A worrying sign

“The financial crisis is a sign of the crisis in values affecting contemporary societies: the meaning of existence can’t be secondary to the yearning for profit; money isn’t everything. Our living standards ought to be reconsidered without neglecting our responsibilities towards the poor”. Adrianus Van Luyn, bishop of Rotterdam and COMECE president, drew a balance of the Plenary Assembly held November 12-14 in Brussels, where European bishops debated also climate changes, the situation of Christians in the world, the crisis in Georgia and the Lisbon Treaty.Moderation and care for the poor. In the final declaration of the Autumn Assembly, the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community remarked: “the financial crisis has exposed a deeper spiritual crisis and a misguided set of values” that are increasingly subjected to the logics of profit. Thus, the European Churches appeal to “moderation” as the “central virtue” that should represent “the core of this change of lifestyle”. Christians ought to make their fellow-citizens aware that “moderation can be synonymous with quality of life and with happiness, because it helps to distinguish the essential from the superfluous”. In the same document the COMECE bishops call on the Members of the European Parliament to include “the protection of Sunday rest” in the Working Time Directive that will be submitted to the European Parliament’s vote in mid-December. According to the bishops, “respect for Sunday rest” is “one of the foundations of the European social model” and “a way to implement work-life balance”. “In recent years – the bishops stated – Sunday as a weekly rest day has been threatened by legislation in many Member States thanks to liberal and consumerist-driven political concepts”. Sunday, day of rest. The festive day, added Msgr. Piotr Jarecki, auxiliary bishop of Warsaw and COMECE vice-President, “ought to be understood as a moment of rest, as the specific moment to be devoted to the family, to social relations and to the transcendent”. In the framework of the EU directive, (that envisages raising to 65 the maximum number of weekly working hours), Johanna Touzel, COMECE spokesperson, told SIR: “Excessive working hours go to the detriment of the dignity of man and of workers” and thwart work-family life balance “that bishops have been calling for”, which the respect for Sunday rest is part of. Msgr. Vaclav Maly, auxiliary bishop of Prague, added: “the social doctrine of the Church reminds us that work can’t be the exclusive activity of individuals”. This is why “MEPs are urged to take action in this area”. Christians in the world. In the final declaration COMECE bishops call on the EU to acknowledge “the central role of Christianity in Iraq’s tradition and history and to continually raise – in its contacts and discussions with the Government of Iraq – the issue of the protection of the Christian Community, today threatened with extinction, and of religious minorities in Iraq”. More generally, the Bishops regret that the EU, in its relations with third countries, still puts insufficient efforts into attacking with determination the violation of the religious freedom of minorities in other parts of the world”. Jarecki said that the bishops equally addressed the difficult situation of Christians living in other nations such as India, Iran and the Holy Land. The vice-president of the European Commission Mr. Jacques Barrot said the EU is working on a project envisaging asylum to 20thousand Christian refugees from Iraq. To this regard, the COMECE bishops tasked the COMECE Secretariat with creating a team of experts “to consider the principle of reciprocity in relation to religious freedom”. The final report will be presented during the next Plenary Assembly in March 2009. “Social days” in Dantzig. Father Piotr Mazurkiewicz, COMECE Secretary General, announced a major European social conference on “Europe and solidarity”. The venue of the meeting, to be held October 8-11 2009, is the Polish city of Danztig. Bobby McDonagh, Ireland’s representative to the EU, illustrated the situation in his country after the “no-vote” to the Lisbon Treaty to the bishops in the new COMECE building, in Brussels’ “European neighbourhood”. To this regard, Msgr. Jarecki told Sir: “The Irish situation appears to be contradictory”. As a matter of fact, the public opinion seems to largely favour the EU despite the negative outcome of the Referendum. “The lack of objective information on the EU” conveyed by Irish media, was said to have been a possible reason for increased euro-sceptical positions during the voting.