To begin just today by talking about the fact that society is sick may seem a detail of bad taste or a tremendous obviousness. But the fact is that the illnesses of human beings depend more on their freedom than on viruses; and freedom is subject to the frightening force of gravity of selfishness, which usually does not allow the voice that wants to direct us in the opposite direction to be heard (and which is not a force but just that: a voice, a holy voice). The arrival of a new virus gives rise to new and old forms of selfishness, but perhaps it also gives us the opportunity to recover pieces of reality that are usually lost, to put the plants back on solid ground?

In this environment, the Repair Commission continues to attend, albeit by telephone and through Skypeanother kind of horrible pollution. It has only been in operation for two months and is already showing health effects, modest from a certain perspective, but immense if truly understood.

Any good person, even if full of defects and miseries in many ways, feels (and not only feels, but also understands) sexual abuse and especially pederasty as a horror and a crime. If she also considers them within the family, in the places of formation of young people, or as acts of a religious or a cleric (or a nun) violating someone whom he or she subdues at the same time, it is difficult not to feel nauseated. Christianity is following and identifying with the purest and most intense love, with that which most decisively and deeply helps to promote freedom and all that is best in the human being; but under the cloak of this religion - of this way of living, in fact - there are cases - suddenly, in many places, many cases - of the most violent invasion of consciences and violation of bodies. Innocence is destroyed, the meaning of relationships between people is perverted, wounds are inflicted that last much longer than the statute of limitations of the crimes contemplated in the penal codes of any country.

Justice, full reparation

It is first necessary to represent this horror, this monstrous contradiction, so that the eagerness to place the victim (in the singular, not as a mere case of something general for which there will always be an impersonal protocol of treatment) at the center of the efforts of healing and reconstruction does not seem for an instant an inquisitorial taking of sides with respect to the figure, also fully individual, of the abuser. If in the face of so much cover-up and so much silence we do not all fill ourselves first with shame and desire for justice (if not directly with repentance), we will not be truly objective.

It is necessary to look at the Repair Commission with these eyes. Of course, this is how the person whom the Archbishop of Madrid has placed as the person in charge and coordinator of the project sees it and lives it. That is why he did not hesitate to accept the assignment, as soon as he saw the sincerity with which he was asked to do this work and the excellent people who could make up the core of his team. 

Reparation means recognition of the situation, in order to be able to help cure it, that is, to prevent it from being prolonged, renewed and continuing to be silently ill. For this, we must attend in a very concrete and personal way to each victim -if only the perpetrators would also come to heal and we could help them-, and aspire to recovery, to full reparation, even in the ideal extreme case, to reconciliation, to the so-called restorative justice. Through it, the victim rebuilds her bonds with herself and with others and manages to leave behind, if not her scars, then her bleeding wounds; at the same time, the abuser at least does not repeat his violence and, again in the ideal case, rebuilds himself and (re)establishes fair and healthy relationships with others.

Open to the whole society

The Archbishopric of Madrid is at the service of the whole city. Since it is finally inaugurating this commission, and thus helping to put hope in its rightful place of privilege, it does not want to and should not limit itself to attending to those who have been victims of ordained and religious or who have experienced abuse in environments whose security should have been guaranteed by some ecclesiastical institution. And since sexual abuse is often a means of particular violence used by the abuse of power and conscience, all this extension has to be considered in the work of the Repair Commission. We will welcome any victim, any aggrieved person.

Let it be perfectly clear: here there is no shadow of complicity or cover-up with the abuse. It is very understandable that the victim of an ecclesiastic distrusts an ecclesiastic office that offers to assist him; but as regards the coordinator of Repair (and not only him, but the entire team at the head of the commission), will not admit even a shadow of obscure handling of any case.

Support in all senses of the word

The victim will be accompanied in every way he/she needs. They will be offered, above all, empathetic listening, psychological care, canonical and civil legal services, spiritual care. The victim will have recourse to psychologists (or psychiatrists) and jurists who, if necessary, will be entirely outside the structures of the archdiocese. All this should be free of charge (the Porticus Foundation has committed its financial support).

But there is another area of the commission's work that looks to the future: our own training programs, in interaction with those already underway in Madrid. We hope to be able to launch them before the summer, physical miasmas permitting. Those who follow them will get a Seal Repairs that accredits this training. 

On the other hand, in addition to completing and specializing the formation of listeners, it is also very important to strengthen as much as possible the preparation of future ordained members and future religious men and women. Only a careful exercise of affective education, the integration of sex in the celibate life and a proper understanding of ecclesiastical ministries will form an effective barrier against the spread of this infection.

I can assure you that those of us who have begun the task do so with great enthusiasm and genuine hope. Some of us who are only parents, teachers, therapists or lay jurists see that the struggle we have undertaken makes us live much more comfortably than before in Christian communion and universal human brotherhood.

Repara Commission: email: [email protected], tfno. 618 30 36 66.

Diocesan complaints offices by May 31

-text Francisco Otamendi

Only the coronavirus could prevent practically all Spanish dioceses from having an office in place by May 31 to receive reports of sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people, as established by the motu proprio of Pope Francis Vos estis lux mundi. 

According to the secretary general and spokesman of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), Bishop Luis Argüello, who reported on these offices at the conclusion of the bishops' plenary assembly in early March, the only dioceses that did not comply with the requirement at that date were some in Catalonia, and he announced that they would do so in the coming weeks, because they had preferred to wait for the assembly to be held. 

The dioceses of the ecclesiastical provinces of Pamplona and Tudela, Santiago de Compostela and Valladolid have opted for a metropolitan office for all the circumscribed dioceses, as has the Archbishopric of Castrense in Spain.

On the other hand, those corresponding to the ecclesiastical provinces of Burgos, Granada, Madrid, Mérida-Badajoz, Oviedo, Toledo and Valencia have agreed to organize their own diocesan offices.

The ecclesiastical province of Seville has also set up a metropolitan office for the archdiocese, to which have been added the suffragan offices of Cadiz and Ceuta, and Huelva. The dioceses of Asidonia-Jerez, the Canary Islands, Cordoba and Tenerife have opted to set up their own diocesan offices.

