Making barren lands bountiful

Comissão dos Episcopados da União Europeia

“Construir a casa Europa”Declaração dos bispos da COMECE1em ordem às eleições europeias dos dias 4 a 7 de Junho de 2009

1 - As eleições europeias: uma oportunidade para construir uma Europa melhor Depois de 64 anos de desenvolvimento pacífico e 20 anos após a queda de Cortina de Ferro, que pôs termo à divisão do continente, o processo de integração europeia merece ser apreciado, apesar de algumas lacunas. É por isso que nós, os bispos da COMECE, apoiamos e promovemos a União Europeia como um projecto de esperança para todos os seus cidadãos.

Mesmo nestes tempos de incertezas devidas à crise financeira e económica, a União Europeia provou ser um porto de abrigo que se esforça por preservar a estabilidade e a solidariedade entre os seus membros. Hoje, em 2009, a União Europeia guarda em si a capacidade e os meios para responder aos desafios mais urgentes e mais prementes do nosso tempo.

Ao participarem na eleição do Parlamento Europeu, todos os cidadãos têm a possibilidade de contribuir para o desenvolvimento e para a melhoria da União Europeia.

2 – A participação nas eleições: um direito e uma responsabilidade

A Igreja Católica apoiou desde o início o projecto de integração europeia e continua a apoiá-lo hoje. Todo o cristão tem não só o direito mas igualmente a responsabilidade de se comprometer activamente neste projecto exercendo o seu direito.

A participação dos cristãos é essencial para redescobrir a « alma da Europa », vital para responder às necessidades fundamentais da pessoa humana e para o serviço do bem comum.

O Parlamento Europeu, utilizando os seus poderes e as suas competências (que serão ainda reforçados em consequência da ratificação do Tratado de Lisboa), deve contribuir para responder a essas aspirações e objectivos.

3 – O que os cristãos esperam do Parlamento Europeu: Os princípios fundamentais de qualquer sociedade são a dignidade humana e a promoção do bem comum. É por isso que estes princípios se devem encontrar no próprio coração de todas as políticas da união Europeia.

Tendo em consideração o considerável papel desempenhado pelo Parlamento Europeu, esperamos que os seus membros participem e contribuam activamente para - respeitar a vida humana desde a concepção à morte natural – parte integrante das legislações, programas e políticas da União Europeia ;

- apoiar a família fundada no casamento – entendido como união entre um homem e uma mulher – enquanto unidade base da sociedade ;

- promover os direitos sociais dos trabalhadores proporcionando-lhes condições de trabalho que respeitem a sua saúde, a sua segurança e a sua dignidade ;

- apoiar uma governação económica fundada em valores éticos que visem um desenvolvimento humano duradouro no seio da União Europeia e a nível mundial ;

-promover a justiça nas relações da União Europeia com os países em vias de desenvolvimento através de uma assistência financeira e de parcerias inovadoras ;

- dar provas de solidariedade pela elaboração de políticas de ajuda para com os mais fracos e os mais necessitados das nossas sociedades (em particular, as pessoas com deficiência, os que pedem asilo e os imigrados) ;

- proteger a Criação através da luta contra as mudanças climáticas e do encorajamento de um estilo de vida assente na moderação ;

- promover a paz no mundo com uma política externa da UE que seja coordenada e coerente.

Iluminados e guiados pelo ensinamento de Cristo, os cristãos estão disponíveis e desejosos de ajudar na satisfação destas aspirações, recordando a declaração de Sua Santidade o papa João Paulo II : « A inspiração cristã pode transformar o conjunto das componentes políticas, culturais e económicas numa convivialidade em que todos os Europeus se sintam em sua casa » (Ecclesia in Europa, 121).

1 Comissão dos Episcopados da União Europeia

Lerner/Dershowitz mini-debate""

To view the Lerner/Dershowitz debate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPVc8esnF1M

Viewer guide:
Combine the many times Dershowitz talked over Lerner, making it impossible to hear some of Lerner's points, with the tiny amount of time given by the format of the CNN show, and you can understand why Rabbi Lerner was unable to make some of the key points he came prepared to make: 1. Lerner's attempt to present the Domestic and Global Marshall Plan 2.Lerner's attempt to say that Israel needed "tough love" but done in a way that recognized that both sides have been victims of post traumatic stress disorder and cannot be ordered around by the U.S. without negative consequences. That why Lerner agrees that "getting tough" is not the right way to frame a policy that would hope to get Israel to end the Occupation. Israel and Jews, like the Palestinians, need to be treated with care and respect and generosity even as it is pushed toward the only possible solution (put forward in detail in Tikkun). 3. That both sides have been suffering, but that in the last forty-one years the suffering of the Palestinian people has been far greater and deserves immediate care and attention, though acts of terror against Israeli civilians must stop immediately as well. Nor does the video of the segment from Campbell Brown show the conversations which Rabbi Lerner had with the producers at CNN who assured Rabbi Lerner that they would not allow Dershowitz to make personal attacks on Lerner, such as the ones he then proceeded to make during the show. Rabbi Lerner chose to ignore the personal attacks and try to use the tiny little bit of time available to contrast the NSP/Tikkun approach--the strategy of generosity--with that of the mainstream policy shapers and public opinion shapers in both countries who rely on various forms of soft or hard power and domination as the way to achieve peace and homeland security. Similarly, there was no time available for Lerner to answer the misrepresentation that Dershowitz made about a. Lerner's position on North Korea and Iran b. The notion that Israel would face genocide were it to lay down its arms c. the reality of what happened and what was offered to the Palestinians at Camp David (see articles by Jerome Slater in Tikkun that decisively refute Dershowitz' claims). There is a legitimate case to be made that Rabbi Lerner should not engage in this kind of debate on television, since the very limited amount that can be said often makes our position look vulgar or mistaken or one-dimensional. On the other hand, the many emails that Rabbi Lerner received from people we did not previously know thanking Rabbi Lerner for articulating a peace-oriented perspective may strengthen the argument of those who say that even though Rabbi Lerner himself will look less profound and less a spiritiual leader when he appears in this kind of debate format, the spreading of the message that there are voices with this level of ethical and spiritual concern is itself a "kiddush hashem" (sanctification of God's name) that should be embraced whenever possible. Rabbi Lerner reported feeling sad afterwards that the discussion was so superficial, that it was so unpleasant to be talking to someone who unashamedly misrepresents or distorts the relevant facts, and that the spiritual message frequently gets glossed over in this kind of a context. What do YOU think? Answer this only after you watch the segment. to RabbiLerner@tikkun.org

