Ireland: Confirmation and Communion, an appeal to sobernessMartin Cullen, Irish Minister for the Family and Society, defined First Communion and Confirmation celebrations as “excessive”. He also distributed a brochure informing parents on how to save their money. The two events are often viewed by Irish families as the most important social happening of the year. “The pressure parents are forced to undergo to make this a very special day, can cause a great deal of stress especially if expenses are excessively high”, said Minister Cullen. His stand is shared by Father Richard Geoghegan, parish of Carrick-on Suir who told the Catholic daily “The Universe”, that parents “let their daughters get tanned on sunbeds, bring them to the esthetician to get false nails and buy dresses similar to wedding gowns, sometimes even renting a limousine for the ceremony”. “The emphasis is no longer on the sacrament but on the party”, Father Geoghegan said. “The sacrament is just an excuse for the “party”. It should be noted that Confession has lost its importance since it isn’t accompanied by a party”. “The day of the First Communion is a day in which the Church is available to everyone even without people’s commitment. Nonetheless families accumulate debts amounting to hundreds of euros”, the priest concluded.Spain: Missionary day of Latin AmericaOn Sunday March 2 the Spanish Church will celebrate Latin America’s Missionary Day, organized by the Commission for Missions and Cooperation between the Churches of Spain’s Bishops Conference, on the topic, “Latin America, a Continent in Mission”. The news was given by international news agency Fides. “Sixty years ago the Conference of Spain’s Metropolitan archdioceses deeply committed itself in one of the most urgent challenges of the Church: the diffusion of the Gospel. For historical and cultural reasons that missionary disquiet turned its gaze especially towards America. This gave birth to the Hispano-American Institute for Priestly Cooperation (Ocsha)”, wrote Msgr. Ramón del Hoyo, bishop of Jaen and President of the Bishops Commission for Missions, in the Day’s Presentation communiqué. Since then, there over 2,300 diocesan priests have been devoting themselves to evangelization in that Continent. His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, sent a Message for this Day. According to data issued by the Bishops Commission for Missions, during the year 2007 there have been 18 priests sent by Ocsha in America, especially in Perù. At present, there are 878 Spanish priests in mission, 360 of whom are members of Ocsha and 518 belong to other groups. As for the dioceses, the one with the highest number of diocesan priests in mission is Madrid, with 77; follows Burgos with 54, Pamplona-Tudela with 48 and Toledo with 47. There are presently 75 Spanish diocesan priests in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe (17) and Angola (11). There are 785 priests in America, the largest group is Peru (128), followed by the United States (87), Venezuela (78) and Brasil (73). In Asia there are 18 Spanish priests, half of whom are in Japan.Religious: “our contribution for the Europe””Following our elderly brothers and sisters who over the centuries have made their contribution to its cultural, human and spiritual identity, we too now want to play our part so that Europe will not lose its deep roots”. This was written in the message that was published at the end of the General Assembly of Ucesm (Union of European Conferences of Superiors Major) which was held from 11 to 17 February in Torhout, Belgium. The Assembly – which brought together the delegates of the 38 Conferences of religious men and women of 26 European countries, on behalf of the 400 thousand religious men and women living in Europe – was also attended by card. Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for the institutes of consecrated life. “We, religious men and women – reads the message -, feel like the sons and daughters of this Europe of the painful history, with its tensions, its contradictions and its weaknesses, but we want to be the bearers of a project of spirituality and fraternity”. The religious people explain that their proposal for Europe is the fruit of communal living as a “place of fraternity and communion”, “a school of relations”, “of reconciliation and forgiveness”, of “hospitality”. The assembly appointed new president sister Lutgardis Craeynest (a Belgian Salesian) and deputy president father Manuel Joaquim Gomes Barbosa (a Portuguese dehonian).
