Folia Theologica et Canonica 9. 31/23 (2020)
Sacra theologia
36 MIHÁLY KRÁNITZ customs. They do not inhabit separate cities of their own, or speak a strange dialect, or follow some outlandish way of life. Their teaching is not based upon reveries inspired by the curiosity of men. Unlike some other people, they champion no purely human doctrine. With regard to dress, food and manner of life in general, they follow the customs of whatever city they happen to be living in, whether it is Greek or foreign. And yet there is something extraordinary about their lives. They live in their own countries as though they were only passing through. They play their full role as citizens, but labor under all the disabilities of aliens. Any country can be their homeland, but for them their homeland, wherever it may be, is a foreign country.”2 This world today is practically uninterpretable without Christianity. The phenomena like e.g., migration which decisively influence the whole of modem Europe cannot be simplified to the question of the ‘filling up’ of Europe straggling with demography and employment problems. It is not so simple, because there is a people, a religion, a culture and a tradition behind each person, which decides their thinking, acts and their belonging to a nation. Since 2015 we have been witnessing a new migration wave. It is mostly from Islamic countries that refugees come from: either from war zones or there also economic refugees coming in the hope of a more prolific life. There is another fact we must take into account, and this is the influence of colonization. Conquered lands were exploited, indigenous people were exterminated, and remote countries were occupied. Besides conquerors there were also church people arriving at remote lands: Catholics, Anglicans and the representatives of different Protestant churches. They intended to proclaim the gospel and embrace new peoples into the single folk of God. But the churches realized that they could not pursue mission against each other. This was later the message of Edinburgh at the World Missionary Conference in 1910. This was when Christianity entered into adulthood. It covered the way from the power of might to the strength of the gospel. Our aim cannot be anything else than unity. The unity of the Church and the unity of all mankind.3 These two are closely related, because each and every person is invited to be a member of God’s people. The bell rings for every one of us! Although members of different nations, we belong together, we are connected by human existence. 2 From a letter to Diognetus (Nn. 5-6); Funk, F. X. (ed.), Patres Apostolid, I. Tübingen 1901.2 397-398. See http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20010522_diogneto_en.html (04.08.2018). 3 See Lumen gentium 1, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church at the II. Vatican Council (1964).
