Reformed and Catholics must defend Europe's Christian values together, echoed a panel discussion of the 30th Economic Forum in Karpacz on Thursday afternoon. The event, also known as the "Davos of Central Europe", was attended by some three thousand representatives from 60 countries. Bishop Zoltán Balog, Ministerial President of the Synod of RCH, was invited to the large-scale forum on behalf of the European churches.
In the panel discussion "Does Europe need a Church?", Bishop Zoltán Balog was joined by Krzysztof Bramorski, Marshall's Representative for International Relations at the Marshal’s Office of Lower Silesia, Jaroslaw Grabowski, Editor-in-Chief of the Catholic Weekly "Sunday", Wojciech Sadlon, Director of the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics, and Poland Andrzej Tomko, Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Pontifical Faculty of Theology.
At the panel discussion, Zoltán Balog stressed that Reformation does not mean progress, i.e. churches do not have to adapt to the trends of the modern world. It is necessary to modernise the means of communication, but not the content, because the Word of God is eternal. While the number of believers may be on the decline across Europe, it would be a mistake to judge the strength and vitality of Christianity solely by numbers. “The 'core church' may even be stronger than in the earlier people’s church period. We can be sure that those who remain in the church take their faith seriously," the Bishop said.
'Europe in Search of Leadership’
The Economic Forum is the largest conference in Central and Eastern Europe. Every year the Forum, organized at the beginning of September brings more than 4000 guests. These are political, economic and social leaders as well as approx. 600 journalists. The guests come from over 60 countries in Europe, Asia and America. The Forum’s mission is to create a favourable climate for the development of political and economic cooperation between EU member states and their neighbours.
The current Hungarian government has created serious opportunities for churches’ ministry. This represents also a temptation, therefore it is important not to be lulled by complacency, as if external guarantees were sufficient for the renewal of the Church, Zoltán Balog warned.
The church leader also reported that in Hungary the so called ‘historic’ (traditional) denominations are reaching out to society on several fronts. One of the prioritized areas is increasing the number of church institutions. While in 1990 there were only a few church schools in the country, today the number of church institutions is about 30 percent of the schools. There has also been a huge shift in the social care system, with about one third of the social institutions being run by the church.
The President of the Synod also highlighted that the Reformed Church is constantly opening new doors to the Roma. Roma Special Colleges, "Safe Start Children's Homes" and after schools have been set up in many parts of the country. According to Zoltán Balog, the easiest way to reach families is to do this through the children: 120,000 children attend Reformed religious education every week, which is a huge opportunity to convey the Gospel even to those who are far from the church.
How is Europe searching for its identity after COVID-19 and how is it trying to recover from the crisis? According to the organisers of the Karpacz Economic Forum, this is inseparable from the question of whether Europe can speak to the world with a strong, common voice.
At the Karpacz International Economic Forum 2021, participants had the opportunity to meet more than 3,000 guests from 60 countries, including Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, former Polish EU accession chief Leszek Miller, Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tyihanovskaya and former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. From the Hungarian side, among others, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Lőrinc Nacsa and Zsolt Németh, Members of Parliament, Tibor Navracsics, Government Commissioner and former EU Commissioner, and Attila Fülöp, State Secretary for Social Affairs at the Ministry of Human Capacities, were present. A number of Hungarian participants from the professional and civil sectors also attended the forum, including Áron Máthé, Vice-Chairman of the National Remembrance Committee, and Márton Ugrósdy, Director of the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. Church representatives are less often invited to the Forum as speakers. This year Bishop Zoltán Balog was the only invitee from Churches in Europe. The Bishop took part in the panel discussion entitled "Does Europe Need Church?" on Thursday.
The delegation of the Reformed Church of Hungary also visited the geographically highest Lutheran congregation in Poland, where they met the pastor of the congregation and the only Protestant member of the Polish parliament.