Bosnia: Catholic schools’ 15th anniversary The 15th anniversary of the Catholic Schools for Europe “Europa-Schulen” was celebrated a few days ago. The Schools were founded in Bosnia on 21 November 1994 to promote reconciliation programmes in the civil war-torn country. The first school which opened in Sarajevo had to suspend its activity after only one week of classes because of the airstrikes. Now Bosnia is home to seven Catholic School Centres including fourteen schools. It is a “miracle of solidarity and love”, said Mgr. Pero Sudar, auxiliary archbishop of Sarajevo, during the celebrations. Not only in Sarajevo, but also in other Bosnian cities, these outstanding schools offer a quality education to some 5,000 primary and secondary school students (in gymnasiums or professional institutions). Many of them are from mixed families with different religious and ethnic backgrounds. Mgr. Sudar praised the assistance projects carried out by the organization Renovabis in Eastern Europe and the many German Catholics who have supported its work: “the Catholic Schools for Europe could not exist without the support of Renovabis and other similar organizations”, he said. The organisation’s contribution to school institutions has totalled 5 million euro over the last few years. An award was granted to Gerhard Albert, representing the organisation, who declared: “When Sarajevo was still under occupation, the founding fathers of the school centre looked beyond the difficulties and laid the basis for reconciliation. With the establishment of the ‘Schools for Europe’, Bosnian people were given a sign of self-affirmation in their hardest time”, concluded Albert.Austria: increase in religious tourism”A pilgrimage is a chance to get in contact with people who are spiritually distant”, said Anton Winterstellen, director of the Pastoral Care for Tourism in the archdiocese of Salzburg. Interviewed by the Austrian Press Agency Kathpress some days ago, Winterstellen outlined the ongoing expansion of spiritual tourism in Austria. He said the trend “provides many opportunities for dialogue even with people who are estranged from the Church, through the collective experience of pilgrimage. Winterstellen pointed out that “despite the many pilgrim and well-being offers, the Church ought not to lose sight of the pilgrimage’s Christian-spiritual meaning. To ensure professional management and to enhance contact with those who are taking part in these initiatives, the Pastoral Care for Tourism in Salzburg is going to hold formation courses for pilgrim guides in 2010 as well. These courses have already been attended by more than 100 people from Austria, Bavaria, Switzerland and South Tirol. An experience that goes beyond the Austrian borders as “pilgrim routes do not end at the border: this is why we also work beyond the borders”, explained Winterstellen. In 2010, new formation courses will be introduced even in the archdiocese of Munich-Frisinga.France: “every person is a treasure””What is our attitude towards the most vulnerable persons?” The question is raised in a statement issued by Mgr. Pierre d’Ornellas, archbishop of Rennes and representative of Arche International, and by Mgr. Jean-Paul James, bishop of Nantes, in response to the National Consultative Ethics Committee opinion’s n.107 and to the draft law on euthanasia. In the first case, the committee’s opinion would extend the cases in which it is possible not to implant human embryos affected by trisomy 21 in a woman’s womb. The draft law on euthanasia, by contrast, will pave the way to the killing of people who ask for death, offering them “active help to die”. “These two proposals – said the bishops – seem to be based on a partial vision of freedom. Both eugenic selection and euthanasia are currently prohibited and this ban is an expression of the inviolable respect for the human dignity. Dealing with handicap and old age is complex, often painful, and there is no easy solution to it. It is a call to solidarity, and this call is sometimes a cry”. “Prohibiting eugenics and euthanasia is therefore fundamental to affirm the dignity of the most vulnerable. Making them legal would be unworthy of man and society. Nevertheless, it is not only about that. Solidarity finds its expression also, and above all, in active solidarity”. The two bishops also recalled that “every vulnerable person is a treasure of humanity”.
