CHURCHES IN BRIEF " "
Poland, 4-year pastoral cycle on baptism On December 1st, the first Sunday of the Advent, the Church in Poland promoted a new pastoral cycle on the theme: “For Christ with Christ and in Christ – Through faith and baptism to witness”. In the framework of the four-year programme 2013-2017 Catholics will “continue the reflection of the Year of Faith focusing on baptismal spirituality”, said the vice-President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference Stanislaw Gadecki, Metropolitan of Poznan, who underlined that “preparations for the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland” (2016) are strictly related to the new evangelization”. “The knowledge of our past helps us rediscover and enhance our Christian roots, and this should help us look at the present through faith in God in order to build the future on the basis of a personal encounter with Christ”. Each of the next four pastoral years will be linked to one of the symbols of baptismal liturgy: the candle, the cross, water and the holy oil. Churches in Lithuania: Memorandum on the family “This document doesn’t resolve ecumenical divisions on sexual or family morals, but it intends to raise public awareness on the family”, Fr Darius Trijonis, general secretary of the Lithuanian bishops’ conference, told SIR the motivations that led the representatives of the Churches of Lithuania to sign a “Memorandum for the Family”. All Lithuanian churches are committed to living 2014 as the year of the family and they “express the need to join their forces to address the challenges faced by Christian families: minor attention by the political realm, the economic crisis that affects decreasing birth rates, the gender theories”, said Fr Trijonis. The document, released November 26, states: “Life, sexuality, marriage and the family are fundamental values of the human community”. The Churches “are glad that most Lithuanians, especially the young, continue to want to create happy families”. The bishops conveyed closeness “to those who meet difficulties” and “to those who experience the pain of divorce”, while inviting “everyone to have the courage to create a culture of life and protect family values”. Spain, focus on people with disabilities The diocesan delegation for catechesis in Seville, Spain, promoted the first design competition on the theme “For people with different disabilities in the life of the Church”. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that children express their understanding of disabled people in the ecclesial community. The competition is open to all children from parishes, schools, associations, groups, movements and confraternities of the archdiocese, until twelve years of age. Every child can present a drawing within the 5 December deadline. The panel will evaluate the artistic value of the drawing along with its underlying message that the author wishes to convey, bearing in mind the theme of the drawing. Once the winner is chosen, the drawing will be uploaded on the website of the archdiocese of Seville. The prize to the winner consists in the publication of the drawing in the manifesto of the next Symposium: “Churches and different abilities: witness and mission”, due to be held March 15 2014. The manifesto will be distributed across parishes and ecclesial organizations. Ecumenism: card. Koch visits Romania Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, will be for the first time in Romania from December 3 to 7. Koch will visit the cities of Bucharest, Blaj, Alba-Iulia and Cluj-Napoca, he will meet President Traian Bãsescu and the Secretary of State for religious affairs, Patriarch Daniel from the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox bishops of Alba-Iulia and Cluj. His Eminence will also meet Msgr. Ioan Robu, archbishop of Bucharest and president of the Romanian Bishops’ Conference, and card. Lucian Mureºan, major archbishop of Romanian Greek-Catholic Church. “The visit, that follows the spirit of openness and dialogue promoted by Pope Francis, carries deep meaning in the perspective of the ongoing ecumenical dialogue in which the Oriental Churches united with Rome have a ‘prophetic’ role. We hope that the dialogue with our Orthodox brothers may be based on a true spirit of forgiveness” and on “equally authentic respect and justice, in faithfulness with the sacrifice testified with blood by our predecessors”, Msgr. Claudiu Pop, auxiliary bishop of Blaj, told SIR.
