Spain, Portugal

Spain/1: training of teachers of religion The meeting of bishops of the South of Spain (Seville, Granada, Almería, Asidonia-Jerez, Cádiz y Ceuta, Córdoba, Guadix, Huelva, Málaga and Jaén) was celebrated a few days ago in Córdoba. The prelates were informed on the latest preparations for the second congress of professors of religion that will take place in Seville, November 22-23. Called by the same bishops of the South of Spain, the meeting is addressed to professors of religion and Catholic morals of the dioceses of Andalusia and of other dioceses. The meeting, themed “Called to be light”, is meant to encourage the ecclesial participation of professors of religion and to encourage their conscience as pastoral workers and their communion with the Church. With the congress must also be faced the new challenges of educational commitment, bound to social and legislative changes. The bishops value positively the high percentage of parents and students who opt for religion class, and call upon “professors, parents and Christian believers to support and defend, in the framework of a democratic social state, the teaching of religion in our educational system”. The bishops have also adopted the document titled “Extra-liturgical practices of the churches for worship”, a common normative framework for dioceses in the ecclesiastic provinces of Granada and Seville, which regulates the requests of authorization to organize cultural, academic, institutional and literary events in churches dedicated to worship”. Spain/2: the Saint Clare convent will be renewed The archbishopric of Granada will carry out the restoration of the convent of Saint Clare of Loja. The Spanish government has allocated two million euro for the restoration of the ancient convent owned by the archdiocese. However, even if the sum should not cover the total restructuring project promoted by the local Church, it will be an important thrust for the beginning of works. This attribution falls within a 1% allocation to culture linked to investments for the AVE project (Alta Velocidad Española, High Speed Spain) for the city, included in national budget. The investment will be covered with three instalments thereby enabling restoration works to begin. The structure of the building will be reinforced first, followed by conservation works of the entire premise, a part of which will be used to expand the residence of the old people of Saint Clare, promoted via an investment of half million euro by the archdiocese. The Saint Clare convent was founded in the 16th century by the first archbishop of Granada Fray Hernando de Talavera. At the end of the past century the religious community of the Poor Clares, greatly reduced in numbers, donated the convent to the archbishopric. Fr Manuel Reyes underlined on behalf of the diocese that the restoration “is a way to retrieve a property that is very significant to us””. “It was necessary to make the effort of carrying out an intervention that would put to use the entire property”, the vicar pointed out. The investment ensures “first of all the preservation of the historical heritage to the service of the city; second, the possibility of providing religious care to a neighbourhood that is lacking this service; third, it delivers a social function thanks to its old-age home”. Portugal: seminaries week, “The happiness of the Gospel” Next November 9-16 the Portuguese Church will celebrate the Week of seminaries, dedicated to the theme: “Servants of happiness of the Gospel”, to highlight “the living witness brought by priests to those who suffer, to the poor, to the sinners”. In the message for the presentation of the initiative, the President of the Episcopal Commission for Vocations and Ministries, Mons. Virgílio do Nascimento Antunes, observed that “the best way to increase of priestly vocation among youths stems from the testimony of the happiness that comes from the encounter with the Gospel”. “The mission of the priest sent to the world is to enter a communication with mankind and to share their happiness and pain to offer them to the Lord”. In addition to the passionate prayer of men of God, in love with Jesus Christ, the document highlights other three main duties of priestly ministry: “to be a disciple with the disciples, to be a shepherd for Christians, servant of happiness of the Gospel”. The message retraces the ecclesial path of the priest, from personal discovery of the vocation to the practice of the ministry: “the seminary is the time, place and community where youths learn the feeling of human kinship”, in the concrete relations with people with whom they interact in the home, in the school of theology and in their apostolic commitments; “the specific feature of vocation transforms the priest in a shepherd for other Christians” with whom he shares congregational experiences.