Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 82 No. 4, 2012.
Conference paper
The Church's Contribution to European Communion and Identity
Josip Bozanić
; Archdiocese of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
In this presentation the author speaks about the significance of the Church for the building of European communion and identity. The author poses a number of questions: What is Europe, what is it like and what should it become? What is European communion and what is European identity? What are the fundamental values for humanity that the Christian faith impressed, as it were, on the European identity? What role does the Church have in relation to Europe and its latest processes? What special contribution is the Church called upon to make in building the common European home? And where is Croatia in all this? The author approaches these questions in the context of the challenges facing the Church in the contemporary times by taking the perspective of and relating these challenges to the historical moment Croatia is currently facing. The presentation is the product of reflection that matured during the author's decade of ministry to the Church in Europe (2001 - 2011). During that time, he held the offices of the Vice President of the Association of the Catholic Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE), the observer member of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE), and the head of the Zagreb Church in Croatia which went through a violent isolation during the communist totalitarianism, started, more recently, a process of spiritual and material renewal, and is faced now with the processes of building a new European communion.
Keywords
Church; European institutions; culture; identity; human rights; Christian symbols; new evangelisation
Hrčak ID:
96156
URI
Publication date:
29.1.2013.
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