France, Belgium, Portugal

France: the bishops’ plenary opens in LourdesThe plenary assembly of the French Bishops’ Conference opens today in Lourdes (ongoing until November 9). During the meeting the Episcopal commissions and councils will elect the new president. In his opening remarks the Archbishop of Paris, CEF president, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, might tackle topical issues in France such as the 2012 national elections or the G20 in Cannes. In a release the prelates state that during the plenary they will take stock of the reflections of the Episcopal committees on “Environment and Ecology”, “Sunday meetings”, “Internet”, with special focus on ethical and social issues. A summary of the findings of the questionnaire filled out by the ecclesiastic province will be presented In view of the upcoming Synod of the Bishops on The New Evangelization and the transmission of the Christian Faith (Rome – October 2012). CEF members will select participants in the Synod along with Msgr. Pierre-Marie Carré, archbishop of Montpellier, appointed special secretary by Benedict XVI on 22 October. The themes of “psychological and spiritual” aspects, along with “consecrated life in the diocese” will also be addressed by the prelates. The meeting will provide an opportunity to draw a balance of the WYD in Madrid and of the Families 2011 initiative launched in November 2010. Having been invited to intervene in the plenary, writer and journalist “Jean-Claude Guillebaud will address “the questions of contemporary life”.Belgium: being reconciled means being convertedIn the framework of the second year dedicated to the sacraments, the CIPL (Inter-diocesan Commission of pastoral liturgy) will open the autumn season in Belgium with three proposals dedicated to the theme of reconciliation. On November 12, in the framework of the Liturgy School Saturdays, will be held the first meeting on “Letting ourselves be reconciled with reconciliation” at the St. Marie de Jambes institute in Brussels, followed by two meetings scheduled to take place on February 11 and on May 5 2012. “Forgotten, unloved, unknown…this sacrament sometimes seems doomed to oblivion – the promoters explain -, however, being reconciled means conversion. It is the fountainhead of our faith, the very essence of the sacrament of baptism. To rediscover the rite of reconciliation” means becoming reconciled “with oneself, with others, with God”. The colloquium “Daring the sacraments”, conducted by father Loius-Marie Chauvet, theologian, at the Institut Catholique de Paris, author of numerous works on the sacraments and pastoral care, will be held a week later, on November 18-19 in Mont de la Salle (Ciney). The first day will tackle general questions on how to live the faith and the sacraments in a secularised world and how to speak of God’s grace to our contemporaries. The second day will focus on the sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism, Christening, Eucharist) and on the accompaniment of the “beginners” and the “re-beginners”. Finally, CIPL announced the upcoming publication of the dossier “Being reconciled with reconciliation”, five proposals to “enter” the penitential rite.Portugal: families’ debts raise concernThe Social Solidarity Fund (Fss), created in 2010 by the Portuguese Bishops Conference (Cep), has helped 1290 families so far, allocating over 330 thousand euros in support of those most seriously indebted. In a notice, the 38 leaders of the 11 Portuguese dioceses, gathered in Fatima, expressed deep concern for “the difficulties of many families who, in order to face up to the debts they have incurred, have part of their wages confiscated so they can have no access whatsoever to any public support”. The document is focussed on the “substantial debts incurred in order to pay the rent, to repay the mortgage, to pay electricity, water and gas bills”, as well as the debts “incurred for emergencies, such as people’s health problems or for their children’s education and schooling”. Despite the support they provide, the diocesan leaders speak of very serious situations, which can even become unsurpassable due to the impoverishment caused by rising unemployment, that according to Eurostat rose to 12.5% in September: “in such conditions, young people are those hit hardest: in addition to psychological consequences, many of them have to go back and live with their parents, but the repercussions of the crisis also result in the isolation and abuse of elderly people, who do not have the courage to report such abuse”. Finally, the notice also speaks of the social exclusion experienced “by the immigrant students from Portuguese-speaking countries, who have been left with no means of subsistence, and the hundreds of fellow countrymen who live in Spain, who have even been deprived of the right to resort to subsidies for the unemployed”.