Something is changing

The 83rd Semaine Sociale de France was held in Lyon from 21 to 23 November 2008, in a Congress Centre on the banks of the Rhone able to accommodate some 3500 participants who came from all over France and also from Belgium. One novelty this year: some 500 guests from Central Europe accepted the invitation to attend. They especially came from Poland and Slovakia, but also from Hungary and Ukraine. The city of Lyon occupies a privileged position in the memory of the Semaines Sociales , this Catholic association that is now over a hundred years old. For it was this great industrial metropolis, distinguished by the dynamic expression of the Christian virtues, that gave rise to the initial impulse for an annual meeting of Catholic laity and members of the clergy in a kind of great people’s university dedicated to the analysis and examination of the great social questions of the day. The participants have defined themselves ever since the association’s origins as “social because they are Christians” and attentive to the social teaching of the Church that Pope Leo XIII had inaugurated in 1891 with his Encyclical “Rerum novarum”. The need to struggle against injustices of every kind has never been so urgent, as Paul VI emphasized in his Encyclical “Populorum progressio”, for today, “the social question has become global”. The crisis that is spreading throughout the world, like some lethal tsunami, could not be passed over in silence. It was analyzed by some experts of the Semaines Sociales who have familiarity with international questions, under the guidance of Michel Camdessus, former President of the International Monetary Fund. Against this horizon characterized by a planetary crisis, the theme of this year’s Semaine Sociale assumed all the greater resonance. In fact, in the keynote addresses, round tables, workshops, and discussions, a question of great magnitude was posed to the participants: are religions a threat or a hope for our societies?Sociologists, politicians, philosophers, the heads of associations, and men and women strongly involved in interfaith meetings offered their reflections and shared their experiences. Opening the debate, eight representatives of the communities of Lyon, speaking of their insertion in the communal inter-religious fabric, set the tone of the debate. “The principle of the separation between politics and religion is for us a prerequisite and condition for peaceful political and religious life”, said Cardinal Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon. In the final message issued at the end of the meeting, the Semaines Sociales reaffirmed, for their part, that “this favourable situation… is the result, both in France and in Europe, of lasting changes. On the one hand, societies, enriched by unprecedented liberties and sometimes disturbing potential, are ridding themselves of the old clichés that restricted religion to the private sphere. On the other, religions know they are minorities and no longer have the pretence, at least in our countries, of exerting any power on public life”.Listening to the various interventions, it seems clear that France is moving away from the old battles formerly fought in the name of a self-confident Church or a secularist mentality eager to purge the country of all clerical influences that were maintaining it confined to a past that was over. People no longer believe in progress as liberating or science as source of emancipation. Nicolas Sarkozy is not mistaken when he speaks of a “positive” form of secularism. Modernity has exorcized its own enchantments and desecrated everything. But it is just this that makes the difference. Politics itself has become more fragile and has felt the need to find men of conviction, capable of animating from within a democracy that is languishing. How is it possible to assert that Christians are everywhere seeking power, when we see them in large numbers dedicate themselves, individually or within associations, to the victims of Aids, to prisoners, the homeless, people without fixed address, the unemployed…? If Christians were to abandon these humble tasks, it would be the politics of others that would be impoverished…According to a woman pastor of the Reformed church, the real pluralism we need is only possible if “each religion is able to turn a critical eye on itself and so transform itself” from within. The practice of justice and respect for others are the gateways to any opening to others. “If the Word from which we live is also to be a source of inspiration for others – emphasizes the final message of the Semaines Sociales – we need to change the way in which we bear witness to it”. This becomes possible if the Church “conducts a conversation with herself”, according to a phrase dear to Paul VI.