Realism and faith

Realism and faith also in time of crisis, this was the closing message of the European Meeting of the Bishops in charge of social issues of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe attended by 37 delegates representing 22 Bishops’ Conferences. The meeting was organized in cooperation with Croatia’s Bishops’ Conference and was hosted by the Archbishop of Zagreb and CCEE vice-President Cardinal Josip Bozanic. Debates focused on the Church’s approach vis à vis the financial and economic crisis that severely hit international markets. In the three-day session, the bishops – with the support of experts and of Msgr. Giampaolo Crepaldi, Segretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace – sought to give their “responsible contribution in the development of measures regarding social questions, on the basis of their patrimony of faith and of their experience in the social realm”. Follow excerpts of the final statement issued by CCEE at the end of the meeting. Realism and faith. These are the two “indications” that European Bishops give to the political and financial world facing the ongoing crisis. The Bishops urge not to be led by “anthropological pessimism” in this moment of crisis, “but to be guided by the realism of hope. This hope can become an opportunity to recover development with a responsible approach. The crisis compels us to reflect and to make plans, to set new rules for ourselves and find new forms of commitment, to focus on positive experiences and to reject the negative ones. The crisis is an opportunity for discernment and for new plans”. Thus, it is a matter of promoting a “realism that seeks to understand what has really happened” and what “can be changed”. It is a “committed form of realism” that is also “a form of solidarity with those that are suffering the consequences of the crisis”. Three paths: “the need to rediscover the meaning of work; the promotion of the social function of enterprises and the need to recover the principle of subsidiarity”, wrote the bishops. A commitment in favour of development. In their statement the bishops ask governments to keep their commitments for funding to development. “In this moment soliciting a re-examination of the economy, the needs of the poor must be taken into due account. The crisis concretizes a danger: that the already scarce funding to development might cease completely. Many countries didn’t comply with the obligation to devote 0.7% of their GDP to this objective”. European bishops believe that “fulfilling commitments with honesty and intelligence means introducing the sparkle of faith in the engine of development that the poor Countries, mostly African, are in dire need of”.Unemployment. The surge in unemployment was equally addressed during the meeting in Zagreb which – is stated in the final declaration – “is one of the most visible effects of the crisis”. The bishops addressed specific themes bound to current events, social turmoil, the “crisis” of pension systems and of migration. The bishops said that unemployment “is a problem that is becoming increasingly dramatic in a number of countries, involving a high number of people and necessitating special attention on the part of the Church, due to the serious consequences upon individuals, families and society as a whole”. European bishops believe that “the ongoing crisis highlighted the anthropological divide that is triggered when economic profit removes man’s role as the fundamental benchmark of employment and entreprises”. In Zagreb the bishops also spoke of “abandoned children” in East European Countries, due to their parents’ migration to other European Countries. Commitment for the EU. In their statement the bishops encourage the “intellectual analysis of the social doctrine of the Church” and urge Catholic universities and research centres to “be more available” to sharing their knowledge and skills. However, they underline the need to increase “EU commitment awareness”. In fact, the Bishops wrote, “The faithful often appear to be not fully knowledgeable of Church social doctrine. In fact, it is often perceived as being separated from concrete charitable deeds. Church social engagement is not confined to charity. Social engagement entails introducing the Gospel within the very fabric of society. It is therefore necessary to identify the appropriate moments and means enabling Catholics to recover the patrimony of the social doctrine of the Church”.