{"id":13452,"date":"2017-05-16T09:30:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T12:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revistacriterio.com.ar\/bloginst_new\/?p=13452"},"modified":"2017-05-30T09:59:56","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T12:59:56","slug":"entrevista-exclusiva-a-tomas-halik-version-en-ingles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revistacriterio.com.ar\/bloginst_new\/?p=13452","title":{"rendered":"ENTREVISTA EXCLUSIVA A TOMAS HALIK (VERSI\u00d3N EN INGL\u00c9S)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom\u00e1\u0161 Hal\u00edk naci\u00f3 en Praga en 1948 y fue ordenado sacerdote en Alemania en 1978, en plena Guerra Fr\u00eda. Actualmente es el p\u00e1rroco de la Iglesia de San Salvador en Praga, al tiempo que responsable de la Academia Cristiana que all\u00ed mismo tiene su sede. Su labor pastoral descuella por la gran cantidad de j\u00f3venes que participan de las actividades de esta Academia, en tiempos en que la cultura checa se caracteriza por un alto porcentaje de personas que se manifiestan no creyentes.
\nSus antecedentes acad\u00e9micos incluyen una licenciatura en Teolog\u00eda en la Universidad de Letr\u00e1n en Roma y un doctorado en Sociolog\u00eda por la Universidad de Carlos en Praga. Asimismo ha recibido distinciones en las Universidades de Oxford y Harvard. Fue tambi\u00e9n galardonado con los premios Guardini (2010) y Templeton (2014).
\nEntre sus obras se destacan Paciencia con Dios<\/em> y La Noche del Confesor<\/em>, traducidos a varias lenguas y rese\u00f1ados oportunamente en CRITERIO.
\nMientras se prepara una traducci\u00f3n de la entrevista exclusiva que ser\u00e1 publicada en una pr\u00f3xima edici\u00f3n nuestra revista, se ha preferido publicar su texto original en ingl\u00e9s, que podr\u00e1n disfrutar muchos de nuestros lectores en Criterio Digital.<\/p>\n

IN YOUR BOOK THE NIGHT OF THE CONFESSOR YOU CAN PERCEIVE THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES, THROUGH THE SOULS OF THOSE APPROACHING THE PRIEST FOR ADVICE AND COMPASSION. \u00bf HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CHANGES IN THE WORLD\u2019S CULTURAL TRENDS YOU CAN TRACE FROM YOUR OBSERVATION POST IN CENTRAL EUROPE?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A change of civilizational paradigm is occurring not only in central Europe, but also in a large part of the world, and takes the form of social fragmentation. I think that modernity culminated in the cultural revolution of 1968; the left wing student uprisings were suppressed politically, but the \u201cSecond Enlightenment\u201d with its resistance to authority changed for good the cultural mentality and also reinforced secularisation in many countries. Modern rationalism also gave birth to two phenomena: advanced technology and the capitalist economy, and these set in motion the most significant social and cultural process of our time\u2013globalisation. A global post-modern (or rather super-modern) civilisation started to emerge. The mutual linkage of different parts of the world provided enormous scope for development, but also brought with it new complications and threats. In my view the fall of communism and many authoritarian regimes was a side-effect of globalisation\u2013regimes with centrally-planned economies, and the censorship of ideas could not hold their own in the free market of goods and ideas. It seemed that liberal democracy would be the political form of the globalised society of the future.
\nIn the course of recent decades, however, another aspect of globalisation has come to the fore and given rise to various forms of resistance to globalisation, in opposition to the West from which the process of globalisation emerged, and in opposition to liberal democracy and its political institutions and elites. Fear of \u201cwesternisation\u201d and resistance to it have grown, particularly in the Arab World and Africa. However, even in the West, globalisation has, paradoxically, also sown division, not only between different societies but also within them, a division between those who have profited from globalisation and become richer, and those who have become poorer. That division of society has weakened the middle classes, who were traditionally the standard-bearers of liberal democracy.
\nA key role is played by new forms of mass communication\u2013people enclose themselves in \u201cbubbles\u201d on social networks, and accept only information that reinforces their personal and group prejudices. Social networks help spread the \u201cliquid anger\u201d of people who feel frustrated and have lost their faith in existing political systems and their representatives, and they are beginning to support populists with dictatorial tendencies. The society that created globalisation finds itself in crisis. The world is becoming fragmented once more and this process is accompanied by the growth of nationalism, religious fundamentalism, and political extremism. Many young people and Christians that I encounter are aware of these dangers but can find no solutions.<\/p>\n

