A church with karaoke in Spain

According to an article in El País this morning, Sant Joan Bosco church in Barcelona has undergone some modernization recently. A power point display and karaoke has replaced traditional hymn books in this church and worshippers now sing hymns by looking at a giant screen placed above the altar.

San Joan Bosco's Priest, Miquel Ángel Calabria, explained that the introduction of new technologies is aimed at increasing the participation of the congregation in the act of worship. He said that now it was a pleasure to see worshippers singing along to the hymns.

He also said that the success of this strategy has been overwhelming and overall the congregation is delighted, especially those who had difficulty reading the hymn books which had very small print.

According to Priest Calabría, when worshippers see the giant screen for the first time they are a little taken aback but soon adapt and enjoy themselves like everybody else in the congregation. He also justified the change saying that new technologies were part of today's society.

He also added that it was a pleasure for him to see people participating actively rather than sitting and listening to a choir sing. Apparantly Sant Joan Bosco church has always encouraged active participation in the events organized for its worshippers. The church also supports modernization, something reflected in the building itself, considered to be the most modern church in Barcelona.

Related:
Guide to Barcelona

Changes in state funding of Church

The Spanish government and Catholic Church agree on new funding system

The Socialist government in Spain and the Catholic Church have signed an agreement centering around the traditional system of state funding of Church activities. Up until now, the Spanish Catholic Church has had two main sources of public finance: firstly an annual allowance given to the Church by the Government, and secondly voluntary donations paid by Spaniards in their yearly tax declarations and then passed on to the Church by the Tax Office.

However according to an announcement made today by Spain's Vice President, the State will no longer have to pay an annual allowance to the Church. To compensate, the voluntary donation of taxable earnings has gone up from 0.52 percent to 0.7. This means that tax payers can pay 0.7 percent of their income tax to the Church rather than to the Tax Office. Church representatives present in the negotiations with the Government had asked for 0.8 percent.

Another change in the previously privileged position of the Catholic Church is that from now on it will have to pay VAT on the purchase of all goods and properties. It will also have to present to the Government each year a financial report detailing how the money received from the Tax Office has been spent.

The Government claims the new agreement will make the system more transparent and, according to its Vice-president, hopes that it represents the first step towards its ultimate objective: a Spanish Catholic Church capable of financing its own activities without relying on state funds. The system comes into effect at the beginning of next year.

Related:
Spanish Catholic Church in condom crisis
Spain's Catholic Church campaigns against Government
Priest celibacy in Spain
Pope receives Zapatero in the Vatican
Spain legalises gay marriage

Homemade cathedral in Spain

A recent soft drinks television advert in Spain has bought hope to Justo Gallego Martinez and his dream to finish a project he started 50 years ago – a cathedral which he has built virtually single-handed mostly from recycled materials.

Justo Gallego, now in his late seventies, is a farmer and has no qualifications. He has built the cathedral in Mejorada del Campo, a small town just 20km from Madrid, on land he inherited from his parents, and has never applied for a building licence because the cathedral lacks plans with the official arquitect’s stamp of approval required by Spanish law in order for an application for planning permission to be successful. Justo says that the plans for the remarkable building exist in his mind rather than on paper.

Driven, in his own words, by faith in God and in his project, Justo Gallego gradually became quite a celebrity in Spain and abroad as the dimensions of his cathedral project became clear in the eighties and nineties. However given the sheer size of the project, and the fact that he had to build it largely alone because he lacked funds to hire helpers, in recent years it became doubtful whether or not he would actually live to see his cathedral complete. And even if he did, Justo was aware that authorities may demolish it as soon as he died because of the lack of official support from the town authorities. The cathedral, which draws thousands of visitors to the town, is not even mentioned in the official website of Mejorada del Campo.

The old man, who lived in a monastry when he was a young man for some years but was forced to leave before taking his vows due to ill health, has dedicated his cathedral to the Nuestra Señora del Pilar, Madre de Jesús and has bequeathed it to the Bishopric of a nearby town, Alcalá de Henares.

Until now, Justo funded his cathedral with money earned by renting out farmland and accepting donations from supporters (money) and local building companies (building materials). When he could afford to, he hired a helper, but otherwise had to rely on the collaboration of volunteers and members of his family who have helped him over the years to build 8000 square meters, including various cloisters, offices, a library and a 40-metre dome based on the design of the dome of St. Peters Cathedral in Rome.

This year his project has received an unexpected boost thanks to the latest advert of a popular energy drink. The advert uses Justo’s cathedral of an example of how to turn dreams into reality. The impact of the spot has been such that the company has set up a website through which Spaniards are able to donate money or simply express their support by posting messages on the site's forum. Viewers can also see the advert, by clicking on the link JUSTO EN IMAGENES in the MENU at the top of the page. For the first time since he started the project, Justo will at last be able to hire builders and buy materials and may fulfill his dream of seeing the cathedral completed. And, given the public interest generated, the local authorities may be forced to leave the cathedral standing once Justo Gallego is no longer around to protect it.

Spain mourns death of Pope

Yesterday masses were held all over Spain to mourn the death of Pope John Paul and cathedral and church bells rang as Spaniards paid their respects. Today is an official day of mourning and flags on all public buildings in Spain are flying at half mast.

Some conservative political commentators are critical of the fact that Spain's government has limited national mourning to one day (compared to 3 days in some countries) although, given the difficult relationship between the Spanish catholic church and government ever since the Socialists came to power, it would have been surprising if the official mourning period had been longer.

Nevertheless, Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, said yesterday that the pope's leadership of the church had been driven by two main principles: peace and social justice, and the vice-president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega visted the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Madrid to express the Government's respects. The King and Queen of Spain who had no less than 15 meetings with the Pope over the past 26 years also made a public appearance to pay their respects and sign the official book of condolences. They will travel to Rome for the funeral, together with the President of Spain and other members of the Spanish government.

