CHURCHES IN BRIEF
Ukraine: no of the parliament to Church-State relationsThe Supreme Council of Ukraine rejected last week the Draft Resolution 9486 on conducting the parliamentary hearings regarding condition of the Church-state relations in Ukraine, reported the Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF), adding that only 12 deputies voted in favour of this initiative. In the beginning, co-author of the resolution Volodymyr Marushchenko of the Christian Democratic Union asked to postpone the consideration of the question to continue political consultations. The proposal, however, did not find sufficient support. As the deputy presented the draft resolution, he stressed that the parliamentary hearing “would indicate the attention of the supreme legislative body and Ukrainian state on the whole to the questions of development of Church-state relations and protection of the freedom of worship”. The initiative has been strongly supported by the All-Ukrainian council of Churches and religious organizations, emphasizing that such hearings would allow representatives of the confessions to present directly to people’s deputies their joint position regarding the approaches to the improvement of the legislation of Ukraine in the area of the freedom of worship and the activity of religious organizations”. “It is about the role of the state in regard to regulation of current issues in the Church environment. And these questions are not ripe. We haven’t discussed them in this hall”, stressed another co-author of the initiative, Volodymyr Stretovych. According to the IRF, the Committee on Culture and Spirituality was against the initiative. Representative of the Communist fraction, Kateryna Samoilyk, also strongly objected to a discussion on matters related to the Church and religion, referring to the constitutional principle of seperation between Church and state. She was supported by the deputy head of the Party of Regions faction, Vadym Kolesnichenko, who expressed an opinion that “the questions of the interdenominational relations should not be considered in the Parliament”.Germany: churches must remain places of worshipDuring the traditional New Year’s meeting with the faithful and with representatives of the political, ecclesiastic and social realms, held in Bamberg on January 14, the Archbishop of the Bavarian city, Msgr. Ludwig Schick called for the moral and ethical renewal of society. In his speech the archbishop said that “the Dome of Bamberg and all churches should remain places of Christian faith, today as in the future”, and directly conveyed his opposition to the recent proposal of making a different use of the dome, underlining the deterioration of the churches and the chapels in the area of the archdiocese. “As Christians we can and must develop greater cohesion and the greater involvement in the Gospel proclamation, celebrations and social commitments. In this year we need to become more holy, authentic and active”, he said. Msgr. Schick highlighted the importance of cardinal virtues and of other virtues for the renewal of society and the role of the Church in this process. The meeting was attended by some 1300 people, including the Minister of the Interior of Bavaria Joachim Herrmann, members of the Bundestag and of the Bavarian parliament.Slovakia: “40 days” for LentTo experience the Lent in untraditional way, is the main purpose of the internet project “40 days” supported by the media grant of the Bishops’ conference of Slovakia. Its third edition will offer a website www.40dni.sk, with relevant passages of the Gospel for each day with meditation, quizes, songs, picture presentation of life in the parishes, as well as answers to the questions regarding the Lenten period. Special attention will be drawn to the education of children, with painting books of the Way of the Cross and rosary prayers with meditations. “Through internet, we can turn to young people who need to be guided in regard to the right use of this type of media. For this reason, one day a week the website will be offline, to inspire its visitors to spend their time in a real world, to pay attention to the people around them and build true relationships”, explains coordinator of the project, Catholic priest Stefan Hyross, adding that the initiative offers opportunity for education, reflections on various aspect of the Lent and sharing of personal experiences.
