CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Germany: expectation grows for the arrival of Benedict XVIAlready 74,000 applications for tickets have been received for the celebrations that the Pope will officiate in the diocese of Erfurt, during his visit to Germany in September. “We are delighted by the huge interest shown in the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the diocese of Erfurt” (in former East Germany), declared the vicar general Raimund Beck in recent days, announcing updated figures for ticket applications: 32,000 requests for the Marian Vespers at Etzelsbach (23 September) and over 42,000 for the mass at Erfurt (24 September). For this latter celebration there are problems of space, because the cathedral square can only hold a maximum 27,900 persons. Therefore, for reasons of safety, it will not be possible to permit access for everyone. In any case, those who are unable to participate in the mass in the cathedral square, will be able to receive a ticket to take part in the Vespers that will be celebrated at Etzelsbach, a little town that is able to host up to 100,000 faithful, double the figure planned by the organizers, who are now trying to solve the various logistic problems and especially to find and train enough volunteers: some 2,000 will be needed as stewards for the celebrations in the diocese of Erfurt.Austria: protecting unborn lifeA new “culture of life”: that’s the hope expressed by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, at the end of Pro-Life Week that was held in the capital until 6 June. The culture of life, said the cardinal, “is the presupposition of a society in good health”, because “if life is threatened, then everything is threatened”. Cardinal Schönborn made his comments on the diocesan radio station, “Radio Stephansdom”, during the “Festival of Life” that marked the concluding event of the week. “A society in which the majority of people live well ought to be able to make its own contribution in difficult cases, so as to protect unborn life”, continued Schönborn. Pro-Life Week was celebrated with a wide variety of events throughout Austria during the first week of June. It was inaugurated by “Pro-Life Day” on 1st June. The archdiocese of Salzburg was the first in Austria to have celebrated Pro-Life Week. Then, in view of the great success it enjoyed, it was extended last year to the whole of Austrian territory, preceded by a pastoral letter of the Austrian bishops who had exhorted the faithful to show “greater courage in accepting marriage and children”, because it is in families that “the fullness of life becomes tangible” and “with each child a new hope is born”.Ukraine: Synod of Greek Catholic Bishops Issues concerning ecumenical activities, catechetical ministry, economic state of the parishes – those were some of the topics discussed at the 52nd session of the Synod of Bishops of Kyiv-Halych Major Archbishopric of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) that took place at the end of May in Lviv-Briukhovychi, with participation of all the Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops with jurisdiction on the territory. The Synod, presided by the newly elected head of the UGCC, His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, voted on normative actions regarding Instruction on book publishing, Regulation of Church commissions, and Description of responsibilities of the head of Church commissions. Reflecting on the current socio-political situation in Ukraine, the Synod issued a letter “Appeal of the Synod of Bishops of Kyiv-Halych Major Archbishopric to the faithful and all people of good will on preservation of the social peace”. The bishops were also reported about the state of construction of the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Kyiv. Next session of the Synod of Bishops of Kyiv-Halych Major Archbishopric of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church will take place in October 2011. Slovakia: media initiatives on evangelizationCouncil for Social Communications of the Bishops’ conference of Slovakia has launched a competition aimed to support financially the initiatives focused on evangelization. The main condition is that the projects must be linked with concrete media or deal with education in this field. Deadline for submitting of proposals is 30 August 2011, the scope of implementation of projects is till 30 June 2013. Through this competition the Bishops’ conference plans to distribute the money collected in all Slovak parishes during the 45th World Day of Social Communications, celebrated last Sunday – 5 June. Results of competition will be announced in the Catholic newspaper and on the website of the Press office of the Bishops’ conference www.tkkbs.sk. Applications for grants along with the project proposal described on maximum of 10 pages should be sent on e-mail: riaditel@tkkbs.sk. Last year the Council for Social Communications distributed over 188,000 , supporting 42 media projects like Biblical internet competition, Media museum of underground Church in Slovakia and documentary about missionaries in Papua.
