Bishop Erik Varden: "The ideologies of the 20th century have made progress an absolute value".

"The ideologies of the 20th century have made progress an absolute value," said Bishop Erik Varden, Bishop of Trondheim (Norway) and Cistercian monk, at the University. The author of Chastity. The Reconciliation of the Senses or The Explosion of Solitude participated in several conferences and colloquiums at the academic center, which he attended on the occasion of the celebration of the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, organized by the Schools of Theology and Ecclesiastics of Philosophy.

He pointed out that progress today is the basis of the market Economics and is gaining more and more influence in anthropology. "Our passion for change has become obsessive and totalitarian and we find this same passion also in the Church, causing great tensions that plague the ecclesial body to the point of threatening its unity."

In his message he proposed some perspectives on evangelization, reflecting especially on the meaning of the word Catholic. He also analyzed a characteristic of the current climate in the Church in the West, in which older people call young people retrograde and conflicts arise over the proper guardianship of tradition. In the face of this, Msgr. Varden is committed to an evangelization with the goal of healing: "Catholic dialogue with contemporary culture must reach the calm waters of the deep, not be content with the debris deposited by the tide on the beaches".

For Bishop Varden, Catholics must "seek rootedness in Christ, a renewal of fidelity, holiness, coherence and Catholic zeal without being tied to a rhetoric that has already lost its meaning". For as he pointed out, "it is up to today's Christian to make Christianity appear to all as the youth and hope of the world."


"It is vital to maintain the intellectual integrity of Theology."

He believes that a theology that aspires to be Catholic cannot reorient itself toward lesser causes, nor stick to labels that describe political identities. "If the Church tries to keep pace with passing fads, it will be doomed to failure," he said. Faced with a world "that is being swept along by a rhythm increasingly resembling a danse macabre," he explained that it may not be timely or necessary to constantly invent new things.

Referring to Theology, he bet on applying new forms to what has already been given to us: "To keep alive that meaningful and hope-filled music is the obligation, the mission statement and the sublime privilege of the Church".

He also stressed that at a time when the Schools of Theology is being expelled from Universities it is vital to maintain the intellectual integrity of the discipline: "The Catholic theologian must be versed in scripture, must be familiar with the Philosophy ancient and modern, have a good understanding of history, understand the form and the development of doctrine and be able to search for Catholic truth, not only in the manuals, but in the Mass and hagiography."