CHURCH AND ECONOMIC CRISIS
Italy: a loan for hopeThe guarantee fund for families in difficulty, promoted by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) in cooperation with the Italian Banking Association (ABI), “is a response to the economic crisis that our country is going through, as an effect of the wider recession at the international level”, explained Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, President of the CEI, at a news conference on 6 May. “As Pastors – said the cardinal – we give voice to what people are concerned about and the general anxieties which are neither few nor insignificant at the present time, but it would be even worse to sow panic and kill hope. That’s why, in recent months we have witnessed in our country an unstoppable surge of initiatives and projects which have begun within the individual dioceses to give concrete responses to the needs that are gradually emerging”. They are, explained Cardinal Bagnasco, “new forms of charity and solidarity” which “are being added to a series of permanent services, such as counselling agencies, anti-usury funds, and projects for family emergencies”, such as micro-credit. Now it’s the turn of the guarantee fund for families which is something new: it’s “an initiative on a national scale – the first of its kind – which is aimed at giving a concrete response to those single-income families that have lost their only source of income, with three or more children to support or that are characterized by situations of serious illness or disability”. The CEI Fund is aimed, therefore, “at being at once a sign and an instrument of hope to help families to get through the crisis and not fall victim to it, through a maximum contribution of 500 euros per month for one year, for a total of 6,000 euros”. The contribution may then “be extended for a second year and for the same amount”. It will be the parishes together with Caritas that “will identify and rigorously select the families in difficulty and then direct them to the Bank, which “within a short time frame” will grant the monthly loan. The repayment of the loan will take place once the conditions to do so exist and in any case not before one or two years, and will have a maximum duration of five years”. The Fund, pointed out the President of the CEI, will be established through a national collection on 31 May, and consist in an investment of 30 million euros, without counting “unsolicited donations” or possible “disbursements and contributions by foundations, companies and other funding agencies”. “Nor is it excluded that dioceses and religious institutes may decide to allocate some of their own resources to the national Fund”, concluded Bagnasco. When the Fund is closed, the residue will be assigned to national Caritas.Ireland: 57 counselling centresThe current economic and financial crisis that has invested the whole world brings with it notable repercussions for the life of families. The countries worst hit by the crisis include Ireland, where a growth in the number of families turning to counselling services for assistance and support is being registered. The Catholic Marriage Care Service (Accord), family counselling agency of the Irish Bishop’s Conference, is thus registering a growth of access to these services by couples worried by their deteriorating economic conditions, which are also causing strong tensions at the relational and marital level. According to the latest data furnished by the agency, a 40 percent increase of contacts by nuclear families beset by economic problems has been registered between 2007 and the current year. Accord can rely on a network of 57 counselling centres distributed through the nation. In particular, there has been a 29 percent growth of couples turning for assistance to these counselling centres in the first three months of 2009. The figures show that in 2007 only 4 percent of unemployed men sought counselling from the bishops’ agency; by contrast, in the first three months of the current year that percentage has increased by over seven points. There’s also been a growth of unemployment among women: in 2007 the percentage of the non-employed was 3.4 percent; between January and March 2009 the percentage has risen to 4.8 percent. The areas worst hit by the crisis are those of Belfast, Bray, Tallaght, Tralee, Newbridge, Monaghan, and Limerick. Over 15,000 people used the services of Accord between 2007 and the first quarter of 2009.Hungary: Caritas involved but worriedHungary is one of the countries most badly affected by the world economic crisis, with many small and medium-sized businesses closing and thousands of workers being made redundant. Meanwhile social tensions have become sharper; episodes of violence are more frequent, and, since gipsies have often been involved in these events, the conflict between different ethnic groups has become exacerbated. In this situation, according to the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference, the real problems are public security, social security, an efficient health service, the protection of families, and the education of future generations. In the current situation of crisis, a particular role is being played by the regional organizations of Hungarian Caritas, the network of Maltese Caritas – that is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year – and also the other Christian services involved in humanitarian aid to those most in need. The government, unfortunately, is making the activity of volunteer-service organizations more difficult, because in future these will not be able to receive gifts or material goods if the donor doesn’t pay a tax. So, the worry of the charitable associations is that firms, supermarkets for instance, may prefer to throw out foodstuffs past their sell-by date rather than give them as charity to the poor, if they are forced to pay a tax for what is a gesture of solidarity.