Bishop Argüello reported that although the Pope's norm establishes a minimum to be fulfilled, the reception of complaints, the reality shows that in many cases "These offices are also looking into the possibility of accompanying the victims". And he gave as an example the project Repairof the Archdiocese of Madrid: "Repara, in addition to contemplating the office, offers many, many more possibilities." he pointed out, as seen on this same page in the article by its coordinator, Miguel García-Baró. The secretary general confirmed that the Episcopal Conference will not have its own office, but has committed itself to carry out a service of "communion and liaison" between the various offices and the Tribunal of the Roman Rota if necessary.

CEE and CONFER, walking together

In January, the EEC and the Spanish Confederation of Religious (CONFER), together with Catholic Schools, held a conference on the following topics Abuse of power, conscience and sexual abusein which they carried out "A call for us to walk together. A path of prevention, with the victims, training. We have to put on the table what is already there and from there learn together and help each other".Luis Argüello.

At the opening ceremony, the president of CONFER, Mariña Ríos, expressed the "We want to help each other to do it properly. We are affected not only as this or that institution, but as the Church. And as a Church we have to put the necessary means to face the situations that have arisen, to guarantee and work together".

José María Alvira, secretary general of Catholic Schools, expressed his dismay at the abuses, and stressed the same idea: we must be clear about the universality of this scourge, and collaborate: "We are concerned about abuse in society as a whole. The objective of the Church is to listen to, protect, protect and care for abused minors wherever they are. The Church has to be above controversy. The time has come to work together".

The main education employers' associations in Spain have been asking the government and the parliamentary arc for moderation and dialogue these weeks in view of the announcement of the draft education law that will replace the current one (LOMCE). On the 25th, both Catholic Schools (EC) as the Spanish Confederation of Educational Centers (CECE) issued separate communiqués after meeting separately with the Minister of Education, Isabel Celaá, who had appeared before the Education Committee of the Congress of Deputies.

EC has appealed to the "moderation and wisdom of the entire parliamentary arc in the processing of the new education law".in order to "dialogue should prevail in order to reach a consensus law far from extreme positions". The directors of the employers' association, headed by its secretary general, José María Alvira, thanked the Education Minister for her visit, which "in his latest public interventions, he has recognized the positive role of the subsidized education that Escuelas Católicas represents", and have requested that "the new law should take into account the freedom of education and the role of parents in the education of their children, similar to what is already being done in most European Union countries.".

The representatives of EC have also expressed some specific demands of the sector regarding free high school, the education from 0 to 3 years also for subsidized centers, or that the new law does not allow the autonomous communities to "develop under its protection interventionist laws that harm a fundamental part of our educational system, as is the concerted education".

Avoid extreme positions 

In parallel, leaders of CECE with its president, Alfonso Aguiló, have conveyed in their meeting with the minister Celaá "The Ministry of Education has expressed its desire to collaborate in the drafting of the new law and its willingness to achieve consensus on the most sensitive issues that pose a risk to educational plurality. Our country needs laws that do not fall into extreme positions and that can remain in place for years, without turning upside down with every political change".. 

After thanking the minister for convening the meeting, the president of CECE requested that "do not legislate in a way that is harmful to the subsidized education system by taking refuge in the demands of its political partners or in data from the Community of Madrid that are being disseminated and that are not true".. CECE's directors insisted "They reiterated the sector's social commitment to the low-income and immigrant population, as well as to the inclusion of students with special needs, and reiterated the importance of basic regulations to protect the rights related to education throughout the State's territory.". The meeting also discussed "the attributions that the bill confers to the School Councils and what it means for the autonomy of the centers, as well as the need to find a satisfactory solution to the subject of Religion".

For his part, the president of the National Catholic Confederation of Parents of Students (Concapa), Pedro Caballero, recognizes that he is "alert". "We do not know if fundamental rights such as choosing our children's education are going to be violated, because in the agreement they talk about shielding the public school as the backbone of the education system, and we fear that what is not shielded on"he said.

In addition, Caballero questions the new government's announcements of "eliminate school segregation based on students' conditions of origin, special educational needs or gender."which is attributed to subsidized centers that offer differentiated education. "There is no segregation in this country, and if they think there is segregation, then they are not segregated.The Concapa president adds, "They are already taking too long to denounce. "Yes there is differentiated education, and it is supported by court rulings." Caballero points out.

Background

As Palabra reported in its December issue, confidence has not recovered in the sector after the well-known statements of the then government spokeswoman, Isabel Celaá, who lashed out against subsidized education and the rights of parents in the middle of the EC congress.

In her speech before two thousand people, the minister questioned the freedom of parents to choose an educational center and the religious or moral teaching they want for their children. She said exactly the following: "In no way can it be said that the right of parents to choose a religious education or to choose an educational center could be part of the freedom of education. Those facts, those of choosing centers, will be part of the rights that parents and mothers may have under the legal conditions to be determined, but they are not a strict emanation of the freedom recognized in Article 27 of the Spanish Constitution".

Celaá's words caused deep concern among the organizers of the event, EC, and in view of the Ministry's subsequent communiquéI wonder why this insistence on proving that the right of parents to choose a center is not a constitutional right. Are they considering restricting this right recognized in the socialist laws? said Luis Centeno, deputy general secretary of EC.

CECE, on the other hand, expressed its "concern about the intention of the Minister of Education to curtail the constitutional freedom of choice of educational center", and noted that "it is difficult to imagine freedom of education without freedom of school choice". He also cited Article 26.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "that parents shall have a preferential right to choose the type of education to be given to their children".

A global education pact

At the same time, as May 14 approaches, the date on which the Pope has convened in Rome a World Day on the need to weave a Global education pactFrancis refers more intensely to the objective of this meeting.

The most recent one was on the 20th. An educational revolution that will help humanity to be "more fraternal, more supportive, more inclusive.". This is what the Pope said in an address to the participants of the plenary session of the Congregation for Catholic Education in view of the May Day. 

Joining forces

"Never before." -said the Pontiff, "there has been so much need to join forces in a broad educational alliance to form mature people, capable of rebuilding the fabric of human relationships in the name of compassion and responsibility. But to achieve these goals requires courage. The courage to put the person at the center, the courage to form people willing to put themselves at the service of the community. An educational revolution that helps to find balance with oneself, with others, with nature and with the environment. God.

