...and a symposium in Austria, at the gloriously restored monastery at Gaming, which is now the European campus of America's Franciscan University of Steubenville. This English-language symposium examined the life and legacy of St John Paul and it was an enormous privilege to take part.
Among those attending were bishops and senior clergy from across Eastern Europe and the Baltic states, and the keynote speaker was Dr Hannah Suchoka, Prime Minister of Poland under Lech Walesa's presidency. 2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the destruction of the Berlin Wall...much to discuss and it was a time to look forward rather than back: new problems, new challenges, new issues, and the theme of the symposium was the New Evangelisation. Among many interesting lectures was one on JP's philosophy and his emphasis on the absolute value of the human person, and his work exploring Max Scheler's ideas...
Austria badly - very badly - needs the New Evangelisation. People have become used to the notion of Catholicism as a tradition, something that simply keeps going but doesn't require any real assent and certainly not personal prayer and regular attendance at Mass...so vocations to the priesthood are small in number, and there is general acceptance of ideas such as voluntary euthanasia and same-sex unions...a sort of passive inert form of agnosticism beneath an acquaintance with traditional Catholic ceremonies and calendar...
A great source of hope is the magnificent monastery of Heiligenkreuz, about an hour or so from Gaming, on the road to Vienna. There are some 85 monks there, living the Benedictine rule...we joined them for midday prayer, and the glorious chanting filled the vast ancient abbey church...they are kept busy and run a large number of nearby parishes.
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2 comments:
I just love reading your blog. After reading your books and taking one of your amazing tours I have found you to be a blessing in so many ways. Auntie Joanna thank you!
I've been quoting the title "Come on in - it's awful!" for YEARS as I explain to people why I remain a Catholic and what the Church IS first and foremost (Immaculate Bride of Christ, even if her members are disfigured by sin).
Still, my goodness - it really IS awful - and the present pontificate (which I'd want to distinguish from the Pope himself) fills me with foreboding. Too many liberal prelates crowding in to follow in the Bergolian wake.
As for the Pope himself, God bless him (apart from his regular and useful reminders of the existence of the Devil and some of his spontaneous and genuine gestures of kindness) I rarely understand what he says. I find that he talks and talks an awful lot. So I'm in the rather odd position - for the first time in 30 years in fact - of just not paying very much attention to a Pope at all because there's a lot of words without anything much of substance being produced.
None of that will stop me saying to people: Come on in, it's awful! So thank you for that.
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