Fr Anthony Paganoni, Scalabrinian, continues a series for The Record this week reflecting on what future the Church has in Europe and why this is important for us.
By Fr Anthony Paganoni
While it would be easy to snap up further statistics and authoritative press releases about the deterioration of Catholicism and of other Christian denominations in Europe, the story, I believe, is far bigger and more telling. Europe is a continent with many local variations.
Let’s take the case of Poland. Even if the Catholic Church there suffered some decline following the demise of Communism, it has since bounced back.
The numbers studying for the priesthood grew from 4500 in 1998 to 7000 in 2005 and major seminaries are as full as the seminaries in Western Europe before the Vatican Council.
Attendance at religious services hovers over 70 per cent, with more than a third of them attending services weekly. This is the reason, I suspect, that Polish migrants, along with migrants from other strongholds, such as Croatia and Slovakia, have breathed new life into Catholic Churches in Britain and in Germany.
The Polish influence in Britain is remarkable: 82 Catholic churches serve Polish communities and the demand is far from waning.
The same situation is somewhat replicated in Australia. Recent statistical evidence indicates that, in Australia, overseas-born Catholics are clearly more attentive to their religious duties than locally born and bred Catholics.
And from available data, the trend is going to be even more pronounced in the future.
If Christianity is becoming extinct in Western Europe, it is rather bizarre that Europe is experiencing a golden age of pilgrimage and of practices such as the veneration of the saints.
Critics may well doubt the faith of pilgrims, but the Padre Pio social phenomenon in Italy and throughout the world and, alongside him, several other mystics are attracting thousands and thousands of people.
Surveys have indicated that, over the years, by far the most esteemed person in France is Abbe’ Pierre, the Catholic Priest whose Emmaus movement has since 1949 helped the homeless and destitute. The popular response to his death in January 2007 suggests that France’s surrendering of its Catholic heritage is not as complete as some would propose.
Is there a persistent current of spirituality, that manifests itself, both in relation to popular saints and religious sites?
Lourdes was recording about one million visitors in the 1950s. Now the number of visitors tops the six million mark. This sharp increase may be due to the ease of travel. However in the 1980s, pilgrimage on foot has enjoyed a tremendous revival at Santiago de Compostella and the same story is repeated in the shrine-rich Italy.
Obviously, with centres such as Rome, Assisi and Padua, it is very difficult to separate pilgrims from tourists.
But if we regard the pilgrimages to Mecca or Varanasi as symbols of the intense faith of Muslims and Hindus, then we should probably treat Christian expressions with equal respect and…footage. Regular reports in the media regarding the pathetic state of European Christianity are all too frequent, when compared to the forgotten, but vast and still growing crowds at Christian shrines. Is this an exercise in promulgating a sweeping secularisation theory and blindfolding public opinions to factual events?
Take the case of the Holy Shroud in Turin, displayed in the year 2000. Accumulated scientific doubts about its historicity and authenticity did not prevent one million visitors. Across the Atlantic, American Catholics were battered at the same time by the sexual abuse scandal. Yet, the proportion of Catholics who report attending Mass at least weekly held steady from 2000 till 2005 at 33 per cent.
It is true that in most, not all, European parishes, attendance is dwindling. The fact remains that the trend is reversed with shrines and holy sites, where people go, at their own expense, to seek solace, comfort and meaning.
Are many Europeans practising what some sociologists have forged as “believing without belonging” religion?
To be continued…