CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Austria: 35,000 volunteers for the last onesApproximately 35,000 people engaged in the long run as Caritas volunteers to carry out more than a thousand projects in favour of disadvantaged and needy people: this is the outstanding figure released by Caritas Austria in the report on its activities during the Year 2012. In an interview published on July 8 by the Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress, Sonja Jöchtl, Caritas director of communications, reported that "the volunteers’ activity primarily focused on elderly care". "Most of the 35,000 volunteers are organized on a parish basis and they operate locally in the parish to which they belong". "The bulk of volunteer service is based on a work of relationships", she said, and ‘it would not be financially viable as such. The point is not to provide material goods", she pointed out, "but rather to give our time and attention to the elderly". The 2012 Report shows that Caritas donated in total 630 million Euro, 80 of which have been received in the form of donations, for the realization of social projects. "Our task is to recognize each person’s dignity and to defend Christian values", says the president of Caritas Austria, Franz Küberl, in the preface to the report. "This means to respect and protect human life from beginning to end, and to help people in need regardless of their origin, religion or sex". CEC: stop violence in Egypt"The CEC Assembly express its sympathy and solidarity with the Egyptian citizens who are struggling to find ways to bring their country to a stable and functional democracy and fairer economic conditions. We deplore the escalation of violence in Egypt, and we call all actors to refrain from violence": CEC delegates wrote in the "Report on issues of public interest". "As Christian Churches, we feel bound to the Coptic Orthodox Church and other Christian churches, our Christian brothers and sisters living in Egypt, and commit ourselves to stay in close contact and communication with them. We support their efforts for Christian-Muslim cooperation particularly in this time". The Report tackles also the economic crisis, the situation of young people (encouraging all churches to offer opportunities and support to young people seeking employment), the ongoing social exclusion of Roma and Sinti population in Europe, refugee protection policies, the threats to the freedom of expression and religion (with special emphasis to the breaches in the religious rights of those living in Turkish-occupied areas of Cyprus), the tragedy of the conflict in Syria. The Report continues: "We ask for the immediate release of the Metropolitan bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi. As priests they are messengers of peace, their commitment is for the good of all human beings. Keeping them away from their people is a sin against humanity".Belarus: Lukashenko met with card. TauranPresident of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, met with papal legate for celebrations of the jubilee of the miraculous icon of Mother of God of Budslau and president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, on 4 July in Minsk. President Lukashenko expressed joy over the fact that representatives of Catholic and Orthodox Church "have found ways to cooperate" and described their mutual relations as "constructive" and "beneficial for the State", affirming that more than twenty confessions present in the country coexist in peace and stability. In this regard Lukashenko mentioned a decision to establish the Catholic spiritual and educational center in Belarus. He assured cardinal Tauran that the Catholic Church will have a "decent position" in the country and that its faithfull will have opportunity to fulfill their religious needs also in the future. The papal legate appreciated that various religions have found their "home" in Belarus, coexisting in harmony, developing mutual dialogue and cooperating.Slovakia: NGOs write to the minister of HealthThe representatives of 26 non-governmental organizations wrote a letter to Zuzana Zvolenská, minister of Health of Slovak republic, asking her to undertake necessary steps to cancel the registration of chemical abortives Mifegyne and Medabon in the country. As they write, "use of abortion preparates contradicts to several laws currently in effect" and they exhort Zvolenská not to "give way to the pressures to accept any regulations that would be in conflict with current legal system in Slovakia". At the same time, the representatives of NGOs appeal to establishment of a wide public discussion on this topic with participation of experts on bioethics, pro-life issues and medicine, to make the debate "balanced and open in every aspect". "We feel a deep concern over some steps of the resort of healthcare, its disrespect towards the laws of Slovak republic and uncritical support of chemical abortion", reads the letter sent on 2 July, expressing hope that the government will "amend its decision regarding last year’s registration of abortives and avoid similar mistakes in the future".