EACH CULTURE AND EPOCH CHALLENGE RELIGION IN A PECULIAR WAY. \u00bfHOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES FACING RELIGION IN EASTERN, CENTRAL AND WESTERN EUROPE TODAY?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a large part of Europe the process of secularisation continues in the sense that people\u2019s confidence in traditional religious institutions is growing weaker, and they are less and less inclined to let them govern and control their private lives or to participate in the life of those institutions (such as in the form of regular church attendance). However, while the number of those who fully identify with the practice and teaching of the churches has fallen, the number of convinced atheists has not risen. The majority of Europeans can be divided into spiritual seekers on the one hand, and the religiously indifferent (apatheists), on the other. In many countries the number of \u201cformer Catholics\u201d or \u201cbad Catholics\u201d (those who have not parted company with Christianity but are very critical of the present form of the Church) greatly exceeds the number of \u201cactive Catholics\u201d (\u201cparishioners\u201d). The future of the Church, the future of Christianity, and, to a degree, the future of Western civilisation depend on the extent to which the Church is capable of addressing \u201cseekers\u201d. It is unrealistic to assume that some sort of conventional mission would be capable of winning over the majority of such people, in the sense of squeezing them within the borders of the existing institutional and intellectual structures of the church. It is necessary to open and transcend these borders.
\nMost probably it will be necessary for the churches to develop a third type of service alongside conventional care of believers in parishes, and alongside conventional missions, namely, \u201caccompanying believers\u201d\u2013in the spirit of dialogue, mutual respect, and mutual enrichment. It is necessary to take the path of sharing experiences and charismas without proselytism. This needs courage, but even Abraham, the \u201cFather of the faith\u201d set out on his journey without knowing where it would lead.
\nNor can \u201capatheists\u201d be written off. They too often have something \u201choly\u201d in their lives. We should behave like Jesus on the road to Emmaus: first listening silently for a long time and paying careful attention to peoples\u2019 questions and worries, before starting to share and interpret the stories entrusted to us.<\/p>\n

\u00bfHOW WOULD YOU CHARACTERIZE THE PRESENCE AND LIFE OF ISLAM IN THE WORLD AND IN EUROPE IN PARTICULAR?<\/strong><\/p>\n

As I said before, fears have been growing in the Arab and African world that globalisation brings with it westernisation and the loss of their own cultural identity. The efforts of dictators, such as the Shah of Persia, Saddam Hussein or Qaddafi, to secularise society, supported by the West and the Communist East, aroused resistance and led to their downfall, starting with, Khomeini\u2019s revolution in Iran. For some radical political currents, Islam became a political ideology defending ethnic identity, and those efforts developed into open war against the West in the form of terrorist attacks. The radical ideology of jihadism found fertile soil even among some of the second and third generations of immigrants in western countries, and even among sections of frustrated youth in the West\u2013people, whose families could not help them create their own personal identity, who seek \u201ca collective identity\u201d in extremist groups. It is absolutely necessary to distinguish clearly between Islam and Jihadism. So long as people in the West (egged on, in particular, by populist politicians) continue to express opposition not against Jihadism but against Islam as such, they will encourage the propaganda of the Jihadists, whose aim is to convince the entire Muslim world that the West is hostile not only to the Jihadists, but to Islam as such, and to all Muslims, and therefore must be destroyed. In the dialogue between Islam and the Western liberal world\u2013a dialogue that is vital for the world\u2019s survival\u2013the church has a major role to play and has an enormous scope because it shares many values with both those worlds, which are incapable of understanding each other. I highly value the stances taken by Pope Francis and his efforts in this field.<\/p>\n

