CHURCHES IN BRIEF" "
Slovakia: Ff Radio, “outgoing” Church towards the young The only Catholic radio station in Slovakia, Radio Lumen, is launching a new radio service on the Internet for young people titled “Ff Radio”, which is short for “Radio faith and fire”. “The service is dedicated to young people who seek authentic Christian values and want to listen to music that expresses these values. We want to follow the invitation of Pope Francis to go out to the suburbs and peripheries”, said Ivo Novak, director of the new radio service. The words faith and fire should symbolize the desire of young people not only to believe in God, but to “catch fire” and fall in love with him and the those around us. “The palimpsest of Ff Radio will include catechesis, discussions, reflections and testimonies. The intention is to work with the various movements and communities of the Catholic Church in the common effort to respond to the challenges of evangelization”, added Ivo Novak, expressing the hope that the new service may also touch the hearts of those who “seek to escape spirituality” and non-practicing Catholics, to win them back through the “spiritual message of Jesus Christ and his Church”. The first broadcast of Ff Radio was held symbolically November 17, International Students’ Day’. Czech Republic: food for young people, tripled collection The second edition of the national food collection took place in November in more than 380 shops and supermarkets in the Czech Republic: the figures were released at the end of the month. Whereas last year were collected 55 tons of food, the results of the collection this year have registered a threefold increase: about 173 tons of food, equal to about 350 thousand servings for adults. The institutions and organizations actively involved in the project include the regional offices of Caritas Czech Republic. “The results have exceeded our expectations – said Pavlina Kalousová, from the platform Business for Society, one of the promoters of the campaign -. The timing of the food collection is perfect, since the coming winter is the period in which there is the greatest need of our help”, said Pavla Vopelakova, of the Salvation Army. This tradition started last year as a response to the alarming data whereby over 15% of the inhabitants of the country are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, including those living in shelter homes, families with many children, people with disabilities and other groups. The project was appreciated by the Agriculture Minister Marian Jurecka, who welcomed the fact that manufacturers and distributors are not required to pay VAT on foodstuffs they decide to donate to the poor: “It is more convenient for them to offer such products to charitable institutions than to throw them away. Zero VAT is one of the mechanisms that could put a stop to waste and a great charity tool to help those in need”. Spain: inclusion, Caritas appeal and civic platform A platform of organizations engaged in social work in Aragon, Spain – Diocesan Caritas of Zaragoza, professional association of social workers of Aragon, Area of information, promotion and defense of social rights, Platform of social service experts from the City of Zaragoza – released a manifesto expressing opposition to Aragon’s current welfare income criteria (IAI). Data released by the Foessa Report shows that in Aragon about 255 thousand people are affected by exclusion, namely 19.1% of the total population. Among these, 107thousand people are in a serious situation of exclusion. The crisis has aggravated social inequality by 22.4%, with worse averages compared to the rest of Spain (8.6%). The risk of poverty and social exclusion in Aragon concerns one in five people. In the period 2008-2013, aid to people in need by Caritas Zaragoza, has increased five-fold, while the difficulties of access to social public benefits, such as welfare benefits in Aragon or urgent aids have worsened owing to inadequate responses by the public administrations. According to Caritas the summer of 2014 registered worsened malfunctioning of social benefits, involving more than a thousand people, of which almost half are minors. In particular, many problems concerned the IAI. The Platform thus called upon public administrations to “correct deficiencies in the existing economic benefits and make sure that in the future this will not happen again, given the consequences that this entails for a significant number of citizens”.
