EUROPEAN CHURCHES
Germany, Week for life with Christian Churches Through the Week for Life the Catholic and Protestant Churches of Germany have offered a strong contribution to raising awareness on the value and dignity of human life for over 20 years. By reflecting on manifold dangers and attacks on human life, the initiative provides an opportunity to further understanding on the protection of life in all of its stages. The Week for Life 2014 will be held from May 3 to 10 to reflect on “the human person who continues to entrust him/herself to God despite medical and technological progress”. The German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) this year will focus on liturgical actions and worship. At national level parish and ecclesial communities are invited to celebrate an ecumenical service on the theme “the beginning and end of life”; a proposal of the service is available on www.woche-per-il-leben.de. For the opening of the Week, on May 3rd in Erfurt, is scheduled a round table on theme “I could die – I must live”, a debate on dignity in death and assistance to terminal patients. An ecumenical celebration presided over by the bishop of Hildesheim, Norbert Trelle, DBK vice-president, and by bishop Jochen Bohl, vice-president of the EKD Council will open the event. Austrian Catholic labour movement: “More welfare” On May 1st Austria’s Catholic Labour Movement (Kabö) will present a document that underlines the importance of a “strong welfare State”. Kabö intends to promote an in-depth debate on the future of labour and on citizens’ lives. Increasing unemployment, environmental problems, along with the increasing pressure on workers as a result of globalization and of the rationalization process of productive systems, have highlighted “the urgent need for a debate” to this regard, the organizers said. For the Austrian Movement “it is crucial to step up coordination between employment and private life” while ensuring “fairer and more sustainable” financial support. All forms of human labour, whether in the private or public spheres, must be given equal stature in the light of the common good, thereby highlighting the equal role of men and women. For Kabö, if ensuring equal pay requires structural cuts, then the concept of socialization of losses will need to be replaced with the privatization of profits. The sources on which the positions of Kabo repose are documents pertaining to Christian social doctrine. Hungary: economic support for Ukraine The National ecumenical charity in Hungary has launched an emergency plan for the creation of medical and health infrastructures in western Ukraine, in Berehove and Ivano-Frankivsk. The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has granted the project a financial contribution of 5 million guilders (approximately EUR 16 thousand), with the goal of helping 3 thousand people in the region of Transcarpathia. Family physicians in 32 towns will receive basic equipment including tensiometers, breathing aid devices, blood-sugar testers, as well as various types of medicines. According to János Gerevich, coordinator of the Advanced Development Centre for medical counselling in the Carpathian, “the local children’s hospital will be delivered two diagnostic monitors”. Gerevich told SIR that “ER services in Berehove and in its neighbouring towns is difficult because of a shortage of ambulances and owing to poor road conditions”, but the representatives of the ecumenical charity “are hoping that their support will help improve the situation” in the region. Belarus: preparation for the Catholic-Orthodox Forum Over the past days a preparatory meeting of the national organizing committee of the fourth Catholic-Orthodox Forum took place to discuss the details of the programme and the coordination of the event scheduled to take place June 2-6 2014 in Minsk. The meeting was attended by representatives of both Christian Churches as well as by the delegates of public authorities in charge of religious affairs, local councils, and Christian bodies. The Orthodox-Catholic Forum will address the moral challenges of modern times, religious and cultural pluralism in Europe and a common approach by Christians vis a vis these crucial themes, said Msgr. Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, the Metropolitan archbishop of Minsk-Mogilev, pointed out that such an important event at European level being held in Minsk “is a great honour” for all Churches in Belarus as well as “an opportunity for a common testimony of Christian Churches” in “facing contemporary challenges”.
