GREECE
Thanks to immigration
“Over the past ten years Catholic faithful in Greece increased by 700%: from 50thousand to 350thousand. The reason is to be found in immigration waves following the fall of Communism in Poland, Romania and Albania, in Greece’s EU adhesion, in Middle-Eastern political turmoil (involving Lebanese and Iraqis) and in our government’s flexibility in issuing residence permits to Philippines, Africans and Indians”, the President of the Greek bishops Msgr. Francesco Papamanolis, bishop of Syros, Santorini and Crete told SIR Europe, relaying on the recent national meeting of Greek priests held on the occasion of the Year of Priesthood. The meeting was held in the island of Syros which, Msgr. Papamanolis pointed out, in Greece is significantly named “papadomana”, meaning “the mother of priests”. The small island in the Cyclades is the island with the highest world percentage of priestly and religious vocations. “Only a few years ago it amounted to 2%, while today is amounts to approximately 1.5%”.A beautiful reality. “In our meeting we wished to devote special attention to the phenomenon of immigration – explains Msgr. Papamanolis – a beautiful reality but that also includes a set of problems”. Indeed, the immigration phenomenon “has changed the image of the Catholic Church in Greece. 80% of Catholics in Greece have immigrated from different nations”. This highlights the problem of language: “although most of our faithful, including immigrants, speak Greek, there remains a consistent percentage that doesn’t, especially the English-speaking community. This leads to difficulties in the choice of the priest for congregations, as relates to communication and liturgical celebrations”. “This situation necessitates a change of mentality”, Msgr. Pamanolis said. “It’s not easy to make the elder faithful understand that also Catholic immigrants are members of our communities and that pastoral care must be extended to them too”, he pointed out. “The Greek faithful are marked by subconscious xenophobia which has led many of them to stop attending the Mass. It must also be said that in the realm of ecumenism, immigrant faithful from Catholic majority countries nurture different levels of hostility for non-Catholics, which is detrimental to the relations with the Orthodox community”. The support of European Churches. In order to address these problems “we are seeking to value our potentials in terms of human resources and places of worship. Some 30 priests from Italy, Poland, Romania, England, Spain, Argentina, Mexico and other Countries have given a helping hand. Although there still his a high deficiency of priests”. It must also be said that while “in the past Catholics were mostly to be found in a restricted number of cities and islands, today they are presnet across all of Greece. This is why it’s important to have at least a small place of worship in those areas and islands with a consistent community of Catholic faithful, and if possible also a priest”. Shortage of churches. “We try to remedy to the lack of churches and of places of worship or pastoral care – continues the president of the Greek bishops – by purchasing property or by building or renting property, but it’s very expensive. In the diocese of Crete, in the city of Ierapetra, we rented a place that previously served as as a shop for one thousand euro per month. Here the community, most of whom are Albanians along with Italians, comes together, follows Catechism and celebrates the Mass. Another option to solve the problem of the shortage of places of worship is that the Orthodox Church enable us to perform the services in some of its churches. Many Catholic churches were transferred to the Orthodox Church in Europe. Here in Greece only two bishops did, in Crete in the city of Aghiow Nikolaos and in the Peloponneso, in the town of Kalamata. Our Orthodox bishops confreres either don’t answer or they give us a negative response. When European bishops – justly- enable Orthodox services in Catholic churches, why not ask for reciprocity? It’s the moment to bear witness that the Christian love must be mutual”, concluded Msgr. Papamanolis.
