CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Austria: with YoungCaritas solidarity coffee and pie YoungCaritas, the youth association of Caritas Austria, renewed a set of charity activities and to ensure assistance and missionary needs in national dioceses during the winter and throughout Spring 2015, whilst prompting a natural way of involving people in acts of solidarity. Convivial meetings in cooperation with the Charity-Kaffeekränzchen-Caffé are held in homes, parishes, public places, institutions, parks and malls. Voluntary donations of customers collected with the sale of coffee and pies are used for the activities conducted by the local Caritas. On February 6 for example, in a large shopping centre of Klagenfurt, the purpose of the initiative was to collect funds for the needy children of the city. Every euro earned with the sale of coffee with the slogan: “the greatest disaster is to do nothing”, the YoungCaritas volunteers working from 9 in the morning to 9.30, with large participation of customers. On Sunday March 15 the initiative in the diocese of Feldkirchen will take place starting at 10 in the morning with the support of local groups of YoungCaritas, along the streets near the churches of the diocese. Various large distribution chains that provide the availability of their own stores in order to reach out to many people support the initiative.Portugal: “Renewal of pastoral care” The president of the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference (CEP) declared that in preparation for the next ad limina Apostolorum visit, scheduled for September 2015, Portuguese bishops will undertake a reflection on the document “Promoting the renewal of pastoral care in Portugal”, along with the theme of Christian initiation. The document adopted by CEP in April 2013 summarised the main guidelines for the renewal of pastoral care in dioceses, whose results will be compiled in the report that each bishop will submit before leaving for the Holy See. “We need to show that in our dioceses we have been capable of favouring a more Communitarian Church, with larger participation, where the Word of God is more easily assimilated, capable of concrete actions in support of other people”, said Msgr. Manuel Clemente. For the patriarch of Lisbon society is going through a crisis in terms of its communitarian commitment, and that Christians need to show that it is possible to live in a different way. “There is need for a form of mercy that is expressed as attention to others, to the weak and poor brackets in particular.” Recalling the guidelines on the avenues of Christian initiation and ecclesial organization conveyed by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his speech to Portuguese bishops of November 2007, the newly-appointed Portuguese Cardinal recognised that a lot of work still needs to be done: “Every faithful should ensure whether his initiation to life and to Christian dynamics has truly been fulfilled. It doesn’t only consist in having been admitted to the sacrament of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist but also in living and of putting that very faith into practice”, concluded Msgr. Clemente. Sweden: school subsidies for religious freedom The Council of Christian Churches of Sweden published a teaching aid for primary and secondary schools on religious freedom. “It is important that children and young people develop awareness of the diversity of faiths and on the fact that everyone has the right to practice their own faith” said Karin Wiborn, secretary general of the Council. A chapter of the teaching aid – “Freedom of religion in practice” – suggests topics for discussion in the classroom or in youth groups starting with concrete examples on issues such as religious symbols and their meaning; euthanasia; freedom of expression, and more generally on the meaning of words like “freedom” and “religion”. The second part focuses on “freedom of religion in theory”, offering information and references on how freedom is regulated in Sweden and the EU as well as exercises of textual analysis with the purpose of developing critical skills. This tool is meant to help understand “that knowledge of other religions” and “awareness of religion as a part of personal identity” are essential in the exercise of religious freedom. The document, 30 pages in Swedish, is for free download from the website of the Council and has been prepared by a group of representatives of Churches in collaboration with teachers and schoolbook authors.
