Poland: Cardinal Dziwisz, where’s Europe going?”What is Europe and where is it going? The question is being posed ever more often. Obviously, we are not speaking here of geographic criteria, but of the spiritual and moral condition of our continent. Too easily we pass, without reflection, beyond the things of God, and, by trying to do wholly without Him, we try to give form to the reality in which we live. But this leads us into the abyss. For if we despise God we also despise man”. So said Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Archbishop of Krakow, in a recent homily, analyzing the current situation of the Catholic Church in Poland. Recalling John Paul II, who during his visit to Poland in 1991, had exhorted his compatriots not to consider “the things of God as essentially unimportant”, Cardinal Dziwisz once again posed the question whither the realization of a project of life “as if God did not exist” might lead. This is his reply: “We already know where such a project leads us. It leads to total contempt for man. For whenever God is shelved (or sidelined) man is diminished or humiliated”. “For then – he continued – the place of the Ten Commandments is taken by permissiveness and moral relativism. And in this way it becomes impossible to know what the objective truth is. In spite of the fact that Europe is growing economically, in some sense it is becoming ever more morally impaired, and spiritually paralyzed. And this impairment and paralysis of our continent may lead it to destroy its own identity”. The cardinal, in his criticism of public life in Poland and in Europe as a whole, pulled no punches. Nor did he spare the politicians: “The signs of secularism are all too clearly visible also in public life, where some leading Christian politicians try to consider their faith as an element of private life, without any reference to the life of society”. The one-time private secretary of John Paul II also recalled: “If the seeds of Christianity are to bear fruit, those who proclaim the Gospel – be they priests or laymen – need to be characterized in their work by two elements – unity of word and of action. For only that unity can give rise to trust”. The Archbishop of Krakow, recalling Paul VI’s words that “more than teachers what the world needs are witnesses”, added: “Being witnesses means conforming one’s own life to the light of the Gospel so that the world, in its daily life, may perceive its beauty”.Spain: Madrid, the Christian teacherThe 24th Diocesan Day of teaching will be celebrated in Madrid on 7 March. This year it is being devoted to the theme: “The Christian teacher, witness of an experience”. It represents, as the Archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Mª Rouco Varela, explains in a pastoral letter, “a fresh opportunity to approach the world of education, so important for the Church’s evangelizing mission that is able to esteem the efforts of so many teachers who, in collaboration with families, work every day to provide quality education in our diocese”. According to the cardinal, “the education of the human person is the intrinsic task of the family”, especially “in an individualistic society, like our own, in which the cultural influence tends to forge a man fragmented and fascinated by the pursuit of a freedom decoupled” from everything. In this “fundamental educational task”, however, the family must not be left alone, but must be able to rely on other agencies that may help it in the “integral formation of children, because the family by itself alone is unable to offer them all the help they need”. So, “schools, always in a subsidiary capacity, second to parents and in close cooperation with them, should try to educate their pupils in such a way that they learn to be persons”. That means that schools should not only transmit to them “knowledge and practical skills”, but also educate them in “the practice of the virtues”. The Archbishop of Madrid does not disguise the “uneasiness of many families who don’t know how to educate their children” and of “so many Christian teachers who feel themselves under threat in their teaching activity due to the pressure of some cultural attitudes that promote models of conduct far removed from the truth that may help to give a meaning to life”. That’s why, says Cardinal Rouco Varela, “we need to revive the missionary impulse of families and of Christian teachers that may restore a capacity to live life to the full to the new generations”. The cardinal in particular proposes St. Paul as a model for teachers. “The Christian teacher – he underlines -, by following the apostle’s example, should try to be a faithful witness of faith and of truth”. In short, the Christian teacher, strong in “his profound conviction of faith” and “a sum of cultural, psychological and educational skills”, should “accompany his pupils in the search for the truth”. He must help them to avoid “the shortcuts of subjectivism, relativism and nihilism that are so omnipresent in our society and that blinds it to transcendence”.