A few days earlier, on February 7, in an address to the forty participants in the seminar organized by the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences on Education: the global compact, the Holy Father expressed his joy at the fact that they are reflecting on this topic, given that today "It is necessary to join efforts to achieve a broad educational alliance with a view to forming mature people, capable of rebuilding the fabric of relationships and creating a more fraternal humanity.".

Alliances, agreements

In one way or another, the Pope uses with increasing insistence, when speaking of education, the terms covenant, alliance, agreements, joining efforts... In this seminar, his words underlined that "despite the goals and targets formulated by the United Nations and other agencies, and the significant efforts made by some countries, education remains unequal among the world's population".". He added: "Poverty, discrimination, climate change, the globalization of indifference, the reification of human beings wither the flourishing of millions of creatures. In fact, they represent for many an almost insurmountable wall that prevents the achievement of the objectives and goals of sustainable and guaranteed development that people have set for themselves".

The Pope went on to note that "educating is not only transmitting concepts, but it is a task that requires that all those responsible for the family, school and social, cultural and religious institutions become involved in it in solidarity", and that "to educate we must seek to integrate the language of the head with the language of the heart and the language of the hands.". 

A "broken" pact

The Pontiff emphasized in his speeches that "this educational pact, that between the family, the school, the country and the world, the culture and the cultures.", "today it is in crisis, it is broken".. "It's broken, and very broken." -said Francisco. "and it cannot be glued or recomposed, it cannot be darned, but through a renewed effort of generosity and universal agreement.". 

At the same time, he explained that the breakdown of the educational pact means that both society and the family, or the various institutions called upon to educate, delegate this decisive educational task to others, "thus evading the responsibility of the various basic institutions and the States themselves that have given up on this educational pact". 

Culture of encounter

"Only with greater involvement of families and local communities in educational projects." it will be possible to "to promote a culture of dialogue, encounter and mutual understanding, in a peaceful, respectful and tolerant manner. An education that enables to identify and foster true human values within an intercultural and interreligious perspective". 

To this end, "The family needs to be valued in the new educational pact, since its responsibility already begins in the womb, at the moment of birth. But mothers, fathers, grandparents, and the family as a whole, in their primary educational role, need help to understand, in the new global context, the importance of this early stage of life, and to be prepared to act accordingly." n

It would be necessary to establish a first clarification as to what is meant by "theological formation for the laity": in the criterion "laity" we will include those who are not preparing for ordained ministry, that is, also members of lay male institutes of consecrated life, as well as all women, whether or not they belong to an institute of consecrated life.

In terms of "theological formation", it is important to keep in mind that, in addition to the classical studies of Baccalaureatus in Theologia, Licentiatus in Theologia o Doctor in Theologia (the three academic cycles of Theology) there is a specific modality oriented to the formation of lay people who are going to carry out ecclesiastical tasks or offices such as the teaching of Religion, catechesis, formation of pastoral agents, etc. These studies, whose academic offerings are regulated by the Holy See (Congregation for Catholic Education) at the end of the 1980's, are called Scientiis Religiosis (Religious Sciences), consist of only two cycles (Baccalaureatus in Scientiis Religiosis y Licentiatus in Scientiis Religiosis), and are taught in Institutes of Higher Religious Sciences (ISCCRR) sponsored by the Faculties of Theology.

As the introduction to the Instruction for the Institutes of Religious Sciences (2008), "With the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, a lively interest in the study of theology and other sacred sciences intensified among the faithful - lay and religious - in order to enrich their Christian life with them, to be able to give a reason for their faith (cf. 1Pt 3:15), to exercise their apostolate fruitfully and to be able to collaborate with sacred ministers in their specific mission (cf. can. 229 §§1-2 CIC 1983). In the post-conciliar period, while the ecclesiastical Faculties, which already had a long-standing tradition, have been shaped by the In accordance with the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Sapientia christiana (1979), the need to ensure an adequate formation of the lay faithful by means of specific modalities has become increasingly important in the Church".

 The arduous task of training

In this regard, it is worth recalling what the Council said in this regard: "The Church expects much from the diligence of the faculties of sacred sciences. For to them she entrusts the very serious task of forming her own students, not only for the priestly ministry, but above all for teaching in ecclesiastical centers of higher studies, for scientific research, or for carrying out the most arduous functions of the intellectual apostolate. To these faculties also belongs the task of conducting in-depth research in the various fields of the sacred disciplines in such a way as to attain an ever deeper understanding of Sacred Revelation, to discover more fully the patrimony of Christian wisdom handed down by our elders, to promote dialogue with our separated brethren and with non-Christians, and to respond to the problems raised by the progress of the sciences. For this reason, the ecclesiastical faculties, once their laws have been duly recognized, should promote with great diligence the sacred sciences and those related to them, and, making use of the most modern methods and means, should train students for the most profound research." (cfr. Gravissimum Educationis on Christian Education, n. 11)

Growing number of students

It is, therefore, since the Second Vatican Council when the laity first gained access to ecclesiastical studies in the Faculties of Theology, their presence in the classrooms always being a minority compared to those preparing for Holy Orders. However, since the last decade of the 20th century, with the emergence of Religious Sciences as a specific formation for the laity, the total number of students in the ISCCRR has tripled the total number of students enrolled in the Faculties of Theology, although there is also a significant presence of lay people in the latter.

It is certainly important that this theological formation exists, both for what it supposes in terms of systematic reflection and in order to be able to dialogue with the current culture. Moreover, for more than a decade, the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) has established as a requirement for teaching Religion in Secondary and Baccalaureate classes to have attained at least the academic degree of Baccalaureatus in Scientiis Religiosis and have specific pedagogical training for the teaching of Religion.
We do not know the number of lay people studying Theology and Religious Sciences, as this category was not explicitly asked for when requesting the statistical data provided annually by the Faculties of Theology for the preparation of the Annual Report on the Activities of the Catholic Church in Spain.

We can affirm that, in the Higher Institutes of Religious Sciences, 100 % of the student body are lay people (as we said at the beginning, this includes members of institutes of consecrated life who are not being formed to receive Holy Orders); their number, according to the latest statistics we have, is close to four thousand students enrolled in all of Spain (academic year 2016-17).

