Germany: the debate on euthanasia The debate on euthanasia gained momentum in Germany after a woman died for assisted-suicide performed by Roger Kush on June 28. Mr.Kusch, former Justizsenator in Hamburg, renown for his pro-euthanasia stands, founded the Dr. Roger Kusch Sterbehilfe e.V., an association in support of its legalization and practice. He used a self-made device enabling the patient to autonomously perform suicide by injecting an an aesthetic followed by a lethal dose of potassium chloride. Msgr. Hans Jochen Jaschke, auxiliary bishop of Hamburg, defined the device “a tool belonging to history’s torture rooms”. Msgr. Jaschke had harshly criticized Mr. Kusch during the recent presentation of the “assisted-suicide machine”. He said that inventing “a death machine which exploits juridical flaws” is “awful”. “By resorting to a supposed legal framework, medical assistance and misleading messages”, Mr. Kusch is “playing with death”. “What is worse is the atmosphere created by his actions. We need to oppose it with all our might”, since Kusch “wants to encourage people to kill themselves”. “Let us not be convinced by the fact that sooner or later a person will have to take his leave since his life entails too many expenses or it’s no longer as beautiful as it once was”. A “good alternative is palliative treatment and the hospice”, he concluded. The first “patient” who became a victim of this device was a seventy-nine year-old woman who, as Kusch admitted, wasn’t seriously ill, but refused to live in an old-age home. To prove the woman’s intention to resort to euthanasia, Kusch made a video of her, which testifies this wish. Hamburg’s authorities are considering possible legal actions against Kusch. Austria: “overcoming poverty with education””Overcoming poverty with education”, this is the key of the fight against poverty according to Mr. Franz Küberl, President of Austria’s Caritas. This objective ought to be part and parcel of school education. Mr. Küberl, in the address delivered in Vienna during a meeting on education organized by the Komensky fund, underlined that “the development of poverty is reflected also in the education system and in children’s school curricula”. Three measures were conceived to counter this trend. “Making the last year of kindergarten compulsory for all children”. This will enable both immigrant and native children who have learning problems to become more familiar with the Austrian language. It is also necessary “to improve the level of school education”, in order to eliminate the “strong basic writing, calculation and reading deficits”. Lastly, “additional classes ought to be integrated in the global school system”, to make sure that also children from indigent families may overcome learning disabilities”. “At the end of the meeting, Mr. Küberl voiced his hope that a future school reform will place greater emphasis to religion classes, which represent “an important moment for the youth’s orientation”, which “cannot be replaced by an ethics class”. Küberl said he is in favour of introducing a “compulsory ethics lesson for all”, but “not to the detriment of the religion class”, he pointed out. Instead, it should be added as an extra hour enabling “students, regardless of their religious beliefs, to confront one another on the basis of coexistence, and of our democracy”. France: a reality show to promote vocations “Prêtre Academy” (the Priests’ Academy): this is the name of an initiative launched by the diocese of Besançon a few days ago: a sort of reality show, starring three recently-ordained priests. It is a series of videos about the daily life of three priests who are on a mission in the diocese. The videos are posted on a dedicated website, www.pretres-academy.com, set up by the diocese, containing newsletters, pictures, surveys, etc. The initiative, mostly targeted to young people, has been a real hit: since its launch on June 12th, the videos – which can also be downloaded from YouTube or other portals – have been already hit 150,000 times and the third episode has already been broadcast online on June 28th. The videos show for instance the newly-ordained priest Franck Raffio (30 years old) as he prays or visits an artist or writes down his thoughts in a diary. The other priests, Michel and Christophe, are filmed by the video camera in their daily life. One can also interact with the priests by posting their questions on the website. The avowed aim of he diocese is to make priesthood known so as to cope with the drop in callings.
