CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Ireland: bishops on abortion and child abuse”The direct destruction of an innocent human life can never be justified, however difficult the circumstances”. That is the view of Cardinal Sean Brady on the judgement issued by the European Court of Human Rights, according to which the prohibition of abortion contained in the Irish Constitution violates the right of pregnant women to obtain appropriate medical treatment in those cases where the mother’s life is at risk. According to the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the judgement given by the European Court “raises profound moral and legal issues which will require careful analysis and reflection”. And he adds: “The Irish Constitution clearly says that the right to life of the unborn child is equal to that of his or her mother. These are the fundamental human rights at stake. The Catholic Church teaches that neither the unborn child nor the mother may be deliberately killed”. Therefore “we are always obliged to act with respect for the inherent right to life of both the mother and the unborn child in the mother’s womb. No law which subordinates the rights of any human being to those of other human beings can be regarded as a just law”. The cardinal’s statement ends with an appeal to “society” “to respond sensitively to any woman who finds herself dealing with an unplanned pregnancy”. On Friday 17 December, the High Court of Ireland authorized the publication of a missing chapter of the Murphy Report, the government report on the abuses committed on children by members of the clergy of the archdiocese of Dublin from 1975 to 2004. The missing chapter (19) concerns the predatory activities of one priest, Tony Walsh, sentenced in early December to a 16-year term of imprisonment for having sexually abused three children in the 1970s and 1980s. Its publication had been postponed pending completion of the legal process. As for the previous cases examined by the Murphy Report, this new chapter also calls into question the responsibility of the police and the ecclesiastical authorities for failing to prevent Walsh, for over fifteen years until he was finally arrested in 1996, from continuing to molest children in spite of the fact that his behaviour was well known. The Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has firmly distanced himself from this line of connivance in a statement issued on 17 December, in which he recognizes that “the Archdiocese failed the victims” and apologises “unreservedly for the hurt caused and for the way the Church managed these matters”. In his statement Archbishop Martin expresses words of praise for the courage of the victims in “coming forward to tell their story and others abused by priests in Dublin”; in doing so they “have done immense good for children, for society and indeed for the Church. We all have a debt in their regard”. The publication of a final chapter of the Murphy Report, Chapter 20, is still awaited; it is still being drafted. It concerns another case still pending; its publication is expected in July 2011.France: Christmas in Afghanistan, the cost of peaceChristmas on the mountains of Afghanistan for the second year running: that’s how Bishop Luc Ravel of the French Military Ordinariate will spend his Christmas holidays, at the side of the French troops serving in Afghanistan: in the capital Kabul and in the regions of Surobi and Kapisa. “The objective – he explains – is to support the troops in their military operations (which don’t stop over Christmas: there is no truce at Christmas), when separation from their families is felt with all the greater sorrow”. What is the message you wish to bring to the troops? “Christmas – replies the bishop – is a message of peace: a promise of great peace in which we believe. Yes, we believe that peace is possible, in spite of all appearances to the contrary”. With regard to the World Day of Prayer for Peace that is celebrated on 1st January, Mgr. Ravel declares: “Peace does not begin in Afghanistan. It puts down roots wherever there is love, in other words in our families. The tragedies taking place in the world, the costs of the military operations, must not distract us from the daily task of promoting peace, the peacemaking performed within our own homes”.Germany: common message of the Churches A common message for Christmas: that’s the choice made by the delegates for ecumenism of the Catholic Church and of the Evangelical Church, respectively Mgr. Gerhard Ludwig Müller (Regensburg) and the Bishop of Braunschweig Friedrich Weber, who have decided to join together in issuing a common Christmas message to the Germans. The message, recorded at Würzburg, reaffirms the will of the Churches to overcome what still divides them. “The Christmas message obliges Christians to seek unity”, said Mgr. Müller, representative of the German Bishops’ Conference for ecumenism. “Our regular talks with our ecumenical partners also have the objective” of acting “for the dignity of everyone, and especially for those who live in poverty and oppression”. “Ecumenical union enables us to have mutual hope”, he added. Bishop Weber, delegate of the Lutheran Evangelical Church for relations with Catholics, stressed, for his part, that “the Christmas message of the coming of God is the central message we must continue to transmit together in harmony”. So, “also in the new year Christians must do their utmost to reduce to a minimum the differences that still exist, so that our ecumenical action does not obstruct God’s way” in the world, he said.
