Ukraine: a Salesian candidate for beatificationThe Synod of Ukraine’s Greek-Catholic Church, held September 2-9 in Lviv, received the Salesians’ request regarding the beatification and canonization process of father Stepan Czmil, the first Ukrainian priest of Byzantine-Ukrainian rite. The news was reported by Salesian Agency ANS. Father Czmil, born in Sudova Vyshnia in Ukraine in 1914, left his country in 1932 due to the religious and political difficulties in Ukraine. Along with other youth he entered probationship in Ivrea (Italy), and after having attended the novitiate of Villa Moglia, in Chieri, young Stepan Czmil professed his first vows as Salesian priest in 1936. After completing his theological formation in Rome, he was ordained priest in 1945. He was a missionary in Argentina, and then he returned to Italy. In Rome he was appointed dean of the Pontifical Minor Seminary for Ukrainian youth of the diaspora from 1961 to 1967 until the day of his death on January 22 1978. About two decades after his death, John Paul II received Father Stepan Czmil in the Episcopal college and acknowledged the validity of the consecration, which had secretly taken place on April 4 1977. Father Stepan Czmil, together with two priests, had received Episcopal ordination by Cardinal Josef Slipij, Metropolitan bishop of Leopoli, in the Studite monastery in total secrecy. Cardinal Lubomir Husar, major archbishop of Kiev and president of Ukraine’s Synod of the Greek-Catholic Church, who personally met Father Czmil, recalled: “father Stepan was a holy man. His holiness was not blatant, rather, it dwelled inside him and radiated from him reaching out to all those who met him”. Msgr. Andriy Sapelak, Salesian, bishop emeritus in Santa Maria del Patrocinio in Buenos Aires of the Ukrainians, wrote: “the beatification and the canonization of father Stepan Czmil would be an enrichment for the Ukrainian Church. A part of the mosaic of the holiness of our people, since through father Stepan we will be further enriched by the holiness of Don Bosco”. Belgium: “Sunday of the Media””God is present everywhere, also on the Internet”. On September 28, “Media Sunday”, the day that Belgium’s Church decided to devote to social communication, will focus on this theme. “Internet is gaining increasing relevance on television, on the radio and on the press. The web enables live radio broadcast, TV programs streaming, news search and much more. The field of application of the Internet appears to have no limits. And it is also possible to encounter Jesus”, wrote Jesuit father. Tommy Scholtes, Secretary of the office for Catholic Coordination of Media and Culture (CCMC), in his presentation of the “Sunday”. “Belgium’s Church made a special effort” to promote the meeting, he said. “The Dutch sector renewed the portal www.kerknet.be and created a website for children aged 8-12 www.nabbi.be. The French section at www.catho.be was completely renewed with access dedicated especially to the youth. It is a real and true ‘portal’ of Belgium’s Church, with a link to the country’s dioceses and vicarages and to the Vatican. It meets all the expectations of users surfing the web to retrieve information on the timetable of religious celebrations held near their homes, formation for baptism, marriage, funerals or catechesis”. Along with the website, television activity is broadcast on the channels Rtbf and Rtbc and over the radio, also thanks to new radio frequencies granted by Belgium’s High Council for audiovisuals. Spain: towards the XCII CEE assembly Yesterday the CCX symposium of the Permanent Commission of Spain’s Bishops’ Conference opened in Madrid. Participants are called to give the green light to the XCII Plenary Assembly scheduled September 24-28 in Madrid. Furthermore, as often happens in the reunion of September’s Permanent Commission, the budget for the year 2007 will be officially communicated, along with the criteria for the allocation of the Common inter-diocesan Fund and the forecasts of Spain’s Bishops Conference and its bodies and institutions for the year 2009, that will be submitted for approbation in November’s Plenary Assembly. Other issues on the agenda include the choice of the seat of the National Eucharistic Congress that will be held in 2010, under the direction of the Episcopal Commissions for Pastoral Care and Liturgy in cooperation with the Secretary General of Spain’s Bishops Conference, whose pastoral plan 2006-2010 is focused on the Eucharist. Bishops will also address the granting of relief envisaged by the new agreement signed by the CEEs in November 2006 with the Entesa Foundation, regarding the lighting of Cathedrals and other places of worship, enforced in the years 2007-2011. As customary, the Permanent Commission will decide upon nominations while the Episcopal Commissions will brief on the progress of the pastoral plan.
