CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Austria: bishop rejects artificial inseminationThe Bishop of St. Pölten, Klaus Küng, has expressed his own opposition to the annulment of the ban on artificial insemination for single women and lesbian couples. In a communiqué carried by the Austrian Catholic press agency Kathpress on 17 April, the bishop emphasized that "each child has the right to have a mother and a father", a right that "cannot be denied to the child in a planned and deliberate manner". Moreover, continued Bishop Küng, "the whole field of artificial fecundation conceals many delicate problems, such as the health and well-being of the child"; "this measure ought not to be taken before similar issues are more thoroughly investigated". The bishop expressed his view after the position expressed by the Commission of Bioethics on 17 April on the admission of single women and homosexual couples to the procedures of reproductive medicine, following the request made to it by Austria’s Constitutional Court. Of the 25 members of the Commission, 19 voted in favour of the abolition of the ban on the basis of the principle of the right to reproduction. The members in favour, including the Evangelical theologian Ulrich Körtner, declared that "the desire to self-reproduction is of fundamental importance for people" and that any prohibition "curbs freedom in a particularly crucial sector". The members of the Commission who voted against the abolition, including the Catholic moral theologian Matthias Beck, though admitting that the right to reproduction is incontestable, explained that "the fact of being able to deduce from this right also the right to use any form of technical and medical support to procreate one’s own child needs to be critically evaluated". The members opposed to the elimination of the ban also pointed out the risk of heterologous pregnancy, which is prohibited by Austrian law, being abused as a result.Italy: bishops’ message for the Catholic University"In our time, impoverished by a marked retreat to the private dimension and dominated by selfish forms of technocratic individualism, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, faithful to its own roots, is placed in the vanguard as a cultural and educational institution aimed at forming capable and convinced protagonists of the civilization of love". So says a message issued by the presidency of the Italian Bishops’ Conference to mark the 88th Day for the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, which will be celebrated on 22 April on the theme "The future of the country in the heart of the young". "It’s not an easy thing. In a society no longer characterized by the recognition of common values continues the message -, the educational relation tends to take the form not as the communication of consolidated truths, but as a purely informative relation, distinguished by formal tolerance and weak proximity. At the same time, in the family context the educational capacity is encountering difficulties and tends to relinquish, or delegate, its task; schools are increasingly becoming a crowded crossroads of dispersed forms of pluralism and cultural anonymity; the schoolteacher risks being no longer an exemplary model, but a mere functional operator in the teaching of skills". On the other hand, says the message, "the crisis of the enlightenment trust in reason does not promise convincing results, neither on the ethical/value-based level however much proclaimed and aspired to by many (the so-called return to ethics) , nor on the specifically educational level".Ireland: "Alpha" courses at the congress in DublinDuring the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, due to be held from 10 to 17 June (www.iec2012.ie), the "Alpha" method will be used. Alpha is a parish tool for evangelization which provides people with a practical introduction to the Christian faith. Alpha’s involvement in the Congress programme has been announced by the Congress organization, adding that in the days of the event young people, in particular, will be invited to join "Alpha" mini-courses in the special "Chiara Luce Youth Space"; these are morning or afternoon sessions during which, after a brief introduction by a course leader to some basic questions about the Christian faith ("How and why should I pray?", "Why should I read the Bible?", etc.), the participants will be divided into groups and invited to discuss these questions among each other. On 14 June Nicky Gumbel, vicar of the Anglican church of Holy Trinity Brompton, in central London, and pioneer of "Alpha" courses, a 15-session introduction to the Christian faith, will intervene in the meeting (part of the IEC) dedicated to "Communion in our common Baptism". "Alpha" is now being used in 60,000 churches of different denominations including Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. Introduced in 1993, the Alpha tool has also been diffused in Catholic parishes in 65 different countries and has the support of Cardinal Marc Oullet, pontifical legate at the Congress, according to whom "Alpha brings people closer and helps them to find that power which unites. The Alpha experience he says is not only a means through which one finds true life, but also a way to share the good news of the Living Christ. It paves the way for reconciliation and is a symbol of hope for Christian unity".
