the night of Italian Catholicism (an article by Giancarlo Zizola on Rocca)
Giancarlo Zizola ROCCA on November 1, 2010, pp. 45-49.
E 'night for Italian Catholicism, "a Christianity in the process of desertification," according to the anal shock is a French observer, Jean - Luc Pouthier in an article in the Jesuit monthly Etudes. " Yet the site cat t folic most visited are those that exhibit the Sacred Heart and the Host with the rays, the antennas of Radio But ria dripping plays, so far as to dis chilli the rosary and launch new cro ciate anti - Islamic Padre Pio is always a star in the firmament of saints, the Shroud has broken all records of pilgrims and shrines, from the St. Anthony in Padua Holy House of Loreto, Assi is in San Francesco di Paola in Calabria, regurgitate of invocations, and the hermitages fail to meet all 'wave of bookings .
Vitality only apparent?
It the most cases, are the faces of popular piety informal, miraculous, magical and involuntary child, but also areas in which individuals draw in silence the fundamental questions unanswered or elsewhere choked by the esc love one arrogant . However, far from disappearing if a phenomenon is responsible to know that modernity did not kill the longing to believe, despite the fragility of the priestly caste. But even the official church, one of the curiae seems that fare better in Italy than in other European countries, it managed to maintain a life here more visible to the point that we speak of an "Italian exception" in the context of secolarizzazio it European : 222 dioceses , about 31,000 diocesan priests, 15,000 priests in religious orders and congregations, 100,000 nuns. Massive drop in numbers for some thirty years, with the aging of the clergy and the decrease in orders for new priests (about 500 to ' year) that forces the leaders to fish in the clergy of ' import , especially Poles and African , or merge parishes, in the absence of a strategic reform plan. Equally significant associations Catholic high of about 5 million members or associates , ie 12% of the adult population . The v Oran in different fields, from ' pastoral commitment to the charitable or voluntary , while lacking the target of the Catholic school, with only 1'8 % of pupils in denominational schools (25% in secular France) .
a vitality only " apparent " as Pouthier creeps? How long will the ' Catholic Italy and will ccezione? And what are the hidden fragility , making some talk of "catastrophe " others more cautiously identity move, right in the throes of transition?
Religious practice is beaten. An amount not indifferent r body of priests , of men and women religious leave , leaves the stage without drama apparent docility of the faithful to Church teaching on sexual morality. And I'm not the only figures that allow doubts on the theory of Giuseppe De Rita ( "Corriere della Sera " August 31, 2010) that the estate of Italian Catholicism de you almost everything now its " fund identity of a more religious and spiritual commitment of civil " . In fact, the narratives of this latest religious identity raise the bandages on the wounds hidden : reductionism or the U-turn on the conciliar reform , maldigerita , tracking stability pact between the Church and right policies c to the command , the 'bourgeois clergy , the loss of prophecy, the ' accumulation of privileges concordats, ignorance of the social doctrine of the Church . ..
would therefore its religious roots to be attacked , the point of producing a counterfeit Christianity, like that of " devout atheists" or rewriting of the Gospels, a new v Arian heresy to tailor the League of God Po , self-proclaimed champion of the Christian roots of ' West, but ripping the poor and immigrants from the arms of the Crucified. Again in 2006 , the Fourth Conference of the Church of Verona, sponsored by the Episcopal Conference, had been diagnosed some of the emerging phenomena of s heel " with v or and effective" a climate of " bitterness and uncertainty " , a "decline of the Christian presence, particularly among young " .
A faith without ceremony and no church.
But in recent months, the language of analysts Italian Catholicism has become less smooth : end of a tradition of Christianity , religious indifference, homeopathic phenomena of apostasy, schism silent, but the mass loss of cultural power of the Church in society . Sociologists of the rank of Franco Garelli, Luca Diotallevi issue bulletins on the night of Catholicism in Italy: not only religious practice falls, more interesting is that the religious affiliation is de-institutionalization, the detachment from the church system and the observations do not s mail generally towards 'indifference , rather to a God more interior, more subjects v or tried n and the tab and rnacolo of consciousness. 's A faith and ritual, and without nza Church "Garelli summarizes .
bits and pieces of the device Catholic reunite in new combinations of s enso, although not much to maintaining conditions v Ider with ' ecclesiastical apparatus c o. Professor of political philosophy at the Pontifical c ia Uni v ersity Gregorian, Rocco D'Ambrosio did not hesitate to ask to be aware that " Italian society is no longer inspired by Christianity , in terms of costumes, ideas, attitudes, personal and social , laws and political practices " . Her little white book on Catholics and the Italian company ( " Searching prophets' Edizioni La Meridiana, Molfetta ) is a dramatic attempt to throw the lifeline to the sinking church, or a willing and therapeutic interpretation provvidenzia vertical list of the crisis that is decomposing the massive castle of the hierarchical system of Roman Church: "We are struggling with a 'de-Christianized Italy or without faith, and this result certainly visible, undertakes to transform the vision and strategy the Church if he wants to work because Christianity has a the future. "
Without God without the Church.
