No to work on Sundays” “

The concern for peace in the world, the year of vocations in 2002, the role of the “pro-Europe” organization in aid of the countries of Eastern Europe, the constitutional affirmation of “Sunday as a day of rest”, the issues of bioethics: these were the main questions on which the attention of the Austrian bishops was concentrated during their plenary Assembly held in Vienna from 6 to 8 November, under the presidency of Cardinal Cristoph Schönborn. No alternative to dialogue. The position in favour of peace in the world, expressed in the Assembly’s final document, is clear. The bishops “ask Austrian Catholics to devote fervent prayer and take every step that the individual can take to promote peace among those of different religious and political convictions.” There is in fact “no alternative to a sound and realistic dialogue based on reciprocal esteem between Christianity, Islam and the other religions and the whole of civil society”. In reaffirming the struggle against terrorism which “must be combated with determination” and in calling for condign punishment of its perpetrators, the bishops recall that “this struggle cannot have success in the long term without a continuous dismantling of the enormous gap between the rich and poor in the world”. Living one’s own vocation. For the ‘”year of vocations 2002″, with its theme “Living in the full sense one’s vocation and commitment”, a series of initiatives and activities have been planned. They include the “World Day of Prayer for the spiritual mission” on 21 April, with the slogan “A roof over the soul”. To coincide with it, an “open doors day” has been announced during which many convents and communities will be open to enable the young to experience directly the life lived “according to the evangelical counsels”. Apart from the traditional ones, some innovative initiatives are also planned, such as the opening of a web page on the theme of “vocation” and the collection of testimonies to be made available as documentation at the end of 2002. At the side of the Churches of Eastern Europe. Another innovation is “ProEurope”, the organization that has hitherto dealt with development projects conducted with the Churches of Eastern Europe. The Austrian Episcopal Conference – which has made available a sum equivalent to over 600 million euros – has decided to comprise its activity in that of the aid agency “Missio” from 2002 on, so as to “be able to raise by over 40% the sums effectively available for the projects”, which will be mainly developed “in the churches of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary”. Defending Sunday as a day of rest. “Keeping alive the religious dimension of Sunday” is the objective of the alliance for Sunday as a rest day”. It is welcomed by the bishops “as the expression of broad social consensus” for a better quality of life, “pursued also by other Christian Churches”. This phenomenon represents, according to the Episcopal Conference, “a new signal for social collaboration”; indeed, the hope is expressed that a constitutional guarantee of Sunday as a rest day may be achieved. A recommendation was also made by the Assembly to parish priests, urging them to “overcome the environmental limits of the Church and reduce the distance that separates so many from the faith and from the Church” . Opting for life. “Pursuing an independent, ethically responsible path, and adopting a stance consciously independent from that of the majority of the European Union on substantial questions” of bioethics is what the bishops ask of the Austrian government. Cardinal Schönborn rejected any “pressure towards the selection of births”. In a country like Austria, where avant-garde structures exist for people with handicaps, what is needed instead, he said, is “the targeted increase of counsellors who may provide assistance to women in difficulties”. In this case “the Catholic Church is willing to offer her own contribution”. Patrizia Collesi