CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Czech Repubic: effective help during floodsCardinal Dominik Duka, archbishop of Prague, wrote a letter to prime minister Petr Necas and several members of the Government of the Czech republic, expressing his gratitude for "fast and operative" help in overcoming the consequences of floods in Prague and other regions of the country. He appreciates a creation of functional system of aid with experienced coordination by all organizations and institutions involved. As he writes, Caritas Czech Republic has allocated 2.62 million CZK (more than 100 thousand EUR) to help the victims of severe floods and the Czech Bishops’conference has offered 250 thousand CZK (10 thousand EUR) from its funds. Immediately after the announcement of emergency situation, Caritas mobilized its forces for creation of crisis centers with availability of all necessary information for the people affected by water, collecting all the data needed for the effective help of Church and state structures. "We believe that also in the following days our donors will demonstrate their solidarity and generousness and that we’ll be able to offer financial help that the government could distribute as a contribution to social compensations for the victims", concludes cardinal Duka. Slovakia: new website and logo of Forum for LifeThe civil association Forum for Life gathering 46 pro-life institutions from whole Slovakia, has launched a new website and a new logo. According to its president, Marcela Dobesová, a new design is more dynamic, personal and flexible. As she explains, "the area of protection of human life from the moment of conception until natural death brings many new topics we need to deal with like various branches of bioethics, problems with gender ideology and many more, and we need to have an open space and possibilities to speak abouth them also via our website. In this regard, Forum for Life comes also with a new logo. The old one focused on family circle – mother, father and child. "We felt the need to make it more general, as protection of life is also about topics like dignity of ageing, intergenerational solidarity, so we decided to put the emphasis on faces and communication among people", explain the authors of the logo, designers Zuzana and Jozef Turlík, revealing that the main aspect they worked with was emotion and a relation of trust and protection. Representatives of Forum for Life believe that new elements of design will give a spur to new activities of the civil association, also in regard to the National March for Life, planned on 22 September upon the initiative of the Bishops’conference of Slovakia. Ukraine: summer school on Church social doctrineOn 17-22 July, a Summer School on Church Social Doctrine: Ethics of Leadership in the Social Life of Ukraine will be held in Kyiv. The event is organized by the Commission on Justice and Peace of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC). Its goal is to deepen the study of the essence of current political processes in the moral-ethical and spiritual spheres and ways of direct involvement in resolving current and prospective issues in establishing, developing and implementing democratic principles in society’s life. The curriculum includes seminars, trainings, role plays dealing with political ethics, basics of political activity, psychology of leadership and elitism, the self-realization of an individual, activities of the local and national administration, etc. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from the experience and knowledge of leading experts from Italy, Spain and Ukraine. Registration is opened until 25 June, for more information: www.iupax-ugcc.org/index.php/litnia-shkola-2013.
