A patient work” “” “

The 1st May, the date on which ten new member states of the European Union will officially join, is fast approaching. It’s an important stage in European reunification. The famous phrase of John Paul II, pronounced in the Hofburg in Vienna in 1998, springs to mind: he spoke of the “europeanization of the European Union”. Clearly the Pope was right: is it conceivable to think of a Europe without the Czech Republic, without the magnificent Prague, a Europe without Poland, or Hungary, just to cite one or two examples? The European Union, in the full sense, will only become more European after the membership of those countries that, by an evil destiny, had been forcibly separated from the Western part of the continent following the partition of Europe in 1945. It is curious to note what jubilation, and what apprehension, about “reunification” are being expressed respectively in the “old” Union and in the “new” states. In Western Europe there’s fear for the financial burden posed by the membership of the ten new countries; moreover, some governments in the area of enlargement showed themselves more supportive of the superpower across the ocean during the Iraqi crisis than in the West. Among the inhabitants of the future member states of the Union, on the other hand, there are worries about living standards and independence (“before it was Moscow that commanded, will it now be Brussels?”). The Catholics in these countries are also in ferment: “Will our values and our traditions, which we defended so strenuously against Communist totalitarianism, withstand the impact of the consumer society and the reigning neo-liberalism in Western Europe?”. The reply is not easy. We need to ask ourselves: if the Catholics of Eastern Europe are able to express and experience their faith in a mature and responsible manner, will they not be able to be faithful witnesses in the new society, or influence the choices made by that society? Is it possible to help them in this fairly difficult task? Of course, the experiences of the Catholics of Western Europe are precious and important. But it’s essential they do not give themselves airs of being masters. In all the countries of Europe, Catholics need to learn anew how to live the Gospel in practice, how to “incarnate” the gospel message in a society that only preserves distant memories of its Christian past. That’s a task both for the Catholics of the countries that had the good fortune to enjoy a post-war period in a climate of freedom, and for those Catholics that were forced to support the totalitarian yoke for so long. All of them need to go forward together. In this sense, the “Central European Catholic Congress”, that will culminate on 22 May with the “pilgrimage of peoples” to Mariazell, the world-famous Marian sanctuary near Vienna, is of such great importance. This congress comprises not only several countries about to join the EU (Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland), but also two countries that still have to wait longer before being accepted, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. So we need to remember that even after 1st May European reunification will still not be complete. Countries like Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine still remain outside. A lot still needs to be done, both politically and economically, to facilitate the entry of these countries into the EU. This also goes for Catholics. Their task does not consist only in solemn declarations about the need for “God to be recalled” in the future European Constitution, but also in the patient work of building up a twinning network comprising the whole continent: a network that should involve both dioceses and parishes, and help all Catholics, both in the East and West, to live the faith in a new and demanding context. Only in this way will it be possible to exorcise the fears…