CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Italy: towards the Social Weeks The family, “first vital cell of society”, “has a specific original social dimension”.The claim is underlined in the preparatory Document for the 47th Social Weeks of Italian Catholics (Turin, September 12-15 2013), presented on April 30 in Rome. The purpose of the Document, is to “prompt a debate on the family that extends beyond prejudice and ideologies, to highlight its widely shared features that characterize it as a common good”, said the archbishop of Cagliari Arrigo Miglio, president of the Organizing Scientific Committee of the Social Weeks. The document, divided into three sections, proposes three lines of reflection, starting with the “educational mission” of the family and “educational alliances”, notably with schools. To this regard it calls for “the full recognition of autonomy” to ensure “educational freedom”. Special emphasis is placed on the job environment, with the request of “enhancing small and medium enterprises without overlooking the importance of large businesses along with targeted policies aimed at boosting productive investments”. On the fiscal plane it calls for “subsidiarity” that may “give precedence to fiscal cuts over social assistance”. Priorities include migration policies, to ensure “the right to family unity”, promoting “a shared integration process, making families co-responsible as well as the protagonists of social and ecclesial life”. Portugal: autarchy and dioceses united against the crisis The Town Council of the city of Oporto in conjunction with the Catholic Church developed a social emergency program that envisages the allocation of two million euros to poor families in the area. The website of the Municipality of Oporto states that the funds, drawn from a budget surplus, will be available as of the month of May. Commenting on the initiative, the assistant of the diocesan Secretariat of the social and charity pastoral care office, Fr Lino Maia, said that the goal of the project is to “help the unemployed and those with insufficient earnings, and to provide support to urgent situations in the educational and health sectors”. “The diocesan structure and its central services, have been invited to set up a Department tasked with addressing the ongoing emergency, and to identify and respond to urgent cases”. The task of the department is to provide assistance to the weakest population brackets, to parishes and to volunteers, and to supervise the allocation of sums granted by the Town Council. “The program will provide social and economic support already supplied by the Church at diocesan level, by means of the Diocesan Solidarity Fund, aimed at solving serious situations of indigence and for the promotion of self-employment”, concluded Fr Maia. The Netherlands: the bishops congratulate the new King The Dutch Bishops’ Conference conveyed sincere congratulations to King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands upon their installation on April 30. “It is the bishops’ belief that Prince Willem-Alexander will rapidly conquer the hearts of all Dutch people, as happened with Queen Beatrice, his “mother”, is written in a statement released by the Dutch Bishops’ Conference. “The new monarchs will occupy a special place in the bishops’ prayers” asking God “that the efforts of the royal couple for the Country be fruitful”. The bishops wish them “wisdom and profuse holy blessings”.
