Towards a cultural project?

“It appears to me that the Catholic Church is being called to promote a specific European cultural project” through a “coherent, Christian reflection on the present and ideal shape of the European home, and most of all, providing contemporary man with the answers on himself, on who he is”, “addressing with serenity the great question marks of our century”. Card. Josip Bozanic has a deep knowledge of the Old Continent in its ecclesial, cultural and social aspects. His reflection on these subjects was delivered at the study seminar and update of Italian Bishops (Rome, November 14-16) titled “The Church and religious confessions in the system of the European Union”.Catholicism, territoriality. Card. Bozanic has matured his “continental vocation” in the course of his longtime commitment as vice president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), as observer, member of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), and pastor of the Church of Zagreb, Croatia, a country that in 2013 will become the 28th member country of the EU. The reflection of the prelate focused on the context of the integration process; at the same time, His Eminence examined the contribution that religious faiths, notably Christianity, are called to provide. “The first contribution that the Church can give to contemporary Europe is Catholicism and territoriality, namely, the experience of the specific relationship with the populations of a given territory”. In fact, for Card. Bozanic, today “it’s not possible to speak of Europe without considering the situation of globalization, which marks all phenomena and events”. “Europe should not be viewed as a fortress”, the speaker continued, “closed in its own self-interest. Rather, Europe is a continent that is being called to step up its own stability and self-identity”, thus providing a crucial contribution to the establishment of “world justice and peace”. While this is the horizon on which Europe is called to proceed, the same can be said for the Church, whose true interest is “the universal common good and not the exclusive good of one continent only”.Unity without borders. Of great interest are the remarks, on the same line, regarding “the strong acceleration and the reduction of space” in contemporary society, alongside with rapidly developed globalization. “The reduction of space brings about a paradoxical situation: when the world was very large, the difference between cultures and peoples existed but this difference was not a reason for concern, as peoples were distant, they didn’t meet, and there was enough space for everyone”. Thus differences “appeared to be small”. As an example, His Eminence underlined that in the past the majority of Europeans kept China in no practical consideration, and therefore, “China was not a problem”. But now that the world has grown smaller, now that the market and the media bring home to us Chinese products, images, and fashion, “China itself is present inside our homes”. The same can be said for the Islamic world: today “we are neighbors, and so we discover how distant – i.e. different – we are”, from Muslims. There emerges “the historical urgency to rediscover fraternity” in order to prevent the risks deriving from “the clash of civilizations, terrorism, financial crisis, famine, energy crisis, water monopoly”. Bozanic highlighted the concept of “Catholicism”, namely, “the possibility of accomplishing a universal communion, a borderless unity, whereby differences are not uniformed nor cancelled, but rather realized in their self-identity”. Belonging to a universal family should be also understood as a way to “redress nationalistic drifts, to curb standardized tendencies” and “anonymous and incontrollable powers, pertaining to a certain kind of globalization”.Reorganizing ideas. In his broad reflection, that touched also certain knots of the European political integration process, Card. Bozanic dedicated a specific part to the “cultural effort” underlying the evangelizing mission of Christians in contemporary Europe, especially as relates to temptations of relativism, which appears to encompass private morals, public ethics along with the social and political sphere, and the mass-media. Hence the emphasis on the “European cultural project” which the Catholic Church is called to develop in the present circumstance, focused on “respect, dialogue, solidarity” marking Christian presence in time. “Despite all the interrupted – lost or deviated paths that Europe has undertaken – Bozanic concluded- it has given a major contribution to culture, philosophy, science, arts… It is the place where culture was renewed by the contribution of Christianity. There may be mad ideas in Europe, but at least there are ideas! Our responsibility is to provide order, unity, and meaning to these ideas. Our pastoral action can act as the workshop of an educational and cultural effort that contributes to reordering European thinking”.