The financial and economic crisis we go through these days gives us an opportunity to reflect about the future and the basis of our society.

Saint Paul says, during the readings of 4^th-5^th October 2008 weekend, not to worry.

Here is a meaningful word which brings us to what is the main concern of our life.

All of us are actors in the environment we live in. We try to do everything so that God's Word can be witnessed and experienced by a maximum of people.

God's Word is the foundation of the faith in God alive in us. The Church's current events guide us in our reflection.

Indeed, the bishops' synod met from Sunday October 5^th, on the subject of "God's Word in our life, and the mission of the Church". Cardinal Danneels (Archbishop of Belgium) was elected member of the "Commission for the Message" which will be entrusted with drawing up the final message of the bishops' synod at its conclusion, on October 26^th.

André Tihon, Fidaca's ecclesiastical assistant, handed over a letter to the cardinal before his departure to Rome, to attract the whole world's bishops' attention on the question of the access to God's Word by visually impaired people.

Cardinal Danneels spoke in front of the Synod assembly. Considering the importance of his intervention, here is the text, which we can think over:

“The obstacles found in the proclamation of the Word are many: difficulties in communication, secularized culture and environment, resistance and ignorance by the listeners. But perhaps the greatest obstacle is in the heart of the evangelist himself: his lack of self-confidence and his ignorance about the laws in announcing the Gospel, which are different to those of the world. Jesus answers this in Mk 4 with three parables and a comparison taken from daily life.

The Parable of the Sower. Despite all the obstacles (thorns, beaten paths, rocks) on the field to be sown, somewhere there is always some good earth that will bear fruit. Therefore sow: there will always be a harvest, but you don’t necessarily know where. Jesus says, But sow.

The Parable of Grain that grows spontaneously. All peasants throw the seeds on the earth, then go to sleep. During the night, he does not go to check if the seed has sprouted. Because “by itself the seed produces its fruit”, Jesus said. The success does not depend on worrying about what we are doing, nor on our urge for verification. Sow, says Jesus without worries and with a lot of patience: the harvest will come.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed. The smallest of seeds produces the largest tree and all the birds in the skies can place their nests there. In the Kingdom of God, there is no proportionality between investment and result as is the case in the banking world of men. Sow, said Jesus, even if the seed seems so small.

The lamp on the candelabra. If you have lit a lamp, do not put it under your bed. Let it shine for all of us. This is a simple human and divine logic. Who begins something must continue, says Jesus. This is logic itself.

However, some brothers and sisters cannot see the simple natural light of the lamp: they are blind and vision impaired. Think about them also, says Jesus. Ensure easy access to the Word of God to them as well. Through other technical means.”

Cardinal Danneels draws our attention on the access of God's Word to the visually impaired people. We take advantage of this request to the bishops about the access of the visually impaired people in churches:

Good lighting is essential for partially sighted people and a particular attention to guide blind people would be welcome.

Also, allowing safe access to the surrounding areas and inside the buildings to the disabled public should be a concern of the persons in charge.

Let us be actors... so that God's Word may be accessible to all without a difference.

Father Tihon reads psalm 8 which praises the dignity of Man: 'You have made him little less than a god’, in spite of their meanness in the universe'.

We have to work so that it would be recognized and promoted by all, thinking particularly of visually impaired people.

3. Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have drawn a defense against your foes, to

4. When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set

Here follows the speech which the Fidaca President addressed when participating at the 75 years celebration of CAB, the Swiss Caritas Action of the Blind, in August 2008.

These words are based on the CAB values, enclosed within its 'Charter'. The Swiss Caritas Action of the Blind, through its members, wishes to bring them to life. Fidaca also shares those values which do deserve to be upheld through the network of its member-associations.

This Charter was endowed with the approval of the Extraordinary Assembly of the delegates of the CAB in its session of June 8th, 1996.

- encourage the religious, intellectual and spiritual consciousness of blind persons, adults and teenagers,

The present Charter refers to the 2nd article of the CAB statutes. It is subdivided into five parts which form a whole and must be understood as such. It is to be used as a guide by all the responsible organs of the CAB when they need to take a decision in the tasks which are theirs.

The members of the Swiss Caritas Action of the Blind/CAB, committed themselves on the basis of their Christian belief about the inviolability of every human being's dignity and his unconditional right to developing his talents in life, against the current tendency of our society, always more perceptible, to reduce the value of the capacities of Man.

