CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Germany: Church and government for the poor An ecumenical ceremony held in Bonn September 6 was the highlight of the celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of German Churches’ cooperation with the government in the field of development policies. Since 1962 the Catholic central Office for Aid to Development (KZE), the evangelical Central Office for Aid to Development (EZE) and the federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) have been working together to improve the situation of poor and disadvantaged people in the world. During the ceremony celebrated in the Church of St. Elizabeth in the presence of federal president Joachim Gauck, of the Federal Minister for Development, of EZE and KZE presidents – respectively Bernhard Felmberg, evangelical, and Karl Jüsten, Catholic – Msgr. Robert Zollitsch, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference (DBK), recalled that "the service to development carried out by the Churches, as well as the development policies carried out by the government, benefits everyone. Our solidarity isn’t limited by nationality, origins or religion". "The only criteria – he added – is a situation of need, since all human persons are God’s beloved creatures". Msgr. Zollitsch underlined the role of poor people in the identification of provisions directed to them. "The poor should be the ones to prompt social and economic development. The task of state policies and of the promotion of development carried out by the Churches is to create the conditions for the removal of all obstacles. Our solidarity is geared at providing people with the tools to create the best living conditions for themselves and for their communities. Ours should be a subsidiary form of intervention". The same concept was conveyed by the president of the Council of the Evangelical Church Nikolaus Schneider: "Our 50-year-long experience has taught us that the poor have the force, the courage, the creativity and the will to fulfil their own life, their environment and their society. We want to support them". Msgr. Zolltisch underlined the results obtained from the collaboration between Churches in this area: "Since the beginning we have seen how important is a close cooperation between Churches. The joint intervention of the two Offices in government and Parliament has been a distinctive trait. This is lived ecumenism".Portugal: cuts to abortion-supporting measures The Portuguese pro-Life Federation (FPV) proposed the government to reduce public deficit by cutting "all social, occupational and financial measures linked to legal abortion practices". In a statement to the press, the association for the defense of human life founded in 2002 underlined that "by eliminating measures such as transport and accommodation paid to the mothers and those accompanying them, or by cutting economic subsidies", the government could save several million euros. The Federation pointed out that a survey carried out in March 2012 showed that through the "legalization of abortion, introduced five years ago, 80 thousand voluntary pregnancy interruptions have been performed". FPV underlined that "if this pace should remain stable until 2030, it could cause a financial loss to the Portuguese government amounting to almost 250 million euro". FPV president Isilda Pegado, expressly asked to "end privileged economic conditions paid to private bodies where legal abortions are practiced", and invited the executive led by prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho to "reduce public spending while assuming concrete commitments to increase birth rates". "Only in this way will there be new people whose lives will contribute to job creation, to the development of economic activity and social state sustainability", concluded the document of the Pro-Life Federation.Ukraine: meeting of Auccro secretariat The Secretariat of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) analyzed urgent questions concerning Church-state relations during its session on 4 September. It was held within the frame of preparations for the session of the Council of the AUCCRO, with participation of heads of respective Churches and religious organizations. Director of the Department on Religions and Nationalities of the Ministry of Culture, Volodymyr Lubchyk, introduced the efforts regarding restoration of the activity of the Committee on Ensuring Rights of Religious Organizations of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, specifying that a work team would be set up within its framework, consisting of state officials and representatives of confessions to make the work more effective. Other issues discussed included the activity of the National Expert Committee on Protection of Social Morality, the liquidation of which has recently been proposed by the Government. In addition, the Secretariat of the AUCCRO discussed organizational questions of a planned trip of its delegation to Brussels, in order to meet with the leadership of the European Union. The next meeting of the Secretariat is to be held in October.
