FRATERNITY, THE FOUNDATION AND PATHWAY TO PEACE

"Fraternity, the foundation and pathway to peace". This is the theme of the 47th World Day of Peace, the first during the pontificate of Pope Francis.

The World Day of Peace was an initiative of Pope Paul VI and it is celebrated on the first day of each year. The Message for the World Day of Peace is sent to particular churches and chancelleries all around the world, drawing attention to the essential value of peace and the need to work tirelessly in order to attain it.
 As the theme of his first Message for the World Day of Peace,
Pope Francis has chosenFraternity. Since the beginning of his Petrine Ministry, the Pope has stressed the need to combat the "throwaway culture" and to promote instead a "culture of encounter", in order to build a more just and peaceful world.
Fraternity is a dowry that every man and every woman brings with himself or herself as a human being, as a child of the one Father.
 In the face of the many tragedies that afflict the family of nations - poverty, hunger, underdevelopment, conflicts, migrations, pollution, inequalities, injustice, organized crime, fundamentalisms - fraternity is the foundation and the pathway to peace........ 

 ENGLISH - ESPANOL  - FRANCAIS - ITALIANO

               FRATERNITY, THE FOUNDATION AND PATHWAY TO PEACE

MENSAJE DEL SANTO PADRE FRANCISCO
PARA LA CELEBRACIÓN DE LA
XLVII JORNADA MUNDIAL DE LA PAZ

1 DE ENERO DE 2014

LA FRATERNIDAD, FUNDAMENTO Y CAMINO PARA LA PAZ

MESSAGE DU PAPE
FRANÇOISPOUR LA CÉLÉBRATION DE LA 
XLVII^e JOURNÉE MONDIALE DE LA PAIX

1^er JANVIER 2014

LA FRATERNITE, FONDEMENT ET ROUTE POUR LA PAIX

BOTSCHAFT DES HEILIGEN VATERS

PAPST FRANZISKUS
ZUR FEIER DES
XLVII. WELTFRIEDENSTAGES 

1. JANUAR 2014

Brüderlichkeit – Fundament und Weg des Friedens

MESSAGGIO DEL SANTO PADRE
FRANCESCOPER LA CELEBRAZIONE DELLA 
XLVII GIORNATA MONDIALE DELLA PACE 

1° GENNAIO 2014

FRATERNITÀ, FONDAMENTO E VIA PER LA PACE

HOLY CHRISTMAS - HAPPY NEW YEAR

Best wishes for a holy Christmas

and a year full of happiness and health

from the Executive of the UMEC- WUCT!

Sinceros deseos para una santa Navidad

y un año lleno de felicidad y salud

en desde el Ejecutivo  de la UMEC - WUCT!

Meilleurs vœux pour un saint Noël

et une année 2014 riche de bonheur et de santé 

de la part de l’Exécutif de l’UMEC - WUCT!

 Luc Van Looy, Bishop of Ghent, ecclesiastical assistent

   Guy Bourdeaud’hui, president

Giovanni Perrone, secretary-general 

 John Lydon, treasurer 

   Beatrix Klakowicz, secretary

HOLY CHRISTMAS - Msg Luc Van Looy
SANTA NAVIDAD - Msg. Van Looy
SANTO NATALE - Auguri di Mons. Luc Van Looy

MERRY CHRISTMAS - HAPPY NEW YEAR - Wuct President
FELIZ NAVIDAD - BUEN ANO -  Presidente Umec
JOYEUX NOEL - BONNE ANNEE 
ZALIG KERSTMIS - GELUKKIG NIEUWIAAR
SANTO NATALE - FELICE ANNO NUOVO

EDUCATING IN INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

Vatican City, 19 December 2013 (VIS) - “Educating in intercultural dialogue in the Catholic school. Living together for a civilisation of love” is the title of a document from the Congregation for Catholic Education (for Seminaries and Educational Institutions), presented this morning in the Holy See Press Office. Speakers in the press conference were Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Archbishop Vincenzo Zani, respectively prefect and secretary of the dicastery, and Professor Itali Fiorin, of the LUMSA University, Rome.

 

“A child, a teacher, a book, and a pen can change the world. Education is the only solution” said Cardinal Grocholewski, quoting Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl injured by the Taliban for attending school, along with other girls. He mentioned that, according to data provided by UNICEF in 2013, over 70 million children worldwide do not go to school, that 75% of students in the poorest countries may attend lessons for two or three years without learning to read or write, and that around 1.7 million teachers are needed to meet the aim of a qualified primary education at a global level...

Read: EDUCATING IN INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL CAPITAL

Gerald Grace, borrowing from the sociological constructs of Pierre Bourdieu, speaks of the significance of the spiritual and cultural  capital of religious orders in providing  a significant catalyst in the development of Catholic education in England and Wales. 
This article endeavours to explore the extent to which spiritual capital is a critical issue for Catholic schools and ways in which such capital may be strengthened within Catholic school communities. It will investigate the background the term, suggest links with other key concepts such as culture before surveying potential challenges and opportunities for 21^st century Catholic schools.                                                                                                                      John Lydon

 Read: The nature of spiritual capital

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Save the children: THE RIGHT TO LEARN

Community participation in improving learning

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) goals have been the catalyst for progress in ensuring access to education. Since governments first endorsed these goals in 2000, around 45 million children1 who previously did not have access to education have enrolled in primary school and gender parity in primary education has improved significantly. With 2015 deadlines fast  approaching, the world must now assess the considerable work that remains to be done and negotiate an ambitious yet achievable successor framework …..

