Spanish bishop encourages Catholics to have an “adult faith” amidst current European crisis

Madrid, Spain, Oct 29, 2006 / 22:00 pm

In his regular Sunday letter to his diocese, Bishop Carles Soler of Girona this week encouraged Catholics to have a “personalized and adult faith” amidst the crisis in Europe.

Bishop Soler said he sees “signs of socio-cultural changes of a secularist and neo-pagan nature that are unprecedented in the history” of Europe, and he stressed, “We are experiencing very profound and accelerated social and cultural changes” that “pose a great challenge to our living the Christian faith and to the ability of the Church to evangelize.”

The bishop called it a paradox that while the “personal and living God is excluded from daily life” and is replaced by “every kind of idol” and that Christianity is treated as “something archaic that must be overcome,” at the same time “Christian traditions, religious practices and customs are maintained.”

“This paradoxical situation speaks to our Christian conscience and urges it to respond creatively to the challenges posed by the faith and by the Church.  Without a personalized and adult faith it is very difficult to confront the challenges of our time,” Bishop Soler stressed.

“The crisis we are going through cannot be attributed solely to the hostility of the Church’s adversaries.  The crisis can be seen in society, in the Church herself, in her members, and in the profound and rapid social and cultural changes that are difficult to discern and responsibly assimilate,” he explained.