Spain, Belgium, Slovakia” “

Spain/1: “a small field hospital” in Madrid The Fundación Mensajeros de la Paz (Foundation Messengers of Peace), in the church of St. Anthony in Madrid, will set up an ambitious religious, social and cultural project within its own structures, open to everyone. In addition to a set of cultural activities, the initiative envisages a service of reception and social support, along with a solidarity bank. Moreover, a group of priests will take shifts to ensure the administration of the sacraments continuously and there will always be room for reflection, dialogue or prayer. St. Anthony’s church, made accessible for the disabled, will also provide free WIFI service, television, devices for donations and “open charity boxes”. Also the church, declared cultural heritage for the works of art it preserves, will be always open to cultural visits. The soul of the initiative is father Angel García, president and founder of the Mensajeros de la Paz: “It makes me suffer to see churches with their doors closed. The doors of St.Anthony’s church are always open to all those in need: for those who want to pray and do confession, for those in need of someone who will listen, or for a hot drink. The purpose is to transform this temple in a home of solidarity to share what is needed in an oasis of silence and prayer. In short, a small ‘field hospital’, as Pope Francis says”. Spain/2: Granada, the solidarity is in “the dish” The diocesan Caritas of Granada and the Provincial Federation of the Hotel and Tourist industry of Granada signed a joint cooperation agreement on a set of activities that include the first edition of “Solidarity meals”, an initiative to raise public awareness on hunger and poverty, with a fund collection to cover the basic needs of the families of Granada without resources whilst promoting the job placement of long-term unemployed persons. The “solidarity meal” is an initiative whereby a simple form of support to those in situations of difficulty is part of everyday life. It is addressed to entrepreneurs in this field and to citizens as a whole, so they may cooperate with this proposal. The enterprises that will adhere to the campaign will offer to their customers, in the months of April, May and June, a “solidarity meal”, one euro of which will go to the diocesan Caritas. The staff of the structures that adhere to the initiative will hand to customers that will ask for the “solidarity meal” a leaflet that with information on their participation. The fund collection will be used to meet food needs through the solidarity Emporium and promote the job placement of unemployed persons through its labour program. Selected “Solidarity meals” will be available as of April 15, the Caritas said. “It’s a simple way to help those in need. Cooperate with us and we will serve solidarity… in your dishes”. Belgium: groups of experts on religion in schools The Belgian bishops of Wallonia and Brussels have established a working group of experts on “Catholic religion as an official school subject”. The establishment of the working group is related to the announcement of a reform following the ruling by the Constitutional Court of past March 12 stipulating that the mandatory teaching of religion and lay ethics courses in schools located in the French-speaking part of Belgium is contrary to the Constitution and violates human rights. The group, consisting of coordinators of Catholic education in the French-language dioceses, is chaired by Claude Gillard, while the bishop of Tournai, Guy Harpigny, will attend all the meetings. The Commission is tasked with examining the implications of the ruling of the Constitutional Court, the question of the reform of the “confessional” course in schools and the creation of a “citizenship” course. Slovakia: discrimination on religious grounds Have you been victims of discrimination on religious grounds? The question was addressed by the Institute for Human Rights and Family Policy in Slovakia in the framework of a research conducted among citizens. “We invite people to inform us on any episode of discrimination they were victims of because of their faith. We already have some data on discrimination regarding the implementation of freedom of conscience, verbal or physical attacks, acts of vandalism, defamation of holy sites and Christian symbols, and in order to adopt effective measures we need information on concrete cases”, said the chairman of the institute Patrik Daniska. Even though the majority of inhabitants of Slovakia declare themselves Catholic, the research is open to all Christian communities and members of different faiths. There is the suspicion that faithful are discriminated against, not only explicitly but also in less evident ways, through the process involving grants to their activities, the flaws in Slovakian legislation, funding, and many other areas. We hope that the results of this research will enable us to act at all levels of our society”, concluded Patrik Daniska. For further information: www.hfi.sk.