“En su labor caritativa, la Iglesia no debe sólo dar bienes materiales, sino transmitir su visión del amor y la cultura de la generosidad”
"In its charitable work, the Church must not only give material goods, but transmit its vision of love and the culture of generosity."
Cardinal Peter Erdö affirmed at the University of Navarra that the audiovisual media and large meetings are a support for evangelization.
"In Europe, Christian organizations carry out an intense charitable work, especially in times of economic crisis". These were the words of Cardinal Péter Erdö, president of the committee of European Bishops' Conferences, on the occasion of his investiture as honorary doctor by the University of Navarra, together with Full Professor of New York University Law Joseph H. H. Weiler; and the painter Antonio López.
The Cardinal pointed out that in other non-European countries, although Catholics are a minority, the same thing happens: "In India they represent 3% of the population, but they carry out 43% of the social work. In this context, the Church must be more aware of the testimonial character of this work: it must not focus only on material goods, but transmit its vision of love and the culture of generosity".
"When the world seems to be organized according to the logic of selfishness, we must be witnesses of generosity, even if our possibilities are modest," he stressed. In this sense, he praised the work of Caritas: "There are beautiful experiences of parish groups, which are not legal persons and do not have their own assets, but they organize wonderful actions because they know first hand those who really need some financial aid".
reference letter Cardinal Erdö also spoke about the new tools of evangelization, among which he highlighted the audiovisual media. Western culture is in a very critical phase," he said. It is difficult for many to read, to concentrate, to think logically. Meanwhile, audiovisual culture prevails and people are very open to it. We must work for the culture of the word and of thought, being aware that we live in a context where the audiovisual prevails. This means that in pastoral care we have to put more emphasis on it".
Interreligious Dialogue in Europe
On the other hand, he referred to the celebration of large gatherings: "The experience of community provided by events such as the World Youth Day workshop is beginning to be attractive and is having a profound effect on people today. In fact, some priests have received their vocation on occasions such as the one that took place this summer in Madrid. There the Church finds the opportunity to speak directly to the people and offer them the Good News of the Gospel".
Finally, Cardinal Erdö gave his opinion on the current status of interreligious dialogue in Europe, where diverse cultures and creeds coexist. "Living together does not always mean dialogue. Ecumenical dialogue is easier, because we have Christ's mandate to be one reality. But it is more difficult with non-Christians, because many do not have a common representation," he explained.
As an example, he mentioned the case of Islam: "Here it is very diversified. It is not only present as a consequence of immigration, but in some regions of Eastern Europe it has a common historical experience with Christians. It would be necessary to collect and recognize the experience of these peoples, who live together and understand each other. Perhaps they do not have an interreligious dialogue in the modern sense, but they have found ways of mutual respect, of living and working together".