\u00bfCOULD YOU SHARE WITH US YOUR VIEWS ABOUT THE MAIN ISSUES THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT IS FACING NOWADAYS?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope that the anniversary of the Reformation will help deepen awareness that Christianity exists in three mutually compatible, mutually complementary, and mutually enriching forms: the Latin tradition of Rome, the tradition of Eastern Christianity, and the tradition of the Reformation. \u201cCatholicity\u201d is a eschatological goal towards which all three currents must journey in mutual brotherhood and mutual support. I think an inspirational model can be found in the coexistence of various monastic communities with different accents in terms of spirituality, theology, and practice. What would the Catholic church look like if the Jesuits said that the Franciscans no longer had a place in the church, or if the Franciscans said the same about the Jesuits? In the personality of Pope Francis we can see that a fruitful synthesis of those two traditions is possible, in a single person even! Many of my Protestant friends tell me they are no longer \u201cProtestants\u201d, because they no longer have any need to protest against a Pope like Francis. Pope Francis has become an inspiring moral and spiritual authority transcending not only the frontiers of the Christian churches, but also the frontiers of Christianity. He represents hope and inspiration for \u201cpeople of goodwill\u201d, whatever their cultural roots.<\/p>\n

\u00bfWHAT SIGNS COULD YOU TRACE COMING FROM THE HUSITE TRADITION IN CZ?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the Czech Republic, a minority of the population openly declares adherence to Christian churches, but 90% of that minority are declared members of the Catholic Church. The Protestant churches and the small and ageing \u201cCzechoslovak Hussite Church\u201d, which emerged from Catholic modernism after World War I, represent a small minority. Nevertheless John Huss and Hussitism are among the nation\u2019s traditional symbols. However it is necessary to distinguish between Huss as a moral person (one who is respected by many Catholics) and Hussite theology (which is little known by now), on the one hand, and Hus as a symbol, on the other. Various historical epochs projected onto that symbol its ideals \u2013 in the 19th century they turned him into a nationalist, while the Communists made a social revolutionary of him. The misuse of Huss and Hussitism by Communist ideology did great damage to the awareness of the younger generation of Czechs. Of interest from the purely theological point of view is the moderate current of later Hussitism, known as Utraquism, which survived for several centuries in fairly peaceful symbiosis and tolerance. In many respects (such as the liturgy and its understanding of the dignity of the laity) it presaged the reforms that were eventually accepted by the Catholic Church at the second Vatican Council. The period of tolerance was interrupted by the 30 Years War, which started in Bohemia in 1618 and proceeded to devastate and divide Europe.<\/p>\n

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE MAIN FEATURES THAT CAN BE SPOTTED IN THE LIFE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TODAY? \u00bfWHAT HAVE BEEN THE MAIN CHANGES THAT CAN SO FAR BE PERCEIVED IN THE WAY THE CHURCH IS RUN BY A POPE COMING FROM \u201cTHE END OF THE WORLD\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although Argentina, Brazil and the whole of Latin America are a long way from Europe we don\u2019t perceive them as \u201cthe end of the world\u201d \u2013 it is obvious to us that the heart of the Catholic world is now located there. I was delighted by the election of a Latin American and a Jesuit (and I immediately commented on it on Czech TV), and my enthusiasm and warm affection are growing all the time as I observe the reformist, ecumenical and inter-religious initiatives of this pope, who has already outstripped his two great and honourable predecessors in terms of his significance for the Church and for the world of today. My only fear is that the response to Pope Francis\u2019s words and actions might remain superficial idolatory of a \u201csmiling, progressive and unassuming pontiff\u201d. Just as the reforms of the 2nd Vatican Council \u201cdid not fall straight from heaven\u201d, but were the end result of the work of entire generations of outstanding theologians, so also Pope Francis\u2019s efforts at reform need intensive and profound intellectual and spiritual support. I personally not only pray constantly for the pope (as he constantly asks us to, and as he also asked me to during our brief meeting during a mass audience on St Peter\u2019s Square, to which I was invited after I received the Templeton Prize). I feel a duty to bring together theologians, philosophers and sociologists from different countries for further reflection on Pope Francis\u2019s reform impulses; I have spoken about it with many theologians, social scientists and bishops not only in Europe, but also in the USA, Australia, Asia and Africa. I have managed to put together an international team, which, with the support of the Templeton Foundation, is working on a research project \u201cThe Future of Religion in Respect of Central and Eastern Europe\u201d, and as I have been elected Vice-President of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy in Washington, I have proposed expanding this research project in coming years in cooperation with that international institution. Pope Francis deserves not only prayerful support but also the systematic intellectual work of specialists in various fields, so that his impulses receive further reflection and development in order to put them into practice. A living spiritual and intellectual movement needs to come into existence to undertake the task of developing the reform ideas and impulses of Pope Francis and contributing to the reform and vitality of Christianity and its mission in today\u2019s world, in the way it was achieved by the followers of St Francis and St Ignatius.<\/p>\n

