Austria, Portugal, Germany

Austria: a "new language" to speak with the young The success of the Church’s communication on faith to the young depends on the use of spiritual language that keeps up with the times, underlined on January 19 in Vienna Stephan Sigg, renowned German theologian, journalist and author of prayer books for children, during a conference on preparation for confirmation. According to Sigg, it is necessary to seriously take into consideration the realm of the young along with their modes of communication via text messages, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It is necessary to become acquainted with these tools, "so that the Church and her religious proposal may be understood by the young and trigger their interest", he said. "That’s why it’s important", Sigg continued, "that clerics learn a new language on God and faith". The theologian suggests drawing inspiration from contemporary pop music, as well as from publicity. The words of songs for example, "are ever more profound". Thus a "new spiritual language" must be coupled by "new forms of dialogue through the social media", and by "workshops on spiritual writing, whereby the young are encouraged to express their thoughts, feelings, joys, and preoccupations". Finally, Sigg said, "the Church must learn to convey her message in a clear and effective manner", by quoting for example Martin Werlen, a Benedictine Abbot from Einsiedeln, who carries out his apostolate on Twitter, the social media that allows up to 140 characters per text. Portugal: Week of the Consecrated In the document "Pilgrims in faith, apostles in world evangelization", published in preparation for the 4th Week of the Consecrated celebrated by the Portuguese Bishops’ Conference January 17 through February 3, the President of the Commission for Vocations and Ministries, Msgr. Virgilio Antunes, recalled that "Portugal owes a large part of her identity to the relentless commitment of the religious who impregnated its history with the Gospel". "The dissemination of Christian faith, the progress in fundamental human values, spiritual growth along with the cultural development of the Country are largely due to the commitment of these men and women who offered themselves to Christ for love of their siblings", added the bishop of Coimbra. The message underlines that in all epochs the beauty of faith emerged when lived with true Christian spirit. The message reiterates that religious men are expected to represent the visible form of Christian witness expressed in the vows, received as a gift and as a commitment. "We have an urgent need for men and women who are totally in love with Christ, conveying a different image, distant from earthly criteria of judgment, who let themselves be guided by higher values". Msgr. Antunes underlined that the religious run the risk, shared by all Christians, "to interrupt their pilgrimage of faith, loosing sight of the Lord whilst focusing on their daily duties, investing so much in mundane commitments so as to forget the teachings of God". In this framework the Portuguese Bishops, in cooperation with the conference of Religious Bodies in Portugal (CIRP), announced the 28th Week of studies on Consecrated Life, due to take place in Fatima from February 9 to 12 on the theme "Faith and Consecrated Life: Renewal for the New Evangelization". Info: www.cirp.pt.Germany: a tax against poverty The economy ministers of the European Union on January 22 decided to adopt the tax on financial transaction across eleven EU Member countries, including Germany, France and Italy – although still at experimental stage-. The news of the introduction of the "Tobin Tax" caused mixed reactions. German Jesuit father Jörg Alt, promoter of the campaign "taxes against poverty", a network of over 80 NGOs and of several banks, welcomed the agreement with the EU, which it hopes will bring about a deep change in financial markets. "The tax on financial transactions", Father Alt said in an interview published by German portal katholisch.de, "constitutes the first serious attempt in the era of globalization to tax financial products and prevent deviations in the flows of capital". "It really is much more than a tax: it’s a principle that is being experimented now", said father Alt, who pointed out that the Taxes Against Poverty campaign calls for the adoption of the Tobin tax "at a percentage of 0.05% on all transactions". It would amount to billions of euros that could partly be used for aid to development. Father Alt has been engaged for years in raising awareness on the adoption of a tax on financial transactions. "In 2008, when I still was a parish priest of children of Maya indians, in Central America, I experienced the effects of speculation on food. Even if the harvest was bountiful suddenly it was no longer possible to purchase food, unless you could afford to pay it three times its price. It was very upset by this. Then the financial crisis broke out with its billion-euros rescue plans, while G20 governments were lacking plans to involve the financial sector in the costs of the crisis. In that moment I started to ask whether financial products could be taxed. Everyone thought I was speaking nonsense. But my faith reassured me that it was possible. And as it is so wonderfully written in the Bible – concluded father Alt – ‘with help from my God I leap over walls’".