CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Hungary: a new law on the ChurchesHungarian Parliament has enacted the church law recognising 14 established Churches and religious communities in the country. It was adopted by 256 votes in favour, 36 against. Religious communities that have lodged a request for additional registration with the relevant minister, maintain their status for now. The parliament is expected to make a related decision by the end of February. According to the website www.politics.hu, the rules regarding required type of religious activities to obtain the Church status will change. From 1 January, an association must have at least 1,000 supporting signatures delivered to the Parliamentary religious affairs committee with following promulgation of application by the parliament plenary session. Among the conditions stipulated by the new law there is a request that the community must have either operated at an international level for the past 100 years or have been functioning as an organisation for at least 20 years in Hungary.Lithuania: a survey on religious adherence47% inhabitants of Lithuania acknowledge moral authority of the Church. This figure has come out of the public opinion research involving 1003 representatively selected respondents aged 18-65, performed by the public opinion and market research company “Spinter tyrimai” and commissioned by Delfi portal in 2011. 70,2% of the respondents affirmed their adherence to religious faith; 14,3% claimed to be of no faith, and 12,3% acknowledged difficulty in answering the question. Young people (18-25 years) were statistically more often unable to define their faith adherence. The question “Is the Catholic Church a moral authority to you?” was answered positively by 46,6%, negatively by 42,2%, and indifferently by 11,2% of respondents. 43,4% of respondents thought that the Catholic Church was too conservative and 5,5% considered it to be too liberal. According to the latest official figures of 2005, 79% of Lithuanians claim to belong to the Roman Catholic Church, followed by other Christian denominations.Czech Republic: a “voucher” for the youth meetingSacrament of confirmation will be the main theme of the National Youth Meeting in Czech republic, prepared for 14-19 August 2012, in Zdar nad Sazavou. The decision came out of the December meeting of 40 representatives of diocesan youth centres and collaborators of the Department for youth of the Bishops’ conference. According to the organisers, the meeting under the patronage of the archbishop of Prague, Mons. Dominik Duka and the minister of education in Czech republic, Josef Dobes, “will play an important role in spiritual preparation for the Holy Year of St. Cyril and Methodius 2013”. The event introduces a novelty – participation gift vouchers representing an original present for friends or young family members. Registration is possible until 31 July, for more information http://zdar2012.signaly.cz.Ukraine: support to consecrated life vocations”In accordance with the decision of the last Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, we call on the entire Church to nurture and support those who have a vocation to consecrated life”, said the head of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), His Beatitude Sviatoslav Shevchuk, on the occasion of traditional summarizing of the last year with monastics in Briukhovychi-Lviv. According to him, “this strategy, adopted by the bishops, means not only the vocation to priesthood but also to monastic life”. “I think that contemplating this ascetic dimension, bearing eternity, everyone can realize that the ministry of the Church and the entire community is very important in our life”, affirmed His Beatitude, inviting members of the meeting to help with writing of a pastoral letter to consecrated persons. At the same time, the head of the UGCC expressed conviction that most provincial homes of monastic orders and congregations should be transferred from Lviv to Kyiv, saying that “it would radically change a view of their presence in the Church”.
