Portugal: in favor of organ donation Next November 30 – December 2 the Sanctuary in Fatima will host the 22nd national Encounter of the Pastoral of Health to raise awareness and reflect on the theme, “Organ transplant, donation for life”. In the message for the presentation of the initiative Msgr. Carlos Moreira Azevedo, President of the Episcopal commission for Social Pastoral care underlined, “this theme conveys the intention to extend and renew our perspective to encompass contemporary themes emerging in the area of health”. “Scientific progress ought to be acknowledged within the Christian view of organ transplant and donation possibility” – said Msgr. Azevedo – “Christianity is bereft of religious preconceptions prescribing transplant rejection. Indeed, in the gesture of organ donation Christians see a new tool for charity, offered by medical science”. Also the national Pastoral Health coordinator, Msgr. Feytor Pinto reiterated that “the donation of an organ is always an act love” and recalled, “there are many patients waiting for a transplant that may restore their health and the quality of living which they lost. All Christians can give their contribution by offering blood and their organs after death, participating in the happiness of countless people, who wouldn’t be able to survive without their help”. The initiative’s program, documents and information can be found at the webpage www.pastoraldasaude.pt.England: priests for the freedom of opinion Priests in England and Wales invited the faithful to submit a written request to the House of Lords asking its members to adopt a provision for the defense of the freedom of opinion within legislation that envisages sexual orientation hatred incitement as a crime. Indeed, in the Country there have been episodes of people who underwent Police interrogation for conveying their discomfort over public initiatives regarding homosexuals. The most recent case involved 67-year-old grandmother Pauline Howe, interrogated by the police after having written to Norwich’s town council to protest against the gay pride festival. The clause upholding freedom of opinion was introduced by Lord Waddington in current legislation and was adopted by the Parliament in May 2008. The Chamber of Commons removed it past March but the decision was suspended by the House of Lords in July. If the freedom of opinion clause were eliminated, those who expressed ideas against homosexuality, like Pauline Howe, risk being indicted. The clause specifies that discussion or criticism of homosexual behavior is not a crime in itself. Lord Waddington, writing on the website of the daily “Guardian”, recalled that famous British homosexuals like Matthew Parris, Peter Tatchell and Christopher Biggins endorse the clause in defense of the freedom of opinion. Ukraine: appeal for the restitution of a churchUkraine’s civil authorities launched an appeal to restore to the faithful the Church of Saint Nicholas in Kiev. The appeal was transmitted by Anatoliy Andriy Filipovich, former colonel of the Armed Forces and liquidator of the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl, who asked all Ukrainian Catholics to support this request with their prayers. Consecrated on December 6 1909, in 1917 the Church started to be “used as a site for the placement of radio transmitters aimed at disturbing and interfere with other radio transmissions”. Only in 1979 “was it restored and became the seat of the organist House and music Chamber”. Indeed, it bears a prestigious Riger-Kloss manufactured organ. Since 1992, Filipovich continued, “the religious community was allowed to celebrate Mass when the Church wasn’t being employed as a concert hall”. However, the “decrees for the assignment of property rights to the community, signed by the then President Kuchma in 2002 and by President Yushchenko in 2006” have not yet been adopted. For the past 18 years parishioners have been awaiting the restitution of the church edifice, which, Filipovich said, needs to be restored and consolidated in its foundations due to vibrations caused by the underground. This restitution is indispensable, he underlined. “Between 800 and 1000 faithful from all ages and social backgrounds attend the Church’s Sunday Mass”. “It’s impossible to form conscious, responsible citizens committed in the development of their own national State without Church moral values”.
