“Mutually supporting each other”: that’s the motto and aim of the evening being held at Herzogenrath (diocese of Aachen) on 21 December. It’s an occasion for workers from local factories and unemployed in search of a job to meet together in front of the Christmas crib. The participants all support the projects run by the Nell-Breuning-Haus, where a job placement network has been established. The network is now in its second year, in the hope “that it may function, that we may find new companions through it, and that the spirit of Christmas may reach our firms and our families”. “Christmas – explains the press release – is a time of transformation from the darkest gloom of resignation. The feast of nativity we celebrate today with cakes and vin brulé was a risk for the persecuted homeless couple Joseph and Mary. … But Christmas and the meeting in front of the crib can fill us with courage. Mary and Joseph found allies, friends, travelling companions, and the three wise men who came from the East and with them their way out of the crisis. Their son sought dialogue with the rich and with day workers and strove to ensure that both could become human persons”. The press too is invited to the meeting, “so that the Good News may spread and the struggle for humanity in factories, in families and in the search for a job may reach as many people as possible in our region”.
