CHURCHES IN BRIEF
COMECE: “Laudato sii”, debate on the new encyclical The Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) promotes for next June 25 a debate – titled “First reactions to the encyclical Laudato sii” – on the next document of Pope Francis on the themes of ecology and the environment, that will be published June 18. Bergoglio’s letter will be commented by – in the seat of Square de Meeks, in Brussels, at 12:00 – Father Sean McDonough, Irish eco-theologian, missionary priest, author of several volumes on climate change, and Philippe Lamberts, Belgian MEP, co-president of the Greens at the European Parliament. EU environmental policies are some of the themes monitored by COMECE in its work at all European institutions. Ukraine: the right to set up confessional schools A new law on “Amendments to some laws of Ukraine regulating the constitution of educational institutions by religious organizations” was adopted by the Ukrainian parliament June 2. The law enables religious organizations registered according to the established procedure to set up educational institutions (primary and secondary school, after-school learning, vocational training and higher learning institutions). The relative Draft Bill n. 1447, presented by a group of MPs of the Popular Front, was endorsed by 237 MPs. Until now “all citizens had the right to set up their own private school institution, while religious organizations are denied this right!” This is the result of our post-Soviet interpretation of the principle on Church-State separation. Indeed, the State has to right to interfere in Church-related issues, but they can interact”, said Lilia Hrynevych, president of the Science and Spirituality Commission, before the vote. She added: “This interaction is the greatest success in the field of education”. Slovakia: Caritas, migration of nurses The total number of nurses and assistants in the area of health care to the elderly in Slovakia has fallen by half since 2005. According to the National Bureau of Caritas, the main reason is that municipalities do not have enough funds to cover their services, so nurses are forced to seek jobs abroad. At present, there are over 25 thousand officially registered Slovaks in Austria working in the healthcare sector in Austria, while their number in Slovakia amounts to less than 7 thousand. A slight improvement was noted last year, when the Ministry of Labour supported the recruitment of nurses and healthcare professionals making use of the European funds. “But despite these efforts and these measures, nursing and health care for the elderly are insufficient and fail to cover the current demand, “explained Radovan Gumulak, secretary general of Caritas Slovakia, who appealed to find a solution to this problem. Gumulak added that another problem that concerns the migration of nurses abroad is their dignity, as they are often forced to perform tasks that do not fall within their competence. “People need to stop seeing everything through the prism of money; also the agencies working in this field must start behaving more responsibly, Gumulak said. Poland, national congress on missions Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of People, will dedicate his address at the national Fourth Missionary Congress of Poland, in Warsaw, to the topical relevance of the mission “Ad Gentes” upon the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Council decree. The Congress, scheduled to take place June 12-14 with the title “The joy of the Gospel as source of missionary zeal” is linked to the apostolic exhortation “Evangelii gaudium” by Pope Francis. “We wish to reawaken the awareness on the missionary feature of the Church, integrating missionary realms and rekindling enthusiasm for the missionary commitment especially in families, in religious communities, in Catholic associations and among the young”, Monsignor Jewzy Mazur, president of the missionary Commission of the Polish episcopacy, wrote in the letter. The opening conference will be followed by a day of study dedicated to missionary problems among children, youths and adults. On Sunday there will be a prayer throughout all the churches for the good outcome of the Congress.
