France: the archbishop of Paris in the United States Learning more about modern Jewish-orthodox scholarship, developing mutual dialogue and promoting joint ethical commitment. This, in brief, is the purpose of the trip to the United States of the Archbishop of Paris on March 23-25 accompanied by a delegation of Catholic Cardinals and Bishops from Europe, Asia and Africa, Asia e Africa. The delegation is scheduled to meet scholars of Jewish contemporary orthodoxy. “These meetings spring from the proposal made by Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger in the first months of the year 2000, shortly after John Paul II’s visit to Israel”, declared in a Note the archbishopric in Paris. Contacts were established in 2003 with the late archbishop of Paris in conjunction with Rabbi Israël Singer, who at the time chaired the World Jewish Congress and “are to be viewed within the positive evolution of Jewish-Catholic relations that ensued Vatican II”. After World War II, scholars of Jewish Orthodox Schools of central Europe settled down in Brooklyn where they developed schools that, states the Note “constitute an identity reservoir for most world Jewry and promote the so-called ‘modern orthodoxy’ that brings together integral respect for the Torah and full integration in modernity”. The dialogue established between these schools – notably the Yeshiva University – and “Catholic representatives” has “a religious and pastoral connotation”, continues the Note, due to the joint need for dialogue “and for fraternal religious bonds to the service of society”. This joint initiative also led to the creation of charitable food centres for the poor in Brazil and Argentina jointly coordinated by priests and rabbis. The delegation is planned to visit the Jewish Heritage Museum in New York and the Holocaust Memorial in Washington. On March 25 is scheduled the meeting in Washington with Cardinal George, archbishop of Chicago and President of the US Bishops’ Conference, and with the board of Directors of this body.Spain: Days of seminary and life “Each one of our future priests is a gift of God to the Church in Madrid that can look to its future with the hope that there will always be shepherds who will preach the Gospel and celebrate the Eucharist following the heart of Christ”, wrote the archbishop of Madrid Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela in the Pastoral Letter for the Day of the Seminary titled “Apostle by Grace of God”. “We ought to consider the formation of future priests in diocesan seminaries and the sympathetic care for their spiritual and material needs as one of the most important pastoral tasks for the vitality of the Church of Madrid and for the future of its evangelising mission”, he continued. There are currently some two hundred seminarians in Madrid’s religious institutions. These are comforting numbers, that the prelates thank God for, although many more are needed to “fulfil the pastoral service of Madrid’s highly populated and complex diocese”. Finally, the task of “following the pace of the prevailing laicist culture with renewed ardour for the salvation of mankind, and of proclaiming with apostolic zeal the living word of the Gospel requires the enthusiasm of the youth, in order to bring new life to the venerable tradition of Madrid’s presbyterate. As relates to the public-awareness campaign for the celebration of the National Day of Life, scheduled for March 25, Spain’s Bishops’ Conference designed an advertising poster with a child and a lynx. The word “protected” is stamped on the animal, while over the child hangs the question “and what about me?” Underneath both the slogan: “Protect my life!”. “Our societies are marked by the ever-greater need to protect embryos of specific animal species. Legislation protects the lives of these species in the first stages of their development”, is written in a release announcing the initiative that took off today and will continue until March 30th. If animals ought to be protected, underline Spanish bishops, “it’s a paradox that a new human life is being granted ever-minor protection”. The reference is the reform aimed at making more flexible the law on abortion drawn up by Zapatero’s government. “At the same time”, the prelates noted with concern – “there appears to be greater social acceptance of abortion”. Therefore this year’s effort is extraordinary: eight million hand-outs and 30 thousand pamphlets will be distributed in parishes and in Catholic centres, along with 1,300 advertising posters across 36 cities. “It’s a question of giving voice to those who are not being granted the right to live”, the bishops concluded.
