore, the government can’t only be occupied with “trade development” without devoting time to education, to the family and to health. How many MPs are concerned with the growth and development of Lithuanian youth and their families ?” His Eminence claimed.Germany: bishops assemblyThe election of the new president of the Bishops Conference (Dbk), a day devoted to “Marriage and family”, along with preparations for the year dedicated to Saint Paul (28/06/08 – 29/06/09) established by the Pope: these are the major topics that will be addressed by the Dbk plenary assembly that will be held in Würzburg on February 11- 14. On February 13, devoted to workshops, the 70 Dbk members will illustrate the situation of the family based on marriage from a sociological, ethical and legal standpoint. “What does the Church do to safeguard the unity of marriage and of the family?”. This is the key question addressed by workshops whose guest speakers will be university professors and the President of the Catholic families federation, Elisabeth Bußmann. The program includes working sessions on the new liturgical book for the celebration of baptism, the application of Motu Proprio on the Tridentine Mass in the dioceses, and a provisional report on the possibility of a commitment of the Church in the media. On the agenda figures also an appeal to solidarity with Christians in the Holy Land, the situation of the Church in China, a trip of a delegation of bishops to Camerun, the directives for multi-religious celebrations of Christians, Muslims and Jews.
