CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Italy: end of the Permanent Council’s work sessionThe autumn session of the Permanent Episcopal Council, which took place in Rome under the chairmanship of Card. Angelo Bagnasco from 24 to 27 September, came to a close with a long excerpt taken from Paul VI’s closing address to the Second Vatican Council, an "appeal to all people to rediscover God". In its final statement released on 28 September, the Permanent Council recalled that "the opening speech and the debate which followed, voiced the difficulties of people, but in a perspective of hope and encouragement. The bishops focused on the family, renewing their appeal to promote fiscal policies intended to protect it and ensure its educational freedom". The Permanent Council also focused its remarks on the "Christian formation of adults: renewal and educational requirements, following regional catechetical conventions; vocational pastoral care, with the transformation of the National Vocations Centre into National Office; the 47th Italian Catholic Social Week on the family (Turin, 12-15 September 2013); and the National Church Convention on the theme of faith (Florence, 9-13 November 2015). The Permanent Council established a Committee in charge of organising the forthcoming National Church Convention and elected Mgr Cesare Nosiglia, archbishop of Turin, as its president and Mgr Gianni Ambrosio, bishop of Piacenza-Bobbio, Mgr Mansueto Bianchi, bishop of Pistoia, and Mgr Antonino Raspanti, bishop of Acireale, as its vice-presidents. During the work, discussion also focused on the situation with regard to municipal civil registries (where de facto unions are registered) and living wills. The Permanent Council also analysed the first five years of activity of the Cultural Project Committee, identifying the areas and priorities for the years to come, and approved new regulations for the National Office for Education, School and University; then it updated the Convention on the Pastoral Service of Diocesan Priests on mission and approved the Message for the Day for Life (3 February 2013). The Permanent Episcopal Council also made some nominations, including those of members of Episcopal Commissions and directors of national offices.Germania: Dbk, plenary meeting and new websiteDuring the plenary meeting of the German Bishops Conference (Dbk) in Fulda, which is about to wrap up on 28 September, the German bishops spent a day studying the communication of faith through religion classes and catechesis. This was revealed by Dbk: "In this way, the German bishops want to make people understand that handing faith down to the new generations is an important aspiration". The study day ended with a press conference, during which the archbishop of Paderborn, mgr. Hans-Josef Becker, president of the Dbk commission for education and schooling, mgr. Franz-Josef Bode, president of the Dbk commission for pastoral work, and Rudolf Englert from Duisburg-Essen university illustrated the bishops’ goal of improving the quality of confessional religion classes and fighting to keep them, while also increasing pastoral work in schools. Mgr. Becker spoke of the need for a proper level of training and refresher courses for teachers, even if he pointed out, along with mgr. Bode, that religion classes "cannot replace religious education in the families nor catechism in the parishes". In addition, the new website of the German Catholic Church (www.katholisch.de) was opened on 27 September. The unveiling ceremony was attended by mgr. Robert Zolitsch, president of the German Bishops Conference (Dbk), and mgr. Gebhard Fürst of the Dbk commission for public relations. The website, that has been up and running for eight years, was dramatically changed in its layout and contents to "expand the work of the Church online", a release from Dbk states. "In this way – said mgr. Zollitsch during the opening ceremony -, "the new approach of the website of the Church will also reflect the new developments in the area of mass media as well as the considerations of the Church in terms of media strategy". Czech Republic: bishops and beatification of martyrsCzech and Moravian bishops have issued a special pastoral letter to the faithful, at the occasion of the forthcoming beatification of 14 Franciscan martyrs of Prague, due to take place on 13 October in the Cathedral of St. Vitus in Prague. Recalling the tragic events of February 1611 when the army of Leopold of Habsburg invaded Prague, the prelates remind that the following cruel bloodshed should be a "memento" also in our times, bringing a witness of faith and helping a deeper understanding of "historical wounds" in the coexistence of Catholics with other denominations. "Jesus says that nobody has greater love than those who lay down their lives for their friends. Our martyred brothers lived and bore witness to this greatest dimension of love in the land where they had come as missionaries", write the bishops, pointing to the "international character of the community" and reminding all of us of the "need of true solidarity built on deeper values". The prelates invite all the faithful to participate in the novena on 4-12 October, to prepare spiritually for the beatification.