For now forecasts an Italy neo - pagan not substantially different from current trends in the rest of ' Europe, where there are concerns for signs of regression to the dumb idols of paganism , well beyond the threshold of secularization. A hard failure for the Church and its plans of evangelization of the country. Armando Matteo, assistant to the National Federation of Catholic university (Fuci) has placed the Church a simple question: starting from the moment of the baptized, fewer and fewer, cease all religious practice, each transmission of knowledge and values, how many generations it will take because the memory is permanently cancels Christian in this country? In the essay
"The first generation z ion disbelief " (Rubbettino publisher) acknowledges that the Christian faith "has undergone a process of opacification in the present age of his ability to humanize , that is no longer convincing as a chance to become the ' man man. " "You notice inability of the average European citizen to grasp the ultimate meaning of faith ( ... ). Men and women of our time are no longer attracted to the gospel of Jesus have simply learned to get along without God and the Church . This is the ' novel of our time in the West no longer the classic against God, atheism, but without the God of those who have multiple antennas for him " . This result is particularly heavy for the worlds youth , if indeed there is a clear use of Christianity in the line of 'belonging without belief " , ridirsi useful in their own cultural identity in an increasingly multicultural and multi-religious .
In fact, despite the media concordatory on religious education in Catholic schools is that young " do not know why they should believe or why they should pray" for the faith to many of them " a foreign language " . It broke the transmission belt of families , initiation to ' not inspired more human to the grammar of Christian ' existence. sign of the cross will be reduced by the media to superstitious whim of the players entering the field, but does not collect and certify the existence of a people belonging to faith in Christ dead and risen.
The causes of the crisis.
" be born and become a Christian are two different things. You do not become Christians with milk " . The average Italian has therefore ceased to be " naturaliter " Christians do not regard that as the world and the human condition from the perspective Jewish Christian. L ' current climate in Europe and that the youth of ' breathe today - Don Matteo insists - it makes opaque, unreadable not immediately clear Gospel message of the classic form of ecclesial his manner of praying, to judge the moral behavior, to assign specific criteria of value to things and people, and finally to offer alternative visions to ' current world scenario, dominated by money and power. But these outcomes so depressing
rin v ian to causes that are not only external , the perfidious secularization, all 'scientific atheism associated with communism, the media attacks against Ratzinger, a fable or a whining victim psychological scapegoat by the pope himself has dismantled when it was used in the Curia to minimize the crisis of clergy pedophiles.
The causes of the crisis are looking more seriously within the Church, in its difficulty to free Christianity from the protective regime of Christianity but suffocating snaturante , in his unwillingness to come down from their thrones, to strip the cloak, privileges and pompous titles, out of the claim of ' self-sufficiency to recognize the scope of those providential revolution and get all ' listen humbly to their problems, their wounds , of their research and their views . sparing them the ' invective accomplices of relativism.
" If there must be a new evangelization" - Susanna Tamaro said, "should focus first of all men and women of the Church, unfortunately, many managers , too many cases - turning away from the faith of so many valuable people " . From the columns of the Corriere della Sera " (August 2, 2010), his questions to the Church were those of many former Catholics who have left to the spas ll and political messianism, new ag and , various movements to return to the Eastern faith of the Gospel, but , experienced a period of major transportation, found no parent waiting for , not partners, not welcome , for which you are again in the away. "All I do - wrote - to meet good people and , straight , ethical , who have moved away forever by the experience of the Church after obtain further with its representatives " .
Counterparties and paradoxes.
L ' assumptions works D' Ambro s I , with him and the Christians " threshold " in c lusi to ome bishops is that the historical crisis ch and be discarded Cendo the old str u ttura , with all its glory and pride, but also with his saints, also determines the medium term " the grand care and humility " in , second Tamaro, the Church needs. The
apostasies save it? "The save the prophecy " meets the the political scientist, a disciple of the bishop Tonino Bel or one of the few prophets who had the Italian Church, and of course proceeded to stone in the second half of the twentieth century (the other was Pope John XXI I I) . His view is that decay is the model of the Church and that shaped " Constantine " CRI s tianesimo that retrieved and updated by Cardinal Rui n as the Italian translation of triumphalism wojt y the ian , has focused on recovered de ro ll to social power, visibility and the de the "driving force " the bad the icesimo in Italian society. In other
t and Rmin, what the ' hypothesis is that it is was the desire to return to count , even without the DC , to weaken the Church and also on the pastor the and, not only on the public. And its hard to accept they are no longer majority or r and Ligios or politics in a world s Ecola authorized that empties the churches and offers ll the ropes and a credible TA of the Church . To re evangelize the West's and rvirebbero more monasteries, and most departments do not , s pecialmen if you assigned to it, like the one recently created in the Roman Curia to men of power as Bishop . S alvatore Fisichella.
