chURCHES IN BRIEF
Germany: the new Catechism for young peopleMay “YouCat” be “the heart of a new evangelization”, augured Cardinal Lehmann on 29 March, upon the presentation of the Catechism for young people in Magonza. “Christian faith is explained in a language that is appropriate to the young”, the Cardinal said, underlining that the new Catechism will contribute “to dialogue with adolescents” on themes related to Christian faith. The director of Pattloch Publishing House, Bernhard Meiser, said that participating “in the greatest Christian editorial project in the world is an incredibly beautiful experience”. Positive words were also spoken by the Young German Catholics Federation (Bdkj): Simon Rapp, priest, member of the executive board of the organization, praised “YouCat” for addressing “fundamental aspects of our faith along with themes deriving from the lifestyle of the youth” in a comprehensible language. The new catechism, he added, “is one of many factors that can make the Church attractive to the youth”, he added. “Among these figure authentic people, along with the places and the freedom needed for the youth to contribute to characterize the Church and liturgy and express their opinion to this regard”.England: the new translation of the MissalPreparations are under way in England and Wales for the publication of the new English translation of the Roman Missal next autumn by the Catholic Truth Society. The news was released on March 29 by the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of England and Wales: “The full text of the Missal will be used at Mass from the First Sunday of Advent this year”. The full use of the “new” Missal will be preceded by the use of just the Order of Mass in the new translation from September 2011. For these three months from September to November, the Church in England and Wales “will become familiar with those parts of the translations which are prayed at every Mass, and this will be accompanied by catechesis on the Mass and the new translation”. “This is a significant stage in our preparations for the new translation of the Roman Missal”, said Martin Foster, Acting Secretary of the Department for Christian Life and Worship. “I know that the bishops of the Department are very grateful for the care and attention to detail which the Catholic Truth Society has shown in producing a worthy and beautiful Missal for the Church in England and Wales”. Fergal Martin, General Secretary of the CTS, said, “Our team has worked very closely and constructively with the Bishops of England and Wales, Scotland and Australia so as to arrive at this point, and we are pleased that the process is moving steadily forward, on all three Ritual Editions: the Altar Missal, Chapel edition and Study edition. We hope that people will find them both beautiful and robust”.Belgium: 3.000 March for lifeAlso cardinal André-Joseph Leonard, president of the Belgian Bishops’ Conference, took part on Sunday 27 in the March for Peace held in Brussels. Some 3000 people, including European delegations from France, Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain, attended the familiar, peaceful, a-political, pluralist initiative. More than twice as many people compared to last year attended the second edition of the event. The march passed through the city up to Mont des Arts where red and white roses were distributed, while welcoming addresses were delivered by young students and by the representatives of foreign delegations. The organizers of the initiative recalled that in Belgium the number of abortions increased by 39% over the past 10 years. In 2009, there have been 19.421 cases, in addition to those cases that have not been reported. The percentage of young women resorting to abortion is on the increase. “Our idea – said Anthony Burckhardt, a student in political sciences – is to create a society where the weaker brackets are protected from the first stages of life until death”. The procession opened with the sound of bagpipes, to render homage to the only European country that has not legalized abortion: Ireland. In the first row hung a large banner bearing the phrase “We have all been embryos”.
