European churches" "
Only great collaboration and shared responsibility between priests and laity will be able to guarantee a future to the parish and overcome the current crisis: that is the conclusion of the recent European Colloquium of the parishes (ECP), held in Fribourg (Switzerland) from 4 to 10 July, with the participation of 250 delegates from all over Europe. The future of the parishes it was stressed will consist “in the formation of pastoral teams composed of priests and laity” and “in the sharing of responsibility”. According to Paul Baertschi, lay volunteer in Geneva, “a part of the parish is destined to die; each parish must decide what part”. In his view, it is not enough to tackle the current crisis, and the changes that are its consequence, “only on the basis of the shortage of priests. The ideal would be to dare to reconstruct the whole pastoral ministry from scratch”. Msgr. Bernard Genoud, bishop of Lausanne-Gineva-Fribourg, said that he “had no apprehensions about the endurance of the parish; it is called to transform itself, but not to disappear”. Abbot Gaspard Mora, professor of moral theology at the University of Barcelona, documented the changes that have taken place in the parish in recent times, in particular in the twentieth century. In his view, “it’s important to preserve the spirit that animates it, whereas “to define the Christian community on the basis of its mission is dangerous. It should be recalled that it is constituted on the basis of the Gospel”. Particular attention was devoted, during the colloquium, to the problems of youth and what they expect of the Church. “In the search for their own identity relations are essential for the young said Rainer Gehrig, pastoral assistant at Freiburg-in-Brisgau -. That’s why they judge the Church in such terms as ‘living’, ‘genuine’ or ‘spontaneous’, i.e. with very personalised criteria”. The future of the Church, concluded Gehrig, therefore consists “in the capacity to give authentic responses to the spiritual hunger of these young people”. The European Colloquium of the parishes was founded in 1959 thanks to the initiative of the French canon Françis Connan and then supported by Cardinal König of Vienna. The current chairman of the ECP is Father Claudio Como, of Udine. The next meeting is due to be held in Germany in 2005 (report in our next number). For further information consult the website www.cep-eu.com
