Lees ons Jaarverslag 2011 en bezoek enkele van onze projecten:
* Aid to Victims of Prostitution and Human Trafficking (Caritas Litouwen)
* European Society of Women in Theological Research (theologiestudie)
* Pastoral Care in Prison System of Ukraine (Grieks-katholieke kerk)
* Romanian Conference of Women Major Superiors (zustercongregaties)
En voor nieuws uit de regio, zie links – nieuws.
May
09
Back in the USSR
Four days ago I returned from a trip to Ukraine. Even if this was my fifteenth or so visit since 1996, it was a great experience and it is really amazing to see how much the country has changed. Back in 1996 Ukraine was a dreary place with few colours and just a handful of cars on the streets. Probably, the country looked very much similar to what it was before the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. This situation has changed completely. Continue reading
Mar
12
Church Fiction
The library of Communicantes contains a nice collection of books, many of which date back to the Cold War era. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, they became obsolete and started a new life as historical source. Recently, however, I came across an interesting 1983 publication by the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate: The Lvov Church Council. Although it deals with a church council in 1946, actually the book hadn’t lost much of its relevance. Back then, seventy-odd years ago, it was decided to unite the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which was loyal to the Pope of Rome since 1596, with the Russian Orthodox Church. In Greek Catholic circles this church meeting was dubbed ‘pseudo-council’, because it was not a spontaneous popular initiative at all, but a well-orchestrated KGB-secret service operation, instigated by the communist leadership in Moscow. Continue reading
Feb
21
Holocaust 2: Too Tenderly
This post discusses the way in which some scholars deal with the issue of the Roman Catholic Church and the holocaust between 1941 and 1945.
It has been said that Pope Pius XII was an anti-Semite, that he did not care for the plight of the Jews, that he was not a decisive pope, or that he did not speak out enough on behalf of the persecuted Jews. On the contrary, scholars, Roman Catholics and non-believers say that Pope Pius XII did exactly what was needed and possible in those days of war and destruction. Personally, I don’t think that this Pope was an anti-Semite or that he was insensitive, but if we look at how the Roman Catholic Church acted and reacted to the holocaust at the local level, it is not so very clear how Pius XII managed his Church during WWII. Sometimes authors rather leave difficult questions like these aside. Continue reading
Feb
09
A Blessed Euro 2012
The European Football Championship “Euro 2012” kicks off on 8 June 2012 with Poland-Greece at the National Stadium in Warsaw and finishes on 1 July at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. Matches will be played in Poland and in Ukraine. Church circles as well have taken vivid interest in the event that will draw crowds of football fans to the cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Lviv in Ukraine and Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw en Wroclaw in Poland. Continue reading