Ireland: bishops’ statement on povertyThe Commission for Justice and Social Affairs of the Irish Bishops Conference submitted, in Dublin today, the document called “In the wake of the Celtic Tiger: poverty in contemporary Ireland”. The document is available in the Irish bookshops of Veritas Publishers or on the Veritas website, at www.veritas.ie. “We are aware”, said bishop Raymond Field, president of the Commission, “that this document is published in a context of growing economic insecurity. Every day brings more unemployment, with devastating consequences on the affected individuals, families and societies. While we realise the multiple pressures that the Government is undergoing and the need to take difficult decisions at a time of economic crisis, the needs of the weaker ones cannot be neglected”. According to John Monaghan, deputy national president of the Saint Vincent’s Society, who attended the launch of the document, “there’s an urgent need for a ‘Nationwide plan for the development of people’, offering enough money to live, access to education, to medical care and the development of strong, environmentally-sustainable communities. It must also include a forum to discuss the common good, which must include people from different confessions and beliefs, and must give priority to the voices and experiences of the poor, the disadvantaged and the vulnerable ones”. Holland: a Church without the disabled is disabled”A strong appeal for the inclusion of the mentally disabled in the life of the parish”: that’s the request made by the Most Rev. Gerard de Korte, Bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden, in an article published in the Dutch daily Nederlands Dagblad on 17 January. “It’s an understandable request”, maintains de Korte, “since the disabled confront us with our own handicaps and wounds, but” – he continues – we have to remember that “each person is, in short, a sinner and beggar who lives with open hands and offers the reconciliatory love of God in Christ. This is the context in which we must continue to work for the community of faith”, and in this regard he quotes the words of a mother of a disabled child, “who once said that ‘a Church without the disabled is a disabled Church'”. Mgr. De Korte then speaks of an “inclusive community” by which he means the Church as a community that does not exclude the disabled, but comprehends them, hence “an inclusive community of faith that is realized by entering into contact with the active volunteer service every day, since the majority of the mentally disabled live in institutions and are often invisible. Normal parishes or communities of the faithful have little experience in this sense”, he maintains. “Apart from lack of knowledge, there is often a sense of embarrassment and unease. The case of the mentally disabled being kept at arms’ length, or even treated as modern lepers, is not rare.” Some limits, according to de Korte, are however set by the pastoral practice of the parishes, which especially takes place through verbal communication, and hence “apart from the opportunities offered by the word”, in his view, “the disabled also feel the limits of words.” So “other forms of communication, such as music, movement and theatre”, are needed”. He thus proposes, for the diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, the project of “an annual pilgrimage, a cruise along the Frisian coast, for the mentally disabled”.Czech Republic: bishops’ plenary assemblyThe 75th plenary assembly of the Czech Bishops’ Conference ends in Prague today. Many issues have been discussed during the bishops’ first meeting of the year, which was held in the convent of the Capuchin Friars: they include the annual report for 2008 of the activities of the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic and the work of the various committees of the Bishops’ Conference. The bishops further discussed the situation of the Church in contemporary society, the appointment of the General Secretary and President of Caritas, the drafting of an ethical code for those working in charities and humanitarian organizations, and the programme of pastoral care in view of the 1150th anniversary of the arrival of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moravia. The introduction of a Sunday for the commemoration of persecuted Christians was also discussed. Also present at the plenary was the Apostolic Nuncio of the Czech Republic, Monsignor Diego Causero, who reported on preparations for the forthcoming visit of Benedict XVI to the country, scheduled for September. The meeting was chaired by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, Archbishop of Prague.
