CHURCHES IN BRIEF" "
Austria: over 28thousand signatures for “One of Us” Austria extended the deadline for collecting signatures endorsing the European citizens’ initiative “One of us”, aimed at the protection of life and of the human embryo, to the end of July. The news was reported a few days ago by Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress, relaying a press release by the organizers, which stated that “the action for a better protection of the embryo” now has “the goal of reaching one million signatures”. So far, in Austria were collected 28 thousand signatures, twice the minimum required for Austria. “The extension of the deadline” – originally set to 10th May – “was achieved through strong pressure from Brussels on the Austrian elections authority”, Anne Fleck, organizer of the initiative for Austria, told Kathpress. “One of us” is one of the first European citizens initiatives presented in May 2012. Owing to technical reasons it was possible to collect online signatures only since last November thus the EU decided to extend the deadline to November 1, 2013, an extension not accepted in Austria, that complied with the expiry of 10 May, before the deadline was postponed to 31 July. “The extension is a good thing, even though it would have been better to know this before “, said Fleck. The organizers were delighted above all for the great support received in just a few days’ time: 10 thousand signatures in late April reached 28 693 on 23 of May: “One of the requirements of the collection is that seven countries reach a required number of signatures, for Austria 14,500 were sufficient”, said Fleck. Austria is among the countries that have already exceeded 200% of the required number, along with Italy, Hungary and Poland.Germany: support to missionary projects In a press conference held yesterday, Bonifatiuswerk, the Catholic charity providing assistance to minority groups in northern Europe and Eastern Germany, announced that it will support missionary projects in all of Germany, reported Catholic news agency KNA. “We want Christian faith to have a future in Germany, in the European framework”, said Bonifatiuswerk secretary general, Georg Austen. For this reason, along with aid in the building, transport, and childhood areas in the regions with 10 to 20 percent of Catholics, “support to faith” will also be ensured. “It is the implementation of a process initiated in 2008 by the Board”, Austen said. The new approach of Bonifatiuswerk stems from the changed situation of faith in Germany: “Even West Germany witnesses a religious diaspora”, said the secretary of the organization. “In addition, in traditionally Catholic areas there is an emotional diaspora”, so that “for many people religion plays a secondary role in their everyday lives”.Switzerland: pastoral care of dialogue in Basilea The bishop of Basilea, Felix Gmür, wrote an “Open letter to the faithful and to the religious of the diocese of Basilea”, published May 23rd on the website of the diocese. “In the past three months, prompted by the initiative of the parish priests, I spoke with 52 priests, 28 deacons, 127 lay men and women theologians and 25 catechists, in 5 half days devoted to the issues of the service, dialogue, kindness, life and pastoral reforms. 133 of them have signed up to the initiative of the parish priests”, the bishop wrote in the letter. The letter follows the “Swiss initiative of parish priests” launched in September 2012 to “openly declare the experience” in the parishes “in order to identify where exceptions and disobedience have become the rule” and to reflect “self-critically” on these behaviors. For example, communion for divorced and remarried, eucharistic sharing, the role of deacons and women in the life of the Church, etc. The initiative is linked to similar ones in Austria and Germany. Bishop Gmür conducted a first stage of dialogue with diocesan collaborators “as a service to unity among those who are engaged in pastoral work”. From now on we will continue the talks “with a new title: PEP in dialogue (Pastoral Development Plan for Dialogue)”. “The ministry is going through a major irreversible transformation phase”, “whose outcomes are unpredictable”. The encounters highlighted three avenues of dialogue: pastoral services (in the search for a new interaction between the different roles); trust and mutual commitment (between the bishop and all collaborators in the diocese); laws and rules (how to handle exceptions to the rules or the tendency to question the rules). The bishop declared his commitment to promote “open meetings and encounters” and called for “openness and reliability on the part of all religious staff”.
