Germany: a clarifying meetingAn open, constructive dialogue”: this is how the German Catholic and Evangelical Churches judged an explanatory meeting in Karlsruhe, which took place on 14th October after tensions aroused by an internal evangelical document that contained considerations on the Catholic Church which caused some annoyance. The text had been submitted to the Ecclesiastic Conference of the Ekd on 2nd July, and however it had been rejected by the Evangelical Conference and then disseminated in an anonymous form. The meeting was attended by delegations of both Churches, the Catholic Church led by the President of the German Bishops Conference, mgr. Robert Zollitsch, and the Evangelical Church led by Wolfgang Huber, President of the Ekd Council. “Both sides believe that damaged trust can be recovered”, Huber said at the end of the three hours’ meeting, as reported by the German agency Kna. In apologising for the accident, Huber spoke of an exchange that took place “in an open, constructive way and in the spirit of Christian fraternity”. On his part, mgr. Zollitsch stated that “the wounds that had become visible have been elaborated and healed”. The president of Dbk accepted the apologies and commented: “We have found again grounds for ecumenism in Germany”.Turkey: standstill on the church of Saint Paul in Tarsus There is a stalemate over the situation of St Paul’s Church in Tarsus, currently a museum, which should be returned to Christians for worship. “From 1st September, pilgrims are no longer required to pay an admission ticket but there are still a number of problems”, declared the president of the Turkish Bishops’ Conference (CET) Mgr Luigi Padovese in an interview with the SIR Europe. Then he explained the practice adopted by the government at the end of the Pauline Year by which groups are required to make reservations three days in advance to be allowed into the church. “Information concerning the groups do not reach our sisters who have the task of preparing the church and some groups even come without notice”. “The situation does not improve. On the contrary, some policemen in uniform have patrolled the church during the services in the last few days. It is for security reasons, but they could put on civilian clothes. The sight of agents in uniform inside the church may cause panic among pilgrims and this should be avoided”. “We do not know when the issue will be definitely settled – added Mgr. Padovese. The minister of Culture and Tourism has spoken optimistically about the situation of the church in Tarsus without fixing any deadline. However, one might think that the issue is kept open for there is no will to deal with it”.Austria: “History of the Apostles 2010” “History of the apostles 2010”: this is the name of the missionary initiative promoted by the archdiocese of Vienna and presented on October 15 during a press conference. As reported by the Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress, the initiative aims at developing individuals’ communication with God and with the rest of the world while motivating Catholics to speak more often about their own faith. During the meeting with journalists, Michael Scharf, responsible of the Office for Pastoral Care in Vienna, Andrea Geiger, project coordinator, Otto Neubauer, director of the Academy for the evangelisation of the ‘Emmanuel’ community, illustrated the initiative and presented the program of the diocesan assembly due to be held October 22-24. The meeting will be attended by 1200 delegates – priests from the archdiocese, the orders, Church communities and structures, Caritas representatives, from theological faculties and Catholic schools, along with the groups present in the archdiocese and the platform “Wir sind Kirche” (80% of participants are lay). The primary goal of the assembly is to share “all that brings us joy and support, while at the same time address the knots and elements of mutual concern” Geiger said. “During these three days we wish to focus on all those things that unite us in the Church. Only in this way can we overcome the problems or painful issues, and possibly make proposals to solve them or reach different solutions”. “The Church cannot fall back on herself, even if she becomes smaller, she must open up”, Neubarer pointed out. To this regard, starting Pentecost Monday 2010, “a week of the mission” will take place, during which each parish, each community and each ecclesial office are invited to carry out a missionary project.
