A renewed “need”of God

The dialogue between faith and reason inside the university, understood as an institution and a community devoted to the progress of learning to the service of the common good. This was the leitmotiv of the European Congress titled “Formation, Education and the Gospel” (Munich, Germany 27 – 30 January), which was further broached in the paper sent by card. Peter Erdo, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). For Cardinal Erdo, “pastoral work in universities shouldn’t focus on students and their extra-curricular activity only. Rather, it should contribute to make the richness of the message of the Gospel match the plurality and the immensity of human knowledge”. For card. Erdo “the dialogue is integral to Church mission”. “In university campuses – he added – theologians and scientists, each according to their own vocational skills, can contribute to this dialogue and “offer through research a connection between Christian faith and life in our societies”. Faith and science, together is possible. The panel lectures of three Catholic University professors from different scientific branches spotlighted this “connection”. Jacek Blazewicz, expert in biocomputer science at Poznan University, referred to Francis Collins’ “Biologos theory”. Accordingly, “while today we have scientific hypotheses on the origin of the universe such as the Big Bang, there is no valid theory on what there existed before”. Thus “the idea that God created the universe and its rules is acceptable for scientists, even if they’re not religious”. Olivier Rey, mathematician and philosopher at the Polytecnics in Paris, highlighted through the thought of Husserl and René Girard, that “science can take Revelation seriously and express it through its language” even though today the real problem is that “students don’t accept the fact that academics ignore questions of meaning”. To this regard, “Christianity can contribute to ‘reorient’ human sciences so that human beings are not viewed as ‘walking shadows”. João César Das Neves, economist from the Catholic University in Lisbon recalled, “Jesus revealed Himself on earth as a craftsman, ate with the publicans, the forerunners of contemporary financers” and “under a certain angle He was also a great ‘manager’. God wished to be a part of man’s entire life, which includes the economy”. A renewed need for God. Also ‘operational’ proposals emerged during the Congress. Msgr. Lorenzo Leuzzi, responsible of the Office for University Pastoral Work at Rome’s Vicariate, underlined the priority of “extending the horizons of reason”. “Academics, students, the university communities’ staff as well as the members of European culture are experiencing a renewed longing for God”, he said. “Our societies are living a post-secularized phase, which opens up to new horizons”. Msgr. Leuzzi highlighted the importance of “organic interaction with the pastoral work in our dioceses, so as to give a precious and original contribution to the project of the new evangelization”. For Fr. Ferenc Janka, vice secretary general of CCEE, it is necessary to help young people, professors, and those working in universities “to recover the dimensions of the past and of the future” as contemporary culture flattened on the “present”, and to enhance the credit of values such as “friendship and the family” with a commitment for “spiritual maternity and paternity”. To all these tasks of university pastoral work the Archbishop of Westminster, Msgr. Vincent Nichols, President of the CCEE “Catechesis, Schools and Universities” Commission, added that of “bringing the message of the Gospel within the lives of our students” favoring themes such as “friendship, peace, the family, as well as mobility, connectivity, and internationality”. According to the prelate, “the task of contributing to students’ formation as responsible citizens should not be overlooked”. The White Rose and contemporary students. The Congress provided the opportunity for reflection as well as moments of “encounter with true university life”. On the afternoon of Saturday 29 participants paid homage to the memory of Catholic students who adopted non-violent resistance against Nazi dictatorship at the White Rose of Ludwig University – Maximilians monument in Germany. They then met university students at the Catholic Community Centre of the same Atheneum. The works concluded on Sunday 30th with the Eucharistic celebration in Munich’s cathedral presided over by cardinal Reinhard Marx.