Read: THE RIGHT TO LEARN

ANNOUNCING CHRIST IN THE DIGITAL AGE

The XXVI Plenary Assembly held by the Pontifical Council for the Laity will take place from 5 - 7 December 2013 at Villa Aurelia, Rome. The theme of the Plenary is: Announcing Christ in the digital age, a topic confirmed by the Holy Father Francis, as well as by his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI before him. It deals with one of the questions which most characterises our time; a theme particularly relevant to the mission of the lay faithful in the contemporary world and is one to which the pontifical Magisterium has dedicated important interventions throughout the last few years......

  
  Announcing Christ in the digital age

Anunciar a Cristo en la era digital

Annoncer le Christ à l’ère du numérique

Annunciare Cristo nell'era digitale

OCSE PISA 2012 - Students' performances

PISA 2012 Results in Focus

What 15-year-olds 

know and what they can do with what they know

Student Performance in Mathematics, Reading and Science

More and more countries are looking beyond their own borders for evidence of the most successful and efficient policies and practices.  Indeed, in a global economy, success is no longer measured against national standards alone, but against the best-performing and most rapidly improving education systems. Over the past decade, the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, has become the world’s premier yardstick for evaluating the quality, equity and efficiency of school systems. But the evidence base that PISA has produced goes well beyond statistical benchmarking. By identifying the characteristics of high-performing education systems PISA allows governments and educators to identify effective policies that they can then adapt to their local contexts.

Read:

PISA 2012 RESULT IN FOCUS

CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION

The Holy Father has confirmed the Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski  in his role as Prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, and Msgr. Angelo Vincenzo Zani in that of Secretary.

El Santo Padre a confirmado el Cardenal Zenon Grocholewski como Prefecto de la Congregación para la Educación Católica, y Monseñor. Angelo Vincenzo Zani en el de Secretario.

Le Saint-Pére a confirmé le Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski dans son rôle de préfet de la Congrégation pour l'éducation catholique, et Mgr. Angelo Vincenzo Zani dans celui de secrétaire.


Papa Francesco ha confermato il cardinale Zenon Grocholewski nell'incarico di Prefetto della Congregazione per l'Educazione cattolica e mons. Angelo Vincenzo Zani in quello di Segretario.
 Ha poi nominato membri del Dicastero i cardinali: Béchara Boutros Raï, patriarca di Antiochia dei Maroniti; Odilo Pedro Scherer, arcivescovo di São Paulo; John Njue, arcivescovo di Nairobi; Timothy Michael Dolan, arcivescovo di New York; John Tong Hon, vescovo di Hong Kong; Luis Antonio G. Tagle, arcivescovo di Manila; Kurt Koch, presidente del Pontificio Consiglio per la Promozione dell'Unità dei Cristiani. Nominati anche i monsignori: Beniamino Stella, prefetto della Congregazione per il Clero; Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, arcivescovo di Santiago de Chile; Marek Jędraszewski, arcivescovo di Łódź; Jorge Carlos Patrón Wong, segretario per i Seminari della Congregazione per il Clero.

Il Santo Padre ha poi confermato nel medesimo incarico di membri del Dicastero i cardinali: Antonio María Rouco Varela, Christoph Schönborn, Audrys Juozas Bačkis, Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, José da Cruz Policarpo, Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Josip Bozanić, Péter Erdő, Marc Ouellet, Jean Pierre Ricard, Oswald Gracias, Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, Reinhard Marx, Thomas Christopher Collins, Willem Jacobus Eijk, Leonardo Sandri, Gianfranco Ravasi, Fernando Filoni, João Braz de Aviz, Edwin Frederick O'Brien; e i monsignori: Alfredo Horacio Zecca, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, Charles Morerod.

L'UNIONE MONDIALE DEGLI INSEGNANTI CATTOLICI PORGE FERVIDI AUGURI A SUA EMINENZA REVERENDISSIMA IL CARDINALE PREFETTO,   A SUA ECCELLENZA REVERENDISSIMA MONSIGNOR ZANI E AGLI ECCELLENTISSIMI MEMBRI DEL DICASTERO, ASSICURANDO PIENA COLLABORAZIONE.

Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium

Here is the link of Pope Francis' First Apostolic Exhortation 

Evangelii Gaudium, which was released by the Holy 

See.

EVANGELII GAUDIUM   english

EVANGELII GAUDIUM   espanol

EVANGELII GAUDIUM   français

Universal Children's Day - 20 November

Officially established on 20 November 1989, Universal Children’s Day marks the day on which the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international treaty that addresses the rights of children and youth under the age of 18.

The Convention’ s 54 articles recognizes the basic human rights of children and gives them additional rights to protect them from harm.

Universal Children’s Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly as a day of celebration of the state of welfare of children.

The aim of Universal Children’s Day is to put public initiatives and campaigns in place to rasie awareness of children’s rights worldwide, awareness of their situation in life, problems, wishes, needs and longings as well as to enable exchanges and meetings between them.

Those in positions of political responsibility should, in particular, be reminded that it is very much up to them to act in the interests of children. It is up to them to act in family and social politics with laws that explicitly protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse of all kinds, in educational politics, in measures for ensuring the safety of children in wad and conflict situation, etc.

Additional links:

• Universal Children's Day - 20 November
• UNICEF Universal Children's Day factsheet
• UN Global Issues - Children
• UN Cyberschoolbus