EUROPEAN MEETING
BRUSSELS
Belgium
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The European Meeting in Brussels, uniting alumnae, students and teachers from Sacred Heart schools across Europe was, by every account, a resounding success. This is a brief summary of the event.A full report appears in the French version of this Newsletter.
THEMES AND TOPICS OF THE FOUR DAYS OF "ENCOUNTERS" FORUMS AND "ROUND TABLE" DISCUSSIONS:
Changes in today's schools; the challenge of combining the upbringing and education of children,
family life, and professional and social activities; education for life; differences between generations;
religious and ideological differences; economic and social differences; ethics in our time.PRESENTATION PREPARED BY DELEGATIONS OF STUDENTS FROM ALL THE SCHOOLS OF EUROPE:
At the initiative of Sr. Chantal de Jonghe, the students presented a show based on their response to
the question: " St. Madeleine Sophie knew how to face the challenges of her times (revolutions, social
upheavals, the situation of women and their lack of intellectual and spiritual education…) How do you,
the youth of 2000, face the challenges of today? (mixing of cultures, scientific progress, family life,
professional life, the absence of points of reference…)COMMENTARY BY SR. CHANTAL DE JONGHE:
" We will always remember the presentation of the youth from Gulpen (Holland), challenged by the
problems of homosexuality and drugs in their country, and anxious to make a change. Or that of the students of Graz (Austria), presenting with humour and realism the computer's appropriation of the
human being of today. Personally, I also appreciated the offering of the youth from Poland, underlining the importance of faith in their post-communist world, and that of Woldingham where, with
great gentleness, the crucified clown came to liberate those who were condemned to death, image of
the power of the spiritual life and of forgiveness in our world."DESPITE THE PROBLEMS OF COMMUNICATING WITHOUT A COMMON LANGUAGE, a young student commented, with great wisdom: "I think that because we are all students of a Sacre-Coeur school, everything is possible. Communication doesn't really pose a lot of problems since something in common unites us all, we are all part of a big family."
EXTRACTS FROM THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY M. OLIVIER MANGIN (Director of the French magazine "Esprit")
"CONTEMPORARY CHANGES: A CHALLENGE TO BE MET"
We live in a society in mutation, in many domains…what are the values of European culture which allow us to ask valid questions, in order to find true answers?
Europe emphasises the value of the individual, the role of institutions which create a continuity, an
education which links different disciplines, and the search for "meeting points" which are in truth
difficult to find. These meeting points occur at all levels, from encounters between generations to those of different philosophies. For this to happen, democracy offers us a "conflictual consensus". That is to say, we can be in disagreement, because we respect our common rights, based on common laws which allow us to disagree.Egalitarian democracy is a recent phenomenon, dating only from the 18th century. Will it survive the shocks of the contemporary world? And can one make this concept universal? In order to reactivate this concept after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we need to gather together our European values, which exist in each country, and combine them into a new and united sense of solidarity…
This is a huge task which faces some grave difficulties:
Evil always exists, even for the most cultivated of persons, because culture in itself is not enough. Violence is natural to man. Currently, we see this violence being manifested less between states but through terrible civil violence (Kosovo, Ireland, Spain), or individuals. Does the globalisation of the world which is making frontiers insignificant signify the "end of history"? The nation-state is in the process of becoming redundant in "Europe". If we truly wish for the end of nationalism, we wish, at the same time, to revive our roots and our regional ties.
Is the great difference between cultures a cause of division or a source of enrichment?
The danger of North/South division is real, and is based on economic conditions. Economic and scientific progress has both negative and positive aspects: The war of 1914-18 inaugurated and "age of catastrophes" which lasted until the end of the second world war.
Reconstruction allowed for the beginning of a "golden age" with social security, the welfare state,
great economic progress and spectacular scientific advances.After 1975 came the age of unbridled capitalism: a rise in the standard of living was accompanied by a decrease in solidarity, and the consequences for the environment were often negative: pollution, waste…Unprecedented and global development in the world of science also poses numerous questions, because due to its success, science has become incapable of self-doubt, of fixing limits. Yet one has not ceased to see physical pain, nor suffering… What link can exist between all the possibilities of science and religion? Education can fight against inequalities and give back to each individual a sense of value, as well as diminishing segregation, It must remain humanist because, after all, one can create brilliant technicians who remain infantile in every other sense. Education must transmit the memory and sense of the past in order to build the future.
Europe has specific values:
Its cities are the seats of culture, of history and of exchanges Its long tradition gives education a humanist character It has created a characteristic social model The differences between men and women are reduced through the roles they play in society
If the market economy has undeniable advantages, it is also necessary to support the non-market economy: education for all, the protection of the most vulnerable (children, the poor…) We are all responsible for this evolution, and our responsibilities extend where they previously did not, and this concerns not only scholars or intellectuals.Let us keep a proper sense of values (in economics, in education, in the organisation of society), with a clear judgement of good and evil. The European spirit comes from a very diverse heritage: the wisdom of the Greeks, the Roman genius for communication which has left us with the thirst to transmit ideas for all time, the middle ages with their religious sensibility, the renaissance with its openness to multiple currents, our modern times which invent and reinvent…Given this impressive history, we are also co-founders: the architects of tomorrow. European progress comes from a common desire, to be retransmitted within a period of time. Let us keep the philosophy of language (literature, poetry, the value of the written word). Let us bear in mind that politics concerns us all, reunifying our values: memory and the present, the sense of time, universality and tolerance, the sense of the individual, which recognises both the value of each one and the acceptance of differences. Let us recognise the multiple values of our civilisation. Religion can contribute to this in giving us a true sense of values.
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