As for the Faculties of Theology, of the almost two thousand students that are distributed among the 11 Faculties of Theology present in the territory of the EEC, the number of lay people does not reach a third of the students in their classrooms, although it is possible that this proportion varies depending on the Faculty of Theology to which we refer. In this sense, it is important to remember that there are several faculties, or theological centers or theological institutes incorporated to them that have among their students seminarians from Seminaries affiliated to said Faculty.

Universities and faculty

The studies of Theology are taught in Faculties of Theology, which can be autonomous, or belong to a Catholic university (i.e., it also has civil studies) or to an ecclesiastical institution (i.e., only ecclesiastical disciplines are taught, i.e., under the regime of the Holy See). In addition, they can be taught in centers that offer first and second cycle (attached to the Faculty of Theology), or second and third cycle (incorporated to the Faculty of Theology). In all these cases, the classrooms are open to both lay people and candidates to the priesthood, whether they are seminarians, members of religious institutes or clerical societies of apostolic life.

As for the teaching staff, it also depends on each case: in some Faculties and ISCCRR there is a greater proportion of lay faculty (in several, mostly women), and in others there is practically no lay presence, which is reserved for auxiliary disciplines and/or classical languages. If we consider that only after the Second Vatican Council the laity have had access to theological studies in the Faculties, and the requirement of the academic degree of Doctor for teaching, the effort of formation made by the laity in the theological field is really significant - it is important to mention that, in most cases, the laity access the studies of Theology or Religious Sciences with other previous university degrees-.

Contribution to the individual

As we have pointed out above, besides offering the possibility of enabling the faithful to give a reason for their faith and to enter into a fruitful dialogue with the sciences and the culture of their time, the study of Theology or Religious Sciences - like any systematic study of a discipline - provides scientific rigor and research capacity, as well as human formation. In this case, it is also an opportunity to deepen one's knowledge of Sacred Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium, which is always an occasion for growth in one's own experience of faith.

Certainly it is important to promote these studies, it assumes that both priests and consecrated and lay people are well trained and prepared in the theological field. Also due to the fact that Spain is one of the countries in the world where we have a greater presence of Faculties of Theology (11) and aggregated or incorporated centers (10) and Institutes of Religious Sciences (almost half a hundred, counting the distance sections of the UESD).

A famous nineteenth-century song composed by university students in Santiago de Compostela reads: "Sad and alone, alone remains Fonseca". Sadness and loneliness invade our homes in a way unknown in the history of the West, because the value, structure and nature of what a family should be has never been so disintegrated. Like all things, this one has an instruction manual, which we have now taken to not reading: we are putting metal containers to heat milk in the microwave. 

Thank God, the exceptions to this cultural paradigm are many and good. The motto Accompanying in solitude which has been chosen by the Episcopal Conference in this 2020 Campaign for the Sick, and whose material is the basis of this reflection, brings us face to face with the loneliness of many elderly people. In Spain, more than two million! 

When they were born, the social situation was difficult. They faced a war and post-war situation that clearly marked their character and their way of understanding life. In those circumstances, it was necessary to help each other in times of great need and hardship. Families shared the hardship: all family members helped each other. Emigration to the big cities for the future of the young demanded the cooperation of all: grandparents, parents and children. The elderly were cared for, looked after and respected in their old age in their own homes until death came to them. In that structure, the family became the key, assuming a great sacrifice. It was a time with fewer medical, technical and social solutions, which were replaced by the greatest asset that existed: people.

Elderly: When the world comes crashing down on them

My parish is in the center of Madrid and this is the picture that most of the parishioners paint for you. "experienced young people" (that's what I call them) when they tell you about their lives. We visit many of them in their homes, and the statistic holds true: many live alone. Now, their best companion is a flap with a red button, which on the bedside table takes on a larger shape to contain the microphone alert in case something happens. 

I once had an elderly person come in who puzzled me. He was self-sufficient, had a great career and a seemingly full life. But when he came home in the afternoon/evening, the world came crashing down on him. 

Social support and accompaniment measures and new techniques allow them to continue living at home: nowhere like at home. This is undoubtedly a major plus. And the fact is that the elderly do not want to bother. They are afraid of becoming, if there are any, a nuisance for their children, already grown up, who have a life absolutely collapsed by their commitments. 

For those who have a more comfortable financial situation, the absence of the child's parents can be made up for with a domestic service person, or someone who comes from the social services of the municipality to wash the children or do the housework. This is a great help for many, no doubt, but it does not necessarily imply a real companionship: in most cases it is simply a functional solution. 

Feeling understood

Certainly the most necessary thing for an elderly person living alone is to feel understood, a task that is not always easy. It requires listening, patience and above all time. And with our usual accelerations, they seem like three gifts of a bygone time, when there were no social networks. But the fact is that we all, children, young people, adults and the elderly, need and live from these wonderful gifts that only people can give us and which make us human. When we take care of the three aspects, and we give them, we call that affection. Because its foundation is love. And if our source is a love without limits, like God's, we will understand that those three gifts are the ones that He always gives us. That is why it is important to give them to others, especially when they are most needed. 

In the parish we have organized visits to people living alone in their homes. On the one hand, the Legion of Mary carries out a precious apostolate of visiting them; from Caritas we support some of them; the team of Communion for the sick visits them once a week; we priests go once a month to hear their confessions and bring them Communion.

But we have many more in the neighborhood. A couple of years ago we launched a campaign to encourage the parishioners to take care of those living alone in their neighborhood community who did not want spiritual care; the parish offered to visit whoever wanted to. At the same time, we organized a volunteer program to carry out the visits, and quite a number of people signed up. The first aspect was a failure: there is a fear of opening the door to strangers. There are certainly many cases of people who have taken advantage of the weakness of the elderly and robbed them. Mistrust and fear close the doors not only physically, but also of the heart. And that is where loneliness becomes a real hell.

Despite the difficulties, the path is clear: we must accompany in solitude.