new - integralecology.org

http://www.integralecology.org/source

ler, ver e ouvir
to read, see and listen

Encontro Verde - Green Gathering - Tábua Portugal

"Encontro Verde na Quinta Cabeça do Mato

Vai ter lugar de 10 a 13 de Abril (fim-de-semana da Páscoa) a quinta edição do "Encontro Verde" na Quinta Cabeça do Mato, na Freguesia de Ázere, Concelho de Tábua.

Este será um espaço e tempo de confraternização, celebração e de aprendizagens para realização de estilos de vida social e ecologicamente sustentáveis.

Durante os quatro dias serão oferecidas cerca de 32 oficinas práticas sobre diversos temas com vista à realização de percursos de vida mais saudáveis ao nível individual, social e ambiental.

A entrada é livre mas recomenda-se a inscrição prévia para quem desejar tomar as refeições vegetarianas preparadas no local (almoço e jantar).

Mais informações podem ser obtidas no sítio internet do Encontro em http://encontroverde.wordpress.com/ e pelo e-mail encontroverde@gmail.com"

Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute

http://www.c-fam.org/

Mission Statement

C-FAM's Mission

To defend life and family at international institutions and to publicize the debate.

C-FAM's Vision

The preservation of international law by discrediting socially radical policies at the United Nations and other international institutions.

C-FAM's Core Values

• Fidelity to the teachings
  of the Church
• Perseverance
• Professionalism
• Truth telling

"As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable. Among these the following emerge clearly today:

- protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;

- recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defense from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;

- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children.

These principles are not truths of faith, even though they receive further light and confirmation from faith; they are inscribed in human nature itself and therefore they are common to all humanity. The Church's action in promoting them is therefore not confessional in character, but is addressed to all people, prescinding from any religious affiliation they may have. On the contrary, such action is all the more necessary the more these principles are denied or misunderstood, because this constitutes an offence against the truth of the human person, a grave wound inflicted onto justice itself."

Pope Benedict XVI, 2006

European Christian Party
Abandons Pro-Life
and Pro-Family Positions

by Susan Yoshihara and Katharina Rothweiler

(NEW YORK – C-FAM) The European Parliament's largest umbrella group backed away from its strong pro-life and pro-family positions in a new draft position statement for the 2009 European elections. Members of the mainly Christian Democrat group pushed back last week with a host of amendments aimed at restoring the organization's traditional role of safeguarding human life and the family at the European Parliament.

In a position statement released in January entitled "Draft EPP Election Document 2009," the European People's Party (EPP) removed some bedrock principles supporting traditional marriage and human life found in their 2004 position statement. The EPP is the largest group in the European Parliament with 288 members from 74 coalition parties, primarily Christian Democrat Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Members of the EPP will use the final version of the statement in the course of campaigning in the upcoming continent-wide elections, scheduled for the 4th through 7th of June.

According to the IONA Institute, an Ireland-based pro-life and pro-family non-governmental organization, the EPP dropped explicit opposition to "euthanasia, eugenics, human cloning" which it opposed in its 2004 statement, while retaining language defending "human life in all its forms (including embryos) and at all stages; to respect the human dignity in medical and genetic advancements." Similarly, the 2004 EPP document urged the European Union (EU) not to fund "biotechnological practices that are illegal to Member states," such as the current practice of the EU to fund embryonic stem-cell research.

The EPP's 2009 statement is also weaker on the protection of the traditional family, IONA says. Whereas the 2004 document pointed to the institution of marriage as a "unique tie of man and woman," the phrase was deleted from the 2009 draft text. Conversely, in its discussion of the “demographic winter” in Europe -- a graying population having too few children -- the new text adds a proposal that EU member states change national policies to recognize "the growing diversity in family relationships," a phrase conservatives warn can be interpreted to include homosexual "marriage."

National parties represented in the EPP have submitted proposed amendments to the text. A copy of proposed amendments obtained by the Friday Fax aims at restoring the strong pro-life and pro-family language deleted since the 2004 EPP statement. For example, one party proposes restoring references to protecting human dignity through a proper understanding of subsidiarity, a principle whereby decisions are made at the level closest to those affected by policy, and not by unaccountable bureaucrats and committees in Brussels.

Another proposed amendment focuses on replacing secular-humanist language in the 2009 text with explicit reference to Europe's Judeo-Christian heritage, arguing that while "there are of course other philosophical and political trends in Europe," it is through the Christian Democrats that "the Christian inspiration [of European culture] must be declared."

Final approval of text is scheduled for March 29th in Warsaw. Given the venue, the role of the Polish MEPs is thought to be pivotal and they are expected to lobby for a return to strong pro-life and pro-family statements.

Editor in Chief – Austin Ruse
Managing Editor – Piero Tozzi
Assistant Managing Editor – Hannah Russo
Chief Correspondent – Samantha Singson
Contributors – Susan Yoshihara / Katharina Rothweiler

“…If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”

http://www.bellamoviesite.com/