In Western Europe the Church seems in the process of disappearing. Most things the church was doing in the past for the people have been taken over by secular agencies, like hospitals, psychologists, all kinds of alternative therapists, universities, social security, the government care for the aged and so. I have a feeling of loss, of a discontinuity, of a break with the past as if one introduces a new language and all the literature of the past is at once inaccessible, an unknown country. The imagery we still find in the cathedrals and churches, a symbolic way to express transcendence, has become completely unintelligible as we no longer share the assumptions for instance about the effectiveness of prayer, the lighting of candles, the prayer to particular specialized saints.
But still people are intrigued by these monuments. Cathedrals like the one at Barcelona are filled with tourists from all places of the world. The same is valid for the cathedrals and basilicas in Vézelay, Chartres, Toledo and Rome. What are people looking for in these buildings? There is mystery, art, music, strange rituals. All this is, howver, not enough for the visitors to commit themselves.
The axis of Christianity is swinging from the West to the East and to the South. Religion shows much more vitality here. There is more room for experiments. There is also the spirituial need. Africans still hold the belief in the efficacy of prayer and rituals. The church offers opportunities for the developments of one's musical talents, for exorcism, for healing and entertainment. The alternative for religious healing, Western medical care, is often not available. In Africa churches provide in needs in ways better than other agencies and the state. The church schools are less corrupt and the teacehrs have an ethical higher standard. The church hospitals are less corrupt and often provide better medical care, for instance because dedicated adn disciplined religious sisters work there as nurses.
Asia and the Middle East have now a total of 350 million Christians. In Muslim Indonesia Christians build mega churches, against all odds, in a country with an increasingly more assertive Islam. South Korea sends out more Christian missionaries than any other country, except America. China has possibly as many as 40 or 50 million Christians. Nobody knows the exact number. But many young people feel that Christianity can fill a spiritual void, left by the demise of scientific socialism. It is an independent christianity without strings, a Chinese Christianity, that finds it own ways and forms, like the house churches.
With the increased mobility one may expect that also in Western Europe the churches will benefit from the dynamic christianity brought there by the migrants and by foreign students. However, there is still a mismatch. We rarely see that church buildings that have to be closed because of a shortage of church goers are transfered to churches of migrants. We see sometimes that religious orders with international connections find brothers and sisters from the South to fill here the vacancies, because of the decrease of new vocations. Their work may consist of the looking after the welfare of their ageing Western colleagues. There is also increased communication and possibilities for contact across borders and across cultures. This is a possibility for the exchange of ideas for the expression of one's spirituality. Howver, I do not yet see how, for instance, social network sites, like Facebook and Multiply are used in this way though the potential is there.
But the question remains how to save the beautiful churches and convents in Western Europe and make them available for the new type of believers, before most of them have been turned into appartment buildings, super markets, bookshops, exclusive hotels or even dancing halls?
