CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Austria: transparent Church. Budget, abjhurations, new adhesionsThe annual study on ecclesial statistical data for the year 2013, presented recently in Vienna, provides an x-ray of the Church in Austria. The total budget of the Catholic dioceses in the country was 546 million and 600 thousand euro. Most of the sum – as happens in Germany – comes from income tax deduction to the Church of taxpayers who claim to belong to a given Christian religious denomination. The 2013 contribution reached 427 million Euros (about 78 percent of the total budget). The ecclesial tax remains the backbone of the Church finances and it covers all pastoral, administrative, social and management expenses of places of worship. Thus the problem of abjurations, which deprive the Church of important percentage of revenue, is felt strongly. Pastoral and social statistics highlight different trends among dioceses, with data already for 2014. Linz, Innsbruck, Feldkirch have experienced a decline of believers due to an increase of abjurations, while in others, such as the diocese of Graz, Styria, in 2014 1,371 people decided to return to the Catholic Church. Overall, the multiannual comparison of data of individual dioceses shows significant that a significant number of renunciations occurred in 2010, caused by the reaction to the scandal of child abuse by members of the clergy. The data also highlight a decline in baptisms, communions and confirmations, which is also due to demographic factors, while catechumens and candidates for the diaconate and to the extraordinary ministry of the Eucharist are increasing.Spain: itinerating exhibition on the denied rights of the child “Dreaming a future” is the title of an exhibition organized by Spanish Catholic NGO Manos Unidas, in cooperation with the “Caja Rural del Sur” Foundation. The itinerating exhibit consists of some twenty panels with pictures taken by volunteers in some of the Countries where the NGO operates, it shows images on the reality and a total lack of protection experienced by children in Third World countries. It also showcases itineraries of hope and dreams carried out thanks to the commitment of volunteers and of people who have committed themselves to try and change the world. The mission of this initiative is to eradicate poverty and hunger by raising public awareness, by sharing information on the reality of developing countries and denouncing the causes. The most serious shortcomings are lack of respect for fundamental rights such as education and health, in addition to complaints of abuse and exploitation. So far Manos Unidas has carried out projects in Asia, Africa and Mareica. In Kibala, Angola, with the collaboration of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, it has promoted the building of a center for 315 pupils. In Choluteca, Honduras, it has expanded the Development Center of Hope, founded by the parish of San Pablo, which provides assistance to 150 children who are also given food and education, while in Parakuntu, India, improvements were made in the St. James Primary School.Swizerland: Alarm on Pegida from the Catholic portal kath.ch The German movement Pegida (acronym for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) “takes hold in Switzerland.” This alarm was launched by Swiss Catholic portal kath.ch. Founded in Dresden, Germany, in October, the popular movement prides itself of the colours of the German flag and invites citizens across Germany to “walk around” the city chanting anti-Islamic slogans, as happened the past week, despite the case of “Charlie hebdo”. Now the movement is becoming organized also in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands, changing the colours of the flags, but not its xenophobic slogans. The radical movement is present on the web through the network where it gathers thousands of supporters. The Swiss group Pegida, formed officially January 9, will organize its first event on 16th February. The Swiss Catholic Portal has posted an earlier interview with the German Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, who said: Pegida is not “an expression of our Christian faith,” although its supporters are march holding “black-red-yellow crosses and want to save the Christian West: I seems macabre”, said the bishop. However, to each new Pegida group, corresponds a no-Pegida group: the Swiss Facebook profile of Pegida, in a few days gained 3,400 “likes”, while the movement “No Pegida Switzerland” to “say no to xenophobia “has over 4,100 supporters.”
