CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Ukraine: the art of Christian coexistence A conference entitled "The Art of Coexistence of Christians: History, Lessons and Challenges" brought together about thirty experts and practitioners from Ukraine, Belarus, Germany and Poland to discuss practical dimensions of cooperation among Christians. The meeting, which took place on 4-6 October in Yalta, was organised by "Reconciliation in Europe", an international group which includes representatives of four Ukrainian Churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the German Evangelical Lutheran Church. "Our churches separately are rocks, and only Christ can create a wonderful mosaic from them. But we must allow him to do this", said bishop Marian Buchek of the Kharkiv-Zaporizhia diocese of the RCC. Participants in the event discussed the history and present coexistence of Christians in Europe, considered issues linked to the Ukrainian religious landscape, looked for ways of reconciliation between Christians in Ukraine and reflected on the task of being a Christian in the contemporary world. During the conference two interesting interfaith projects were proposed: a joint Ukrainian martyrology of the 20th century and a permanent round table with aim to write a textbook "examining the complex and painful issue of relations between Christians in Ukraine".Slovakia: the Fair of social activities Eighteen organizations focused on work with street children, homeless people, elderly and lonely people, abused women, single parents in difficult social situations, marginalised and disabled people will present their initiatives during the 7th Fair of Social Activities, planned for 17 October in Bratislava, Slovakia. The event takes place on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, within the framework of the project "Social Days 2012" organized in several towns of the country. "We all have certain kind of experience with homeless people or those who need help, especially if we live in Bratislava or other bigger cities. Many of us want to help but we simply do not know how", explains Katarína Hulmanová, general coordinator of the project. According to one of its initiators, Emília Bordácová, the aim of the "market of social activities" is to make the "public more sensitive towards people in need" and show possibilities and opportunities to help. For more information: http://chudoba.sk.Czech Republic: the beatification of Franciscan martyrs "The martyrs of Prague were humble witnesses of Christ’s love, his calvary, his forgiveness… Let us be inspired by their seeds of goodness and let them become a noble tree bringing flowers and fruits of a reconciled and brotherly humanity". With these words cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, introduced on 13 October the newly beatified fourteen Franciscans martyrs killed in the 17th century. Their beatification took place in the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert in Prague, in the presence of 6,000 faithful, 250 priests and 300 religious. The Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, José Rodriguez Carballo, underlined the international dimension of their beatification, taking into account that the Franciscans were of Italian, Spanish, Dutch, German, French and Czech origin. Then he pointed to the "faithfulness" of the whole community of Bedrich Bachstein and his companions to the Holy Eucharist. According to former apostolic nuncio to Czech Republic, cardinal Giovanni Coppa, their beatification is a "great gift" the whole nation had been waiting for since the 17th century. Hungary: European court and law on the churches The European Court of Human Rights has sent its questions regarding Hungary’s Church law to the Hungarian government and started to examine the legislation, reported the news website index.hu last week. 17 religious organisations have turned to Strasbourg over the new law (in effect since 1 January 2012) which has significantly reduced the number of recognised Churches and religious associations in Hungary. The bill was introduced with aim to eliminate abuse of the Church status, as the law introduced in 1990 granted this title automatically to any organization that applied for it. According to the Human Resources Ministry of Hungary, which claims to be open to dialogue with religious organizations, the Hungarian legislation in this area is "one of the most generous" of its kind in Europe and insists that it "maintains the religious diversity of Hungarian society" and does not limit religious freedom in any way. The Church law has been criticised in the European Union, as well as by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. According to the website www.politics.hu, Daniel Karsai, legal representative of several organizations that have turned to the European Court, said that the government had four months to respond to the questions from Strasbourg and the verdict is expected by May or June next year.
