Mission to the cities

SPECIAL REPORT

Young European evangelists seeking to turn back the tide of secularism have targeted four capitals. They began with Vienna

IN the last days of May, Vienna?s cosy, stately streets and caf?s were suddenly filled with ardent young ?evangelists? from all over the world attesting their Catholic faith and proclaiming the Gospel message. For 10 days, from 23 May to 1 June, the Austrian capital hosted a ?city mission?, the first concerted attempt to re-evangelise an old European capital. Under the motto ?Open the Doors to Christ?, some 5,500 ?missionaries?, 1,500 of them from abroad, gathered in Vienna to take the Gospel message out to those in the city who have forgotten or never known about it, or who have become estranged from it yet yearn to find a deeper meaning to their lives.

The idea of re-evangelising Europe?s ancient metropolises was conceived by the French charismatic renewal movement Emmanuel, founded by the French film critic Pierre Boursat in the mid-Seventies. The Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Sch?nborn, brought the movement to Austria in 1987. He put the idea of the city mission to the cardinal archbishops of Malines-Brussels, Paris and Lisbon when they met in Vienna two years ago, together with bishops, priests and lay people from other large European cities. After Vienna, Paris is next in 2004, followed by Lisbon in 2005 and Brussels in 2006.

The city mission in Vienna was organised jointly by Emmanuel and the Austrian Catholic Youth Movement, which is a part of Catholic Action. It was certainly a ?mega-event?: more than 1,000 conferences, workshops, concerts, lectures, discussions and ?encounter sessions? took place not just in St Stephen?s Cathedral in the city centre but in parishes (110 out of Vienna?s 176 joined in), convents and monasteries throughout the city.

Each day was devoted to a special subject: ?re-evangelising the cities?, ?my neighbour?, ?politics and society?, as well as youth, ?art and culture? and so on. After Mass at St Stephen?s Cathedral, the congregations stayed on to hear prominent speakers such as the founder of the Rome-based lay community of Sant?Egidio, Andrea Riccardi, or one of the four ?mission? cardinals ? Sch?nborn, Lustiger of Paris, Policarpo of Lisbon or Danneels of Malines-Brussels ? discuss the subject of the day with well-known theologians or television personalities. After that, there was a wide choice of workshops, discussion groups and talks in various rooms around the cathedral. On Monday, for instance, when the subject of ?my neighbour? was discussed, one could listen to the Bronx Brothers from New York talking about spreading the Gospel in that city, Nicky Gumble of Holy Trinity Brompton in London speak on Alpha religious courses in prisons, or Cesare Zucconi of Sant?Egidio on ?listening to the poor?.

In the afternoons and evenings there were discussion groups in coffee houses and bistros, and a great variety of events organised by the many parishes that participated, including some excellent musicals. For young people, the main evening attraction was the rock performances which took place outside St Stephen?s Cathedral under the banner of ?Key 2 Life?. Paddy Kelly, the Bronx Brothers and the rocker priest Fr Guy Gilbert from Paris were exuberantly welcomed by the young missionaries, and Vienna?s inner city, which is usually deserted by 11 p.m., reverberated to the often deafening sound of Christian rock and rap until late into the night, while coloured flashlights lit up the exultant faces of the young audience. Through the artificial smoke effects one could frequently catch a glimpse of Cardinal Sch?nborn, clapping and swaying.

The serious ?missionising? took place in parks, on the streets, on the underground, and in trendy caf?s and pubs. Bishop Christopher Prowse of Melbourne, who had flown into Vienna just to take part in its city mission, was interviewed by Austrian state television on an underground train, where he spoke of the importance of the Church finding new ways of proclaiming the Gospel message in large cities. It was certainly unusual to see small circles of young people, with their arms entwined around each other?s shoulders, immersed in prayer at street corners or on underground stations. And the Viennese are also no longer used to seeing large numbers of young people silently kneeling before the exposed Sacrament or praying the Rosary in churches at all times of the day.

But it was a very Catholic event. There were no ecumenical or inter-religious elements, and the enthusiasm proved too full-blooded for at least one young man I heard speaking to a TV reporter. He had greatly enjoyed the mission and had met a lot of great young people, he said, but ?their answers to important problems are too simplistic?. Sometimes the enthusiasm could be alarming. When the World Youth Day Cross arrived outside St Stephen?s Cathedral for an event called ?Pop meets Faith?, for example, some of the young kissed and embraced it almost hysterically; one young girl said that to kiss the cross was ?actually kissing the body of Jesus Christ?.

It was clear from the discussion groups, workshops and testimonies I attended that this was not the place to raise some of the controversial church issues which have dominated discussions in Vienna for years. I heard one priest who works with prostitutes in Paris say that he ?naturally? gave them condoms and, although many of them were Muslims, allowed them to receive Communion and arranged for their dead to have church funerals. ?I always ask myself what Jesus would have done in my situation?, he said. Normally one would have expected either nods of approval or raised eyebrows followed by a heated discussion on the Church?s teaching on such ?taboo subjects?. But church issues were generally brushed aside; young people, I was told, were ?not interested? in discussing them. When such questions were asked, further testimonies were quickly called for, or one of the young people would suggest that we all said a prayer. I went to one group discussion on the issue of remarried divorcees, but the discussion was limited in scope: the solution, we were told, was to make people more aware of the possiblity of getting annulments.

The Emmanuel movement certainly dominated the scene. Some parishes complained that they had wanted to organise their own event but had had to relinquish control to an Emmanuel team. Although Cardinal Sch?nborn is very keen on Emmanuel, it is not yet very well-known in Austria. Catholics who are over 18 can join. There are unmarried members, members who take a vow of celibacy, married couples and priests. Members promise to go to Mass daily, meet in small groups at each other?s houses once a week, and at the Emmanuel centre at Parais le Monial in France at least once a year. They donate one-tenth of their income to the Emmanuel community. Two years ago Emmanuel founded the ?International Academy for Evangelisation? in Vienna, which trains young people from all over the world in spreading the Gospel message. In Austria, the academy has permission to visit schools, including all state schools, to give testimony during RE lessons.

On the whole, the Austrian media ignored the event. When I asked Cardinal Danneels why he thought this was so, he said he thought that the Belgian press would probably have reacted in much the same way. In so-called Catholic countries, where the Church had once been very powerful, a city mission of this kind, which attempted to assert the Church?s presence in society, was regarded ?somewhat apprehensively?, he said, adding that for him the most important thing was for the Church to come out of the shadows.

But if the Church aimed to break out of the ghetto, it wanted to do so ?without breaking too much of the china?, the former vicar-general of the Vienna archdiocese, Mgr Helmut Sch?ller, one of Vienna?s most popular churchmen, wrote in the Catholic weekly Die Furche. He said the bishops had ?very skilfully? managed to avoid any discussion of the Church?s problems. ?If one asks nowadays whether the Church itself does not in reality need re-evangelising, one is told dismissively that one has let oneself get stuck on internal church problems?, he complained.

The mission was undoubtedly a valiant effort by the Austrian Catholic Church to assert the Church?s presence, but did it touch any non-believers, or merely stoke the fires of the already-committed? Time will tell. But in the meantime, more effort clearly needs to be made to bring the renewal movements and middle-of-the-road Catholics closer together. The issues on which they differ need to be discussed, not brushed aside. Unless that dialogue takes place, no amount of evangelisation will stem the steady trickle of those leaving the Church in Austria.

Christa Pongratz-Lippitt is The Tablet?s correspondent in Vienna.