EUROPE IS A BUILDING SITE

EUROPE IS A BUILDING SITE

An outline of the present situation and future prospects

Thomas Eggensperger OP
M.-D.Chenu Institute – Espaces, Berlin

The observer who described the position of the Church in the context of the European Union as a “building site” was not far wide of the mark. This is easily ascertainable and nothing dramatic, rather a phenomenon typical of the European unification process in recent decades. If the fabric of the European house is at present “under construction”, this implies a perceptible disillusionment with Europeanization, entirely due to the way in which the European constitutional treaty has been evolving. For indeed from the initial sessions of the constitutional convention under the direction of Giscard d’Estaing, for the purpose of drawing up a constitutional treaty, up until the Lisbon treaty, the developmental process can be described as nothing less than disillusioning.

Europe and the Churches
The European strategies of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI differ one from the other. John Paul II stressed above all the attempt at a new evangelisation, presented amongst other means by synods of bishops (cf. the post-synodal document Ecclesia in Europa, 2003). Benedict XVI has recourse to the Christian tradition of Europe and considers it important for this aspect to be taken rationally into account ; moreover, while he was still Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger already appealed heavily to the Christian roots of Europe. On the Catholic Church’s side, the document of the committee of Bishops’ conferences of the European community “The Evolution of the European Union and the Responsibility of Catholics” came out in 2005, and on the side of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany the input document “Church of Freedom - Prospects for the Evangelical Church in the 21st century” appeared in 2006 ; these documents underline the importance for the future of giving a soul to Europe, as well as ecumenical dialogue and exchanges with Islam. In any case, the most recent European ecumenical gathering in Sibiu demonstrated that European Ecumenism is still a wide open field that would gain from being tilled.

A European “social culture”Not least as a result of the enlargement of the EU to encompass the East European evolving states, the question of a common “European social culture” comes into play, i.e. a common cultural model for understanding Europe, as suggested by the German sociologist Gert Pickel. It is evident that such an identity is not possible in economic and political dimensions alone, but that the cultural sector needs to be taken into account. There are various possibilities for developing a corresponding social structure. Alongside the creation of common European social organisations recourse could be had to common history, to what is common to European nation states that bear for the most part the Christian imprint, and to a scale of values with the stamp of an ecclesial community to a degree that is statistically sufficient. It is evident that religion can constitute a significant resource for the legitimacy of political power, and that the appeal to norms and values of a religious nature has an influence on national identities. But in reality the situation is more complex, because the influence of church organisations and groupings in Brussels is much less than is the generally the rule at national level and this to an amazing extent. Amongst other things, this has to do with the modern world’s general quest for meaning in the religious domain, and also with the diversification of religious socio-cultures within national frontiers (e.g. the separation of Church and State, the evolving religiosity of the citizenry, differing traditions in East and West).

The European Christian imprint as foundational ?
And yet it is said “The Christian imprint of Europe is available as a central cultural basis for a common European social culture”. In various successive crises the anchoring of the churches in the European population - at least in quantitative terms - is for the most part still quite strong. However it is worth noting that people are becoming more guarded in their estimation of the degree to which the church should involve itself in politics, (more so amongst western believers than their eastern counterparts).
Hence an institutionalized (!) Christian religion will, in the long run, be less significant in the European discourse on values than a form of civil religion linked to general acceptance of a democratic orientation, which may have its origins in religious values. Civil religion, understood as an inroad into political culture through a religiously motivated quest for meaning, does indeed take up religious values, but it is meaningful in political circles only when it has laid aside its religious impetus. On the one hand, a European social culture can support itself on the foundations of a European civil religion (justice, tolerance, human dignity etc.), but on the other, its relationship to the ecclesial religious tradition remains unclear. Thus the Christian imprint of Europe is not a stable basis for a common European social culture, and yet it can constitute the cultural background for it. Notwithstanding !

Europe as a realisable utopia…
With all the difficulties that a Europe “under construction” has to contend with, the momentum is still onwards. The sociologist Ulrich Beck likes to emphasise the fact that “Europe is Europe’s last remaining realisable political utopia”. It is inconceivable that fundamental concepts such as power, the state, society or democracy could be grasped with - as the European optimist Beck puts it - “a cosmopolitan constellation”, rather than with the terminology of national conceptuality. Consequently a Europe with a cosmopolitan orientation is obliged to guarantee the cohabitation of differing ethnic, religious or political ways of life beyond national frontiers and this with a concept that transcends national thinking. This may sound banal, but it is the principal problem of the current Europe debate, albeit conducted without much enthusiasm henceforth. From now on the ultimate end is discussed not in cosmopolitan but in national terms.

…and the consequences for religion…
For the Church and religion, this realisable utopia is in any case not without consequences. Namely amongst other things, in the European context it is a verifiable fact that there are specific convictions and world views that have their origins in Christian tradition, but have moved on way beyond it. Thus the English sociologist Grace Davie stresses, in her extensive research in various European countries, that cultural memory, at least partially, compensates for alienation from the Church and vice versa. Even this detachment from ecclesial ties renders new societal forms of religion and religiosity possible. In her opinion the Churches contribute significant elements to today’s Europe as much as they ever did, and reach out to specific people and groupings, but not necessarily relating what is deemed most praiseworthy to the context of a Christian community such as a parish. Davie speaks of a “vicarious religion”. This might be questionable from a pastoral point of view, but ultimately this far reaching privatised religiosity finds its way into the public arena. This phenomenon can also be cosmopolitan in nature, and bring its influence to bear on “Europe under construction”, in order that it might become a realisable utopia.