England: National Day of Evangelization”The work of a lifetime: preparing the parishes for a home mission”: this is the theme of the 2008 “Home Mission Sunday”, a Sunday dedicated to mission and evangelisation that will be celebrated in England and Wales on September 21st. In the message for the event, mgr. Malcolm McMahon, the bishop in charge of evangelisation and catechesis for the Bishops Conference of England and Wales, writes: “as Christians, we are not called to be hostile to the world in which we live but bound to be the witnesses of the treasure of the Gospel that has been entrusted to us. If we experience opposition, misunderstanding and if we are cast out for the way we live and share our faith, it means we are on the right way, because there is contrast between God’s way of doing things and the way that comes natural to the human beings”. The message to the parishes included a DVD of the “Catholic Evangelisation Services”, an agency that produces pastoral aids for the Church, named “Live in Christ. Making the mission a reality in your parish”. This aid shows potential places and areas in which the Gospel can be announced, both inside and outside the parish. It also offers training, as it invites the parishes to send their representatives to attend training courses in evangelisation that will be held between January and April next year. Scotland: how to avert the risk of suicide by helping the most vulnerableSuicides are on the increase in Scotland: after seven years of decline, in fact, a rise in the number of those who have taken their own life has been registered. At the basis of this alarming fact, according to the experts, lies the economic crisis with the increase in unemployment, the rise in prices and the difficulties of paying off mortgages. Scotland has always had the highest suicide rate in the UK and one of the highest in the Western world, and it is for this reason that Sister Mary Ross, a Scottish nun, specialized in psychology and the education of the young, has urged priests to speak of the question of suicide more openly during their meetings with parishioners and also in their homilies. According to Sister Mary, in fact, the Catholic Church has an important role to play in helping those who are at risk of suicide. “As a first step priests could speak of depression from the pulpit”, she said, “because they could in this way reach out to someone who is thinking of taking his/her own life. If priests could explain the danger signals, perhaps someone in the congregation could recognize them in someone they know. As a society and as a Church we must think of what we can do to help those at risk. It may seem strange, but if we ask someone whether he’s thinking of suicide, this could actually be a way of helping him”. According to Sister Mary, many young people leave school without hope of finding a job and this, combined with the high cost of living, is another of the reasons for the increase in suicides.Portugal: Concordat, satisfaction of the bishopsFollowing the meeting of the permanent Council, held at Fatima in recent days, the secretary of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference, Monsignor Carlos Azevedo, has publicly expressed “the satisfaction of the bishops for the progress being made in the finalization of the Concordat, and for the good will demonstrated by the Portuguese government in concluding as soon as possible the negotiations on the various problems that still remain outstanding”. “The main difficulties have been encountered on the provisions regarding the appointment of prison chaplains – he explained – but as regards hospital assistance on the other hand a draft accord has already been submitted by the Commission of Religious Liberty”. As regards Catholic private institutions of social solidarity, Mgr. Azevedo further expressed the hope that “State control and intervention would become ever less accentuated, so that they can achieve greater freedom and autonomy”. The Council has also voiced its concern about the wave of violent episodes that have been in the news in recent times: “We hope this is a transitory situation, due to the real deterioration of social conditions in the country – added the spokesman of the Portuguese bishops -, but we need to pay a lot of attention to them and ask ourselves whether such facts do not reflect a deeper crisis of the principles of civil life and society”. The Portuguese bishops also underlined the “delicacy” with which the new law on divorce, now under discussion, needs to be formulated, “to ensure that the fundamental matrimonial bond is not further weakened”. Lastly, Mgr. Azevedo announced that, at the next meeting of the permanent Council, scheduled for November: “two documents will be debated and elaborated by the bishops: the first concerning schools, the second the condition of infants”.
