CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Switzerland: bishops, retaining crime of incest”Incest is an attack against the family and the social order and cannot be regarded as a sexual offence like any other”. The point is reaffirmed by the Swiss bishops, in their rejection of the proposal to suppress art. 213 of the Swiss penal code which punishes incest as a criminal offence. The position of the Swiss episcopate is contained in their reply to the public consultation on the federal law on the harmonization of the sanctions of the penal code, the military penal code and the accessory penal code. The proposed abrogation of the article – a provision which is claimed to “have only a marginal significance” – fails, in the view of the Swiss bishops, “to take into account the significance of incest as a grave act that threatens the social order”. The suppression of art. 213 is justified by its proponents by showing that the threats to the sexual integrity of children can be adequately punished through articles 187-191 of the penal code (paedophilia, rape, sexual abuse of the mentally impaired). “It’s a proposal that fails to recognize the particular significance that a crime like incest possesses and that influences the formation of the child”, insist the bishops, who point out that France has only recently re-introduced the crime of incest committed on the underage. “Incest – conclude the bishops – denies the link that exists between the members of the family and threatens the unity of the family, the very foundation of the social order. And that goes also when it is ascertained between two consenting adults”. Germany: sexual abuse, no to inflation of guiltEnd of the year, a time for reviewing the past and for self-criticism, but also for encouraging a fresh start: many bishops dedicated their homilies in celebrations of the feast of St. Sylvester to the current crisis of the Church and the scandal of the sexual abuse committed against children. Monsignor Robert Zollitsch, Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, urged Christians to tackle the scandal of abuses in the Church as an opportunity, while at the same time making an appeal to society as a whole to support “the countless children and adolescents who have been the victims of sexual abuse in families, in schools and in institutions”. Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Archbishop of Mainz, warned of “ceaseless wailing” about lost trust and the “incessant repetition” of apologies for sexual abuse. According to the cardinal, “the Church has expressed, and in a sufficiently clear way, her own great dismay about what has happened. An inflation of recognition of guilt makes the Church look ridiculous in the eyes of important interlocutors”, he said. According to Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, “if the cause of the disease, namely the scourge of abuses, is removed from a body, the chance exists of a rapid recovery and the strengthening of its vitality”. Archbishop Ludwig Schick of Bamberg spoke in his end-of-year homily of 2011 as the “year of participation in the life of the Church” and the need for a “renewal”. According to the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the German Church must “become a missionary Church once again and transmit the faith in a new and powerful way”. Ireland: new resoluteness of the faith”At this time as we begin a New Year it is appropriate that we set our eyes firmly once more on the Saviour of the world. He has come to protect his people and give them hope”, said Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, in his homily during mass celebrated in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, on the occasion of a special day of prayer for renewal of the faith in the Church in Ireland, and also for a renewal of hope in the face of widespread doom and gloom in Ireland as a whole. The day of prayer was called by the Irish Bishops’ Conference during its December plenary assembly, which gave rise to the statement “In helping each other, there is Hope” (14 December). In recalling the Pastoral Letter of Benedict XVI to the Catholics of Ireland, Cardinal Brady spoke in his homily of “the great tribulations to which we have been exposed during the past year”. “We ask for the grace to accept humiliation as an exhortation to truth and a call to renewal”, he added. Cardinal Brady exhorted Irish Catholics to seek “a new resoluteness in faith and in doing good”. This, he observed, “is also the moment to offer, with the Pope, heartfelt thanks to all those who work to help survivors [of abuse], in helping to restore their trust in the Church, and their capacity to believe her message”. England: good intentions for the New YearA cross in every room, fasting on Friday and the recitation of the Angelus: these are the good intentions for the new year that Catholics of England and Wales ought to adopt, according to the Catholic Primate and Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham and Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton. According to Archbishop Nichols it’s important for families to pray together also with sacred images. “Your home is a blessed place. God lives there”, said Nichols in a pastoral letter, “I’m sure there are signs of this presence that serve to remind us of our wider family, the Church”. For his part Archbishop Peter Smith of Southwark invited Catholics to welcome in church those families that are suffering on account of separation or divorce, for whom, he said, “we ought to have greater love and respect”.
