CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Portugal: Church, Christmas and the Internet The Portuguese Church is preparing for Christmas on the Internet with a set of initiatives due to be implemented during the liturgical period of the Advent. Bento Oliveira, professor of moral and religious education, set up a group of twenty people tasked with posting daily reflections, integrated with texts, images and videos, on the page "imissio. It will be worthwhile waiting" (imissio.wordpress.com) that draws inspiration from the expression "I miss you". Until Christmas day, the oldest Catholic radio network created a dedicated page: "Vivat the Advent with Rádio Renascença", with music and videos on Christian traditions and celebrations. As has happened over the past years, the Catholic movement "Pax Christi" has put online a brochure in pdf format on the "theme of peace", titled "We prepare the way". Another opportunity is proposed on the Facebook page of the Salesian editions: www.facebook.com/edicoesalesianas, where images and a comment to a passage from the Holy Scriptures will be uploaded on a daily basis. On the website www.laboratoriodafe.net, parishes in the Archespiscopate of Braga will present a set of proposals "under the banner of joy, hope and faith". In addition to articles and material provided by the website of the Franciscan fathers www.capuchinhos.org, special emphasis will be given to the liturgical period and to preparations for Christmas on Mondays and Fridays at 22.45 by "Ecclesia Program", broadcast by the radio network Antena1: www.agencia.ecclesia.pt/radio.Switzerland: plenary assembly in FischingenPriority to the protection of life: this is the imperative that emerged at the plenary assembly of the Swiss bishops, held December 3-5 in Fischingen. During the meeting, now at its 298th edition, the Swiss Bishops’ Conference reiterated its opposition to abortion, whilst denying political support to a popular anti-abortionist initiative promoted by 111 thousand citizens, that intends to exclude abortion from the services offered by the national health system, calling for its treatment as a private question that should not enjoy national healthcare benefits. The bishops, who welcomed the initiative per se, as the signature collection is a way of expressing dissent against the "institutionalized normality" of abortion, refrained from endorsing the proposal put forward by the signatories in the Swiss Parliament and government. In fact, according to the prelates, "it is necessary to change the mindset on the question of abortion" and "fight for the rights of pregnant women in dire situations and for the rights of their children". Ecumenism is another hot issue addressed by the bishops, who highlighted the urgent need to continue ecumenical dialogue with the objective "of recovering unity in a single Church, even though this perspective doesn’t seem as close from the human angle". To this regard, a significant moment of the plenary was the encounter with Gottfried Locher, president of the Council of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Switzerland, which originated a "very significant debate". The bishops equally addressed momentous issues at internal level. They signalled that the recent experience of the Bishops’ Synod in Rome past October was marked by "a major awareness of the fact that the Gospel must be relentlessly proclaimed, also in ever-changing circumstances. The Church must not refrain from evangelization".England and Wales: Caritas criticizes the finance bill An increase that is unrelated to the inflation rate and that becomes, in fact, a decrease. Caritas Social Action Network, the organisation of the Catholic Church of England and Wales that takes care of the poor, criticises the latest finance act submitted on December 5 by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and defines as "rash and unfair" the decision not to adjust many of the most important aids to the inflation rate any more. The government’s mini finance act is the one that comes out in autumn, since the most important economic planning takes place in April. The announced set of laws cuts down on such essentials as food and housing for the poor. And they come just one week after the archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, primate of England and Wales, had warned a group of MPs and Lords that the welfare system "should make sure a safety net is always available to protect the basic needs of people who are going through a difficult time". According to Helen O’Brien, director of Caritas Social Action Network, such mini finance act jeopardises such safety net: "Increasing subsidies to a rate that is below rent and food is unfair and makes no sense".
