Austria: godmothers and godfathers for disabled children A new initiative of Austria’s charitable organization “Licht für die Welt” in favor of the blind and the partially sighted living in the South of the World was presented in Austria. The campaign – as the organization’s director Rupert Roniger explained – is aimed at finding 100 godfathers or godmothers to an equal number of disabled children in Africa within the World Day of the Child, to be celebrated on September 20th. There are 45 million disabled children who live a “completely marginalized life”, he added. “Disabled children often completely depend on their families for their entire lives and are kept hidden for shame towards the social environment”. The purpose of the initiative, Roniger claimed, is to fight this trend and finance rehabilitation therapies to disabled children. “The figures on this mass misery are far less touching than the individual stories”, remarked Chris Lohner, who chaired the press conference on the event. “Godfathers and godmothers will be informed on the concrete use of their offerings but will never directly contact the sponsored child” in order to avoid “a gratitude barrier”. Since, “for those who were lucky enough to be born in Central Europe, instead of Africa, helping is “a moral obligation”. Veronika Fialka-Moser, consultant at the university clinic for rehabilitation therapy in Vienna, pointed out: “support in this field includes therapies, the adaptation of artificial replacements and training to the use of wheelchairs or walking-sticks for the blind. This is a concrete aid to self-help, since child survival rate increases with the possibility of implementing the highest possible number of daily activities.” Northern Ireland: priests… singers for Sony They will be the first priests in history to be listed in Great Britain’s top charts. Father Eugene O’Hagan, Father Martin O’Hagan and Father David Delargy, three priests in Northern Ireland, have recently signed a record one-million-pound contract, 1.2 million euros, with Sony for an album that will be put on the market next November, just before Christmas shopping. The cd, called “The priests”, will include Mass recitations in Latin, the most famous Catholic hymns like Ave Maria and Panis Angelicus and a selection of classical pieces. A clause in the contract says that the priests won’t be requested to undertake album-promotion if it interferes with priestly commitments nor to take part in activities which may conflict with their religious belief. Father Eugene, 48, and Father Martin, 45, are friends of Father David, 44, since they were in school. They were all ordained in the same period and have sung in the Vatican’s choir. Once they returned to Ireland, where they respectively work as parish priests in Ballyclare, Cushendun and Hannahstown, they started singing together. “We wanted to make a record on the Latin Mass and we needed someone to sing it”, explained Sony manager Nick Raphael. “Ireland seemed the right place to start. Here we were given the names of the three priests. We asked them to send us a dvd and we were impressed by the quality of their songs”. Father Eugene declared to the “Daily Telegraph” that the contract may be “God’s plan”. The profits of the sale of the album will go to charitable associations. Germany: television, even a Copt-Orthodox channel The amount of Christian television programs in Germany is increasing. The Media Commission of Potsdam (Kek) recently authorized the inauguration of a Copt-Orthodox channel. According to Kek, the creation of the organization in charge of the Coptic Christian Channel is currently under way. The organization enjoys the support of the Association of Coptic Communities, which counts 50 members. The palimpsest of the new television network will be mostly devoted to Christian formation and counseling on Christian topics. The network will firstly broadcast in English and Arabic and then also in German via satellite (Eutelsat Hotbird). The date of the beginning of the programs hasn’t been decided yet. Viewers will be mostly Christian Copts, i.e. those living in Egypt, who represent 10% of the overall population, along with the small Coptic-orthodox community in Germany, which amounts to some 5,000 people.
