Czech Republic, in Adalbert’s footsteps” “

After Cyprus, Poland, Malta, Slovenia, Hungary and Slovakia (cf. Sir nos.14-15-18-20-22-23/2004), our review of the countries that will join the European Union on 1st May this week turns the spotlight on the Czech Republic. Its EU membership was approved by 77.3% of citizens in the referendum held on 13-14 June 2003. Out of a population of 10,300,000 inhabitants, Christians amount to approximately 6.5 million, of whom 4 million Catholics, divided into 9 dioceses and 3138 parishes. Pastoral care is assigned to 16 bishops, 1335 secular priests and 595 religious priests. There are in addition 2246 nuns, 1381 catechists and 315 seminarians. The church runs 196 non-profit organizations, including hospitals and aid organizations. Imminent enlargement is accompanied by hopes but also by uncertainties and fears, as explained to SIR by the archbishop of Prague, Cardinal MILOSLAV VLK , who is convinced of the importance of the contribution that Christians and the Church can make to the “new” Europe. This enlargement is the extension of the EU towards Eastern Europe: what does this step mean for the Czech Republic? “We Eastern Europeans have always felt ourselves to be in Europe; and we Czechs, in particular, at the very heart of Europe. Enlargement, therefore, expresses an historical truth: our belonging to the continent, at the centre of which we have grown with our culture, with our saints Cyril and Methodius, patrons of Europe, Adalbert, who already in the 10th century cultivated the idea of a Europe spiritually united by its Christian roots, and John Nepomuk. Enlargement means that the Berlin wall has collapsed for good: it means that the iron curtain has disintegrated forever and we can finally achieve the renewal of the continent of which St. Adalbert dreamt. This step, however, implies for my nation, which especially under Communism progressively became locked into itself and isolated from the outside world, an effort of reopening itself to other peoples and other cultures”. How is the population awaiting this event? “With a mixture of hopes and fears. Those who don’t have the Christian heritage in their heart feel ‘poor’. A few years ago the politicians played the nationalist card during the elections, as did the Communists against the Germans of the West. The fear of losing some of our national sovereignty can be felt among people. Believers, in turn, influenced by certain fundamentalist opinions, think, vaguely, that the whole of the West is secularized and that contact with it may pose a threat to our Church. They forget that our own society is already so secularized that any further pressures in this direction are unlikely to cause excessive damage to the Church. We need to recall, on the contrary, that a large number of new ecclesial movements have been born in this supposedly ‘bad’ West; they express a strong evangelising renewal of the Church, as called for by the Pope. But the population also has hopes in Europe; in particular that of a strong pressure by the European Parliament on our legislation so that it may become truly democratic”. What will the consequences of enlargement be for the Czech Republic and for the EU? “The Czech Republic will have to make commitments not only at the economic level – as planned – but also in the area of social policy, where dialogue and coordination between the various positions and opinions are necessary. The Union, for its part, will have to ‘respect’ the small nations too, and find a way of governing Europe that also takes this reality into due account”. What contribution can Catholics and the Church make? “Catholics are called to be a sign of common Christian roots; a living sign that may manifest that these roots are not dead, and continue to bear fruit. The Church must be a sign of hope, expression of the civilization of love and life, in opposition to the often sinister civilization of death expressed by contemporary culture. It must represent an alternative model to the widespread style of personal and collective egoism, of self-indulgence, of exclusive dedication to personal self-interest. Her role is precisely that of encouraging people to open themselves up to their fellowmen, according to values that inspire a lifestyle made in the measure of man, conforming to his identity and respectful of his dignity. It won’t be power – which the Church in any case doesn’t have – nor sermons that will change society, but only the authentic and concrete witness of Christian life. That witness might seem ineffective, but it is not just ‘the human’, but the ‘omnipotent’ power of God that here comes into play”.