Holland: the strength of the familyThe Dutch bishops have expressed appreciation for the new attention being paid by the government to the needs of the family and gratitude for the fact that it had listened both to the churches and to pastoral workers in drafting the document The Strength of the Family , presented by the Minister Rouvoet in early November. The bishops expressed their appreciation, and welcomed the government’s consultation of the churches during their plenary session held at Zeist last week. The fact that not all the aspects of the problem are taken into consideration in this document, given its wide scope, is also understandable, said the bishops. However, they welcomed “the government’s intention actively to support families with a series of planned measures such as the extension of parental leave, more family-friendly working environments, support for the bringing up of children, and the settlement of conflicts within the family”. For some of these aspects, point out the bishops, “the Church already represents a partner for the government, with its pastoral preparation, marriage guidance, and assistance to families in difficult situations. The courses to which the document refers are already present in some dioceses and parishes” and the bishops stress their “willingness to collaborate with the ministry in finding solutions to the use of the religious experience in achieving the objectives of family policies”. It should be pointed out, however, the bishops continue, that “willingness to cooperate in family policy does not alter the fact that the Catholic Church’s view of marriage and the family is different from that expressed in the document”. In particular, the bishops point out that “for the Church marriage is a pact that spouses solemnly enter into to form a comprehensive community for the whole of their life and that by its very nature marriage is aimed at the happiness of spouses and the bringing up of children”. In this regard the bishops underline the right of each child to have a father and a mother. While “family problems and appropriate solutions to them” are the prime object of the government’s document, “families – say the bishops – have a need for more help than man alone is able to give them”. The bishops continue by encouraging the use of professional personnel in the field of life, as already happens in the case of healthcare facilities for the family offices whose establishment the document proposes”. In conclusion, the bishops express their own concerns about marriage and the family and recall that the media and the world of commerce are also called to play their part in creating an environment favourable to families and to children. Lastly, the bishops make a recommendation to parents: “the fact that the government, society as a whole and individuals should pledge to promote a Holland that is actively in favour of the family cannot be considered an unwelcome interference, because it will help them rightly to assume their own inalienable responsibilities”. Portugal: social mediators for gipsy communitiesFor next year (2009), the High Commission for Immigration and Intercultural Dialogue (ACIDI) has launched a pilot project that provides for the introduction of ten socio-cultural mediators, whose job it will be to foster relations with the gipsy (zigane) communities in some of Portugal’s municipal districts. With a two-day visit to the city of Beja, in the Lower Alentejo region, the High Commissioner, Rosário Farmhouse, wished personally to get to know the real situation and the difficulties that exist in relations between the gipsy communities and the local populations: “In the framework of the good neighbourhood policy that the Commission has established with the communal authorities and civil governors, I have gained a better perception of the main challenges of integration: education, housing and work”. “There are in fact forms of incomprehension and problems of communication that mainly derive from the different points of view with which specific problems are tackled” – said the exponent of the Portuguese government: “To remove these difficulties of integration, ACIDI has therefore decided to launch a project for socio-cultural mediators that, at least initially, will involve those areas where a greater representation of gipsy communities exists, before extending it further in future”. “These mediators will receive specific training in basic skills which will be developed in collaboration with the Institute for Employment and Professional Training (IEFP), and which will particularly focus on methods of preventing possible misunderstandings in communication and relations”.
