Germany: an eco-sustainable summer Consumers’ behaviour is the topic chosen this year by the youth community (KjG) of the diocese of Fulda for their summer activities. In fact, each summer the KjG chooses a spiritual, social or political topic on which the youth and the children will be encouraged to develop their own reflections. This year, KjG intends to raise awareness on the subject of consumption. During the meetings and the events held on week-ends, participants will address issues pertaining to global economy and fair trade. In 2007 KjG made a first step towards a critical approach to consumption on the occasion of the diocesan conference, when it adhered to the boycott called by the German Young Catholics Federation (Bdkj) on the products of a well-known beverages multinational. The company has been charged with violating human rights and causing environmental pollution and of exploiting and polluting water reservoirs in India. The suggestions emerging during the summer events will encourage children and the youth to address the issue of consumption in a responsible manner, identifying the best way to use purchasing power in order to make a better world. Czech Republic: the Church is the “instrument” for political tensionsOn July 3-4 the 73rd Plenary Meeting of the bishops of the Czech Republic was held in Vehlerad, a pilgrimage site in Moravia. The president of the Bishops Conference, Msgr. Jan Graubner, illustrated the Church’s situation in Czech society. The bishops unanimously agreed that the present situation of State reimbursements for the expropriation of Czech Church property during Communist rule, is an evident sign that the Church is used as “the instrument for political tensions”. The bishops also approved the yearly report on the activities of the Pontifical Missionary Institutions for the year 2007. Some 30 thousand children have taken part in these activities funded with over one million Euro donated by the faithful. In the course of 2007, almost 80 thousand children took part in one of the 47 projects implemented by these organisations. The director of the National Family Centre, Marie Oumezdska, briefed bishops on the Centre’s activities, which cooperates with diocesan and regional family centres. The Centres offer counselling and support to either couples or families. Each year, the National Centre helps 46,000 people in marriage preparation and provides family support activities. The bishops expressed their approval on the Directive concerning the formation of permanent deacons. The document includes the statutes of the permanent deaconate, thus integrated within the context of the Czech Republic. The Bishops’ Conference also approved an Agreement on pastoral care in prisons, aimed at pinpointing rules regarding cooperation between prisons, Churches, and religious associations. The plenary meeting ended on July 5th with the national pilgrimage dedicated to the Saints Cyril and Methodius and with the Czech Bishops’ participation in the Mass celebrated by Cardinal Giovanni Coppa.Austria: abortion, not condemnation but help “Do not condemn; help”. These words, regarding “the painful wound” of abortion, were pronounced by the President of Austria’s Bishops Conference Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in Levoca, Eastern Slovakia. Before some 500,000 pilgrims the Cardinal, who took part in the Marian pilgrimage, claimed: “Do not condemn or judge, but help in a practical and intelligent way. We can all do so and thus enable as many women to say “yes” to the child that is growing in their womb”. “It’s easy to be against abortion”, he pointed out, “and it’s also right. But it’s not enough”, he added. His Eminence recalled the importance which the Church ascribes “to the mystery of pregnancy, the mystery of a new life”. This is testified by the festivity of the Visitation of Blessed Virgin Mary. On this recurrence, “everyone can thank their own mothers for having said “yes” to life. The Cardinal encouraged the faithful to pray for the women who made a different choice. “These are a large number in Europe today. It’s a tragedy, a painful wound”. “Christ doesn’t condemn the women who incurred in this sin”, he remarked. “He helps them repent of their sin and experience his compassion and forgiveness”. Cardinal Schönborn recalled the suffering linked to abortion: “It’s always a profound laceration, when a mother cannot give birth to her child. But Jesus is always there to forgive her, if she repents and pleads for forgiveness”. Cardinal Schönborn underlined the importance of establishing “a security network” to help mother, fathers and families. “Most people live in small families, in anonymous buildings where there is little space for children, where men and women both go out to work. An unexpected pregnancy is often the cause of despair: ‘How will we do now?'”, is the question they ask themselves.