Eight Spanish cardinals are on their way to Rome to participate in the funerals to be held for Pope John Paul II and six of them will also participate in the election of the new pope (two of the eight Spanish cardinals are over eighty and are therefore not allowed to take part in the election process).

Meanwhile, Cardinal Eduardo Martínez Somalo, chamberlain of the Vatican, has become the administrative leader of the Catholic Church until a new pope is elected sometime within the next few weeks. The Spanish cardinal belongs to the conservative wing of Spanish catholics, has personally criticised liberal social reform proposed by Spain's socialist government and is rumoured to have close ties with Opus Dei. Cardinal Martínez will be in charge of organizing the conclave of cardinals which now has to choose the new pope.

Related:
Pope receives Zapatero in the Vatican
Spanish Catholic Church campaigns against Socialist Government policies

Spanish Catholic Church campaign against Socialist government policies

According to an article in El Mundo this morning, today marks the first of a series of campaigns designed and led by Spain's Catholic Church to protest against some of the policies announced by the Spanish government and heavily criticised by representatives of the Spanish Catholic Church.

Relations between the Spanish Catholic Church and the Socialist Government could hardly be worse. Spanish bishops have criticised government policy on several issues. In July, the country's highest archbishop, Cardinal Rouco Varela, declared that the Socialist proposals were taking Spain back to the medieval ages when it was under Muslim rule! And in September, Juan Antonio Martinez Campo, spokesman for Spain's Episcopal Conference, described gay marriage as a "virus," threatening Spanish society.

The Catholic Church's new campaign will center around three main issues:

• Religious education (the Church favours compulsory religious education in all schools)
• Family values (the Church is against gay marriages, the right of gay couples to adopt, research with embryos, reform of the divorce law)
• The right to life (the Church opposes abortion, embryo research and euthanasia).

In a press conference held yesterday, the Episcopal Conference spokesman said that the main objective of its campaign is to "mobilise the conscience" of all Christians. In an unprecendented move, it has published more than 7 million leaflets in Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician, explaining the Catholic doctrine about life and death. One of the sentences from the leaflet reads as follows "Euthanasia is always a form of homicide, because it involves one man giving death to another".

The campaign, which also includes advertising on television and in the media, posters, billboards, conferences etc. will continue until the Summer. No information has been given about the overall cost (in terms of euros) of such an elaborate campaign.

Related links:

Gay marriages in Spain
Pope receives Zapatero in the Vatican
Divorce in Spain - reforms

Pope receives Zapatero in the Vatican

The Spanish President has an audience with the Pope today in Rome, and is expected to have to listen to some criticism regarding recent policies outlined by Spain's new government from one of the most conservative Popes in recent Catholic history.

The relationship between the PSOE Socialist party and the Spanish Catholic Church has often had its tense moments since democracy was reestablished in Spain after Franco's death. Many Socialists just could not forgive the Catholic Church for its excellent relationship with Franco, and for the Church's privileged position and role during the Spanish dictatorship. And the Spanish Catholic Church has often been critical of past Socialist government initiatives, for example legalisation of abortion and the decision to provide an alternative subject to religious education (which, along with maths and language, was a compulsory subject at all primary and secondary schools throughout Franco's dictatorship).

The Vatican has already expressed its disagreement with some of the new policies announced by the new Socialist government, including the legalisation of homosexual marriages and the decision to fully legalise abortion (in Spain in theory the right of women to abort is restricted by three main conditions - danger to the mother or baby's health if the pregnancy is to go ahead or pregnancy caused as a result of abuse - although most private clinics carry them out anyway). On Friday in the ceremony held to welcome the new Spanish Ambassador to the Vatican, the Pope condemned abortion and homosexual marriage and asked the new Spanish government to guarantee the right to life, to protect the family and marriage between men and women, and to defend religious education in state schools.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has told Spanish reporters that it is logical that he and the Pope will agree on some issues (e.g. Iraq) and disagree on others, but that his main message to the Pope will be his government's desire to have a good relationship with the Catholic Church, in spite of having different opinions about the above issues.

Finally, Spanish headlines today are dominated by Spain's quick exit from the Eurocup. Nobody expected Spain to lose, and players, management and half of Spain are all devastated having lost to a side they beat 3-0 just a few months ago. The general opinion here seems to be that they played a defensive match, and played it badly. When Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos was asked about the result at the end of an interview with Cadena Ser this morning, he said was very disappointed and put the loss down to the Spanish players "conservative" approach to the game. "That's what happens when you are conservative...you stay back and hope things will stay as they are. That's why I'm a socialist - I prefer to be more active in life and seek change"!!

Priest celibacy in Spain

This week the news that 41% Brazilian Catholic priests admit to having had a sexual relationship has led to various articles being published to discuss once again the theme of celibacy in the Catholic Church. This El Mundo article discusses the case of Eastern European priests in Spain, sent by their national Catholic Churches (in Ukrania and Rumania in the case of the two priests interviewed in the article) to serve the growing community of Eastern European catholic immigrants. Both priests interviewed in the article are married and have children. According to the author of the article, the Spanish Catholic Church is trying to hush-up the presence of married Catholic priests in Spain in order to avoid opening up once again a debate which Spanish Catholic Church leaders consider to be closed. Spanish priests are expected to lead a celibate life and are certainly not allowed to contemplate marriage.

Euroresidentes has opened a debate on this issue here, and visitors are encouraged to express their opinion. When we receive enough opinions, we will publish a new page with the results. Many of othe users of our Spanish sections visit us from Catholic-prone Latin American countries, so it will be interesting to see what they think.