A treasure for Europe

The Dominican vocation, democracy in the Church and globalization: some of the questions touched on by Cardinal CHRISTOPH SCHONBORN , Archbishop of Vienna, in this interview granted to SirEurope. In the years in which our world was embarking on its pursuit of consumerism and the rejection of obedience, you entered the Dominican Order … “History is always made of events that seem, on the face of it, accidental: I already wanted to become a priest at the age of 11; when I was 14 I happened to meet a Dominican, with whom I remained in contact. So I gradually got to know the Dominican Order: I read something about St. Thomas Aquinas, about St. Dominic, and then he spoke to me about the religious life. After completing my secondary schooling – in 1963, when I was 18 – I simply entered the novitiate of the Dominicans, in an Order that was very classical and traditional. In the order I experienced a combination, a synthesis, between a very simple piety – I think of the Marian devotion in which the tradition of the Rosary has its place – and a highly developed intellectualism. Yes, I was attracted both by love for popular religion and by that of intellectual life”. Do you think the democratic approach of the Dominicans can be a model for the Church? “I think it can be a model for communities in the Church, whereas for the Church as such there is another dimension: the sacramental dimension, linked especially to the episcopal ministry. This type of government in neither monarchic – as some allege – nor democratic: it is a specific form that comes directly from the institution of the Church by Christ. Of course, the Church can involve democratic elements and we already do so, for example, in the election of diocesan councils or the pastoral councils of the parishes… But the Church as such is not a democracy”. In the New York Times you recently spoke of a “design”, of a reason that is recognizable in the real: what can it say to the disoriented man of our time who struggles to find a meaning to life? “I spoke of ‘surprising evidence at the level of reason in the world’ and this aroused an enormous debate. For me this design is really self-evident: evidence that is not rationalistic, but reasonable: the human intelligence is increasingly discovering, with the methods of the natural sciences, the immense complexity of everything that exists, from the big bang to the atomic particle… It’s true that by saying ‘design’, we presuppose someone who made the design: for us – for the believers of all religions – it is evident that this intelligence is divine; but, at least at the scientific level, it seems to me that failing to speak of the existence of a manifest design is to close our eyes to… the evidence”. John Paul II’s dream was of a Europe that would breathe with both lungs. Now that the Soviet empire has collapsed, is there not a risk of limiting ourselves to exporting the consumerist model rather than breathe with the Eastern lung? “That is a fact. We live in a globalized world; on the world wide web we are immediately in touch, in real time, with all the events in the world. Separate worlds no longer exist: the computer, the mobile phone, television with its hundreds of satellite channels now exist even in the remotest parts of the world… Therefore, whether we want it or not, we all depend on each other. And this is something great, because for the first time we share the daily experience of what is a basic dogma of the Bible, namely that humanity is one big family. Today the great question posed to globalized humanity is: Who is the Father of this family? Who gives us the rules of family life, the sense of brotherhood? …. He who gave his life for us all is our answer”. The Church in Europe is having to come to terms with a context of religious pluralism.. “We must invite the other religions – and invite each other – to be responsible for justice and peace, responsible for the well being of everyone: this is a common task. We, in turn, have the duty – the sacred duty – to offer the treasure of the Gospel to the other religions”. There are those who feel tired and disheartened about the project of Europe… “Christians are not called to be tired, even though at times they may feel so, due to the journey they have taken, the difficulties they have encountered, their own hesitation and blindness. We say so in every Mass: “Do not consider our sins, but the faith of your Church …”. Faith – the true faith that the Lord arouses in hearts with his Spirit – remains the real hope for Europe. We must not be afraid – as the late-lamented John Paul II so often said – of this Church who is mother, who is life for this Europe. We wish to be in this Europe with the simplicity of those who know that what it is that makes Europe live is entrusted to them: in the Gospel we have the hidden treasure. Perhaps we should rid ourselves a little of our own insecurities, fears and hesitations to rediscover that treasure and offer it to Europe”.