Following the inauguration of the Catholics and Public Life Congress by Cardinal Robert Sarah, with a lecture on The importance of education in the mission of the Church today, the meeting of the San Pablo CEU University and the congresses of the Catholic Schools (EC) and the Spanish Confederation of Teaching Centers (CECE), were to enter into a demanding dynamic, but along the lines of a relative professional normality.

Normality for the planned topics, but relative because the expectation has increased this year, taking into account the ups and downs in the formation of the new government after the elections of November 10. 

The politics of pacts had foreshadowed a few intense weeks of negotiations, as happened in previous months, but not as much expectation as that raised by some major events. In the first place, the rapid pre-agreement reached between the acting Socialist president, Pedro Sánchez, and the leader of the United Podemos party, Pablo Iglesias. 

And secondly, as was pointed out at a round table of political representatives at the CEU congress, it seemed that Minister Celaá had accepted the role of making a statement. "high-flown" to raise the temperature of debates and reactions in the sector. And if that was not its aim, it did: the fuse was lit on the 14th, and as this issue of the magazine goes to press, it is still smoldering, leaving a trail of uncertainty as to what may happen in the near future.

What did the minister say?

The government spokeswoman, Isabel Celaá, lashed out against subsidized education and the rights of parents during the congress of Escuelas Católicas, which brings together 1.4 million students out of a total of almost 2.1 million in subsidized schools in Spain.

In her speech before two thousand people, by surprise, and provoking numerous murmurs, the minister questioned the freedom of parents to choose an educational center and the religious or moral teaching they wish for their children. It was exactly like that: "In no way can it be said that the right of parents to choose a religious education or to choose an educational center could be part of the freedom of education. Those facts, those of choosing centers, will be part of the rights that parents and mothers may have under the legal conditions to be determined, but they are not a strict emanation of the freedom recognized in Article 27 of the Spanish Constitution".

Celaá's words caused deep concern among the organizers of the event, Escuelas Católicas, and in view of the subsequent communiqué from the MinistryI wonder why this insistence on proving that the right of parents to choose a center is not a constitutional right. Are they considering restricting this right recognized in the socialist laws? said Luis Centeno, deputy secretary general of EC. Centeno also recalled that the subsidized centers located in the Valencian Community and Aragon have suffered in recent years the harassment of joint governments of PSOE and Podemos-Compromís.

CECE, on the other hand, expressed in a quick communiqué its "concern about the intention of the Minister of Education to curtail the constitutional freedom of choice of educational center", and noted that "it is difficult to imagine freedom of education without freedom of school choice". He also cited Article 26.3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that "that parents shall have a preferential right to choose the type of education to be given to their children. Logically, -added CECE, we do not speak of absolute freedom of choice of center, as the Ministry's note last night points out, nor have we asked for an à la carte private school, as the Minister herself sometimes says, we only say that they cannot close private classrooms that have equal or more demand than the average in their environment, as supported by numerous rulings over the last decades"..

A slip of the tongue?

On the afternoon of the 14th, the secretary general of the EEC, Monsignor Luis Argüello, gave the head of Education a graceful exit, when he said that it could have been a "lapsus". According to the magazine Ecclesia, said the following: "Article 27 of the Constitution, read in its 10 points, is the basic expression of the educational pact in Spain with three pillars: the right to education, freedom of education and the right of parents. We hope that, in the context of the cordial tone of the minister's greeting, the exclusion of the right of parents was a slip of the tongue. If this were not the case, it would mean a turn in educational policy of extraordinary gravity for the right of parents and the freedom of education in such a plural society that requires common educational bases and a development in accordance with the convictions of families and their social initiative, in the public space that the Administrations must guarantee in accordance with the Constitution and the international Treaties signed by the State".

Alfonso Aguiló, president of CECE, has written on twitter these days, at the closing of this edition of Palabra: "It is becoming clear that it was not a slip of the tongue. In this argument there are many totally unfounded assertions". He refers to the document reported by abc.es, entitled: "The PSOE launches an argument in which it makes the choice of center subject to what the state determines." They can easily find it. While the minister claims "peace of mind" to families, the future educational administration intends to abolish "social demand", i.e., parental preferences, adds the same newspaper. 

Ammunition for the CEU congress

The declarations of the Minister of Education were the object of numerous critical considerations, with express mentions, or reinforcing and arguing in multiple ways the rights of parents, during the sessions of the Congress of Catholics and Public Life, which this year had as its title precisely "Freedom to educate, freedom to choose". 

At the opening ceremony, Alfonso Bullón de Mendoza, president of the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACdP) and of the San Pablo CEU University Foundation, stated that "the State is not, in today's Spain, the holder of the right to education, but rather its guarantor, but there is a danger that, as in so many other areas, the State may want to extend its sphere of action".. Almost in parallel, he had the opportunity to broaden his thinking in Alpha and Omegawhere he pointed out in a wide-ranging interview that "The state tends to regulate everything in education." and that, in his opinion, "the real possibility of choosing a center is still non-existent".

Archbishop Fidel Herráez, Archbishop of Burgos and National Consiliary of ACdP, recalled the principle of subsidiarity, which implies the primacy of the person and society over the State, and the director of the Congress, Rafael Sánchez Saus, emphasized that "there can be no freedom of education if parents cannot choose the educational center for their children".

As if the barrage of arguments coming at Minister Celaá were not enough, the chargé d'affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature, Msgr. Michael F. Crotty, delivered a message from Pope Francis to those present, and emphasized that "education works when the family is left to exercise its rights and obligations, since the educational task and religious convictions are largely the responsibility of the parents".

Cardinal Robert Sarah had pointed out days earlier: "Now, more than ever, the baptized must be aware that education is at the heart of the new evangelization. The Church possesses treasures on the art of educating. Do we dare to draw on it to respond to the challenges of our time and, above all, to respond to God's calls?"

Institutions up to the challenge

The President of the European Federation 'One of UsMayor Oreja, described as a "extreme gravity" the words of Isabel Celaá, in particular "for their symbolism, for what they have of anticipation of a cultural attitude of the next government of the popular front, populist, nationalist.". The former minister called for a more exemplary family environment and educational and cultural institutions. "that are commensurate with the extreme difficulty in which the values and convictions we stand for"..

