chURCHES IN BRIEF
Portugal: Cep, pastoral note on volunteeringWelcoming the declaration of the ministers of the European Union, which designated 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering, the Permanent Council of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP), gathered in Fatima, issued a pastoral note yesterday. In the note entitled “Volunteering and the new social conscience”, the bishops define the subject as “an open door to social humanization”. The bishops’ note is addressed to Catholics in particular “so that they may feel in conscience ready to freely offer some of their time to their community at the service of others”. The bishops also express their gratitude to them for their contribution to the “development of a new social conscience, based on voluntary commitment, which is a sign of hope, capable of overcoming ideological barriers and of revealing the paths leading to a new humanism, one that is creative, concrete, effective, and dynamic”. The note points out that “voluntary initiatives are in line with the subsidiarity principle. In fact, they do not replace the social services provided by the public authorities; rather, they stimulate the vitality of such services, and by virtue of these voluntary actions, citizens can bring down ‘bureaucratic’ barriers”. Aimed at involving all people in all situations around the world through the establishment of a fraternal network, “volunteering – the note reads – has many faces and forms. Its goal is to help those who are forgotten, rejected, mistreated, or impoverished by society, as well as to promote and support cultural development”. According to a number of volunteers, this service has been “such an enriching experience in human terms that many people felt the need to rethink their life plans, make better use of their time, learn how to deal with situations, overcome tensions, and minimize personal problems”. Finally the Portuguese bishops express their “sincere appreciation and deep gratitude to the many volunteers who are heralds of trust and hope in these difficult times: we see in the volunteering experience the model for a new vision of society in which we feel called to proclaim the new Kingdom of Jesus”, concludes the note.Belarus: Archbishop Kondrusiewicz “for peace”In recent days, at a ceremony in the metropolitan Curia of Minsk, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Metropolitan of Minsk and Mahilyow, was invested with the Order of the International Peacekeeping Cossacks Guard. Present at the ceremony were the lieutenant-general of the Cossacks Guard Siarhei Novikau and its major general Aleh Prylutski. According to General Prylutski, “the Catholic Bielorussian leader was decorated with the Order ‘for his good will’ in pursuing unity and peace between the Christian confessions and in promoting the ecumenical spirit in relations with various religions”. The Cossacks Guard, whose commitment is primarily aimed at the consolidation of society, also supports relations with the clergy of all confessions. In Belarus almost half of its members are Catholic. Its priority fields of commitment include educational work with the young and active participation in the public life of the country. The International Peacekeeping Cossacks Guard includes members from 17 countries: among them France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Lithuania, China, USA, Russia, and Kazakhstan. It first appeared in Belarus in 1995 and now has some 12,000 members in the country.Ireland: chaplains call for prison reformOn 10 February the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhumane or Degrading Treatments or Punishments (CPT) of the Council of Europe published a damning report on the situation of prisons in Ireland and denounced abuses and violence, in particular in the two criminal psychiatric hospitals in the country. The investigation confirms what has already been observed by the annual reports of Irish prison chaplains, who also denounce the chronic overcrowding of prisons and the increased use of drugs among prison inmates. In recent days indeed the chaplains have once again called for an “urgent reform of the prison system”. Welcoming the report, which found evidence of degrading, hazardous and dangerous conditions in several prisons, Father Ciaran Enright, chaplain at the Arbour Hill prison, said there’s a lack of political will to tackle the problem which has been steadily worsening year after year. “If we can’t treat prisoners with basic human dignity – he says – we have no hope of changing their lives for the better – and that can only be in everyone’s interests. Maybe one more report will finally make some difference” because “the conditions of our prisons are an insult to the dignity of any human being and an affront to decency”. According to the report, between 2006 and 2010 the Irish prison population has almost doubled, rising from 3,191 to 5,456 inmates.
