Antoine Guggenheim
Humanity of Fear
The French theologian in his essay presents an anthropological-theological introduction to the subject of fear and anxiety. He shows the humanity of fear and the fact that it may involve experiencing a terrible reality, the self-preservation instinct, the rebellion of life, and the demonstration of the uniqueness and dignity of every human being. Fear is not unambiguous, but has many forms. Then the author compares fear with something that can be embodied in it, without being concluded in it: with the force of love. Finally, he offers some inducements how people can proceed from fear to love.
Jaroslav Šebek
Church in Public Space in the Confused Times
The historian specializing in the history of the relationship between the Church and the State classifies the main factors of the last two or three years, both in Europe and in Bohemia, leading to an increased feeling of insecurity, fear and dissatisfaction. Political subjects respond to these factors, although often in populist or extremist way. Even the Church doesn’t stay behind, and it is her role in this conflict of attitudes and ideas, what Mr. Šebek is searching for.
Martin Vaňáč
Concerns and Worries of the Archdiocese of Prague in the Holy Year of Mercy
The theologian and ecclesiastical historian analyzes the important events that took place in 2016 and were related to the functioning of the Prague Archbishop’s Administration. In the wider context of the modern relations between the Czech Church and the State there are explored the cooperation of the Prague Archbishop and the Presidents, the issue of the restitutions, the controversy surrounding Tomáš Halík, the attitude towards Islam, etc. All of these events are related by their ambiguous acceptance in Christian society and the rising emotion of insecurity, which is the issue of the article as well.
Interview on the Situation of Priests in Bohemia
The interview with three ordinary Czech priests reveals the areas they perceive as problematic in their service. They discuss openly the communication barriers between ordinary clergy and the hierarchy, the feeling of being overlooked and disregarded, the rivalries, or the financial problems.
Benedikt Mohelník OP
Concerns over Church Restitutions
The Provincial of the Czech Dominicans in this study analyses the question of the Church restitutions from both a theological as well as a practical point of view. He does not challenge the right to material security for the Church, but emphasizes that property must be primarily understood as a means for her service. Therefore, the author calls into question the legitimacy of the accumulation of assets serving as insurance for the future. Against it he suggests a demand to invest into people who alone can be seen as the potential for the future life of the Church.
Dom Samuel
“It is I, Do not be Afraid!”
In his essay, the Abbot of the Trappist Monastery at Nový Dvůr classifies various causes of fear and anxiety, which he – as a monk – encounters. This affects not only a world adrift by various crises but also a monastery environment facing its own problems. The author offers his threefold view on the reality of the Church – the horizontal (the Church as an institution formed of people), the vertical (the Church constituted of sinners, but herself being without a sin) and the sight through her mystery.
Radek Tichý
Rectifying Liturgical Stories
The article deals with selected liturgical questions, in connection with opinions, attitudes or “stories” currently emerging that distort their concepts and which are often accompanied by rhetoric of fear about orthodoxy, ecclesiastic faithfulness or pastoral suitability. The topics of liturgical renewal, language, singing, silence and gesture of kneeling are in the article put into the general liturgical and historical context. So, the text doesn’t bring any new knowledge, but tries to suggest which facts should not be ignored when there is considered the worship, if it doesn’t want to be a one-sided ideology.
Lukáš Nosek
Tu es, ergo sum! Czech Church and the Fear of Migration
The study focuses on the reasons for concern in the Czech society – and to a large extent in the Church – about migration. In the first part, the author introduces the inspirational essay of the philosopher Jan Patočka about Czechness, where he finds explanations accounting for the roots of Czech xenophobia. In the second part, he focuses on a type of a case-record of the fear of migrants. In the following third part, he formulates an adequate Christian attitude. In the end, the author presents an inspiration for seeking a Christian approach associated with dialogical personalism.
Norbert Schmidt
The Half-Finished Balance Sheet. Notes on the Relation between the Church and the Culture
The head of the Centre for Theology and Arts at the Theological Faculty of Charles University, the curator of a series of artistic interventions in the sacral space evaluates the achievements but above all the failures in the field of promoting dialogue between the Church and contemporary art. The author shows how, despite a number of activities in this field, the Church’s mistrust of contemporary art is persistent; there is no progress in creating genuinely good-quality works for the Church, and that enduring tendencies are leading rather to superficiality, kitsch, and pseudo-style solutions.