The secret of growth

At school we learned to know Europe, for example by studying geography. “Europe” was a sort of vague portmanteau term denoting quite distinct nations, rather like the expression “leisure time” which comprises very different activities. By studying history we learned that Europe’s destiny had been rather topsy-turvy, that the frontiers had been changed, and that the reigning dynasties were all more or less inter-related. What’s my image of Europe of that time? It’s difficult to describe. Let us take languages into consideration: German ensured I could communicate with people from East and West Germany, from some regions of Switzerland, from Liechtenstein and from the Alto Adige in Italy. English was studied, and possibly French too, for communication with the wider world. Latin and Greek, by their very nature, had less relevance for the contemporary situation. I did not have the good luck to find myself in an “international” class as very often happens in Vienna today. The fact that a Polish girl and a Vietnamese boy should wish in any case to become Austrians can only be interpreted in one way: contrast reduced to zero. The Czech refugee remained alone for six months. An Austrian voluntarily studied the Czech language and also Hungarian: crazy or prophetic? In short: by remaining in one’s own country, one did not receive the right education to qualify one as a European citizen, nor did one become European by one’s own efforts. I had nothing to do with a boy in Stockholm and vice versa; the same went for a person in Sofia or Lyon.This lack of familiarity with, or feeling for, the concept of Europe has changed in an insignificant way, in spite of the hundreds of television programmes, Internet and the European football championships. What is gradually developing, on the other hand, is a sense of what the European Union means, because Europe is becoming more concrete: the young constantly hear it being spoken about on the TV news bulletins; the problem of currency exchange arises more or less only when one is hitchhiking; more foreign languages are being taught at schools; the programmes of cultural exchanges have been boosted; educational qualifications have been standardized; theses are also available in English; and temporary jobs can be found in other member states of the EU. All this helps to bring the peoples of Europe closer together and sometimes real friendships are forged. Human relations are in fact the secret of a Europe that is growing. It is the relationships that make a difference: in this way, terms such as “foreigner” and “native” lose their significance, the adjectives “my” and “your” become “ours”, and the stranger is only he who is different… My parish priest in Rome, where I spent a year studying at university and where I became an enthusiastic European, declared: “With Christ foreigners don’t exist. Our relations with Him build foundations that are deeper than any linguistic, cultural and geographic differences. The young who take part in meetings of the Taizé Community, or who participate in other meetings of a European dimension, such as the international pilgrimages of youth to Mariazell (August 2007) or to Loreto (September 2007), perceive all this: perhaps crazy but undoubtedly prophetic. Will Europe feel itself different for once? I think so. If the member states of the EU don’t just develop their economy, and if the Church realises what is deepest in her, then we’ll witness a heating of the climate of quite a different kind.