Austria: agreement on minimum income”A major and important event to protect Austria from poverty”. These were the remarks of Franz Küberl, President of Caritas, on the agreement on minimum guaranteed wages concluded between Social Affairs Minister Erwin Buchinger and the Bundesländer. Starting in 2009, social subsidies, regulated in different ways in the single Länder, will be replaced by guaranteed minimum wages. This reform erected “a bridge for a better future”, Küberl underlined, defining unfulfilled slimming-down of bureaucracy a “missed opportunity”. Criticism was expressed by “Netzwerk Grundeinkommen” (“network for minimum income”), supported in large part by the Catholic Social Academy: “Minimum guaranteed income, combined with new restrictive regulations on social security for the unemployed, will exert a pressure leading to the acceptance of employment at any cost”. The chairman of Protestant association Diakonie, Michael Chalupka, declared that “the structure of social security remains practically unaltered”. However, “consistent improvements” have been made. According to Chalupka there are still unsolved questions like “lodging subsidies and to children”. “A major intervention is needed to the benefit of those who are unable to keep up with job market requirements”. The President of the Association of Catholic families Johannes Fenz, declared that the agreement has worsened “present social welfare benefits granted by the Länder”, especially as relates to child subsidies. The “Armutkonferenz” (Poverty Conference), Austria’s association against poverty, voiced its hopes for “a new and targeted job market policy which will integrate the agreement”, recalling that the issue also concerns other aspects such as “lodging, child assistance, health and indebtness”. Scotland: blood bank for stem cellsA national bank for umbilical chord blood of newborn will serve to find new cures to diseases, in fidelity with the teaching of the Church. The initiative was put forward by the leader of Scottish Catholics Cardinal Keith O’Brien, archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh who has been opposing the new British legislation envisaging legalization of hybrid animal-human embryos. Stem cell research has already led to finding cures to various diseases from leg fracture to type 1 diabetes. The Cardinal wrote to Scottish Prime Minister Alex Salmond asking him to establish the new bank. “Clinical effectiveness of stem cells taken from umbilical chords is constantly proven in world researches and treatment”, the Cardinal declared in his Note. “If Scotland creates a national service enabling the collection of stem cells according to ethical standards, it would become the pioneer for the rest of the world since parents would have the possibility of preserving the blood of their children and donating it at the moment of birth”. At present, British parents who intend to preserve the umbilical chord blood of their children must pay some 1500 pounds, equivalent to approximately 1800 euros, and only three hospitals in London grant this possibility. The Catholic Church condemned embryo research on various occasions defining it immoral and useless also from the scientific viewpoint. Ireland: four years to revive vocations”Reach out”: a four-year plan to revive ministers and services at the level of the Parish and discover in which ways they might be improved. The project was undertaken by the Irish diocese of Kildare and Leighlin in 2004 and the results of a questionnaire distributed in each home of the diocese have just been issued. The bishop in charge of the diocese, Msgr. James Moriarty, presented them in a message where he also announced that the plan will continue. “Of the 88 priests active in the diocese, 34 were ordained over forty years ago”, the bishop declared. “Although we are concerned about the decrease in the number of priests, the calling doesn’t only refer to priestly vocations but also to the promotion of the ministry of the laity”. Also the respondents of the survey conducted at the end of “Reach out”, declared that religious lay formation following professional criteria is extremely important since it will enable them to adopt new tasks in the liturgy and in the administration of the parish. 75% declared they appreciate the diocese’s initiatives, but defined insufficient the related structures and publicity. Most parishioners believe that the most important goal should be youth formation, so they may be encouraged to participate more actively in the life of the Church, especially those aged 15-30.
