CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Ukraine: aid for people during severe winterAs a result of low temperatures, frosts and snowfalls, in a number of Ukrainian cities, problems arose with the heating, water and electricity supply, especially at remote places at the beginning of winter 2012-2013. With the assistance of the benefactors from Caritas of Germany and Austria, a network of heating and charitable soup kitchens for people who suffer from cold winter has been established. According to Nadia Chorna, manager of public relations of Caritas Ukraine, assistance to nearly a thousand of homeless and people with low-income who became the victims of a cold winter has been provided. "The initiative was aimed to provide the representatives of vulnerable categories of populations with hot meals, medical supplies, warm clothing and footwear. Eleven heating stations and soup kitchens were working at the regional organizations in different regions of Ukraine – Kyiv, Donetsk, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil", reads the press release, specifying that the assistance was provided to 700-900 people on a daily basis. Slovakia: disputes over religious feast The 15 September, celebrated as a feast of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, remains a public holiday and a work-free day in Slovakia, reads the letter of the Government Office received by Martin Dilong, president of a Petition Committee. Almost 130,000 inhabitants have signed the petition to preserve the feast of the patroness of Slovakia as a day of public holiday. According to Terézia Lenczová, member of the Committee, fidelity to spiritual and cultural values represents an unseparable part of the nation’s future: "Without them, the nation loses its identity". The Government planned to make the 15 September a normal working day, but upon the results of the petition it has decided to revise this decision during the meeting with the Council of Solidarity and Development, considering also the fact that any change would have to be made through a change of respective text of the Basic Agreement between the Holy See and Slovakia. Thus, the feast of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows remains a public holiday.Czech republic: website on life of sister PretschnerováA new website dedicated to the life of servant of God Eliska Pretschnerová (1911-1993) has been launched by the order of School Sisters of St. Francis in Czech republic. It contains biography of the religious sister whose beatification process has been in course since 1 July 2001 on the level of the Diocese of Hradec Králové, pictures, documentary, prayers and the list of books published about her life and mission. "Eliska Pretschnerová filled her consecrated life with service to the Church in times of changes and persecution of the faithful by the world, always full of love associated with ingenuousness of the Gospel", reads the comment on the website. For more information: http://eliska.sestry-osf.cz.
