In “Out of the Catacombs,” Bishop Andrews discussed the Catholic Church in Sweden. The Bishop was born in 1949 and grew up in Lund, Sweden, where he explored relations of the catholic faith and converted at the age of twenty. In his lecture, the Bishop discussed how secularized the country has become, and he talked about three ways such a secular nation could become unified as one catholic community. Sweden has become one of the most secularized nations in Europe, if not the world. Previous to World War II, Sweden had only 5, 000 Catholics. However, refugees after World War II fled to the country and the catholic population grew in a striking way.
Polish refugees came directly from the concentration camps first, and since then Jews, Hungarians, Croatians, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, and Africans have made their way there. The country has become very secularized, and very similar to the situation in the United States, with “global villages” that have various cultures with varying ideas. A considerable amount of the Catholic population is made up of converted second-generation immigrants, but some Swedes converted as well. However, it is still most common for Swedes to be Lutheran. But because the nation is now so secularized, and there is more religious liberty, it is challenging for both the Catholic and Lutheran churches to maintain a unified community.
The Essay on Western Society World Culture Nations
Upon flipping to the business section of the New York Times an Ohio University student saw a startling headline glaring back at her "American Corporations Suspected In Millions of Third World Deaths." As she read the article it became apparent that international corporations many of which were based in the United States exploit the poorest of the poor. These companies paid workers extremely low ...
In the last decade, the number of native vocations has risen considerably. There are now more than 160, 000 Catholics in Sweden, and twenty-two men preparing for priesthood. Even some Lutheran ministers had been converted to the Catholic Church and were being ordained priests. However, it is also clear that some Catholics have been converted to Lutheran. In general, there are many ecumenical contacts between the two communities. They both promote Christian unity and cooperation.
For instance, the Lutheran churches allow Catholics to participate mass in their churches since there are not enough Catholic churches to serve their growing population, and when the Bishop visits cities in Sweden, he often sees Lutheran ministers at his masses. So you can see how the two communities help each other out and have contact with each other. But how is such a vast and secular nation going to become a single unified community that retains the Catholic character? This was the Bishop’s main idea. He said Catholics today need to proclaim the Gospel in a way that reaches out to people who don’t know about God.
One major task today is to unite the intellectual and educated Catholics with those who are at the least privileged levels of society, and to be a more active community. The Bishop had three main ways to unite the Catholic community in Sweden: First, the people need to know the truth. Religion in Sweden is more of a feeling or a vague emotion, and not something they view as a belief or a truth. This needs to change. Secondly, spiritual life needs to be promoted. People need to believe in a personal God-man in Christ-and not just a feeling in nature that God is among us, as many Swedes do.
God is very specific and personal, and should be known in this way. Finally, ethical values need to be maintained. Today, tragically, many have lost the belief that human beings are something special, and that life is precious and valuable. For instance, abortion is not denounced in Sweden.
The Essay on Moral Fragments and Moral Community: A Proposal for Church in Society
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These values need to be restored in Christian life. So the Catholic population is continually growing in the now secularized Sweden. The present situation there continues to get more and more diverse as immigration from other cultures increases. There needs to be an intellectual foundation for faith, and a more unified community who are “one people of God.” Being Catholic has to mean something in society, and the truth of God needs to be promoted in what is now the most secular country in Europe.
