Faith and Family Making a Comeback in Russia

From Women of Grace

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS

After 70 years of state enforced atheism, Russian schools will soon be teaching religion again, crucifixes may once again be hung on the walls of schools and offices, and a building once used for programs aimed at demolishing the family will soon host an important summit addressing the demographic crisis in that country.

Larry Jacobs, managing director of the World Congress of Families announced yesterday that the “Moscow Demographic Summit: Family and the Future of Mankind” will be held at the Russian State Social University (RSSU) on June 29-30 this year.

Jacobs noted the historic significance of the Summit’s location: “It is now the home of RSSU, one of Russia’s largest public universities with over 100,000 students and Russia’s chief institution for educating social workers. But in the Soviet-era, it was the home of the Comintern, and then later, after WWII, the Marxism-Leninism Institute.” The Comintern was a communist organization founded in 1919 that existed to fight ‘by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie’ and the establishment of communism worldwide.

Jacobs noted the irony: “This building, once dedicated to the abolition of the family as a bourgeoisie institution, will be the site of a Summit dedicated to revitalizing the natural family and reversing the disastrous worldwide decline of birthrates.” Russia, which is losing an estimated 700,000 people annually, is ground zero for what’s called Demographic Winter.

Catholic-Orthodox Statement Raises Alarm Over Declining Global Birth Rates

From LifeNews.com
By Steven Ertelt

Participants in the First European Catholic-Orthodox Forum chose to emphasize the coming crisis of declining birth rates as the main topic of their meeting. That came as a delight to the producer of the move Demographic Winter, who says the underpopulation problem is growing.

Meeting in Trent, Italy earlier this month, 30 delegates from the Orthodox Churches, European Bishops Conference and the Vatican met to discuss their common concerns on family matters.

In their joint statement, "The Family: A Good for Humanity," the delegates observed that, despite the current focus on the global economic crisis, "Another vital element of this turning point is the crisis in regard to the family."

"The demographic trends alone in Europe are clear signals of a crisis much greater than the financial one," the statement said.

It added that families and their resulting children "needs to be rediscovered as valuable social capital."

"We appeal to political and social leaders to address this major issue before it is too late. Without this attention, lack of financial funds will pale before the lack of social and human resources that the family brings," it added.

Barry McLerran, producer of the documentary that has drawn such international attention to the underpopulation problem, said he was encouraged by the statement.

"We hope this ecumenical recognition of what could be the most important issue confronting humanity in the 20th century will spark renewed interest in 'Demographic Winter,' the only documentary of its kind," McLerran told LifeNews.com.

"While our approach emphasizes the social sciences - including the views of demographers, economists and sociologists - our conclusion is the same as that reached by these distinguished religious leaders," he added.

Those attending the historic Forum included Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfejev and Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Budapest and Primate of Hungary.