In benedict's footsteps

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Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schonborn has called on Christians in Europe to make a high-profile commitment in an increasingly secular society. This is only possible if they do not "secularize" themselves, Schonborn stressed. "Especially in a secular society, a 'secularized' Christianity is uninteresting."A "de-worldized" church is better suited to be open to the world.

The suffragan bishop appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. The term "de-worldization," coined during his visit to Germany, does not mean "the withdrawal from all institutional, legal, social interconnections of the church with civil society and the state," Schonborn said. Rather, it is about "becoming free for the essence of Christianity, the Gospel and its meaning. The Viennese cardinal gave the guest speech at the federal political annual reception of the Catholic Church in Berlin on Wednesday evening.

At the same time, Schonborn noted that the social mainstream is moving in a different direction than Christianity in more and more areas. "Christianity is becoming more and more marginal."As examples he mentioned the prevailing attitude towards abortion, euthanasia, research on human embryos, equalization of homosexual partnerships with marriage or the attitude towards pre-implantation diagnostics. In protecting human life, the Church is not defending a "special confessional right," but a fundamental human right based on reason. Still, committed Christians increasingly experience themselves as a "minority" in Europe, cardinal says.

Right to physical integrity
On the circumcision debate, Schonborn said that in this case, apparently the right to bodily integrity has a higher plausibility in a secular society. At the same time he emphasized: "One wishes that the right to bodily integrity of the unborn child released for abortion would be defended with as much vehemence as the right to decide for oneself whether to have or not to have the foreskin."

With regard to the position of the believer in secular society, Schonborn recalled the words of philosopher Jurgen Habermas of "unacknowledged religious potentials of meaning" that should not be overlooked or suppressed in the liberal state. "Religious fellow citizens can bring them in," Schonborn says. "But for this to happen, they must be taken seriously."Conversely, religious people in the secular context are expected to make an effort to translate their content into the language of the secular world," he said.

Zollitsch: Situation of Christians in Syria is desperate
In Berlin, the president of the German Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, recalled the suffering of the civilian population in Syria. He acknowledged the expressions of solidarity from government and political parties, as well as the willingness to take in refugees if necessary. The special attention of the church is directed to Christians, "who are in a particularly desperate situation," said Zollitsch. He expressed the hope that the upcoming trip of Pope Benedict XVI. to Lebanon will contribute to the pacification of the region.

Zollitsch also welcomed the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on the euro bailout fund and the fiscal pact. He understands the concern about the loss of national competences. In many areas of an economically interconnected Europe, however, Germany, as a single member state, no longer has any independent options for shaping policy, said the Freiburg archbishop. In a common currency area, "strong common coordination and control mechanisms in budgetary and fiscal policy" are necessary "in order to be able to guarantee democratic co-determination possibilities at all.

The reception was attended by Bundestag President Norbert Lammert, Vice Presidents Katrin Goring-Eckardt and Wolfgang Thierse, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). Also present were the CDU federal ministers Annette Schavan, Ronald Pofalla and Wolfgang Schauble, as well as the parliamentary group leaders Volker Kauder (CDU), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) and Renate Kunast (Greens).

From the ecclesiastical sphere came the apostolic nuncio in Germany, Archbishop Jean-Claude Perisset, the archbishop of Berlin, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, the bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Gebhard Furst, the bishop of Essen and Catholic military bishop Franz-Joseph Overbeck, and the plenipotentiary of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Prelate Bernhard Felmberg.

Many Chinese are proud that with Mo Yan a compatriot receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. The author of "The Red Cornfield" describes social contradictions, but does not go into opposition to Beijing. Some criticize his closeness to the state. On our site interview, sinologist Wolfgang Kubin talks about the prize winner.

This year's Nobel Prize in Literature goes to the Chinese Mo Yan. The author is a storyteller who "fuses folk tales, history and the present with hallucinatory realism," the Swedish Academy said Thursday in Stockholm.

Mo Yan, born in 1955, is the first author living in China to receive the high honor. The prize will be awarded on 10. The prize was handed over in Stockholm on December and is valued at the equivalent of 925 euros.000 Euro prize. In China, the news triggered mostly positive reactions. However, there were also critical voices, as Mo Yan does not oppose the political leadership and is a member of the Communist Party. Nevertheless, his novels, which are set in a rural milieu, address social grievances.

"The red cornfield"
His works "The Red Cornfield" and "The Garlic Revolt" have been published in German. Hanser Verlag is preparing a translation of the novel "Frogs" (Chinese: Wa) about China's one-child policy for spring 2013.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (FDP) congratulated the author during a visit to Beijing. "This is yet another proof of China as a great literary nation," he said. Mo Yan reacted "overjoyed and shocked," according to Chinese state media.

Modest, knotty and unpretentious
The farmer's son is one of the most important Chinese authors of the present day. His real name is Guan Moye. His pseudonym Mo Yan means "the speechless one. Because of the Cultural Revolution, he could only go to school for five years. The Swiss publisher Lucien Leitess (Unionsverlag) describes him as modest, gnarled and unpretentious.

In 2009, Mo Yan was among the authors officially invited by the Chinese authorities to the Frankfurt Book Fair. He spoke out in favor of diversity and individuality in literature. Literature, he said, must take up the "hot topics" of a society.

In 2000, Gao Xingjian, an author who lives in exile in Paris, was the first Chinese to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Beijing reacted with great anger to the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo and strongly antagonized the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Commitment to detainees
The German P.E.N.-Center appealed to Mo Yan to stand up for imprisoned authors. "I would be happy if Mo Yan turned out to be a worthy laureate who would take the liberty of speaking out, even in his own country, about whether it is right for 40 Chinese writers to be imprisoned," the secretary general of the writers' association, Herbert Wiesner, told the epd.

Mo Yan's narrative style is often compared with the authors of magical realism in South America. In the time of Mao Tse-tung, literature was a weapon of the revolution and should have portrayed society according to the socialist world view, he told the "Frankfurter Rundschau" in 2009. But this taboo has been broken. "Today we write how we want: about politics and society, life and love, violence and sex."

The literary expert Peter Ripken called the decision of the Nobel Committee wise and courageous: "Mo Yan writes real-critical, sometimes funny-ironic stories, which do not necessarily have to be understood as state-bearing," said Ripken, who had coordinated the China focus of the book fair in 2009.

Mandatory sex education classes for students

Bishops in New York state welcome bill to establish mandatory sex abuse education classes. In the future, students up to eighth grade should participate in prevention classes.

The bill, known as "Erin's Law," achieved near unanimity in New York's legislature in June. At the end of August, Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo ratified it.

The new legislation is an "important tool for protecting children from sexual abuse," New York Conference of Catholic Bishops spokesman Dennis Poust has now said. The bishops are proud to support this law – especially because it is designed to prevent abuse in the first place, he said.

Law named after former abuse victim

The law is named after Erin Merryn, a former abuse victim who now works as an attorney. It aims to make school-based sex education programs mandatory by law in as many U.S. states as possible.

The new scheme will provide students with practical, age-appropriate instructions on how to recognize warning signs of sexual abuse and get help. "Erin's Law" follows the Child Victims Act, which took effect in New York in mid-August and significantly raises the statute of limitations for civil abuse claims.

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