CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Austria: president on the refugees in the church in Vienna “People who take on what you have taken on deserve to be taken seriously”, Austrian president Heinz Fischer wrote in a letter – released February 14 – to the 40 political refugees who, since mid-December, have been living in a church in the centre of Vienna and ask for protection and the right to work, to education, to decent housing. “I would like to tell you very clearly what I can and what we can do if we join forces, and what we cannot do. In Austria – Fischer said-, we cannot overstep, not even in a delicate and tragic situation, the limits laid down by the law nor step beyond our areas of jurisdiction”. The Austrian president said he intends “to improve the situation” in which the refugees are living now, “which threatens your health”, and called upon the refugees to accept the offer made by cardinal Schönborn a few weeks ago, to move to more comfortable and welcoming places owned by the Viennese Church. “It would be an important, positive step”, the president said, to eventually seek “with every single person concerned an explanation in legal terms and a solution”. And he adds: “I hope you can feel and believe I really want to help”. The refugees, who come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Algeria, Morocco, have been on hunger strike since 1st February. Following Fischer’s appeal, the strike was interrupted on 18 February.Portugal: suffering and the time of Lent On the occasion of the World Day of the Sick, the Cardinal-Patriarch of Lisbon Monsignor José Policarpo said: “Human suffering has the power to transform and liberate”. “If suffering is not loved, if it is not offered, it destroys us. If it is donated, instead, it frees, redeems, not only us but also others”. Quoting from Jesuit anthropologist father Teilhard de Chardin, Monsignor Policarpo called for a “qualitative leap of humanity”, the consequence of the new interpretation of suffering: “Pain possesses the force and the potential to challenge us with a different horizon of life, to guide the heart towards other realities and other points of view”. The website of the Patriarchate of Lisbon announced a new pay-TV, with live broadcasts of the Lent catecheses delivered by Monsignor Policarpo. The first, held on Friday February 17 on the theme: “Faith and listening to the Word of God”, was devoted to a general issue, which this year is centered on the main enunciations regarding Christian faith approved by the Second Vatican Council, and on the significance of the Year of Faith. The live broadcasts of the six catecheses may also be viewed in streaming on the Sabo portal and on the website of the Patriarchate (www.patriarcado-lisboa.pt), which will publish the complete texts.Germany: newsletter on dialogue inside the Church For the first time, starting February 15, a new newsletter will be sent by the German Bishops Conference (Dbk) about the progress of dialogue in the Church. “Believing in today” is the title of the newsletter announced in Hannover in Autumn 2012 by monsignor Robert Zollitsch, president of Dbk, who wrote in the foreword: “In this way, we want to give all the people concerned a chance to be informed in real time about the progress made by the process of dialogue and provide guidance about important texts”. In addition to such information, the newsletter will provide news about the dioceses and associations, with “best practice” examples, cues for prayers and recommended websites. “I am confident that we will continue with due seriousness the successful path of the process of dialogue. It is too soon to take any stock of the situation”, mgr. Zollitsch went on, “because the Hannover boosts and efforts, as well as the intensive debates in many dioceses, show that the process of dialogue is running regularly”. “Now, it is important for as many people as possible to contribute to the process of dialogue to show our common efforts inside and outside the Church, to show that we are moving on in our walk of faith, responsibly and in the transparency of our current situation”, the president of Dbk concluded.
