"The Catholic Church and European integration" was the focus of the roundtable held on June 7 in a crowded hall of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute in Zagreb. The meeting was organized by the Center for European Studies at the Faculty of Political Science in cooperation with the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute and the Centre for the Promotion of the Social Doctrine of the Church of the Croatian Bishops Conference.

The discussion was attended by Head of the Centre for European Studies Professor Damir Grubiša, Hrvoje Špehar from the Faculty of Political Science, Dr ŽeljkoTanjić from the Catholic Theological Faculty, and Dr Gordan Črpić, Head of the Centre for the Promotion of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Roundtable moderator Dr Tomislav Markić, director of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Institute, welcomed the speakers, noting that one of the main tasks of the Pastoral Institute was communication with the modern world about current events.

Eurosceptics are also good believers

His view of the role of the Catholic Church in European integration was first explained by Dr Tanjić saying that he spoke from the perspective of a Catholic theologian. In his opinion, the public often speaks of the division into urophiles and the eurosceptics, and this division is often applied to the Church itself. However, this way of thinking ignores the plurality pointed out at the Second Vatican Council. "One and the same faith can lead to different political engagements," he said, adding that there are many Catholics who do not accept the European Union as well as many who believe that it is the real political framework.

He noted that the Church is primarily motivated by ethical values when it comes to European integration and that the episcopate is unanimous in the ethical rather than the political issues. "The Catholic Church distinguishes European integration from the European Union and in it sees an ethical community as opposed to political and economic integrations that make the EU", he said, adding that the Catholic Church could be a critical corrective to European integration.
Dr Grubiša started his presentation with a review of a letter from the Croatian bishops about the negotiations of Croatian accession in the European Union. which he highlighted as a strong contribution to the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the European Union. He then briefly outlined the history of origin of the EU, concluding that the views of its founders were based on Christian foundations of solidarity and subsidiarity.

Christian values saved Europe from the barbarians

According to Professor Grubiša, the EU has emerged in the dialogue of Federalist currents represented by the Socialists and the functional community represented by Christian Democrats. "Federalist currents tend to create a European superstate", said Grubiša, adding that Christian Democrats strive to build a practical community based on solidarity of European nations and peace building.
Regarding the polemic about mentioning the Christian roots in the European Constitution, Dr Grubiša expressed his regret that there had been no mention of it since it were Christian values that saved Europe from the barbarian attacks. As a positive step, he pointed out The Lisbon Treaty, which included a clause on maintaining a dialogue with religious communities, allowing them to be treated as an active factor in the European society.

Professor Grubiša also commented on the myths and fears present when entering the EU: loss of national sovereignty, violation of Croatian identity, the reconstruction of Yugoslavia, loss of values in everyday life. In Croatia there is still a powerful myth about the loss of national identity by joining the EU whose consequence is the neglect of the fact that each Member State retains full sovereignty; moreover, thanks to the European system, joining the EU, Croatia's political power could only increase, said Professor Grubiša. He estimated that the Catholic Church should be more involved in the Croatian negotiation process with the European Union.

Economic or Cultural Integration: the dilemma of the Catholic Church

Dr Črpić pointed out that one of the fundamental problems of European integration was the development of society as such. In responding to this problem, two philosophical currents (Marx and Weber) indicate the economic and cultural factors as dominant. Europe began to integrate on cultural foundations, stressing shared values, and only much later emerged the economic factors; at the same time religion was starting to be treated as a power structure.

However, the sacrifice of Christ itself denies the principle of power. That does not mean that the Church is not a political factor, but that its capabilities are limited to the impact on the conscience of individuals. Therefore, the dilemma is not whether the Church will support the integration of Europe or not, but in the nature of this integration: whether it will be economic or cultural? As for the cultural integration, the Church has been supportive of it for the past two thousand years, but also refuses to give up its ethical values, concluded Dr Črpić.

The Lisbon Treaty encouraged dialogue with religious organizations

Hrvoje Špehar's presentation was focused on the problem of secularity in the modern society. He reminded that the point of secularity was freedom and equality of individuals. Secularity ensures the survival of democratic society by limiting particularism to a private sphere, making the public sphere available to everyone since nobody is allowed to display their values at the expense of others. Secular state guarantees freedom of religion for every citizen and is incompatible with the concept of clericalism, which constitutes an abuse of religion for political purposes.

(Hina, IKA)