Germany: Catholic Media PrizeWith an appeal to journalists to be aware of their responsibility for quality and truthfulness, mgr. Robert Zollitsch, President of the German Bishops Conference (Dbk), gave the Katholischer Medienpreis, the Catholic Media Award, in Bonn on October 19. “The pursuit of the truth makes man free”, he stated. “If I live committed to the truth, I contribute to the building of a society in which stability, sincerity and truthfulness are too often missing”. The awards ceremony was attended by about 300 people from the media, Church and society worlds. “Quality, truthfulness and good speaking skills are the features of this Catholic Media Award. These too may help capture the audience and increase circulation. Above all, the users’ confidence in the media may be rebuilt. In the printed press category, the 5,000 euros’ prize was given to Michael Ohnewald for a piece published on the Stuttgarter Zeitung on June 6th 2008. For the e-media category, the same prize went to a radio programme invented by Bert Strebe, and broadcasted by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk on January 1st 2009.Romania: first national meeting of priestsThe first national meeting of Catholic priests in Romania, hosted by the Roman-Catholic archdiocese of Bucharest, ended in recent days. The meeting was attended by 65 priests, of both rites (Roman and Greek-Catholic), from 9 of the 11 Romanian Catholic dioceses and eparchies. Priests of different rites, different ethnic groups (Romanians, Hungarians, Germans), and different ages spent a few days together in the monastery of the Carmelite Fathers at Ciofliceni (Snagov, near Bucharest). The meeting, with the title “Priesthood, a mix between charismatic service and institutional function”, will be followed by five other similar initiatives, hosted by other dioceses and eparchies. By holding such events, the Romanian bishops wish to offer to their priests, during the Year for Priests, the opportunity to pray together, reflect on their mission together, and get to know each other better. Some bishops have expressed the wish to continue such meetings even after the Year for Priests has closed, with a view to a permanent formation of the clergy not only at the local but also the national level, and to reinforce the unity in diversity of the Catholic Church in Romania. In a letter sent through Archbishop Ioan Robu of Bucharest, President of the Romanian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, has assured Romanian priests of his prayers and has wished them the “fruitful success of this meeting and the five following meetings to be hosted by other dioceses/eparchies of this noble country”. In his letter the Cardinal hopes that Romanian priests would enact the motto “fidelity of Christ, fidelity of the priest” in the mission of their daily life, and expresses the hope that he would have the opportunity to meet them “gathered round Peter, in Rome, on 9-11 June 2010”. “We will be able to live the joy of communio in priestly brotherhood”, concludes Cardinal Hummes. The next meeting in the series will be held from 9 to 12 November, hosted by the Roman Catholic diocese of Alba Iulia, which is celebrating the millennium of its creation this year. England: importance of faith schools reaffirmed “The vibrancy, dynamism and success of schools with a religious character has never been stronger. I’ve seen for myself how faith schools are using their unique ethos to develop well-rounded young people who have a strong sense of community and respect for others, including those of different faiths”, said Minister of Education Ed Balls in his keynote address at the conference “Keeping Faith in the System” in which he warmly congratulated those who direct schools run by the Christian churches. The meeting, held in recent days, was attended by 200 heads of faith schools and senior civil servants involved in the educational sector. At a time when church-run schools in the UK are being criticized by some media, which allege that tax-payers money is being used to fund an elite because religious schools especially accept pupils from middle-class homes as pupils, the Minister of Education and the head of the education sector for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have defended the role of such schools. Minister Balls underlined the excellent academic results they consistently achieve and also noted that they accept pupils of different faiths. Oona Standard, director of the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales, said that for parents it’s important for “their faith to be acknowledged in the very real terms of the availability of a school of their faith” for the education of their children.
