CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Poland: meeting with the families and vigil with the youth"I give a warm welcome to the Polish families here in Milan and those who are connected via electronic media. May the themes addressed during the past days’ meetings "spread love, faithfulness, conjugal honesty, and encourage the youth so that their yearning to ‘be’ rather than ‘to have’, may help everyone live Sunday as the encounter with Christ, living the joy of the feast of the family". Thus Benedict XVI greeted on June 3rd thousands of families that took part in pro-life and pro-family initiatives organized simultaneously with the meeting in Milan. A few days earlier, the Pontiff addressed words of encouragement to the youth, in the hope that the title of the event, "In the family against the crisis", would "inspire a profound personal, familiar and communitarian reflection". "The modern world doesn’t devote to the families enough attention, time and heart", said card. Kazimierz Nycz, archbishop of Warsaw, inaugurating in the capital the Fifth Festival organized each year in recognition of recovered national sovereignty. The 2012 theme is: "We render thanks for the gift of life and of the family". On the night of June 2-3 the youth took part in a prayer vigil "Love will find you anew", dedicated to Christ as the first and definitive choice for life. To them Benedict XVI addressed the words: "may the fire of Divine Mercy may fill our hearts with peace, strength, and hope". The meeting was dedicated to St. Faustyna Kowalska, spreader of the devotion to merciful Jesus. Canonized by John Paul II in the year 2000. Austria e Slovakia: Night of Churches 2012A program full of guided tours, concerts, exhibitions, theatre performances, workshops and discussion of various topics associated with the spirit of evangelization, with the intention of showing the joyful message of Jesus Christ to a contemporary world. This was the aim of the Night of Churches 2012, organised in the Czech Republic, Austria and Slovakia on 1 June, which attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors who wanted to explore the richness of Christian culture. The event was characterised by a strong ecumenical spirit and had an immense success, especially in Bohemian and Moravian dioceses, with more than 1200 churches that remained open to the public. The Archdiocese of Prague saw the presence of more than 100,000 people who had the chance to visit 11 Christian churches; in Brno the final number of attendees (120,000) exceeded all expectations. In Austria, Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical churches welcomed 320,000 visitors participating in 2,600 events. Slovakia experienced its second edition of the project under the patronage of Mons. Robert Bezak, archbishop of Trnava. Compared with last year, the number of churches that opened their doors to the public until midnight doubled to more than 180. The statistics are still being compiled, but it is already clear that hundreds of thousands of visitors took part in the event. A special program was prepared for children, as this year’s date of the Night of Churches coincided with the International Children’s Day. The project is successfully spreading to other European countries. On 2 June, the Night of Churches was celebrated in 9 temples of the Hungarian city of Sopron, and next Friday it will take place also in 13 churches of the two biggest Estonian cities – Tallinn and Tartu.Czech Republic: Days of people of good will"Days of people of good will" is the title of a money collection aimed at supporting the work of non-profit organizations in Czech Republic. The 13th edition of the project, which started on 1 June, offers the opportunity to make a donation via the SMS service. This year, the money raised will be allocated to four projects. Among them is the project of the Cyrilo-Methodian Church school in Brno which celebrates the 20th anniversary of its establishment this year. "We need a well-equipped language cabinet. It should serve not only our pupils but also their relatives, because next year we want to offer parents the chance to study along with their children", explains its director, Pavlina Vojtechova. The second institution to be supported is the Center for Family Life in Olomouc, dealing with courses of preparation for marriage, communication and problem solving in partnerships. The civil association offering help and professional counselling to women and girls in difficult situations wants to use its part of money to provide services to a wider range of clients. Finally the "Adiuvare" Foundation, established by Mons. Jan Graubner, archbishop of Olomouc, wants to contribute more effectively to the promotion of spiritual and moral values in youth education and the modernization of educational process, while helping students from socially disadvantaged families.
