Austria: Europe’s football championship, the Church wins the ballA text message “with food for thought” during Euro 08. It’s the initiative of Austria’s Catholic Church on the occasion of Europe’s football championship inaugurated on June 7. With free on-line registration on the website www.kirche08.at, it’s possible to receive each day, for the entire duration of the championships, short text messages with passages from the Bible, statements by popes, philosophers, players and coaches too. The initiative was presented the past few days in Graz by Msgr. Franz Lackner, in charge of Sport for the Austrian Bishops Conference, along with Austria’s Sport Secretary of State Reinhold Lopatka. “Community spirit is important both in sport and in the Church”, Msgr. Lackner declared during the press conference. “In the community, each person can discover and use his own capacities. Furthermore, both football and faith have fixed inalienable rules. Christians have much to learn from football”, he added. “Also faith is not an easy path: it requires discipline, commitment and obedience”, he underlined. “Together, Christian Churches in Austria and Switzerland gave an important contribution to a festival of peace and understanding”, Lopatka declared. “Good cooperation between Churches has a positive impact on the championships”, he added. “Cooperation between the Austrian and Swiss churches is a sign of good team game for the spiritual accompaniment of this major sport event”, he concluded. Germany: Pilgrims for Europe “You contribute to the creation of the new European home with a Christian approach”. With these words, Msgr. Gebhard Fürst, bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, paid homage to the participants in the pilgrimage of the “Vertriebene” (in memory of over 9.6 million German citizens expelled from East European Countries between 1945 and 1961 and who fled to Western Germany) held the past few days in Schönenberg. The pilgrimage, which has been regularly held during the past 60 years, “has become an example of how in an ever-greater Europe, a true homeland for people develops”. Many pilgrims wore the typical costumes of their Countries of origin. “The arrival of refugees from different Countries with different cultural backgrounds, is an extraordinary occasion and a source of mutual enrichment”, Fürst declared. “Because of their origins, pilgrims represent a living bridge between the East and the West”, he underlined. Pilgrimage is a “sign of how strangers can become brothers in faith”. It’s a sign of “availability to leave what we know and open our hearts to what is new”, he added. The bishop recalled that the expelled Germans, “despite their experience of expulsion, of having lost their homeland and their initial resentment”, constantly worked and committed themselves for peaceful coexistence and reconciliation in contemporary Europe”. For this reason, the pilgrimage is “a step on the road towards reconciliation and peace, brotherhood and justice for Peoples and Countries in Eastern and Western Europe”, he concluded. The pilgrimage was attended also by the Labour and Social Affairs Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Monika Stolz, who thanked Vertriebene “for their loyalty, their testimony of faith, their paths of reconciliation and faith and for their contribution to reconstruction”. Switzerland: the media, a priority “The Swiss Bishops Conference considers work with the media one of its major priorities at pastoral level”. These are the opening remarks of the statement issued by the Swiss Bishops Conference (Ces) at the end of the 280th plenary assembly held in Einsiedeln on June 2-4. The pastoral of the media was debated during the plenary meeting, which identified the important role played by the media in society. “The Church needs to be present with its message”, is written in the declaration. “Therefore, the work of the Church in the media needs to be increased and must be of high professional level”. However, they remark, “Church media, mainly intra-ecclesial, is unable to reach all those outside the Church”. “This is why access to lay media is important”, the document states. The Conference identified a series of concrete actions such as youth formation at communication and editorial level, including a solid background in Christian faith and life. The need to ensure that all Church leaders receive media and communication training is equally higlighted. While “ecumenical cooperation” in this framework is deemed important. This effort will require “consistent financial support”.