Therefore, our purpose is to create together and for each one of us outline laws on personal and confessional levels, which allow us, visually impaired people and multi-handicaped people affected by visual diseases, to live our Christian faith in a conscious and independent manner.

First of all, we pursue our objective by using the means which mutual aid provides us with:

In case our strength and knowledge are limited, we can find support within our organization:

the Central Secretariat in Zurich, the International Centre for Blind people and the Library for the Blind in Landschlacht.

Besides, we look for collaboration with specialists outside our own organisation, for example, with regional offices for welfare of the blind.

An intensive exchange guarantees better orientation of our purposes and a fast consideration of the variety of our needs.

Through group activities in the various linguistic areas and by offering targeted meetings, seminars and courses at regional and national levels, we create a common base of confidence and knowledge which allows us to deepen our Christian faith, to innovate, to open new ways and to make them 'ours' in our everyday life.

To improve the basic laid in conditions so that they suit our needs, in the church as well as in society, we judge according to our way the tendencies and developments which are emerging in the church and in the socio-political sphere.

In common with organisations pursuing similar purposes in Switzerland and abroad, we try to introduce our requirements and the results of our analyses on the ecclesiastical as well as social levels.

This day of celebration was a great event for the CAB, but also for the town where the 'International Centre of the Blind' is located and other Swiss associations for the blind which had sent a delegation.

May Swiss C.A.B. continue on this path and may your collaboration with FIDACA be fruitul.

Eight young people, eight different stories, only one dream: to participate in XXIIIrd World Youth Day in Sydney. Nearly all of us had participated in other WYD, but this time we received a different gift, more precious than the others!

We formed a group from the start, facing a long journey of about twenty hours. Right from our arrival we met many Italians emigrated over there in the 1940s-1960s, and it was the first great sign of a geographically distant world - but united by its origins. Most of the inhabitants of Sydney are immigrants. Maybe therefore, recognizing in us their own experience, they were all very kind and hospitable. Generally, the young pilgrims stay, two or three per hosting family. This time an Italian couple, completely integrated into Australia, provided us with a house where, by adapting ourselves, we were able to stay all together, so bringing more closeness between us. Shopping, cooking, speaking English, everyone had the opportunity to exercise its own talent, by becoming a fundamental element of the group which found its full unity in the daily Eucharist.

At the beginning of the real WYD week, we were transferred into a school, where the other young people were living, Italians and not Italians. During these days of more intense activity, we enjoyed knowing a parochial community pleased to welcome us, where we shared three mornings of catechesis followed by the mass and by a lunch on the lawn behind the church.

According to a beautiful tradition of the WYD, catechesis is given by Bishops. They were highly appreciated and they helped us to think over the subject of the WYD and to deepen the understanding of the Holy Spirit. During the 'Festival for the Italians', both of us brought our testimony of young married couple on honeymoon: what has changed in 47 days and why we have chosen the WYD of Sydney as honeymoon... We mentioned the way covered together in the MAC Association and our process which lasts three years: one stage per year from 2007 till 2009.

Marriage is not magic, it is not a signature which unites us, but a project outlined by us and shared by us, conscious to have received an immense present: mutual love, fruit of the Father’s love, which teaches us every day to live in a freely given love.

All of us reflected deeply on this subject, by committing ourselves to love our friends, neighbours, brothers, and to appreciate the big gift which God granted us by their presence.

Lucie and Nicola Ferrando (Nicola Ferrando is blind ; his wife, Lucie is a seeing personne)

During the General Assembly of March 8th, 2008, we set up an aid project for blind people of the South American continent: manufacturing and distributing white canes. This project also includes, to assure more durability, a training session given by a local craftsman, who will pass on to other craftsmen his knowledge of manufacturing canes.

Our regional Bureau in Lima (Regional Bureau of Latin America/BRAL) runs the execution and the follow-up of this project.

The first beneficiary countries will be Honduras and Peru. Other Latin American countries will follow later.

From the global 4000€ budget for the first issue granted by Fidaca, we foresee the following expenses: buying raw materials (aluminium sticks and wooden shafts), buying two small devices for the home-made manufacturing and expenses concerning the training of the craftsman in Honduras (travels, accommodation, etc.).

No doubt it is useful knowing that Peru counts almost 28 million inhabitants (Lima: 12 millions) and is still considered as a non-industrialized country: many small industries go bankrupt, not being able to compete with the multinational companies which import products made in China, Korea, India and other countries of South Asia, at very low prices which, in fact, constitutes the negative aspect of globalization...

