Turkey: Pauline Year, unique opportunity A pastoral letter and ecumenical celebrations, as well as an organization guaranteeing the dignified acceptance of arriving pilgrims: the Turkish Bishops’ Conference is taking initiatives for the opening of the Pauline Year (28th June 2008 / 29th June 2009), presented in Rome today. “On 25th January, we shall make known a pastoral letter on this remarkable event”, said to SIR Msgr. Luigi Padovese, president of Turkish bishops and vicar-apostolic of Anatolia. Tarso, the birth city of Apostle Paul, is under his jurisdiction. “On 21st and 22nd June, we have Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Papal Council for the promotion of Christian unity. An ecumenical celebration and a Mass at the Museum-Church of St Paul in Tarso are scheduled”.Unfortunately, underlined the bishop, “I had no response as yet with respect to a few requests of mine, submitted to the government and the city authorities in relation to the opportunity of changing the current Museum-Church of St Paul into a church open to all Christians. Moreover, I had no answer concerning the creation of a sufficient area, with facilities, to welcome pilgrims. In Tarso, I remember, there is nothing but a room adjacent to the Museum-Church. We need a church where believers and pilgrims can always feel at home and pray”. But something is going on in this respect, too: “I know that a commission arrived in Ankara to study the things to be done”, said Msgr. Padovese, hoping for a “higher collaboration by the state and local authorities with the Church, to better promote this bimillenary, which is meant to draw the attention of the Church to the Christian minority in Turkey. However, it will also be a unique opportunity for the whole country”.Czech Republic: Bishops PlenaryToday, January 23rd, the 71st Plenary Assembly of Bishops concludes in Prague. The meeting is being held at the Capuchin Monastery and was preceded by an ecumenical celebration in Saint Clement’s Cathedral. During the first plenary of 2008, the bishops addressed the subject of the life of the Church in the Czech Republic and the activities undertaken by the various commissions of the Czech Bishops Conference. Various issues were scheduled on the agenda such as the position of the Church in contemporary society, the institution of the Greek-Catholic Caritas in the Czech Republic and material for religion classes in schools. The Minister of Culture Vaclav Jehlica, also took the floor to update the bishops on recent developments as relates to compensation for the reorganization of State-Catholic Church relations. Yesterday, at the end of the first day of the meeting, the Mass was celebrated in Prague’s Cathedral, during which Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, archbishop of the capital, proclaimed the Jubilee for the commemoration of the 1100th anniversary of the birth of Saint Wenceslas, Patron Saint of the Czech Republic.Germany: an assessment of the ecumenical processOn the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Ack foundation, an association of Christian Churches in Germany, celebrated in the past days in Magonza, Msgr. Joachim Wanke, bishop of Erfut, said described the overall situation of ecumenism as being “good”. The Ack association represents 16 member Churches and 4 Christian Churches as guest-members and three permanent observers. It was founded in 1948 with the purpose of promoting understanding, unity and cooperation between Churches. Msgr.Wanke, who chaired Ack from 1995 to 2001, affirmed that “broad-based” evaluations of ecumenism should be given. “However, when facing difficulties, it’s useless to recall the achievements. On the contrary, we must be prepared to face new challenges”, he added. “Not all theological problems can be easily solved. But if every Church, in the spirit of the Charta Oecumenica, considers the positions of the other, there’s always reason to hope, to draw close to each other. Only in this way is it possible to act together, despite different views”, he pointed out. Msgr. Wanke highlighted the meaning of spiritual ecumenism. “Although we disagree on many issues, we can still be united in prayer, thus allowing Christians’ unity to develop”. On January 18, in addition to the Ack foundation, another important event was celebrated: the 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christians Unity.Spain: bishop writes to parents of missing girlShe’s called Mariluz Cortés. She’s a Rom girl who was reported missing on January 14, right after school. Msgr. José Vilaplana Blasco, the bishop of the diocese of Huelva, wrote to the family saying he shares “their inconsolable grief” for the girl’s disappearance. Msgr. Vilaplana told the parents he “understands their feelings of anguish, fear and anger” and publicly condemned “this occurrence”. The bishop pleaded to God to change the kidnappers’ “heart of stone into a heart of flesh, capable of loving and feeling the suffering of the girl and of her family”. The case draw serious concern on the part of the public opinion not only in Spain, since the girl vanished only a few kilometers away from the spot where the English girl Madeleine Mccan disappeared, and whose case is still unsolved. Mariluz Cortés, 5-years-old, attends the diocesan school in Huelva. She had a euro in her pocket and was going to buy candies when she disappeared.
