Germany: “yes” to banks… “no” to families “It’s outrageous that a government earmarks hundreds of billions to bail out banks while it’s so careful with money allocated for the family”, stigmatized the bishop of Augusta, Msgr. Walter Mixa, referring to a 10-euro increase in family allowance envisaged by the executive. “It’s an insult to families with children” that “disregards families’ contribution to societies”, he added. “The envisaged sum fails to cover the increased cost of living”, Msgr Mixa declared during a meeting with the leadership of the Federation of Christian Families in his diocese. The Bishop also criticized the Bundestag’s decision to increase the number of kindergartens: “considering that young mothers are expected to return to work during the first three years of life of their children and ignoring what is best for the child, the government is acting not for the family but for the industry”. “The freedom to choose between employment and childcare advanced by the government coalition is a charade if during the first years of life of their children the mothers aren’t given the possibility of a temporary work leave to look after them”. The bishop equally deplored the fiscal policy for the family adopted by the government: “a society that is hostile to children is cause of greater concern than the bank crisis. This requires immediate action”, Msgr. Mixa pointed out with reference to the politicians’ justifications for the bail out.Scotland: voting thinking of the common good Cardinal Keith O’ Brien, archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh urged the faithful of the three parishes in the city of Glenrothes, on Scotland’s Eastern coast, to vote in the local elections for Westminster’s parliament next November 6. In a note, His Eminence pointed out that although in Scotland the media focuses on Edinburgh’s parliament, important decisions are also taken at Westminster. Cardinal O’Brien reminded Catholics that the right to vote entails the duty to participate in the democratic process. He reminded Catholics the most important issues that will be debated in Westminster, which the candidates ought to address. According to the archbishop these are: the failed achievement of the millennium objectives to end world poverty, the commitment against nuclear weapons, the ongoing termination of human lives legalized by the new abortion bill; the attacks to life conveyed by legislation on artificial insemination that legalizes the production of hybrid human-animal embryos; the ‘”Act of Settlement”, that prevents the heirs to the throne of Britain from being or marrying Catholics. Cardinal O’Brien concluded by stressing that the serious economic crisis that is reason of concern for many families, shouldn’t overshadow the needs of the poor, to whom one pound of day is extremely meaningful. Poland: 1,5 million copies of the New Testament On the occasion of the bishops’ Synod on the Word of God, that is under way in Rome, and of the Pauline Year, the Polish Catholic weekly “Niedziela”, whose main offices are in Czestochowa, promoted the initiative “The Bible in the family”. Each month, one of the Books of the New Testament is issued with the magazine. Thus, some 1 500 000 copies of the Books of the New Testament have already been published along with the weekly. “With this initiative we wish to promote the importance of the Word of God in the families”, chief editor Msgr. Ireneusz Skubi told Fides news agency. “It is meant as an opportunity to remind Catholic families that the daily reading of the Word of God is the foundation of family life”.
