chURCHES IN BRIEF
Ireland: card. Brady and the Eucharistic congress”May this National Eucharistic Congress, and the International Congress next year, help to bring healing to the social, economic, spiritual and moral wounds that have so deeply afflicted our country and Church in recent times”. These wishes were conveyed on June 25 by card. Seán Brady, archbishop of Armagh, primate of All Ireland, in the Homily for the National Eucharistic Congress held in Knock (June 25-26) in the framework of the preparations for the 50th International Eucharistic Congress scheduled to take place in June 10 to 17 2012 in Dublin. Cardinal Brady referred to the “significant decline” in Sunday Mass and pointed out that “this year of preparation for the International Congress is a time to look again at the significance of the weekly Sunday Mass. “My hope is that in this year of preparation those who have drifted away from regular participation in the Mass will hear with fresh hearts the simple request of Jesus to all of us: ‘Do this in memory of me.'” According to Cardinal Brady, “this is a time for renewal in the Church in Ireland. That renewal has to begin in union with Chris.”, “It has to involve all of us sitting down and listening with the help of the Holy Spirit to His Word to discover what sort of Church He wants the Church to be at this time, in this place”. At the heart of all of this will be “the New Evangelisation”, a “new commitment to making known the message of joy and hope for all humankind that is celebrated and made present in every Eucharist. Jesus “understands the weakness of the human condition”. “He reaches out to us with compassion and a love that heals”. But “Jesus is also challenging. He is not afraid to confront us about our laziness, our selfishness and our sin”; He “calls us to conversion” and “the fullness of life that comes from our immersion in the Word of life and in the Eucharist”. For registration in the International Eucharistic Congress log on www.iec2012.ie.Switzerland: unacceptable pre-implant diagnosisAccording to the Swiss bishops, the proposal by the federal Government to allow, under certain circumstances, the preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is a serious infringement on the dignity of the person inscribed in the Constitution. “Preimplantation diagnosis – the spokesperson for the Swiss Bishops’ Conference Walter Muller told APIC agency – leads to an ethically unacceptable distinction between healthy and unhealthy embryos”. For Muller, this “procedure is not acceptable because the human dignity is at stake”. The goal of the proposal that is being considered by the Federal Council is to lift the existing ban on preimplantation diagnosis, although access to this practice would be possible only under exceptional circumstances and only to those couples who run the risk of transmitting serious diseases to their children. The technique allows the testing of an embryo created in vitro prior to its implantation into the uterus in order to detect genetic anomalies”. In in-vitro fertilization, explained APIC, “the three embryos rule is usually applied”, a number that could be extended to eight “when couples are at risk”. The draft bill does not allow the use of PGD for selecting “medicine-babies”, that is, embryos from which tissues and cells are extracted to treat an ill brother or sister, but is intended to “lift the ban on the conservation of supernumerary embryos” which are currently destroyed or used in stem cell research.Portugal: Caritas, 5% to solidarityThe Caritas of Portugal is asking all Christians to devolve 5% of their holiday subsidy to increase the monetary contributions of the Social Solidarity Fund (FSS). It is proposing to the State to create a protection network for people in dire financial straits, involving public and private bodies. The president of the association, Eugénio Fonseca, said that “if Christians and all people of good will were willing to offer this percentage of their holiday subsidy it would be an eloquent sign of solidarity towards all those who cannot avail themselves of it”. The Caritas chief made known that FSS has a budget of 363 thousand euro, which is “much beneath its needs”. He pointed out: “Christian communities are called to keep conscience alive, and ensure the mutual sharing of goods”. The fund was created in November 2010 on the initiative of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP). Already the following month its budget rose to 406.500 euro thanks to donations and deposits from 15 out of 20 dioceses involved in the support. In this way, 2.571 people benefited for the payment of rents along with bank loans for the purchase of homes, and for electricity, gas and water bills, medicines, school equipment and social aid tools installments. Fonseca said that the service rendered by FSS does not exempt the State from assuming its responsibility with the creation of a Protection network to be created as soon as possible”. The platform is designed to bring together the largest number of cooperating bodies, social proximity networks and public funding, giving priority to the creation and establishment of social volunteering groups in all parishes, to signal difficult situations, primary aid services, involvement of the responsible institutions along with support and counseling in discomfort situations”.
