CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Scotland: “sectarian attacks” against CatholicsCatholics attacked in Scotland because of their faith: this was reported by mgr. Philip Tartaglia, president of the Scottish Bishops’ Communication Conference. “This is a very worrying fact”, he states in a release, in which he comments on the latest figures published by the government about religion-based racism. “Although they account for just 16% of the population, 60% of sectarian attacks are directed against Catholics, a figure that has a negative impact on modern Scotland and means that systematic hostility against them has reached worrying proportions”. A hostility which is also fuelled by sports, for example football: religious rivalry between Catholic fans of Glasgow’s Celtic team and Protestant Rangers fans is well-known. However, the report just published by the government shows that just 13% of such sectarian violence happened near a football stadium, so, mgr. Tartaglia explains, “it’s not all football-related. The Church and the public authorities must make more efforts to eradicate religious intolerance”. The report was edited by the “Crown office”, Scotland’s Public Prosecutor Office, which reports to the Scottish Parliament, and covers the two years 2010-2011, during which 693 cases of religion-related attacks were reported, the highest number in the last four years. 58% of such attacks, i.e. 400, were directed against Catholics and 37%, i.e. 253, against Protestants, 2.3% against Jews, and 2.1% against Muslims. Most of such accidents, 95% of which involved young men, 58% aged between 16 and 30, took place in Western Scotland, over one half in Glasgow.Belarus: the Churches in the service of those in needAn international ecumenical conference “The Church in the Service of the Needy: Possibilities of Cooperation with Secular Organizations” took place on 16-19 November at the Johannes Rau International Educational Center in Minsk, Belarus. It was attended by the representatives of Roman Catholic Church, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, Evangelical Lutheran Church, representatives of the United Nations, the Belarusian government, and social and humanitarian organizations that are devoted to serving the needy. According to organisers, indepth reports were given on topics like “Social service in Belarus”, “Church and business: Ways of cooperation”, “Social responsibility of Churches” and “Partnership – state, business and Church”. Participants also shared their personal experiences of social services in Poland, Ukraine and Germany. The conference was organised by the international group “Reconciliation – The Task of Churches in Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Germany”. Purpose of this body established in 1996 is to discuss actual problems of modernity and cooperation in solving social and religious problems.Germany: Missio and “Arab spring”Only the poorest remain: it is the situation of Christians in many Countries of the Middle East involved in the Arab Spring according to Ottmar Oehring, Middle East expert for the organization Missio, interviewed by the German Catholic news agency KNA in Aachen. Oehring, upon his return from a conference of MEPs and Church dignitaries held a few days ago in Beirut, reported on the riots in Syria, and underlined that “obviously no Christian wishes a government of Islamists”. However, in Syria they are not as strong as they are in Egypt, since they were harshly persecuted in the past. To date there have been no signs of antichristian campaigns”. For Oehring, “the attention is now focused on Syria, as the unfolding of events may have serious repercussions on Lebanon’s politics”. “The Christian population, mostly consisting in Maronite Christians, are equally divided between supporters and opponents of the Hisbollah. Also in Lebanon the general atmosphere is that of the end of an era”. In Iraq the situation is even worse: “Each week some 50 to 100 families leave Iraq headed towards Syria. Those who remain are too poor to afford expatriation costs. The positive aspect is that sometimes Christians are protected by the Islamic majority population, although the situation is different from one area to the next”.Hungary: a decree for the registration of ChurchesHungarian minister of justice Tibor Navracsics will issue a decree on the regulation process of registration of Churches and religious communities in Hungary by the end of this year. According to the daily newspaper Magyar Hirlap, the decree will specify technical and other details regarding the applications and their processing. The document is expected to be enforced this year. Evaluations and decisions concerning applications submitted by the Churches for registration should follow after the decree comes into effect. Hungarian parliament approved new law on Churches and religious communities on 12 July this year, reducing number of those officially registered and supported by the state from 358 to only 14. Possibility of additional application remains open to all the Churches that have lost their registration, 8 religious communities have taken this chance so far. According to Laszlo Szasfalvi, the state secretary for religious affairs, their applications could be considered by the parliament during its autumn session. They will need votes of two thirds of lawmakers to be registered as a Church or religious community.