The following speech was designed around constitutional rights. Its title, significant, Freedom of education: the fundamental right still on holdand its authors, the rector of the Cardenal Herrera University of Valencia, Vicente Navarro de Luján, and José Manuel Amiguet, secretary general of the same university, moderated by the dean of Humanities of the CEU, María Solano. 

Navarro de Luján analyzed Articles 16 and 27 of the Magna Carta, "intimately related to each other", and recalled that the model of education promoted by the Second Republic -a single public, secular and free school "it would go against fundamental principles of our Constitution and our legal system.".

José Manuel Amiguet, for his part, reported on a survey conducted by the consulting firm GFK for the YoLibre.org platform, according to which 64 % of Spaniards consider that there is not enough freedom of teaching and education, while 80 % of those surveyed consider the right to freedom of education to be very relevant. 

The final Manifesto of the Congress, read by Carla Díez de Rivera, called on all citizens to "guaranteeing and defending freedom of education"term that "It encompasses a set of freedoms such as the freedom to create centers, the freedom of educational model, the freedom to choose the religious and moral formation of children -in accordance with the parents' convictions- and academic freedom". 

In addition, the text specifies that "the ideology of the educational center is the core element of the freedom of education, not reduced only to the choices of religious and moral formation, but also to the pedagogical and organizational choices".

Some bishops, like the incumbent of Osma-Soria, Bishop Abilio Martínez Varea, are developing new formulas for pastoral care, such as integrating dispersed rural parishes into a single, more missionary parish community. This is what he explained in the ForoPalabra organized by the magazine Palabra.

-Text Rafael Miner

In Spain there are 8,131 municipalities, according to official data, and 23,021 parishes, according to the official report of the Episcopal Conference. For years, some experts have launched the idea of merging municipalities, with little success. But the problems of a hollowed-out Spain, largely due to the low birth rate and the emigration of young people to the cities, are not limited to the civil and economic spheres. 

In pastoral care, the Church does not abandon the small rural communities, but as Juan Carlos Mateos, director of the secretariat of the Clergy Commission of the Episcopal Conference, explained in Palabra last month, priests today are fewer in number and older than in the past, and their parishes are often left with few faithful. The effort that some priests, usually younger, must make to attend to their parishioners is enormous and sometimes exceeds their strength, especially in autonomous communities such as the two Castillas, provinces of Galicia, Asturias, territories of Aragon, Extremadura, areas of Andalusia, etc. And this is not to mention what Mateos called "Unbelief and secularization, which are not a phenomenon alien to rural Spain either."

A pastoral response

In this context of "pastoral response" The ForoPalabra, dedicated to the phenomenon of depopulation, creativity and modernization, arose, in which the Bishop of Osma-Soria, Monsignor Abilio Martínez Varea, made the proposal of "to mature the possibility of considering as a single parish community the group of parishes entrusted to the pastoral care of a priest and to act accordingly in pastoral terms. Our present pastoral organization, with many small parishes scattered over a very large territory, requires a profound rethinking. A serene reflection is therefore necessary at all levels in the diocese".

The ForoPalabra took place in Madrid with the presence of the engineer Alejandro Macarrón, consultant and director of Renacimiento Demográfico, who introduced the topic and acted as moderator; the bishop of Cuenca, Mons. José María Yangüas; vicars from other affected dioceses, such as Coria-Cáceres; Castilian parish priests who attend up to 40 parishes; as well as the parish priest of Villahoz (Burgos), José Luis Pascual, where the First European Congress on Rural Repopulation was held in the summer, and priests and lay people, who were received by the director of Palabra, Alfonso Riobó, and the general director of Religious Institutions of Banco Sabadell, Santiago Portas, where the colloquium was held.

The reflection of the bishop of Osma-Soria tries to "to give effect to the papal proposal set forth in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudiumnumber 28"which is usually considered as a programmatic document. In it, Pope Francis points out that "The parish is not an outdated structure; precisely because it has great plasticity, it can take on very diverse forms that require the docility and missionary creativity of the Pastor and the community. [But we must recognize that the call for the revision and renewal of parishes has not yet borne sufficient fruit to bring them closer to the people, to make them places of living communion and participation, and to orient them completely to the mission".

A little earlier, Bishop Martínez Varea recognized, with words of the Pope, that it is necessary to go beyond the "it has always been done this way", and quoted these words of his from point 33 of the same exhortation: "Pastoral ministry in the key of mission aims to abandon the comfortable pastoral criterion of 'it has always been done this way'. I invite everyone to be bold and creative in this task of rethinking the objectives, structures, style and evangelizing methods of their own communities. A postulation of the ends without an adequate communitarian search for the means to achieve them is condemned to become mere fantasy"..

Changing times and capabilities

Aware of the challenge, the Bishop of Soria, speaker at the Forum, wanted to introduce his reflection on parishes: "We are living through a real change of epoch, before which we find ourselves bewildered: Christian life with the language that expresses it seems to have become incomprehensible and even strange to many, even to those who call themselves believers and have a certain ecclesial life. The Gospel, our 'grammar' for interpreting life, seems in fact not to influence the daily feelings and actions of the people of our time. The result is the constant abandonment of ecclesial life, beginning with the liturgy, of young people and adults; in our churches we see mainly old people...".

He then focused on parishes and their difficulties in being effective: "Until a few years ago, in fact, parishes were able to carry out the mission of making the Church visible as an effective sign of the proclamation of the Gospel for the life of mankind. Thanks to them, everyone could find in their own parish the necessary help to receive the faith and baptism, to mature in the Christian life and to bear witness to it in the world. However, for some years now, many parishes no longer have sufficient people and resources to carry out these actions effectively, and it must be recognized that they no longer have the capacity to carry out their mission".

Consequently, the reflection of Bishop Martinez Varea, which he has been making explicit in the Diocesan Pastoral Council of his diocese, with the title "The missionary face of the Church of Osma-Soria", points out: "Lhe experience of recent years makes a review advisable, taking into account both the depopulation suffered in almost all the areas of the Diocese and the real difficulties posed to the pastoral care of the faithful by the dispersion of the population in such an extensive geography, as well as the objective difficulty that this depopulation poses for the permanence of some parish nuclei. This problem is compounded by the high average age of the diocesan clergy and the worrying crisis of vocations to the priesthood, which, sadly, prevents the necessary generational replacement"..

