May we see those faces again

The small Church in Albania, which from September 29 to October 2 hosted the plenary assembly of CCEE, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences sent a message to the Churches in Europe. The message comes from a land that until a few decades ago was smeared with the blood of the martyrs, a land humiliated by atheism, where priests, bishops, religious and lay people paid with their lives their belief and their courage to publicly utter words of faithfulness to the Gospel.In the present and in the past theirs were the faces of Gospel proclamation, which is not consumed by time, that is encouraged to find new languages enabling its comprehension and its incorporation within the rapidly changing times.The new evangelization to which are called the Churches in Europe will take place if those faces will return to be, if the memory of the martyrs will be restored under different forms, acting as the daily witness that interrogates consciences, that accompanies in the quest for the truth, that indicates the direction leading to its encounter. Those faces will return to be if the new evangelisation becomes a language, capable of conveying the reasons for Christian hope with sweetness, respect, with rectitude, in a human and cultural context that needs to be understood and loved more than it needs to be judged. Then only, will it be possible to recover the breath and the glance of God. It isn’t a hope: it’s a belief. The Churches of Europe, committed individually and concertedly in this adventure, have undertaken the roads of the continent guided by a Pope that proceeds with the light pace of the messenger of the Word. In the past forty years since the establishment of CCEE the European Churches of Eastern, Western and Central Europe have grown in their commitment for dialogue, reflection and in the project marked by a mutual enrichment, which also SIR Europe has been sharing for over ten years. It is not a new departure. The journey continues from Tirana, Albania. It isn’t a turning-point either. It’s another step forward for every Church and for all the Churches in Europe. It has been said that evangelization is neither a concern nor a method. It is the strong yearning to share a gift that was gratuitously bestowed upon us so that it may grow, and that it may be for everyone to enjoy. The new evangelization is also to conceive Europe as a “common home” and offer a cultural and political contribution so that the building may become stronger and it may not collapse as a result of the storm of a crisis that isn’t only economic or because of the dangerous current of scepticism. At a time when it is justly demanded that faith be recognised the right to inhabit the city it is necessary to draw the consequences and recover the strings of the debate on a consistent and effective presence of Christians also within European Union institutions. It was the invitation of John Paul II, who acknowledged within the image of the “Christian roots” the intellectual and operative witness of Catholics in places where the future of the peoples is decided. In this perspective lies the responsibility of European Churches and their European bodies, the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences and the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community. It is an experience that has progressed in time and that will grow with a new understanding to shape diversities and promote their “specific contribution” for the erection of the European common good that Benedict XVI has referred to on many occasions. SIR Europe will continue to share and report on this adventure thanks to its observers networking from across Europe thanks to the agency’s operative seats in Rome, Brussels and Bratislava. With the purpose of providing a professional contribution for truly European information to whose faces will turn the faces of the new evangelisation.