CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Ukraine: monastery in Kiev and centenary of Msgr. Romza”Foundation of a new monastery is an important event for the Church, since another piece of heaven will shine among us” – with these words His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk consecrated a cornerstone of the Pokrova Monastery of the Congregation of Sisters of the Holy Family in Kyiv on 3 July. Before the consecration the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) presided the Pontifical Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Resurreciton of Christ. He thanked all the benefactors and people of good will who have been helping the Congregation: “These people rejoice at the fact that they can give rather than receive”. His Beatitude Sviatoslav reminded all the believers that “the cornerstone of the Church is Christ himself” and we should build our lives around Him. “We are all well aware that without God we wouldn’t be able to achieve anything”, – said the Head of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family, sister Natalia Melnyk, expressing gratitude also to the Head of the UGCC and to all the benefactors. Another important event was the visit, from June 26-28, of cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, at the Eparchy of Mukachevo of Ruteni, in Ukraine, for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the beatification and the centenary of the birth of Blessed martyr Teodoro Romza, bishop of Mukachevo. In the prolusion of the conference, organized for the occasion, the cardinal underlined that “Msgr. Romza, in the difficult social and political context of the time, bore heroic Christian witness. He was exemplary in his resistance to the pressures and to the acts against the religious and civil freedom of his people”. As relates to the situation in the Country, in the homily of the divine liturgy of June 28 celebrated outdoors near the seminary of Uzhorod, the prelate recalled, “the Church’s emergence from clandestinity was accompanied by the problem of the reconstruction of the structures of which it had been completely stripped, along with the spiritual needs of the faithful and the need for internal ecclesial unity”. Cardinal Sandri was the protagonist of several events. On June 27 His Eminence visited the Concathedral of Uzhorod, where he worshipped the reliquary of Blessed bishop Romza, and the Cathedral of Mukachevo. He then took part in the inauguration of an exhibition. The Cardinal also met with national and local authorities and paid a visit to the monastery of the Brasilian Fathers, where the famous Icon of the Madonna of Mukachevo is preserved.Czech Republic: father Cantalamessa at CccPreacher to the Papal Household, Franciscan Capuchin P. Raniero Cantalamessa, is the main lecturer at the 22nd Catholic Charismatic Conference taking place on 6-10 July in Brno, Czech Republic. Event with 3,000 registrated participants is taking place under the patronage of the bishop of the Diocese of Brno, Mons. Vojtech Cikrle. Programme of the conference, organised in Czech Republic yearly since 1989 by the movement Catholic Charismatic Renewal, includes lectures, adorations, informal meetings, prayers and liturgies. 4-day event with main theme “Mind you do whatever he tells you” from the Gospel of John, has formative character and is intended to deepen spiritual life of members and supporters of the movement as well as of Christians of any denomination. For more information: http://konference.cho.cz.Austria: Caritas, more education, less poverty”Poverty can be won over in the long run only by means of better education”, said the president of Austria’s Caritas Franz Küberl at the inauguration of a conference of the Komensky fund held in Vienna on July 4 on the initiative of the organization and of “Erste Stiftung”. Küberl highlighted the relationship between education and the fight on poverty, and complained that “the present education system fails to meet the goal of defeating poverty as it fails to accomplish equality in opportunity”. For this reason, the president of Caritas said he looks forward to a reform of education whereby “the primary principle should be the dignity of the child and his right” to individual formation. Furthermore, “a new agreement between schools and parents is needed”, so that the latter may be enabled to provide support to their children throughout their educational development. By doing so, “education can act as the springboard for a better future”. Küberl exhorted not to pay excessive attention to declining birth rates. Rather, he said, this reality should become “an opportunity to focus available resources on existing pupils”, since “our efforts must be directed to every single child”. Also demographer Wolfgang Lutz said he supports Küberl’s position and called for greater investments in the field of child education. “But if the system is not changed”, he cautioned, “the overall level of education will not be preserved”.
