Church of transparency ” “and solidarity

The latest census of 2011 shows that approximately a fifth of over 10.5 million inhabitants of the Czech Republic claim to have a religious belief. About a tenth of them are Catholic. These figures register a slight decrease compared to the 2001 Census. The Catholic Church has decided to face the problem with an active approach towards the faithful. The message of a “living” participation, brought into Czech lands by Saints Cyril and Methodius, co-patron Saints of Europe, should now be put into practice. Eucharistic congress. A few days ago the Czech Bishops’ Conference announced its intention to organize the First National Eucharistic congress in 2015. “With this initiative we intend to deepen Eucharistic devotion in our Country. This Congress will revitalize faith and love for the Eucharist”, said Msgr. Jan Vokál, delegate of the Bishops’ Conference for the Eucharistic congress. It will be the first event of this kind since the independence of the Czech Republic in 1993: for this reason the importance and the expectations regarding its influence on the life of the Catholic Church are immense. Parishes and dioceses will have six months to prepare and their efforts will be presented symbolically on June 4 2015, solemnity of the Corpus Domini. The Congress will take place October 15-17 2015. Family is the goal. “We applaud the family”: this is the motto of the next national Pilgrimage for the Family, that will take place August 29-30 in Zdár nad Sázavou. The idea of a small meeting of families from the diocese of Brno, concretized over 10 years ago by bishop Vojtech Cikrle, has gradually developed into the greatest event of this kind that ever took place in the Czech Republic. Cikrle underlined the three fundamental words highlighted by Pope Francis on the occasion of Saint Valentine’s Day 2014, before thousands of youths – “Please, thank you, I’m sorry” – that should be part and parcel of customary communication in every marriage in order to prevent the possibility of a crisis. “We welcome these words into our vocabulary – said Msgr. Vojtech Cikrle – and especially into our hearts, and into our relations. We could be surprised of the marvel they could bring”. Participants will reflect on themes such as work and holiday, faith in the family, cross-generational solidarity, family and the community. The program envisages conferences, Mass, adoration, prayer, workshops and debates. Local events for the promotion of the family were held across dioceses and parishes as of January 2014. Openness and availability. The law on the Church-State reconciliation agreement on property in the Czech Republic has been discussed at large for years. The related law was adopted in 2012. Its current implementation has brought to the fore a set of delicate situations and issues. In response to the latest developments, the bishops of Bohemia, Moravia and Slesia, have released a joint statement in which they declare that they “don’t intend to replace faith and truth with money and property”. Drawing inspiration from the message of Pope Francis on the need for openness and moderation towards those to whom the Catholic Church is invited to announce the Gospel message of hope and joy, the prelates invite all parties charged with putting into practice the law to address this issue “with openness and availability towards those who could be negatively affected by requests of restitution of Church property”. Special regulations have been approved by the Bishops’ Conference to this regard, which highlighted the fact that “property and money are not at the centre of the life of the Church, they are only a tool to fulfil a shared task: to proclaim the Gospel and help those in need”. Moreover, the bishops pointed out that infringement of the law leading to speculation and illegal enrichment of individuals and groups would not be tolerated. In favour of those in need. A recently launched web-based application, “Map of world relief programs” presents 145 projects whereby institutions and organizations run by the Czech Catholic Church support people in difficulty throughout the world. Most of them focus on education in poor Countries (31%), including the building of schools, children’s education and special training for teachers. Social assistance is the second most relevant area (26%), whose dedicated programs include support to street children, disadvantaged families and the elderly. 18% of programs focus on the dissemination of Christian faith through the building of churches and parish centres and to the support of missionary efforts for young people. Problems regarding the availability of drinking water and food fall within the category “agriculture” (14%), while in the area of health (10%), the focus is on providing support to hospitals in Africa and Asia.