\u00bfWHAT OTHER CHANGES WOULD STILL BE NECESSARY?<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Paul II and Benedict XVI brought to a dignified end a long chapter in the history of Christianity. With Pope Francis a new stage is beginning. Or to put it more cautiously: it could begin in certain circumstances. The main theme of the previous epoch was coming to terms with modernity: it was a matter of not accepting modernity uncritically, of not being absorbed into it, but on the other hand, not being determined negatively by modernity, and not creating a \u201ccounter-culture\u201d. The Church often fell prey to the opposite extreme. For instance, the over-emphasis on sexual morality was a knee-jerk reaction to the sexual revolution of the 1960s \u2013 and understandably it provoked the reaction: you\u2019d better look closer to home! There followed the unearthing of sexual scandals. The church that turned the sixth Commandment into the First Commandment became labelled a sexually perverse institution. But now confrontation with modernity, which is now finished, is no longer a living issue. The main theme are problems linked with the process of globalisation and various reactions to it. Pope Francis has laid fresh emphasis on what found itself overshadowed: charity, solidarity, responsibility for creation, cultivation of conscience, the courage to be creative. If we discover anew the deep roots of Christianity we can be free in relation to the modern and post-modern world, we do not even need to create a \u201ccounter-culture\u201d or accept uncritically the ambient culture; we can enrich the world with the newly discovered power of the Gospel.
\nIn today\u2019s world the \u201cdwellers\u201d are rapidly on the wane while the number of \u201cseekers\u201d is growing. I repeat: the future of the Church depends on the extent to which it will be capable of appealing to seekers. The Church continues to concentrate almost entirely on dwellers (traditional pastoral activity), and in some cases efforts to turn seekers into dwellers as rapidly as possible. But alongside those two forms of service it will be necessary to develop a third \u2013 \u201caccompanying seekers\u201d in dialogue and with respect, to realise that living faith is a journey, that we ourselves are still \u201cseekers\u201d, that the Church is a \u201ccommunio viatorum\u201d, a pilgrim community. As a \u201clegacy of the fathers\u201d passed on mechanically, Christianity lost its social and cultural biosphere and no longer has roots and vitality. To be a Christian nowadays, and stand the test as a Christian in today\u2019s world requires three things in particular: first, \u201claunching out into the deep\u201d, developing the art of a spiritual life, a contemplative search for God\u2019s presence in one\u2019s own life (\u201cfinding God in all things\u201d), second, educating oneself in the faith, thinking through one\u2019s faith to make it compatible with one\u2019s education and world view, finding an appropriate language with which to witness to one\u2019s surroundings about it in a comprehensible way, and third, bearing witness to one\u2019s faith by moral behaviour in society, creatively incorporating the Gospel into one\u2019s civic attitudes. Christian institutions, parishes, monastic communities, movements, etc., should take as their example the ideal of the mediaeval university, which was a community of life, learning and prayer, a place where people sought truth through free discussion and were mindful of the principle \u201ccontemplata aliis tradere\u201d \u2013 handing down to others the fruits of our contemplation.
\nWhen we contemplate the thinning ranks of priests and the alarming situation in many countries where for many believers the celebration of the Eucharist is not readily available, it would seem that bold measures are called for, such as making up the numbers of priests with \u201cviri probati\u201d, time-proven married men, and opening diaconal service to women and not wasting their charismata. It is important that such ideas are not taboo to Pope Frances.<\/p>\n

