France, England, Ukraine

France: “Diaconia 2013″ campaign”The crisis is hitting hard, especially the poorest” while “Catholics have always aligned themselves with those dedicated to a more just society”. For this reason, “in the midst of the current crisis, the Church wishes to intensify this solidarity”, said Mgr. Benard Podvin, spokesman of the French Bishops’ Conference, on presenting on 10 January its ongoing campaign of solidarity. Called “Diaconia 2013: let’s serve brotherhood”, it’s a three-year campaign coordinated by the national Council for Solidarity that will end in May 2013. In a statement Mgr. Podvin points out that “Diaconia 2013” indicates in an official way “the mobilization promoted by the bishops of France for greater brotherhood” and explains that some forty Catholic organizations and movements are participating in it. “Diaconia, in other words the service of charity and solidarity”, he explains, “is not reserved for experts” but “must be the concern of us all”. Hence his urgent appeal to “serve those who suffer most”. It’s an appeal that Mgr. Bernard Housset, Bishop of La Rochelle et Saintes and chairman of the national Council of Solidarity, calls “a door open to the future”. “The brotherly sharing with the most vulnerable in our midst and the social commitment of Christians inspired by charity are vital for the development of all human beings. This is the challenge of Diaconia 2013!” concluded the bishop.England: Michael Evans, “bishop until life ends”In a letter to his own diocese of East Anglia, published in recent days by the press office of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Bishop Michael Evans announced that he was suffering from an advanced stage of prostrate cancer, and has been told by his doctors he probably only has weeks to live, but that, despite that, he had decided to continue his ministry “as best I can” to the end. “Over the last five and more years since my diagnosis with cancer”, writes the bishop, “I have managed to cope with my developing illness, its ongoing treatment, the general decline in my health, and generally, I think, continued my ministry as best I can”. “We have moved forward and outward together as a diocese”, Bishop Evans continues. “I am sorry for any ways I have failed in my ministry during those years. There remain a number of difficulties on my desk which will need to be handled by others”. The bishop continues by describing how “the cancer has rather quickly taken control” of his life and yet that he prefers “to continue among you as your bishop and the father of our diocesan family until this stage of my life ends”. Thanking his diocese for its prayers and attentions, Mgr. Evans concludes: “As I live now under the shadow of death, my prayer is very much that of St. Paul: that I may know something of Christ’s resurrection and share in his sufferings, trusting that the Lord is with me. I pray that even now I can joyfully witness something of the good news we are all called to proclaim”.Ukraine: UGCC bishops on the cathedral of Santa SophiaIn an open letter to the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovic, the bishops of the Greek-Catholic Church of the country (UGCC) intervene on the question of the possible transfer of the cathedral of Santa Sophia to the national sanctuary of the monastery of the Caves in Kiev, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church linked to the Patriarchate of Moscow. As reported by RISU (Religious Information Service of Ukraine), the letter says that the sanctuary “is now under the neutral care of the State, a circumstance that prevents it from being a possible bone of contention between different denominations”. While recognizing that “State ownership does not represent the ideal”, the UGCC bishops admit that in the current situation this is “the only way to avoid possible conflicts, always cruel when founded on confessional differences”. According to the Greek-Catholic bishops, each of the four branches of the Church of Kiev, “once united”, can “claim in its favour exclusive ownership of the iconic central church for Ukrainian history and identity. But no argument is sufficient to prove presumed exclusive rights” to it, while “the root of all our problems consists in the schism of the Church, which is intrinsically anti-Christian and anti-ecclesial”. Unfortunately, the letter continues, “none of us can say he is guilty in this tragedy”, but “only once we all recognize our sin, repent and peacefully return to our original unity without fear of social disorders, shall this sanctuary return under the rule of a single patriarch of a single people”. The bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church hope that the celebrations for the millennium of Santa Sophia shall be “a really unifying and explicit sign that the four sister Churches are carrying forward with sincerity Christ’s will “to be one'” and also an opportunity to “shake each other by the hand and embrace each other in the national sanctuary under the Virgin Mary’s protection”.