Presence and witness

"The new evangelization and the challenges of secularization" are also transmitted through the European institutions. That’s why the European Churches feel it is their responsibility to be "present in these forums" by promoting "a dialogue between faith and reason", and "a witness of charity that also becomes a sign of God’s presence": in such terms Mgr. Duarte da Cunha, General Secretary of the Council of the European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), explained the reasons that led the Presidents of the nine Bishops’ Conferences of South-East Europe to meet in Strasbourg, seat of the Council of Europe, this year. The meeting – promoted by the CCEE in collaboration with the permanent Mission of the Holy See to the Council of Europe from 5 to 8 March – is being attended by the Presidents of the Bishops of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Moldavia, Romania, Turkey and of the Saints Cyril and Methodius International Bishops’ Conference. In Strasbourg the bishops are meeting with leading exponents of the Council of Europe with whom they are discussing democracy, human rights, the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue, and the most recent sentences of the European Court, especially those linked to religion and the Church. A particularly important moment during the meeting will be the Mass for Europe in Strasbourg Cathedral on Wednesday 7 March. The celebration will be officiated by the Archbishop of the city, Mgr. Jean-Pierre Grallet. Many persons involved in the European institutions have been invited to attend the rite: MEPs, ambassadors and administrators of the Council of Europe, judges of the European Court of Human Rights, members of ecclesial communities and organizations that participate in the process of European integration."Obliged to be protagonists". "The Council of Europe – underlines Mgr. da Cunha – forms part of those institutions that were founded after the war and that wished to be promoters of peace and justice". So "the birth of the Council of Europe – continues the CCEE General Secretary – was undoubtedly an important step" in the defence of human rights and some fundamental values. The question to which the European bishops present in Strasbourg are trying to give an answer is this: "How can we promote the truth of man and woman, the true human ecology that the Popes, for years, have been urging us to place at the centre of political activity?" Da Cunha underlines that human rights, the rule of law and democracy are "values that are considered common to all humanity and that transcend all cultures. But what – he asks – are the foundations of these values? For us it is impossible to speak of values without a reference to the dignity of man, and hence to the Creator and the nature that He created". Hence the need for the Church to enter, and play a role in, European institutional contexts. "The question – explains da Cunha – is political, but primarily it is pre-political: it is cultural, because it concerns the meaning of personal and social life, and hence the very foundations of human society. As Church we are undoubtedly involved"; we are "obliged to be protagonists". The Church’s interest in the Council of Europe, therefore, is dictated by the fact that "here fundamental guidelines, and hence culture and ways of thinking, are first defined, before being transformed into law and educational proposals for all youth".The voice of minorities. "In spite of difficulties and sufferings, each people, each nation has its rich heritage, its inalienable values", and if one of them were to be left out, "the consequence would be a Europe that is not faithful to the project of its founding fathers, who had in mind a common home in which all peoples that inhabit it would have the same dignity, the same rights, and the same obligations": the point is made by the mouthpiece of a minority Church, as the Catholic Church so often finds itself in South-East Europe, namely, Mgr. Anton Cosa, Bishop of Chisinau (Moldavia), spiritual guide of 20,000 Catholics scattered in the 18 parishes present in the national territory. Moldavia – explains Bishop Cosa – occupies a place between Latin and Slav culture, between East and West. It’s a country with a turbulent and sorrowful past that has much to give and to say to Europe today. Moldavians – he adds – are seeking an experience that may preserve them in their own identity and support them in this endeavour. It’s not possible for a small nation like ours to live in isolation: if we were forced to do so, it would be suicide". Speaking of the meeting in Strasbourg, he sees it as "a moment of communion and sharing, but also as an opportunity to exchange views on situations in which Europe is guiding our efforts to foster peaceful and fraternal coexistence in a society that is becoming ever more heterogeneous as a result of immigration". What the bishops ask of Europe is an "opening towards religion and the Church, which means an opening to European values that are still Christian, and that we hope will always remain firmly attached to their Christian roots".