Czech Republic: statement on racism”Racist demonstrations are increasing in number in the Czech Republic”, warned Bishop Vaclav Maly, President of the Council of Justitia et Pax of the Czech Bishops’ Conference, in a statement issued in recent days. They are, he explained, “demonstrations of hostility against particular communities, especially Romany gipsies”. “I consider it my moral duty to take a stance and make my voice heard in condemning demonstrations of this kind”, added Mgr. Maly. “No ethnic group can be a motive for collective responsibility. That someone is Czech, Slovak, Vietnamese, Rom or Jewish says nothing about the human qualities that person possesses”, says the statement.” “Christ says the tree is known by its fruits. Let us try, therefore, to be vigilant towards any manifestation of racism, intolerance and xenophobia”, added the President of the Justice and Peace Council. “The experience of the twentieth century – concluded Mgr. Maly – warns us even more strongly” against this danger. Ukraine: historical justice for Greek-Catholics”The numerous episodes of repression against the faithful and ministers of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, including deportation to Siberia, expropriation of property, and the destruction of churches, are all elements that prove a campaign aimed at the forced liquidation of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church”, said the Mayor of Lvov, Andrii Sadovyi, in a letter to the Ukrainian President, Victor Yushchenko. In his letter the mayor asks for “historical justice” for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the granting to it of recognition as “repressed church”. Sadovyi also recalled that “the regime of that historical period inspired the holding in March 1946 of the so-called Synod of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, which proclaimed its annexation to the Russian Orthodox Church, despite the fact that none of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic bishops had participated in this assembly, given that they were already in prison”. The mayor further asks Victor Yushchenko “as supreme authority of the Ukrainian state, to see to the granting of the status of “repressed Church” to the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. According to the press office of the Town Council of Lvov, the mayor of the city has compared the actions of the Soviet regime against Greek-Catholics as “a genocide”: “Genocide against a people, against a nation or against a Church are equivalent notions that require due evaluation by generations today”. In 2009, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its resumption of legal activity, after a long period of persecution. Bosnia-Herzegovina: problems and signs of recovery”The Catholic family in Bosnia-Herzegovina, irrespective of the crisis that has overcome the country, is still an important factor for the religious education of youth”, concluded the participants at the meeting on “The spirituality of Catholic families in Bosnia-Herzegovina – state and perspectives”, organized by the Faculty of Catholic Theology in Sarajevo on 22 November. Speakers at the meeting included Mgr. Mark Josipovi?, dean of the faculty, and Fr. Zdenko Spaji?. During the meeting the role of the family in the process of the religious education of children during the period of Communist Yugoslavia was pointed out, and the current state of Catholic families in Bosnia-Herzegovina analyzed. The guidelines for the pastoral care of families in the teaching of the Church were also presented. The two main speakers both insisted on the need, for the Catholic Church in Bosnia-Herzegovina, to implement an organic programme of pastoral care that may promote and coordinate initiatives at all levels: dioceses, deaneries and parishes. They also emphasized the fact that Catholics are declining in number in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The reasons for this are threefold: declining birth rate, failure of refugees and displaced persons to return to their homeland, and the growth of immigration. “We need to work in synergy, the Church and the political authorities, to reverse this process, otherwise it will be a disaster”, said the two speakers. The results of a survey on the family, religious education and vocation were also presented during the meeting. Conducted by the Faculty of Catholic Theology of Splitu, the survey involved the interviewing of a sample of 160 youths: 90% of those interviewed declared they had received religious education in the family and 86% said they had a Bible at home. Moreover 78% of the youth are convinced that God loves them, and 12.90% of them declared they had at times felt a vocation to the consecrated life.