In their opinion, the situation cannot lead to "A sterile lament; every crisis challenges and calls to focus on the essential. In other words, in the face of this reality a question arises: in what way can our Diocese of Osma-Soria continue to carry out in its territory the mission received from Christ, making up for the weakness of the parish understood in the traditional way? The cultural, social and religious change calls for a widening of our gaze"..

Honda renovation

The objective is, therefore, according to Bishop Martínez Varea, a transformation with the horizon of the mission. "In fact, if the parish wants to be transformed at its root, it must return to the source and recover the original freshness of the Gospel. Within the Church, every renewal must aim at mission as its goal, so as not to fall into a kind of ecclesial introversion. Faced with the situation before us, we cannot remain passively waiting in our temples".

"Until a few years ago." -The bishop went on, delving deeper into the being of the parish, "The parish used to be identified with a portion of the faithful with their parish priest, most of the time a resident. Today it is no longer possible to maintain that 'one priest, one parish'. The problem is not only the lack of priests, but we are witnessing a new time in which the key is unity and communion (priests, laity, consecrated life). In our Diocese, except in a few cases, there is an identity between population nucleus and parish, but the truth is that for many years now most of our parishes are not capable of incarnating and projecting the basic elements that make up every parish: to be a community of communities, a constant center of missionary sending, a place of communion and participation, an instance of formation of agents of evangelization...".

Demographic crisis

Before continuing with the bishop's reflection, perhaps it would be appropriate to focus a little on the demographic data that he has just cited about "depopulation".

"We are moving from being a country where one grandparent looked after four grandchildren, to a country where all four grandparents watch over a single grandchild."The average ageing of the Spanish population, which is very worrying in terms of its magnitude and rate of growth, has reached very high levels in a large part of Spain, according to the executive. The average ageing of the Spanish population, which is very worrying because of its magnitude and rate of growth, in the opinion of the executive, has reached very high levels in a large part of Spain, and the average age continues to grow at a rate of approximately two years per decade. By autonomous communities, Castilla y León is the region with the highest percentage of people over 80 years of age, not only in Spain, but in Europe as a whole, out of a total of more than 200 regions (NUTS 2, in the terminology of Eurostat). Asturias is third, and Galicia is fifth. By provinces or equivalents (the NUTS 3 regions, in the terminology of Eurostat) with at least 100,000 inhabitants, which are more than 1,500 in total in Europe, Orense is the one with the highest percentage of people aged 65 and over, and Zamora is the second. Lugo is tenth. 

Comparison between Soria and Jaén

"The major cause of depopulation in rural provinces in the last 40 years has been and continues to be the insufficient birth rate. The cases of Soria and Jaén are very illustrative", said Alejandro Macarrón. "Jaén, with much more net emigration than Soria since 1975, has lost far fewer inhabitants, and its population is considerably less aged. This is due to the fact that its average fertility rate has been much higher than Soria's in past decades (no longer)".

Only a couple of the data given by the engineer, based on the National Institute of Statistics, are offered. The number of children per woman in Spain in Jaén in 1975 was 2.71; in Soria, 1.84, and the Spanish average, 2.77. In 2018, the three data are equal: Jaén, 1.27; Soria, 1.27, and Spanish average, 1.25 children per woman. Among other arguments, the consultant pointed out that "The structuring and stability of the family has a very clear relationship with fertility, and any serious birth plan must take this aspect into account". 

The parish community, according to the bishop

Abilio Martínez Varea, has to do with the characteristics of the parish community resulting from the process, which has always been the result of the process. "would have a logic of integration, and not of mere aggregation", and in which "a much greater accent on people than on things". That is to say, the bishop clarifiesIt is a matter of putting the faithful at the center of the life of the parish. In this way it will be possible to overcome the mistaken idea that a parish is deprived of a priest only because he does not live in the parish house, while at the same time freeing the priest from the need to multiply celebrations and various initiatives according to the number of (canonical) parishes entrusted to him. It is not a matter of a merely nominalistic question or even of the need to propose another structure because of the lack of clergy, but of the need to ensure in every community a rich environment of Christian life with all its components".

The profile of this parish community would be as followsSince parishes would not juridically disappear as such, from now on it is proposed to speak of parish communities to indicate a group of parishes under the care of the same priest. The elements that make up the parish community are the same: a certain number of faithful and a priest who presides over the community in the name of the Bishop. What changes, among other things, is the extension, which comprises more and more nuclei. 

The parish community, understood as a group of Christians and their presbyter in a larger territory than in the past, needs, according to the Bishop of Soria, "make an effort to understand themselves as 'one', and thus organize what is necessary for a true experience of faith in this reality. In short, the reform of parish organization must follow a logic of integration and not mere aggregation, that is, rather than suppressing nearby parishes by merging them into a larger one, it is intended to put the parishes "in network" to promote a joint pastoral care. This does not mean the impoverishment or abandonment of the small nuclei, but the opposite. The strong sense of a single parish community will be the occasion for a better sharing of resources by creating the necessary lay ministries for the various areas of common life (liturgical animators, those in charge of charity, those responsible for administration...), as well as a single pastoral council. In fact, in this new understanding of parish service, the involvement of the laity is essential".

The reflection also touched on some comments similar to those made by Alejandro Macarrón: "In this task of thinking about how we will be able to shepherd the Diocese in the immediate future, we will keep in mind the social element of our province, the distribution of the population, the most populated centers and something very important: we cannot proceed with this reorganization starting from the present situation but rather thinking about what it will be like in five or ten years where presumably there will be a very reduced number of faithful and priests".

In terms of extension and configuration, there will be parish communities of different types: large, socially significant centers, with small nuclei that gravitate around them; groups of nuclei similar in terms of their social thickness among which it will be necessary to identify a center; or parish communities in the city of Soria.

There was also a call to "To overcome some obstacles such as the fear of the small nuclei to be absorbed by the big ones, the self-sufficiency syndrome of the latter, the individualistic culture of our time that modifies the Christian identity by emptying it of the sense of ecclesial belonging, the 'parochialism', etc. In this new path of collaboration and co-responsibility, the communion between priests, religious and laity and their willingness to work together constitute the necessary premise for a new way of doing pastoral work"..

