Archbishop exhorts faithful to respond positively to difficulties

Nov 20, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Archbishop Agustin Garcia-Gasco of Valencia has exhorted Catholics “to give positive and convincing responses to the expectations and questions of our people” and to show that “faith in the God who has a human face brings joy to the world.”

In his remarks for the closing of the 13th Symposium of Historical Theology, Archbishop Garcia-Gasco warned against “the grave uncertainties that characterize the current situation of the Church in Europe.,” the AVAN news agency reported.

The archbishop said that while Christianity “is an essential element” in the history of Europe, the continent is undergoing a, “rejection of its Christian past,” and that, “profoundly scornful attitudes and mistrust of Christianity have been fostered.”  The attempt to build a society without the Church is behind such attitudes, he said.

In this context Catholics are called to “maintain, and if possible, even increase our dynamism” and to “contribute to the moral and cultural growth of our society,” the archbishop explained.

Catholic education is one way to accomplish this goal, he continued, by providing intellectual formation “to the young generations without neglecting to teach them about their freedom and their capacity to love.”

Openness to the world, he stressed, is necessary to effectively convey the Christian message and “to understand the keys to communication and the most appropriate language” for making the faith “a source of freedom and of life.”