May they all be one: a vision of christian unity for the next generation

O presente texto – uma conferência pronunciada na Faculdade de Teologia da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, em Lisboa – lembra, antes de mais, que o ecumenismo não é uma invenção humana nem uma questão política, mas assenta na oração do Senhor, faz parte do seu testamento, pelo que não está dependente nem de um sucesso rápido nem de fracassos temporários. Não pode, por isso mesmo e apesar de todos os obstáculos, duvidar-se da sua importância e da sua obrigatoriedade: é um processo irreversível de fidelidade a Cristo, confirmada pelo Concílio e pelos papas pós-conciliares. O que já se conseguiu no diálogo ecuménico das últimas décadas, tanto em termos de diálogo teológico como de aproximação no relacionamento mútuo, é extremamente significativo. Mas há a consciência de que se entrou numa nova fase do ecumenismo, marcada por muita desilusão, expectativas não cumpridas, novas questões que surgem, tensões internas que emergem dentro das próprias Igrejas. Nesta situação importa evitar tanto o risco de o ecumenismo se tornar uma mera questão académica, como o perigo de se cair num activismo ecuménico, não “recebido” pelas comunidades cristãs. É fundamental, sobretudo, ter presente que o Espírito Santo é o verdadeiro impulsionador do movimento ecuménico. Torna-se indispensável, por isso, aprofundar e viver o ecumenismo espiritual como renovação interior, conversão de mentalidades, purificação de memórias, capacidade de perdão. Nesse sentido urge desenvolver uma espiritualidade ecuménica, dando novo vigor ao que já vai acontecendo em pequenos grupos e a vários níveis: neste aspecto, decisivo para o futuro, é possível ir muito mais longe do que até aqui, sem ferir as leis canónicas a este respeito. Mas a prioridade que se reconhece ao ecumenismo espiritual não diminui a importância do diálogo teológico, antes dá-lhe um suporte existencial mais amplo, mais rico e mais eficaz.The present text – a talk given at the Faculty of Theology at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon – serves as a reminder that, before all else, ecumenism is not a human invention nor a political question, but is founded on the Lord’s prayer and forms part of his testament, and hence is not dependent either on sudden success or temporary failures. For this very reason and despite all obstacles, we should have no doubt as to its importance or its obligatory nature: it is an irreversible process of fidelity to Christ, confirmed by the Council and by the post-Conciliar popes. What has already been achieved in the ecumenical dialogue of the last few decades, both in terms of theological dialogue and a drawing closer in a mutual relationship, is extremely significant. But there is an awareness that we have entered a new phase in ecumenism, marked by considerable disillusion, unfulfilled expectations, new questions that have arisen, internal tensions that have emerged within the Churches themselves. In this situation it is important to avoid both the risk of ecumenism becoming a mere academic question, and the danger of falling into an ecumenical activism, not ‘received’ by the Christian communities. It is essential particularly to remember that it is the Holy Spirit that is the true driving force of the ecumenical movement. For this reason, it is crucial for us to deepen and to live spiritual ecumenism as an interior renovation, a conversion of mentalities, a purification of memories, a capacity to pardon. In this sense we need to develop an ecumenical spirituality, giving new vigour to what is already happening in small groups at various levels: in this respect, decisively for the future, it is possible to go much further than hitherto, without harming the canonical laws in this respect. But the priority that is granted to spiritual ecumenism does not diminish the importance of theological dialogue, but rather provides it with an existential support that is broader, richer and more effective

The Role of the Church and a Catholic University in the Contemporary World

Walter Cardinal Kasper is President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. This talk was presented on December 3, 2001, as the Fourteenth Annual Bishop Walter W. Curtis Lecture

Integration of prosodic and grammatical information in the analysis of dialogs

The analysis of spoken dialogs requires the analysis of complete multi-sentence turns. Especially, the segmentation of turns in sentential or phrasal segments is a problem. In this paper we present a system for turn analysis. It is based on an extension of HPSG grammar for turns and takes into account extra-linguistic prosodic information. We show how this information can be integrated and represented in the grammar, and how it is used to reduce the search space in parsing

Congenital Toxoplasmosis in Austria: Prenatal Screening for Prevention is Cost-Saving

Background: Primary infection of Toxoplasma gondii during pregnancy can be transmitted to the unborn child and may have serious consequences, including retinochoroiditis, hydrocephaly, cerebral calcifications, encephalitis, splenomegaly, hearing loss, blindness, and death. Austria, a country with moderate seroprevalence, instituted mandatory prenatal screening for toxoplasma infection to minimize the effects of congenital transmission. This work compares the societal costs of congenital toxoplasmosis under the Austrian national prenatal screening program with the societal costs that would have occurred in a No-Screening scenario. Methodology/Principal Findings: We retrospectively investigated data from the Austrian Toxoplasmosis Register for birth cohorts from 1992 to 2008, including pediatric long-term follow-up until May 2013. We constructed a decision-analytic model to compare lifetime societal costs of prenatal screening with lifetime societal costs estimated in a No-Screening scenario. We included costs of treatment, lifetime care, accommodation of injuries, loss of life, and lost earnings that would have occurred in a No-Screening scenario and compared them with the actual costs of screening, treatment, lifetime care, accommodation, loss of life, and lost earnings. We replicated that analysis excluding loss of life and lost earnings to estimate the budgetary impact alone. Our model calculated total lifetime costs of €103 per birth under prenatal screening as carried out in Austria, saving €323 per birth compared with No-Screening. Without screening and treatment, lifetime societal costs for all affected children would have been €35 million per year; the implementation costs of the Austrian program are less than €2 million per year. Calculating only the budgetary impact, the national program was still cost-saving by more than €15 million per year and saved €258 million in 17 years. Conclusions/Significance: Cost savings under a national program of prenatal screening for toxoplasma infection and treatment are outstanding. Our results are of relevance for health care providers by supplying economic data based on a unique national dataset including long-term follow-up of affected infants

Kirche am Wendepunkt: das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil und die Herausforderungen unserer Zeit

Ausgehend von der Erfahrung des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils sieht Kardinal Kasper gerade durch die derzeitige Krise in der Kirche neue Chancen - wenn in Zukunft die Ortskirchen gestärkt und der Zentralismus zurückgefahren wird

The permanent significance of the Second Vatican Council for the Church

After his introductoiy notes pointing out that the Council in the Church has still been disputed, the author comes to his most important statement: On the way to the third millennium it is the Second Vatican Council that stands firmly as the fundamental Church line of direction. But the fact is, in some matters its realisation only has begun. This thesis is set forth here in three items. First, the Council is shown while facing those questions and problems that had been waiting to be urgently solved in the pre-council time; it accepted ali of them and worked them out in details. Following the next item we find the implementation of the Council to have three stages: at first, the period of enthusiasm, then the time of sobering down, and finally, the realism of christian hope that marks the present time. The third and main item sets us forth the central and permanent message of the Council which has been given through the four constitutions. Those are the key to understanding of ali other documents. The Council has presented us with permanent gift - the renewed understanding of the Church. But, still it is much to be done to work its rich heritage out and to make it come true. The Council impulses haven\u27t nearly been exploited and we find them to be the continuous challenge