At a moment of deep institutional crisis of the Catholic Church due to the worldwide disclosure of systematic cover up of sexual violence perpetrated in ecclesial settings against minors the European Network Church on the Move met for their Annual Assembly in Mennerode, Netherlands, from 6-9 May 2010.

A declaration was adopted asking civil authorities in Europe and in each European country for accountability on the measures taken to protect minors from sexual violence, including within the Catholic church. This statement constitutes a contribution for the May 12, 2010 meeting of the European Parliamentary Platform on Secularism in Politics (EPPSP), the EN having been appointed a member of the EPPSP Advisory Board. The growing activities of the EN in the Council of Europe and within EU institutions was unanimously approved and encouraged.

A second declaration was adopted in support of the 2009 sentence of the European Court of Human Rights banning Crucifixes from State schools in Italy (Lautsi/Italy case).

Building independent faith communities had been chosen as the theme for this year’s General Assembly Study Day, a timely way of challenging the lay faithful to take ownership of their faith community in a context of growing collapse of the capacity of the hierarchy to meet the spiritual and institutional needs of the Catholic faith community.  Discussions on the ongoing project “Council 50”, an effort to take ownership and responsibility for the present and future of the universal Church was another step in this same direction. Two Polish colleagues participated in the Assembly and closer ties to Poland were built.

The EN decided to contribute to support emerging civil societies in Africa through a blog in French, English, Spanish and Portuguese.  The idea is to give the highest possible visibility to efforts of committed Africans fighting for more democracy and human rights in their countries.

As it has become a tradition now, the EN will send a delegation to the European Social Forum in Istanbul and to the World Social Forum in Dakar.

Next year’s General Assembly will take place in Barcelona and the EN General Assembly has approved that an effort be made to raise some funds to allow for increasing the number of participants in the Annual Assemblies, for supporting the work at the Council of Europe and the EPPSP, and for supporting the preparatory work for Council 50.

1^st February 2010

Sad Apelacyjny

Gosc Niedzielny c. Alicja Tysiac
Al.W.Korfantego 117/119
40-156 Katowice
Pologne

Alicja Tysiac versus Gosc Niedzielny

sygn. akt l ACa 790/09

On the eve of the hearing in the Court of Appeal of Katowice scheduled for 19 February 2010,  the associations and communities from 15 countries of Europe gathered in the European Network Church on the Move consider it their duty as Catholics to call for conciliation.

Church on the Move is aware of the immense role played by the Catholic Church in the history of the Polish nation and more recently in the communist era. To-day it hopes that the Church, alone in a position to achieve this, is prepared to foster serenity in the debates. Persisting in Court with the language of hatred and sexism, to which Alicja Tysiac has been subjected, and which is sadly ubiquitous these days but utterly alien to the message of the Gospel, would make this impossible.

The offence this mother of three children is reproached with is that she wanted  to interrupt, in compliance with the legal provisions in force in her country, a third pregnancy which has made her almost blind and she has demanded justice and compensation.

Church on the Move notes that the argumentation of the advocates of Gosc Niedzielny and of the diocese of Silesia essentially employs the most violent elements of a discourse of defamation, bearing no relation to facts, condemned by the judge, a woman, in first instance. More than once Alicja Tysiac has been  called a children killer, compared with Nazi war criminals and abortion likened to the Shoah. Since the judgement in first instance, Gosc Niedzielny has not only not put an end to its use of this language,  but on the contrary has intensified and even employs it at judges as well as at European  institutions.

Church on the Move trusts that the judges will confirm on appeal the  condemnation of this constant use of language which is intolerably offensive to the victims of the Shoah as well as a severe breach of the fundamental principles both of the European Union, of which Poland is a member country, and of the European Convention of Human Rights, to which it is party.

The alternative would amount to legitimating and making one party to insult and defamation, regardless of law. It would compel Alicja Tysiac to seek justice for a second time where she found it the first time, at the European Court of Human  Rights.

Perhaps it is necessary for the European Parliament to award her the Sakharov prize to affirm the legitimacy of a struggle with repercussions far beyond Poland's borders and above all in a Europe aspiring to be a community of values, with  human rights, democracy and the rule of law enshrined in its foundational texts.

Hubert Tournès

On behalf of

The Secretariat

Simon Bryden-Brook  Hugo Castelli  Elfriede Harth  Hubert Tournès

The Secretary General in charge of relations with the Council of Europe

Professor François Becker

Copy:

Ks. Arcybiskup Jozef Michalik, President of the Bishops' Conference of Poland

Ks. Arcybiskup Jozef Kowalczyk,  Apostolic Nuntio

Mons.Aldo Giordano, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the Council of Europe

Thomas Hammarberg, Commissoner for Human Richts to the Council of Europe

Gabiel Nissim, President of the Human Rights Commission to the Council of Europe

Jerzik Buzek, President of the European Parliament

Hermann van Rompuy, President of the European Council

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission

Sophie in'tVeld, President of the European Parliament Platform for Secularism in Politics