The Netherlands: humanitarian mission in Gaza”It has been an intense experience. The purpose was to identify ways enabling assistance to the population in Gaza under fire and to grant support to our partner organizations”, declared Renè Grotenhuis, director of Dutch humanitarian association Cordaid upon his return from a mission to the Holy Land aimed at identifying the best ways of providing assistance within the current situation. His statement was posted on the website of Holland’s Catholic Church. There are a number of humanitarian organizations on site, like Caritas, Grotenhuis said, “but they now wondering whether they should be leaving”. Among the many experiences, he said that the feeling of imprisonment afflicting Gazan population has no comparison, in fact, he added, “while in Africa people flee when faced with an armed conflict, this is impossible in Gaza. Nobody can escape, nobody can avert violence. This is why thousands of Palestinians seek shelter in the UN schools”. “In the occupied territories of the West Bank, Palestinians perceive violence not as a clash between Israel and Hamas but as a war between Israel and the Palestinian population. This only benefits Hamas.” Perhaps, Grotenhuis concluded, “Hamas is politically weaker, despite the fact that it continues launching missiles. However, Hamas is politically strong while Fatah has less political consensus”. Portugal: online celebrations from the grotto of Fatima For the New Year, the Sanctuary in Fatima announced that it will be possible to follow the live broadcast of the daily officiations held in the Apparitions Chapel. The service is the response to requests made by world faithful in recent years. Indeed, the Sanctuary’s official website (www.fatima.pt) provides this service available 24hours a day that can be accessed by clicking on the green rectangle Transmissoes on the right-hand side of the web page. The pedestal, on which has been erected the image of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, marks the place of the small oak tree less than one metre tall near which the Holy Virgin appeared before three young shepherds on the 13th of May, June, July, September and October 1917. The small chapel was erected between April 28 and June 15 1919, following the explicit desire of Mary who in her last apparition to the presence of 70 000 people pronounced the following words: "a chapel will be erected here in my name". The first Mass was celebrated October 13, 1921. It was destroyed by a bombing March 5-6, 1922 and rebuilt the same year. In May 1982, on top of the Chapel, that preserves the original features of the small rural church, a large roof was added to provide shelter to the faithful, which was inaugurated on the occasion of Pope John Paul II’s thanksgiving visit. Switzerland: the creation of KathSpace, Catholic social network”Social network” is the new media tool of the Catholic Church. Along with networks such as MySpace or Facebook, that have become very popular among the internauts, KathSpace is the Christian Catholic social network created in Switzerland in the past weeks. In fact the platform, that can be accessed by logging on http://kathspace.com/community offers faithful a virtual meeting point where they can share experiences, create new contacts and groups, hold communal prayers and post photos. KathSpace proposes surveys, blogs of registered users, photo galleries and prayer intentions. Along with these initiative, links to the Holy See (http://www.vatican.va), provide access to the Catechism of the Catholic Church in German, live streaming of sacred music performed in the Vatican by the Pontifical Music Chapel “Sistina”, as well as access to the German language edition of the Osservatore Romano, to the Vatican Radio website, to video broadcasts of Saint Peter’s Square and registration to the daily newsletter with the Gospel of the day.