In his conclusion, Bishop Martínez Varea emphasized the missionary focus: "In Evangelii gaudium the Pope wants all structures in the Church to become more missionary. The reform of the parish is the first concrete statement that the Pope makes when dealing with the renewal of structures. This already indicates that he also thinks of the parish as the manifestation of the Church closest to the faithful. And it suggests that, if the pastor and the community put themselves affectively and effectively in a missionary key, the renewal of the parish will be a fact". n

The presentation was made by the Secretary General and spokesperson of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, Bishop Luis Argüello. The president of Ediciones Palabra, Rosario Martín, introduced the event held on November 7, and Alfonso Riobó, director of Palabra, then moderated a discussion.

My most sincere and affectionate greetings to all of you here present present here today, on this afternoon in which we present the Spanish edition of It's getting late and it's getting dark. In particular I am particularly grateful to Ediciones Palabra, which, as with God or nothing y The power of silencehave made it possible for the Spanish-speaking public to read what Spanish-speaking public can read what, faithful to my vocation as a pastor, I have to preach: Jesus Christ, the only truth, the only way and the only life (cf. Jn 14, 6).

Stay with us, Lord, for it is getting late and it is getting dark (cf. and it is getting dark (cf. Lc 24, 29). These words that the disciples of Emmaus addressed to the Risen Christ are the ones that inspired the title of my last book, in which I address the deep inspired the title of my latest book, in which I address the profound crisis of faith, of the priesthood, of the Church and of the anthropological crisis. the deep crisis of faith, of the priesthood, of the Church and the anthropological, spiritual, moral and political crisis of the contemporary world, spiritual, moral and political crisis of the contemporary world.

Far from being a negative title, it is intended to bring light to those who, in the darkness of confusion, disorientation or disorientation to those who, in the darkness of confusion, disorientation or doubt, want to be enlightened to find the only of confusion, disorientation or doubt, want to be enlightened in order to find the only truth that saves: Jesus Christ.

But before I go any further into this subject, I would also like to thank the kind words addressed to me by Ms. Rosario Martín, president of Ediciones Palabra, and Mr. Alfonso Riobó, director of the Martín, president of Ediciones Palabra, and Mr. Alfonso Riobó, director of the magazine Palabra. Palabra. I would also like to thank Monsignor Luis Argüello, Auxiliary Bishop of Valladolid and Secretary of the of Valladolid and Secretary of the Spanish Bishops' Conference, for his affectionate and for his affectionate and accurate words but, above all, for his profound and detailed reading of the book. and detailed reading of the book.

Returning to the Gospel pericope of Emmaus, we see reflected in it the attitude of a world that wants to live far away or even without God. God. The two disciples were leaving Jerusalem (cf. Lc 24, 13) not only physically but spiritually. They were moving away from the redemptive redemptive mysteries of the passion and death of Jesus Christ that, days before, had taken place in the Holy City, had taken place in the Holy City.

Pope Francis, in addressing this Gospel episode in a General Audience evangelical episode in a General Audience, said: "The two pilgrims pilgrims cultivated a purely human hope, which was then being shattered. shattered. This cross raised on Calvary was the most eloquent sign of a defeat they had not foreseen... Thus, on that Sunday morning, these two pilgrims cultivated a hope that was only human. defeat that they had not foreseen... Thus, on that Sunday morning, these two flee from Jerusalem". (May 24, 2017).

I am consoled by the fact that Jesus accompanies them, even though they are far away. even when they are far away; he comes close to them and walks with them. He nourishes them by breaking not only the physical bread but also the bread of the word, in order to open the eyes of their souls of their souls and make their cold hearts burn (cf. Lc 24, 31-32).

What was the encounter with the Master that, at once, they got up to return to Jerusalem to join the Eleven (cf. instantly, they rose to return to Jerusalem to join the Eleven (cf. Lc 24, 33). The Risen One had them, bringing them out of the tomb of doubt and disorientation to become heralds of the good news. heralds of the good news: "Truly, the Lord is risen and has appeared to Simon." (Lc 24, 34).

We too today, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, must tell the world, by our words and our deeds, what we have to tell the world. Emmaus, we must tell the world, with our words and with our deeds, what has happened to us as we walk with Christ and how we what has happened to us as we walk with Christ and how we recognize him as we read the Scriptures and break bread at every Eucharistic celebration (cf. Scriptures and in the breaking of bread at every Eucharistic Celebration (cf. Lc 24, 35).

Here is the mission of the Church today, as we proclaim every day in the Eucharist we acclaim every day in the Eucharist: "We proclaim your death, we proclaim your resurrection. your death, we proclaim your resurrection, come, Lord Jesus". But what would would happen if, in the words of Jesus, "salt becomes bland" (Mt 5, 13) or if the lamp is put under the the bushel (cf. Mt 5, 15)?

This occurs when some oppose the Church's carrying out of the Lord's mandate the Church to carry out the Lord's command: "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all creation. the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to all creation. He who believes and is he who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mc 16, 15-16).

But the saddest and most painful thing is when, either by complicit silences or by either by complicit silences or by pernicious scandals, she who is called to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, becomes dull and obscure. light of the world and salt of the earth, becomes dull and dark, being dishonored by enemies within her. dishonored by enemies within her.

For all these reasons, the edition that we are now presenting that many who have fallen away from the Lord, because of their lack of faith or because of the scandals of those who are by the scandals of those who are called to be a mirror of God's love, feel the presence of the Risen Jesus as they walk.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must dwell in the open heart of the Son of God. open heart of the Son of God, we must strengthen unity in the Church, we must pray without faltering, we must preserve Catholic doctrine, we must love the Holy Father with all our heart, and we must bear witness to our faith. love the Holy Father with all our hearts, and give witness to our faith by works of charity. with works of charity.

Mary, Mother of the Church and perfect disciple of the Lord, help us of the Lord, help us so that, every time it gets dark in our lives, she may show us the Sun that rises the Sun that rises from on high, Jesus Christ, her Son and our Lord, who will illumine those who live in darkness and the shadow of death (cf. illumine those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death (cf. Lc 1, 78-79). Thank you very much for your for your attention and your affection.