Zagreb, (IKA) – “Faith in God the Savior Today” is the theme of the 53rd Theological-Pastoral Week. The opening ceremonies of this unique gathering of the Catholic Church among the Croatian nation, organized by the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, were held on January 22 at the Interdiocesan Seminary in Šalata, Zagreb.
Commenting on the theme of the gathering, the Great Chancellor of the CFT, Cardinal Josip Bozanić, Archbishop of Zagreb, said that the question of God is central and decisive. “In recent decades, together with the joy of faith and its vital importance for human life, a certain spiritual ‘desolation,’ as Pope Benedict XVI would say, has taken hold, which would mean life without God. In today’s postmodern culture, in some areas we notice a strange forgetting of God, imposing the illusion that everything is possible without Him, while at the same time there is a widespread sense of frustration and dissatisfaction. In addition to this forgetting, we are witnessing a type of flowering of religiosity, although in addition to the joy of the sincere discovery of faith, we notice that religion not infrequently is considered to be a consumer product, which is to say that the pleasant is chosen,” said the Cardinal, explaining that the growing “crisis of God” during our time is producing a profound “crisis of man,” because the relationship of man with God is decisive for a person’s relationship with himself and the world. Excluding God from his life, a person remains an insoluble puzzle to himself, noted the Cardinal.
The Cardinal observed that the Pope is tirelessly pointing out all the forms of laicism attempting to exclude God from public life through negative tolerance. This negative tolerance, according to the Cardinal, actually increasingly leads to intolerant demands by the new quasi-religion. Thus, he noted, tolerance is often ignored today in the name of tolerance.
The Cardinal observed that in contemporary Croatia, the faithful find themselves confronting new ideological challenges in their social and cultural lives, a widespread secularized view of life that closes off the horizon toward the “other side,” and all the insidious forms of intolerance toward the truths of Christian faith and religious teachings, where there is a progressive sense of fear and existential uncertainty.
Observing that under such pressure, individual believers withdraw into anonymity and their voices are lost amidst inflicted fears, the Cardinal said that the task of the Church, “enlightened by the Holy Spirit,” is to encourage the faithful and pray for them to be joyful in the presence of God because the history of humankind is in God’s hands, although it sometimes seems that it is managed and led by the powerful of this world. That is why decisive and concrete testimony and commitment are required of the faithful today.” “Since Christian testimony is public by its nature, in no case can faith be relegated solely to the private sphere,” concluded the Archbishop of Zagreb.
Greeting the assembled participants, the Apostolic Nuncio in the Republic of Croatia, Archbishop Alessandro D’Errico, conveyed a special blessing for Theological-Pastoral Week from Pope Benedict XVI. The Nuncio said that the Holy Father is pleased by its theme, which he considers very important for the path that Christian communities are urged to take in this Year of Faith, the path of new evangelization so dear to him.
“The Holy Father is accompanying the work of Theological-Pastoral Week with his prayers, and to all the participants, especially the speakers who will illustrate the theme from various perspectives, he wishes an abundance of light and grace so that theological reflection will yield many pastoral fruits, not only for the Archdiocese of Zagreb but also for the entire Church in Croatia and for the Christian communities with representatives here,” said the Nuncio, expressing his happiness at being personally able to participate.
On behalf of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Sarajevo, the assembled were greeted by Cardinal Vinko Puljić, Archbishop of Sarajevo, who said that the theme of Theological-Pastoral Week is important to help the Church among the Croatian nation become aware of its roots and challenges. The gathering was also greeted by the Rector of the University of Zagreb, Dr. Aleksa Bjeliš, and the Mayor of Zagreb, Mr. Milan Bandić.
Opening Theological-Pastoral Week, the Dean of the Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Dr. Tonči Matulić, specifically asked what the word “today” means in the title “Faith in God the Savior Today.” If we stop and ponder the meaning of the word “today” in the context of the title, our eyes will be opened to the cultural situation characterized by profound, complex and tension-filled metamorphoses, and even severe fractures. Given the cultural situation, we do not need to understand “today” in the sense of quantitative time. “Today” should be understood in the sense of qualitative time, which reveals the cultural situation of time from the inside. From the vantage point of qualitative time, we can direct an eschatological glance toward the current cultural situation. Our situation is crisis. Crisis is a synonym for “today.” It is a crisis that does not affect this or that in our lives but corrodes and corrupts the very foundations. Our thoughts go to the gospel: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The present state of crisis is simultaneously fraught with dying and birth, death and life, which means the joys and hopes, sorrows and troubles of the people of our time, including us believers, said Dr. Matulić.
According to tradition, a telegram was sent by the gathering to Pope Benedict XVI, signed by the Great Chancellor of the Catholic Faculty of Theology, Cardinal Josip Bozanić.
The opening ceremonies were attended by arch/bishops from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by the President of the Croatian Conference of Bishops, Archbishop Želimir Puljić of Zadar, and the President of the Bishops’ Conference of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka, provincials, representatives of other religious communities in Croatia, the Rector of the Croatian Catholic University, Dr. Željko Tanjić; professors from other Catholic schools of theology in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the General Secretary of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Pavao Rudan; the Secretary of the Government Commission for Relations with Religious Communities, Mr. Franjo Dubrović, and numerous priests, religious and lay faithful from various parts of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other European countries.