The Crisis of the Church in Europe and Its Chances

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 신학과사상학회
· 수록지 정보 : 가톨릭신학과사상 / 76호 / 11 ~ 34페이지
· 저자명 : Peter Neuner

초록

The Catholic Church in Europe is in a crisis. The traditional “catholic milieu” has disappeared, it is no longer natural to be a Christian. In many regions of Europe, despite a long Christian history, Christians will be a minority within the next generation. One example: Since the reunifyca-tion in Germany the number of baptisms have decreased from 475,000 to 165,000. This development was often explained by the theory of secular-ization, which posits that in the process of modernization, religion neces-saryily decreases and in the end will disappear. In the meantime, religion survives on the margins of society: amongst the old, the illiterate and those who are unable to accept the modern world.
Modern sociology demonstrates that this concept of secularization is wrong. There are different forms of modernity and some of them are even religious-productive. A better explanation of the religious development in Europe seems to be the theory of individualization and pluralization of religion. What was formerly regarded as a culpable doubt is now widely seen as the decision of a mature conscience. Believers differentiate be-tween what they accept as fruitful and what they reject. Religion has become pluralistic and less church-bound. Thus, the actual crisis is not of religion but of the Church.
The Churches in Europe encounter the challenge of pluralism in dif-ferent ways. In this paper two possibilities are discussed. First: To streng-then the unity in the centre of the Christian message and to accept free-dom and a wide variety in all non-essential questions. Second: To develop a plurality of ordained and lay-ministries, which cooperate for the sake of their congregations. Vatican II Council opened the way to these solutions.

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