Comece: which values for Europe? "In the Old Continent over the past decades the question of European identity has often triggered major debate. This means that for us living in this particular area of the world it’s very important to raise the question of who we really are". However, "since the onset, it has been hard to find an answer that would satisfy all the members of our community", stated Father Piotr Mazurkiewicz, Secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) in the address delivered a few days ago on the occasion of the European Parliament Conference on "Our Shared Values for Europe". The purpose of the meeting was "to step up the dialogue between the members of the Group and between representatives of the different religious communities as relates to 21st century challenges to Europe, and the institutional responses to these challenges". "Christian faith is unquestionably a decisive part of the foundations of European culture", COMECE Secretary General declared. "Throughout the history of this continent only one major event can be viewed as a ‘baptism’, i.e. as a "new beginning and a rebirth. This is the apparition of Christian faith on Greek and Roman land", he declared. Quoting Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce, Fr. Mazurkiewicz concluded: "Christianity has been the greatest revolution ever made by humanity". Panellists included also France’s Greek-Orthodox metropolitan Emmanuel; Rabbi Levi Matusoff, chairman of the Union of Jewish Communities in Europe; Rüdiger Noll, director of the Commission "Church and Society of CEC/KEK (Conference of European Churches) and Norbert Neuhaus, former Secretary General of "Kirche in Not" (Aid to the Church in Need).Italy: the bishops for the South of the Country "A prophetical sign of the profound communion of the Churches of the South": these words opened the Conference held in Naples on February 12-13 that brought together 60 bishops and 350 diocesan delegates from Southern Italy. During the meeting titled "The Church in the South, the Churches in the South", bishops, sociologists and diocesan delegates addressed the question of unemployment and job access difficulties, the challenge of education, and the question of ‘mafia’ culture. CEI President Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco underlined that "the people of Southern Italy have a good heart and know the meaning of generosity, altruism, friendship. They are proud of their roots and have a strong Christian religious identity and practice; these people are fond of their land although they are often compelled to seek employment and a better future elsewhere”. The Conference concluded with the publication of a final statement. "Men and women of the South states the document – must not conceal the present difficulties marked by the economic crisis underway. We are aware that these difficulties add on to long-dated wounds that were inflicted to the South".According to the bishops, "it’s time to rediscover our roots, our human and spiritual heritage, and offer it not only to our people but to the Country as a whole, to Europe and to South world populations who just like us are seeking the sun of hope". The document urges the lay people living in communities and associations to emerge "from the temple walls in order to incarnate the Gospel of Christ throughout society".Ukraine: the faithful in defence of the parish From January 25 the faithful of the Catholic Community of Dnipropetrovsk, in the Eastern region of Ukraine, have been actively defending their parish Church of Saint Joseph from the injustice perpetrated by regional authorities and by an American company, "Dugsberry, Inc" that purchased the parish’s premises. However, the Catholic faithful claim property rights over the Church. In the proceedings, ongoing since 2007, Vasyl Shurpinov, who represents the Catholic Church, submitted a large amount of documents testifying that the Church of Saint Joseph is owned by the Catholic faithful. According to submitted evidence, the religious community of the Roman Catholic Church (RCC), is the legal heir of the property, since the Catholic Community erected the building at its own expense. This happened long before 1948. After that year, property rights were transferred from one government body to another, until at the end of 1998 the building was sold to the American company Dugsberry Inc. The lawyer that is following the case, appealed to the law on freedom of conscience in force in Ukraine and to the Presidential Decree concerning the restitution of Church property. But the lawyer of the American company claims that his client wasn’t aware that the purchased property was a place of worship, since the relative information hadn’t been supplied to the purchaser and at the time Ukrainian legislation didn’t envisage the term "place of worship". Thus the legal matter still needs to be clarified while in the meantime, the Catholic community of the Ukrainian city rallied in protest.
