Archbishop Rino Fisichella spoke of Christianity this
week in an interview regarding the Norway tragedy brought about by Mr. Breivik. In part he said, the gospel
and the culture that has developed from belief and life in Christ is is not a cultural weapon, it is not a fiction, and it is not something arbitrary, as Breivik is said to think, but "a
religion of love, of rejoicing, and of respect." Fisichella also said a few
other things that are worth noting because I need to make sense of one man's
expressive pathology. By the way, I don't believe this Mr Breivik is a Christian
in any sense: neither practicing nor cultural. But what Breivik may have done is to force orthodox Christians to clarify what they believe and how they live. Sinful and criminal actions have a way of helping us to take stock in questions of identity and belonging. Fisichella's points:
- "We could never accept violence made in the name of religion and in the name of God."
- "The word 'respect' is very important for us and very Biblical. It means that we know that there is someone else who probably does not think the same way or know my religion, but we respect them, and they should respect our own thoughts and religion."
- "We cannot forget that in Europe, the Christian identity is very weak. Many people do not know what the main content of the faith is, and the challenge that Islam and other religions present is (for them) to better understand their own traditions and origin."
- "This is why I think one of the instruments for the New Evangelization should be to understand our identity and our belonging to the Church."
A few crucial issues are at stake not only for those who are on the margins of Christianity looking in, but also for those who are in some sense practical Catholics. What does it mean to be Christian? What does our behavior, public thinking and attitudes have to do with the Gospel and accepted orthodox theology (teaching of the Church) today? Is Christ just an abstraction, or is He a real, concrete experience whom I know today? How does my relationship with Christ reawaken my "I"?
The authentic re-awakening of Christian faith in the Americas, in Europe, in Asia, indeed the entire world, it seems to me, requires that Christians live a credible life in joy, in honesty and in concrete ways. We can't be satisfied with our lone thoughts about Christ separated from the Christian community (for the Catholic this would mean the magisterium and the constant teaching of the Pope).
In the week since Norway has had to face these events, I have been reminding myself that Christ offers me as believers a new way to look at the world and living it, call it a "new lifestyle," that is attune workings of God and His ways. Christ, not me, interprets reality. In assessing the Norwegian event, the archbishop said that amid changing demographics, Christians are required to love their neighbors regardless of religious differences as Christ did. We have to notice and follow Christ; not our idea of what we think Christ would do.
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