A "word" for Europe” “

The “Semaines sociales de France” were held at Lille, European capital of culture together with Genoa for 2004, from 23 to 26 September. With the participation of over 4000 people from many countries, the “Semaines sociales” were this year celebrating the centenary of their foundation (1904-2004). The theme chosen for the anniversary was: “Europe, a society to be invented”. We present the conclusions by the chairman of the “Semaines”, Michel Camdessus, and some ideas that emerged during the meeting. THE TWENTY-SIXTH STATE. “We go home changed, with a great pride in Europe, pride of belonging to a community of values, to a family whose different traditions, languages and cultures we now know a little better. We go home with an irresistible desire for Europe, changed because there was also an atmosphere of youth among us. Thanks also to this presence, the centenary institution can only be European or it can no longer exist. We must make this change with courage”. MICHEL CAMDESSUS concluded with these words the centenary “Semaine sociale” in Lille on 26 September. “It is – he added – a change that consists in trying to construct what Europe ought to be: We spoke of peace, and sharing. This is the goal which Europe must increasingly aim at; this must be its main concern”. The paths for achieving peace are various and Camdessus indicated some of them that are in his view priorities: “Let’s begin with taxing the arms trade; let’s support the partnership with Africa and with the 50 poorest countries in the world; let’s try to achieve a rapid approval of the European Statute of Volunteer Service and promote the European civilian service for youth”. “We must – Camdessus continued – pursue the strategy of ‘social inclusion’ in Europe. It is a strategy that must now be negotiated not as 25 States, but as 26, where the twenty-sixth State is that of the millions of European unemployed. What is at stake here is a development that, if it is to be really sustainable, must be consistent with strong social cohesion and quality economic development”. THE ROLE OF CATHOLICS. “Europe is founded on diversity. Europe is a sum of minorities in which no one can violate others by enforcing his own superiority”, said the President of the European Commission ROMANO PRODI in his keynote address to the Semaine sociale on 23 September. “There are problems – he added – such as emigration and foreign policy that can be solved only if we remain united. Thus union is a fundamental fact. It is unique. It presents Europe also as a model for the rest of the world as the road to peace”. Continuing this reflection and referring to the Christian roots of Europe, Prodi, though sharing the demand that they be mentioned in the text of the Constitution, declared: “I’m very fond of the icon of Emmaus, in other words, the icon of a Christianity that can be recognized in Europe by the fact that it walks side by side with others”. Shortly before Camdessus, recalling the role of Catholics in the construction of the new Europe, recalled: “We received a word, the Word par excellence, and must respond to this responsibility with all our reason and faith”. “Exploiting all the resources of the mind, considering the exercise of the memory a duty, and rejecting the fatality of not only economic and social mechanisms”: these are the three suggestions offered by RENÉ RÉMOND who spoke to the conference together with his Italian colleague Andrea Riccardi on 24 September. The French historian, in recalling the responsibility of lay Christians in this time, appealed to them “not to absent themselves from centres of thought because otherwise these would be immediately occupied by others and it would be futile to lament the fact afterwards”. “The time of the founders – continued Rémond – was followed by that of their continuators. Now it’s time to make the works and thought of both actual and fruitful in the dialogue between faith and life”. Europe needs “lay Christians that are able to create and communicate culture with the reasons of hope that we find in our meeting with Christ”. WITNESSES OF FAITH. In this perspective, said ANDREA RICCARDI, historian and founder of the St. Egidio Community, it is more than ever necessary to “rediscover and re-propose the theme of martyrdom, i.e. of the courageous witness of the Christian faith in Europe in the most diverse situations”. Presenting some exemplary figures of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox martyrs in Europe, Riccardi emphasised that theirs was “a martyrdom for Christ and hence without adjectives: this unity in the truth indicates today the path to be followed in the cultural, social and political spheres”. The 44th Social Week of Italian Catholics will be held in Bologna in the days ahead (7-10 October); its theme will be that of democracy. The Italian delegation at the Semaines sociales de France – comprising over 200 persons, most of them young – made an invitation to all those present to participate in the Italian event. The centenary of the equivalent Social Weeks in Spain will be celebrated in 2006, and in the same year the Katholikentag – congress of German Catholics – will see a strong French presence. The centenary of the Italian Social Weeks will be celebrated in turn in 2007: after Lille all these events will have a more markedly European dimension.