- With regard to the attention for blind people, there are in Peru centres of specialized education and rehabilitation for blind people, but the basic equipment as tablets, rulers, awls and white canes are particularly lacking.

Let us say simply about Honduras, country of Central America counting a little more than 7 million inhabitants, that its economic resources are rather unusual: the country depends mainly on sending money which fellow countrymen send from abroad, in particular the United States! There is also an input from the textile industry and export of coffee, bananas and exotic timber mainly.

- In the field of care for blind and partially sighted people, there is a real lack from the social authorities, concerning the education and the rehabilitation of blind people. It is impossible to get basic education material such as rulers, awls and white canes. Almost all blind people are coming from social classes of extreme poverty. Even if some are educated and manage to become professionals, few of them find work.

Nobody makes or sells white canes in this country. Blind people from families a little better off, order their white cane from the United States; the cost is approximately 40, - US $, inaccessible amount for most of the blind people in Honduras.

Although the Peruvian Government, according to legislation, favours the integration and insertion of blind pupils into regular classes for sighted chilren, our colleague of the BRAL has chosen to start the project in this country : in practice, teachers and pupils are facing big problems caused by the lack of didactic equipment and rehabilitation for blind people. Every day, the BRAL and APECC (our Fidaca member association in Peru), receive requests for white canes, to be donated or purchased, as in this country nobody produces or sells this equipment. The only institution who sells or gives any, when possible, is Apecc. A white canecosts about 10, - US $.

At first, 200 canes will be made to be distributed in Peru: 200 rigid and foldable white canes for orienteering courses and learning to move in autonomy.

From this order, 150 canes will be distributed by the BRAL, in particular in various centres of rehabilitation and specialized education inside the country, in poorer areas neglected by the authorities.

The directors of these institutions will deliver canes to the persons of these centres, while informing them about the identity of the donors.

Fifty white canes will be given to Apecc, intended to be sold. The product of the sale will be reinvested for the manufacturing of new white canes. And so on.

In Honduras, the realisation of the project is approximately the same. The 'relay institutions' which will work with a craftsman having practical knowledge in metalic furniture are INFRACNOVI and FURET.

Infracnovi is a large institution founded in 1989 by a Franciscan father, and based in Tegucigalpa, the capital. Its activities are diversified, beginning with the prevention and detection of sight problems as well as the stimulation of visual acuteness of very young children, followed by school accompaniment, rehabilitation of blind adults, work training, initiation to new technologies, etc.

Furet is a small foundation created in 2002 situated in Cholutecas, an inland city . As a matter of facts, it is the only institution inside the country, all others being in the capital.

Some blind people who had the opportunity to study in Tegucigalpa, being aware of the backwardness of their region, created "Furet". Thanks to many efforts, they managed to awaken the interest of the municipal authorities so that they could borrow premises where they teach themselves Braille. They also go to the country to look for blind people whose families, by prejudice, hide them - a very common situation in the rural areas of Latin America. Furet works with a paid professor and three volunteers.

The training period is over three days to learn the manufacturing of the canes; it will take place at Infracnovi where the craftsman of Cholutecas (for Furet) will also receive his practical training. So, these institutions will manufacture their own white canes to donate them to the lower-income people, firstly those who are attending rehabilitation courses, the remainer of which will be sold. They will also have the alternative to sell them in the other provinces and even in the nearby countries, thus, compensating for the lack of something so necessary and indispensable for the autonomy of blind people.

As you well know, Father André Tihon has been chosen during our last General Assembly of 8^th March 2008 to become Fidaca's international chaplain. This had to be confirmed by the 'Concilium Pro Laicis' in Vatican.

Following the Bureau's official request in this matter, we received in October a letter from the C.P.L. President, Mgr Stanislaw Rylko, giving his full approval. His words are :

« .../ ... According to Article 14a of Fidaca's current statutes, we gladly confirm the designation of Father André Tihon as Fidaca's ecclesiastic assistant, especially having had the opportunity to appreciate his devotion and service to blind ands visually impaired people. .../... »

Collaborators: Eric Ghysselinckx, Luca Bergamaschi /Luce e Amore, CAB Switzerland, Abbé André Tihon, Anne Maniero.

Translators: Karin Landwehr-Münz for the German version, Luis Garcia Martinez for the Spanish version, Père André Orban and his colleagues for the English version.

Secrétariat Fidaca: 15, rue Mayet – F-75006 Paris / Tél. +33160894946

Website: www.fidaca.org