The enthusiasm of faith

The annual meeting of Eastern Catholic Bishops in Europe brought together in Oradea (Romania), from November 3 to 6, some 70 participants including bishops and experts, at the invitation of the bishop of Oradea-Mare, Msgr. Virgil Bercea. The theme of the meeting was the contribution of Eastern Catholic Churches in Europe to the new evangelization. The meeting, states the final statement released by CCEE (Council of European Bishops’ Conferences) that has promoted the meeting, “was a moment of community discernment aimed at identifying the adequate elements to meet the challenge of proclaiming Christ in the current socio-cultural context”. Its results will be summarized in a report that will be delivered to the Secretary of the Synod of Bishops in view of the 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops (Rome, 7-28 October 2012). The meeting was also attended by the bishops of Latin rite of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Romania. During the works, the bishops have thanked the Holy Father for his initiative to include the Eastern Catholic Churches in the general intention for the apostolate of prayer, “so that their venerable tradition be known and respected as a spiritual treasure for the whole Church”.Awakening the faith. In his opening remarks, Cardinal Peter Erdo, CCEE President, stressed the importance of the meetings of the Eastern and Roman Catholic bishops and reaffirmed that the new evangelization is an opportunity through which “we are all called to awaken our faith and build a Christian community rooted in the Lord and with an intense missionary enthusiasm”. For his part, the President of the Synod of the Greek-Catholic Church and of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Romania, His Beatitude Lucian Muresan, Archbishop Major of Fagaras and Alba Julia of the Romanians, has contextualized the meeting by stressing that, twenty years after the fall of totalitarian regimes, “also the Eastern Catholic Churches are facing a rapidly changing society in which secularization, relativism, and migration have changed paradigms and methods not only in matter of belonging to the Church and religious practice, but also as far as the transmission and proclamation of the Gospel is concerned”. For Msgr. Francisco Javier Lozano, Francisco Javier Lozano, Apostolic Nuncio in Romania and the Republic of Moldova, “There is no other Church in Romania that might be called “Church of martyrdom, except the Greek-catholic Church”. In his address, Msgr. Salvatore Fischella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, has highlighted some of the tasks facing the new evangelization: strengthening the sense of belonging which generates a strong identity; having attention to our terminology and have a special care for “what is beautiful”, for the liturgy, but also for catechesis and permanent formation. Msgr. Fisichella highlighted that “the crisis the world is living today is essentially anthropological in its nature”, “as a result of secularism, which led to the unjustified exclusion of God, both in the public and in the private sphere, thereby leading to a serious confusion in terms of personal identity, so that modern man often becomes unable to justify himself and find an orientation to his existence”. Christian identity. According to Jesuit Father Marko Rupnik, a world-famous artist and Director of the Aletti Center, it is important to reflect on the contribution of Byzantine art in the context of the new evangelization. For this Slovenian artist, it is very important to understand the reality in which the art inserts and the function it has assumed. Unfortunately, “Art has migrated from the shrine to the palace ending up in the art galleries; it does not generate devotion but only admiration of the artist. At the same time, art has lost its function as a symbol, putting forward the idea of concept but totally disconnected from the reality of daily life”. Faced with a growing secularism and consumerism in Eastern European societies, the task of the Church is, according to Msgr. Cyril Vasil, Secretary of the Congregation of Eastern Churches, to offer to civil society, to limit the disastrous effects of a wild capitalism, the experience of the Social Doctrine of the Church “as an antidote to the poisonous effects of market economy”. He also underlined the importance of “the preservation of the Christian identity of East-European Catholics, who have migrated for economic reasons,” They should received pastoral care along with support at all levels of integration. Prof. Cesare Alzati, a professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan, in the light of the history and nature of the Eastern Catholic Churches, has identified some aspects that could be a stimulus to the rest of the Christian world. A particularly important aspect is the liturgy of the Eastern Catholic Churches. In this sense, the new evangelization of Europe “has as its inevitable stage the reaffirmation of the centrality of the experience of mystery, through which man can live in history his encounter with God”. The 2012 meeting will be held in Zagreb from the 8th to the 11th of November, to mark the fourth centenary of the union of the Croatian Catholic Church of Byzantine rite with the Church of Rome, at the invitation of Mgr. Nikola Kekic, Bishop of Krizevci.