The " the Ibro white " of D 'Ambrosio is a collection of paradoxes and contraposition , collected by the story and lla " major operation Storage " of Vatican II at the hands of leaders whose hierarchical lu ngimiranza did not shine, with general admission . If anyone hopes v to the top of the hierarchy using the shots of the referendum on assisted procreation and and the prohibition on living wills to show off the power while the ITIC of the Church, the marks ethical degradation of the public and private sectors in the country have uncovered the p and ntola: not treated tava that of buffer solutions, the maximum useful mum to re n v iare the explosive point of crisis . The b the launch of the decade de ll to riconq u ista Catholic cultural the ca, Planning the ed by R uini , could not tory and more mitigated in 2007, when is the end of his was played at the top the CEI, in and coincides with the RAF nza cooling of the glorious mysteries of the Church wojtyliana . Just when to the Chie sa Catholic finds himself with never been more than filled the coffers of to the revenue of 8 per thousand and ssa pay in more insecure and zza .
Where the prophecy suffers violence.
" The Italian Church - says D'Ambrosio - a whole (as in his local joints: dioceses, parishes , orders Eligio r) is substantially too rich . A n that the prophecy in this area suffered violence . B isognerebbe wonder what the logic of the market , of profit at any cost touches our Catholic institutions. The prophetic word poverty requires the à of its witnesses to be heard . The With c ilio called on the Church even rin u nziare legitimately acquired rights if their use did doubt the sincerity of the witness. In Italy the Church has acquired stip ndi chaplains and hospital funds for the schools to Catholics around the , commissioning role of religion teachers , funding to speakers parochial, public contributions c ie exemptions fisc to them for parishes, religious orders and diocese " .
" A Church so rich they can to get to me n or the faithful " is the bitter irony Hans P eter Oschw to ld, deca no Vatican Germans . "Maybe we have a so secularized Catholicism as the world that St. ssa Catholic Church and critical " presses D'Ambrosio . "The mentalities de ll 'business is taking root in communities where the rich and wealthy while trying ' devout atheists' are too much of home, while three languish training , in serious training and testimonies uncomfortable on hot issues. " His concern is that the message of the Italian Church has become so duped by the interference in the political ledger and make it hard for his adherence to the clear directives of Pope Ratzinger to not meddle in the affairs of politics, in the wake of the sharp distinction between Church and political community as recommended by his first encyclical "Deus Caritas Est." It is the task of taking away from Benedict XVI entrusted to the new president of the CEI, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco . Business delicate followed with the attention it deserves, and which is conducted more Another method of balancing that with the diplomats, including the Church of Caritas, the Gospel siding with the victims and the Church of the Meeting of Rimini, the "red carpet 'alliance of Italian Catholicism of Communion and Liberation, with the powers that be. Ideological drift, is intended to necessarily result in an integral, according to proponents of the new reform Christian rushes gladly on the short circuit of "non-negotiable values" in bioethics, the ones that cost less and make more in the election campaign, while the Bagnasco himself does not hesitate to remind the forgetful that the defense of human life is not selective, it also means workers' rights, respect for people and the just expectations of immigrants, opposition to war and injustice, laws to protect the weakest and the environment.
utilitarian theology of devout atheists.
front of the church is no longer just a political regime, but a utilitarian theology for the consumption of the Prince. It is managed by a new kind of deacons, "devout atheists" and continues with impunity try to incorporate God as the keystone in the bourgeois system, fully serves the interests of dominant powers . The same faith in God comes to be understood, in this cultural context, not as a gift but as a possession, a quantifiable and measurable quantity: it is small or large. We have the faith or not you have it. He was in or out. Become a distinctive identity, a way to cover the interest with the cloak of religion, which makes it possible - it happened - invoke the name of God and the defense of "Christian roots" of Europe to justify outrageous and sometimes murderous policies towards the others, the stranger, the poor, immigrants, the Roma, who are different. A result that reveals the failure of the public system of evangelization in a country self-styled "Catholic" and that calling into question the legitimate diversity of social belonging, come to affect indirectly the ecumenical principle of accommodating diversity as essential components of the one Church of Christ.
Under the blows of the storm.
It is precisely this combination that organic is called into question by the collapse of the structures of established Christianity. From the perspective of the Gospel, says D'Ambrosio, a pure profit: to reach more deeply its inspiration, the Church has sought to distinguish itself more clearly by the dominant interests, sever their institutional ties that make it a branch of the State, deliver effective its historical mission in that incarnation of the difference which is ensured by the evangelical poverty as a fundamental form of the Church "little flock", "leaven in the dough", "mustard seed". It is becoming under the blows of the storm, making a minority of the Catholic belief, but their culture remains rooted in the role of most of the country. Yet Ratzinger himself had no doubt, in a 1997 interview, suggesting to abandon the idea of \u200b\u200bnational church or mass: "Ahead of us is likely that there is a different era - he said - in which Christianity is to be in the situation of the mustard seed, a group of small, apparently irrelevant, but they live intensely against evil and bring good into the world. "
Even in dire economic trends of the crisis of his Church Pope Benedict has not ceased to feel that only by placing his resolute action on the spiritual Church could preserve their otherness, which is not only the condition for the recovery of his meaning in the everyday life of the people, but also for improved efficiency of its public role and its ethical message.
