Denmark, Spain” “

Denmark: the restructuring of the Catholic Church A new structure for parishes, “aimed to improve the use of resources available in dioceses” is being developed in Denmark, whose only diocese brings together 41 thousand Catholics, 69 priests and 145 nuns, 22 schools, 45 parishes. The new parish borders will see the establishment of 27 pastoral centres to ensure that the Church “may continue being evangelizer and fulfil her pastoral mission”, said the general vicar Niels Engelbrecht, who presented a few days ago to the pastoral Council the reorganization plan that will be finalized by March 2015. In the coming weeks all communities will receive a detailed presentation of the project which they are invited to discuss to assess its impact and present proposals for amendments. Another item on the table is the reduction of the budgetary deficit of the Ansgar Foundation that is in charge of the diocese’ administrative management: proposals range from the sale of churches and parish property, schools, summer homes, to cuts in the diocesan administration with staff downsizing, cuts in grants for activities (not only youth activities), to a change in the Bishop’s residence, which bishop Czeslaw Kozon gave his availability to. Spain/1: holy sites, norms for extra-liturgical uses The bishops in the South of Spain published a document on “Extra-liturgical uses of churches dedicated to worship”. It consists in a common legal framework for dioceses in the ecclesiastic provinces of Granada and Sevilla that regulates the requests to organize cultural, academic, institutional and literary events in churches dedicated to worship. The document also stipulates specific regulations for the registration and production of movies. The prelates wrote the regulations against the backdrop of the general regulations of the Holy See, the current diocesan regulations, the various cooperation agreements signed with public administrations. The purpose is to provide a concrete frame of reference when deciding whether initiatives to be held in a holy site prior approval by the diocesan bishop, are legitimate. Clear Guidelines further improve the reception of the deeds, making the realization of these activities compatible with the protection of the religious and liturgical trait of the churches. As the bishops recalled in the document, Canon Law stipulates that a church “is a place of worship where the faithful have the right to enter to practice their faith in public”. As for the relationship between Church and art, the bishops highlighted that “there has always been a fruitful alliance between the Gospel and art, which focused on a wide range of works of art, a source of pride in the history of art and culture, some of them representing beautiful pages of theology and catechesis”. The churches, the prelates said, are “the most representative buildings of our cities and peoples, the image that identifies them”. For these reasons, institutions and organizations often request churches for the celebration of initiatives of various kinds. However, the bishops pointed out that churches cannot be considered areas available for any kind of meeting or activity. Spain/2: demonstration: “Every human life is important” Everything is ready for the demonstration that will be held Saturday November 22 in Madrid, to protest against the Spanish government’s decision to withdraw the reform of the “law on abortion” and in defence of life, of women, of maternity, titled “Every human life is important”. The promoters – over 40 civil associations, representing 4 million families – are hoping that hundreds of thousands of priests will attend. “It will be one of the greatest mobilizations in the history of Spanish democracy”, they assured. The list of 140 registered national and international associations participating in the event from over 27 Countries from the four continents can be viewed on the website of the event, www.cadavidaimporta.es. The promoters of “Every human life is important” have launched an app for mobile phones and tablets available in Ios and Android. It is possible to make donations through the app “Cada Vida Importa”, offer one’s services as volunteer worker, ask for information. Moreover, the app offers news and pictures of the event in real time. 500 buses are expected to arrive from across Spain. A hymn to life, women and maternity, titled “I am here” was purposely composed for the event, Promoters of the initiatives have also presented a manifesto in which they explain their own reasons: “The Government of the People’s Party has no intention to continue with the change of the current legislation as relates to abortion, thereby preserving the legalization and the recognition of the right to abortion. Saturday’s event is aimed at asking the government to maintain “the electoral promise of changing the law on abortion and adopt a law for the protection of maternity”.