CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Denmark: dialogue between religions, blogs and debate “Identifying disagreements and differences, overcoming stereotypes, increasing the true knowledge of others, creating the grounds for a common ethics, promoting friendships and peace in society”: it is the proposal of the “blog for dialogue”, promoted by the “Muslim-Christian relations group” in Denmark. Stine Høxbroe, Muslim, together with Erling Tiedemann, delegate of the Council of Churches, will moderate the blog. Contributors are asked to “communicate in a language comprehensible to both parties” without “leaning against bell towers or minarets or making claims that only we or our brothers in faith are able to understand”. “There are events in the past of all of us that we cannot be proud of”, stated the opening editorial. “The sins of the past and of our present times cannot be denied, but they should never be repeated.” On the wake of the initiative, on September 8 an interfaith dialogue on the theme “When international conflicts become local in Copenhagen”, took place in the Danish capital. The event, that follows an initiative of local authorities, was marked by panel speeches by the major religious communities in Denmark. “Since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas the Jewish community in Denmark suffered physical, verbal and virtual attacks”, the promoters said. “Also tensions between other minorities in Copenhagen increased, sparked off by conflicts abroad: this should be stopped immediately.” Slovakia: pastoral care of Roma minorities Priests and teachers, along with all those working with the Roma minority in Slovakia, gathered for the first time in history under the auspices of the Bishops’ Conference of Slovakia in Spisská Kapitula last week “to understand and discuss what is needed to be involved in the pastoral in favour of this ethnic group.” According to Msgr. Bernard Bober, president of the Council for the Roma population and minority groups, pastoral care in this area “represents the front line of the service of the Catholic Church for the faithful in the country.” All 125 participants reached the conclusion that the effort of mutual understanding, interconnection, appreciation of valid projects, along with appropriate direct communication with the Roma community are the preliminary conditions that need to be met to obtain positive results in this specific pastoral area. The program envisaged conferences held by experts in ethnic minorities in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, with special reference to the religious education of Roma pupils, to the presence of sects in gipsies’ settlements, to the creation and management of Roma faithful communities. Portugal: Fr Moreira, “Youths at poverty-risk”The president of the Portuguese anti-poverty network (EAPN), Fr Jardim Moreira, considers Eurostat figures that highlight an elevated poverty-risk for young people in Portugal “surprising” and at the same “alarming”. The statistical survey, disseminated by the media, showed that 29.8% of young people aged 20-24 are experiencing a very difficult economic situation, and worse still, 31.3% of all those aged 15-34 are not in education and are unemployed. “I think that Portugal is running a serious risk, since it proves to be unable to integrate young, capable and creative people within its social fabric. If the new generations are unable to create their own families the Country will be left without a future.” The lack of economic horizon, independent work, the forced permanence in the family of origin, are all factors that could bring about a “spiritual deconstruction, accompanied by profound de-motivation”, to the extent of making young people become completely passive, or conversely, triggering an excessive anxiety for self-affirmation. Before this situation, which leaves migration as the only option open to young generations, “it is necessary that leaders in political and religious organizations in our society reflect on the ways to give support to the young, and how to address the structural causes of the crisis”, said Fr Moreira. “People, young people in particular, need local, concrete answers, but their future depends especially on the transformation of national structures and on the development of the family, the social and economic organization of the Country.”