\u00bfWHICH VALUES PRESENT IN CHARTER 77 HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED AND WHICH ARE STILL MISSING TODAY?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The movement of dissent against the Communist regime, which issued the Charter 77 manifesto, brought together various currents of the opposition \u2013 proponents of liberal democracy, Christians and left-wing intellectuals who had broken ties with the Communist Party. That movement reminded me of the stance of early Christians concerning slavery \u2013 the Christians did not organise violent uprisings like the revolt of Spartacus, but altered the climate of inter-personal relations so that slavery was no longer possible in the long term, because the slave was now a brother \u2013 let us recall Paul\u2019s letter to Philemon. Charter 77 did not call for a revolution but for citizens to start to behave as free people in conditions on non-freedom. It called on the regime to take seriously the laws it had promised to respect in the framework of international conventions. The major figures of the Charter \u2013 particularly V\u00e1clav Havel, with whom I was linked by forty years of friendship \u2013 subsequently became the figureheads of the victory over Communism and the restoration of democracy in the 1990s. Sadly, two of Havel\u2019s successors in the office of President, V\u00e1clav Klaus and Milo\u0161 Zeman, embody a diametrically opposite political philosophy and are now part of the wave of populism washing over the post-Communist part of Europe, and are numbered among such problematic politicians as Orb\u00e1n in Hungary and Kaczy\u0144ski in Poland. However, for young people and for pro-Western, pro-European and democratically-minded intellectuals, Havel and the ideals of Charter 77 are still a source of inspiration, even though we live in different times.<\/p>\n

\u00bfWHAT EXPERIENCES FROM THE \u201cCHRISTIAN ACADEMY\u201d COULD BE INSPIRING FOR OTHER CULTURAL MILIEU?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Czech Republic is considered to be one of the most secularized countries of the world. I am very glad that God has placed me in a situation where faith is not something to be taken for granted. We have placed to much emphasis on whether people believe in God and neglected a far more important question: what God do they believe in? Many people who regard themselves as atheists in reality reject only a pathological caricature of God \u2013 and I fully agree with them. I am responsible for two institutions in the Czech Republic: the Czech Christian Academy and the Academic Parish in Prague. Here we try live the model of the church that I spoke about: seeking together through free discussion. We try to be creative, and particularly to link contemporary culture and art \u2013 contemporary art is for us a medium that articulates questions to which we try to find answers. During the 27 years since the fall of Communism there have existed lively centres of the Czech Christian Academy in every larger town throughout our country. In the Prague academic parish, some 1,500 adults \u2013 people with higher education \u2013 have joined the Church and been baptised after almost two years of catechetic preparation. The numbers of those seeking baptism and attending mass are rising every year. An essential part of our pastoral activity consists of spiritual exercises, and introduction to the art of contemplation and a contemplative attitude to life.
\nYes, even this is possible in the centre of a country where many churches are empty and where the smallest percentage of the population declare membership of the church. Yes, it is necessary to ask believers and non-believers what God they believe in and what God they don\u2019t believe in. And to show them that the God spoken of in the Bible leads to the path of liberation.
\nIn my theological work I have set myself the task of creating a new socio-theological discipline \u2013 \u201ckairology\u201d, contemplative \u201creading the signs of the times\u201d, a theological hermeneutics of contemporary culture and society. God speaks to us not only through Scripture and tradition, but also through the events in today\u2019s world. We must listen carefully to what He is saying and interpret it responsibly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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