CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Portugal: Caritas, six measures against povertyEugénio Fonseca, President of Caritas Portugal, addressed a letter to 16 political parties in which he proposes the enforcement of “six measures, clearly unpretentious but not very burdensome and indispensable for a policy at the service of all and really committed at curbing poverty in the country”. First of all, an effective defence of the welfare State demands that, between the political players, dialogue and consensus in this direction be intensified: “We are not filled with repugnance by the fact that the holders of high salaries have their levels of protection being reduced, for some time, but we cannot accept that the holders of lower or minimum salaries be sacrificed”. The creation of a basic network of social protection, already advocated by the CEP (Portuguese Catholic Bishops’ Conference), should be founded on actual people – both those who directly live social problems and are marginalized by the framework of rights presently in force and on those who, at the latter’s side, commit themselves on a daily basis in the search for direct and immediate solutions: “Such cooperation, organized in groups of social volunteers of proximity, should be provided with a direct access to the private institutions of social solidarity (IPSS) and to the competent public bodies”. The missed dissemination of statistics and figures on social interventions cause the lost of precious information on poverty and exclusion: “Through the dissemination of simplified forms of statistical investigation we would have at our disposal and indispensable tool of social conscience and co-responsibility”. In addition, the document proposes a social system for the creation of jobs, “Criemprego”, made up especially of “small private cooperatives and businesses, as well as chains of commercialization in every sector of economic activity”, and focuses on local plans of social development which should be “able to give concrete form on a local level to a network of social protection and to a system aimed at the creation of jobs”.Ukraine: Msgr. Shevchuk and the dialogue with Moscow “I believe that today we should not poison our relations with past fanaticism”. The Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyè, Msgr. Sviatoslav Shevchuk, thus declared in an interview released a few days ago the Ukrainian periodical Focus, in which he conveys his hope to meet the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Moscow Kyrill. “I believe – added Msgr. Shevchuk in the interview published also by the Ukrainian Religious Information Service (Risu) – that we will manage to heal our wounded memory through mutual forgiveness. Now we’re ready for this; our faithful are asking us. As pastors we should listen to the voice of the people, that is the voice of God”. According to the Major Archbishop of Kyiv-Halyè, this encounter “would constitute a mutual recognition”. “The patriarch of Moscow is ready as indicated by the presence of the bishop of Makariv, Ilarii, vicar of the diocese of Kiev of the Ukrainian-Orthodox Church of Moscow’s patriarchate, at the ceremony of my enthronement and the greetings of metropolitan Volodymyr”. In responding to a question on his future relations with the Ukraine’s political authorities, considering the president and his entourage’s closeness to Moscow, the head of the Greek-Catholic Church declared: “It will be a constructive dialogue, regardless of which Church the president of the Republic and his ministers follow”. However, according to Msgr. Shevchuk, in Ukraine today “there are more serious challenges”: “all Churches risk becoming political parties” while, he concluded, “I believe that the Church should not be pro regime nor at the opposition. It should bring people together”.France: “inclusive economy” and “humane labour””We must convey hope in a better life through just and sustainable development for inclusive social economy. It is society’s inalienable mission and its responsibility”. It is the exhortation of Msgr. Hervé Giraud, bishop of Soissons, Laon et Saint-Quentin, who affirmed in a reflection drawn up in conjunction with the Diocesan Councils for Solidarity and Labour Mission on the occasion of May 1st, Labour’s Day: “In the crisis in faith that deeply shutters our society we have the urgent duty not to bow down to individualism. We should avoid the weakening of solidarity”. It is therefore necessary to provide “support and closeness for the benefit of the common good”. “We are aware that global solutions are beyond our reach, yet there are initiatives that can be implemented. A commitment, a word of trust, collective conscious-awareness and social dialogue represent the progress towards a more human form of labour”. “Glimpses of a true future – concludes Msgr. Giraud – will arrive only from those that proclaim the value of labour work”, who are active “in solidarity movements”. They have “the courage to preserve and create employment, and are committed in the promotion of solidarity between social partners”.
