Czech Republic: The communist legacyThe Church in the Czech Republic is still affected by the aftermath of the 1948 coup d’etat. This is what has emerged from a press conference on “Persecution and imprisonment of the Church: the impact of February 1948” that took place in the Czech Bishops’ Conference press room in Prague on February 27th, to mark the 60th anniversary of the communist takeover. The panel consisted of Mons. Vaclav Maky, Mons. Oto Madr, Jan Stribrny (Vice-President of the Czech Christian Academy) and sister Ludmila Pospisilova. Mons. Madr, whom the regime kept behind bars for 16 years, recalled the prevailing mood in those days: “It was normal for us to be arrested for our love of God and in the negative situation of being excluded from public life, we managed to find a positive dimension; that is, helping to build the Church’s future.” Sister Pospisilova recounted life in secret religious communities between the 70’s and the 80’s; she had secretly entered into the Franciscan scholastic order in 1977. After the 1950’s, when monasteries were shut down, nuns were forced to work in the factories; later on, they were allowed to attend to the sick and the elderly, under the watchful eye of the secret services. “Nonetheless, they managed to bring about change in the institutions they worked in, and provided charity and hope”, Mons. Maly, who has been persecuted for having undersigned Charter 77 at the time, noted. He added: “The Church is still suffering the consequences of 40 years of communist rule. The regime tried to create a clerical image of the Church, all lay activity was forbidden, and priests were only allowed to take care of the buildings. In certain respects, we are still burdened with this legacy”.Germany: a fund for ignored disastersFunds for “ignored catastrophes”: this is how the Rottenburg-Stuttgard diocese plans to fight the habit of granting humanitarian aid only for emergencies that have an impact on the media. For this purpose, the diocese has set aside part of its yearly budget, which will be administered by the diocese and made available to Caritas internationally. “Helping people who are in a state of emergency which does not find an echo in public opinion is an important goal”, said Klaus Krämer of the Stuttgart diocese. Among those who will benefit from the fund are victims of the 2007 drought in Moldavia, which caused the loss of over half of the year’s harvest, and the unavailability of fodder for livestock and seeds for this year’s sowing: hence, 2008 is also set to be a very difficult year, especially for the poorer part of the population. To partially improve the lot of the more needy, about 830 Moldavian families have received food aid for four months, while another 100 families were given seeds. Moldavian Caritas and international Caritas have joined forces to distribute the aid. All goods are being bought locally, to help sustain the local economy and to cut transport and storage costs.Austria: Sozialwort, 5 years laterFive years after the publication of “Sozialwort” – Austria’s 14 Christian Churches’ report on the issues of social concern – systematic appraisal of its effectiveness is needed. “The Churches are calling for a wide-ranging critical appraisal”, said the evangelical bishop Herwig Sturm, president of the Ecumenical Council of Austrian Churches (Örko), during a recent press conference in Vienna. “The Churches have pledged their commitment in the Sozialwort, but society at large is also involved in the effort. Lent is the ideal time to check its effort and its effectiveness on the outside”. The invitation is intended primarily for the social initiatives and the ecclesiastical institutions already involved in the Sozialwort and its fulfilment. The remarks will be collected by the catholic social Academy and will be presented on Nov. 27th in Vienna during “5 years of ecumenical Sozialwort”, the official celebrations. As pointed out by Sturm, the outcome of these works will serve as a guideline for the next five years. “Sozialwort will continue to be the benchmark for Churches. The social involvement of Churches is supported by the conviction that it is possible to find solutions that are fair both to persons and to society. For this reason, the Churches intend to send clear signals and encourage renewed efforts” The Sozialwort initiative began in 1999, when the 14 Austrian Christian Churches began to set out a common strategy to deal with the social challenges they face in Austria. The Sozialwort was developed by Örko and published in 2003, following years of work among 522 social initiatives and institutions of the Churches and the collaboration of several ecclesiastical groups.
